Australia is the lucky country in many ways, and the availability of fresh fruit is certainly one of them.
But what about fruit on Keto?
Surely all those vitamins and minerals are more important than the sugar right?
Growing up, fruit was like gold in our house and a fresh punnet of strawberries still makes my mouth water.
Our current government guidelines is to have 2 serves of fruit a day, for example a banana and an orange.
Put these two bad boys into your carb counting app (I use Myfitnesspal) and you’ve chalked yourself up over 50 grams of sugar.
We have over-domesticated and played with the genes of fruit to the point where it is so sweet and fleshy, it may as well be candy.
And when you are on keto, it basically is candy and should be treated as such.
Here’s a fun tip, did you know bananas used to look like this?
Check out this link for more http://www.sciencealert.com/here-s-what-fruits-and-vegetables-looked-like-before-we-domesticated-them
Fruit was going to be my stumbling block to sticking to keto, or so I thought when I first started.
What will I do in mango season?
What will I put on my yoghurt?
And what about cheesecake? It has to have strawberries on it!
The important thing is to pick your battles!
If you’ve spent all day making an amazing Keto cheesecake, putting two strawberries on top isn’t going to hurt.
Basically, if it fits in your daily macros, go for it.
For those days when you are craving something juicy and sweet, a couple of blueberries can really hit the spot.
But what about all that vitamin C, potassium and fibre if you’re not eating fruit on keto?
Fruit offers nothing you can’t get elsewhere! Learning this was a real eye opener for me when I thought I needed fruit on Keto.
Here’s where to get all of those classic fruity vitamins on Keto;
Vitamin C: Brussel sprouts, dark leafy greens, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, parsly, basil, thyme, chives, kale, red peppers/capsicum
Potassium: Avocados, nuts, dark leafy greens, salmon and mushrooms
Fibre: Flax seeds, avocado, chia seeds, unsweetened coconut and coconut flour, spinach
This is not an exhaustive list.
Basically, fruit is not bringing anything to your plate that you can’t get elsewhere. Give it the flick and save those carbs for something that deserves it!
I definitely use fruit in my cooking sometimes as the fresh sweetness can’t be beat. Here’s a few fruity dishes you might like to try:
Keto Chocolate Sponge Cake with Strawberries
