Who doesn’t love a nice cooling can of seltzer on a hot day out? It’s the definition of cracking open a cold one with the guys!
And, like any good new market that has just opened up, there are a ton of new companies and breweries out there looking to make their version of this drink synonymous with the term ‘seltzer’.
One of the most recent and most successful in the past few years has been White Claw, with its large and ever-expanding range of amazing fizzy alcoholic drinks that seems to get bigger every day.
Sounds great, doesn’t it? Well, maybe not for everyone.
See, if you’re on certain diets, such as the ketogenic diet that has become very popular in the past few years, you’ll probably be aware that drinking alcohol gets a lot trickier when you’re trying to avoid carbs in your diet.
Which, as it turns out, many alcoholic beverages have plenty of.
So, what about seltzer, and White Claw’s drink specifically? Are they okay with this kind of diet? If they are okay, how much can they drink?
We’ll answer all f these questions and more in this guide that we have compiled for your viewing pleasure.
From the basics of both this new type of drink and diet to how and why they are compatible and to what extent, we have everything that you could want to know right here!
What Is Seltzer?
Before we start diving into the exact why’s and hows of this topic, we want to first explain what exactly a seltzer is.
Because not only are they relatively recent drinks that many people may not be aware of, but some drinks sell themselves as seltzers when they aren’t, and vice versa.
So, seltzer is a carbonated drink that contains primarily carbonated/sparkling water, and alcohol in them, effectively making them an alcoholic version of soda pop.
While people have been mixing carbonated drinks and alcohol for years at this point, it was only in the 1990s that the seltzer drink became a popular product of its own.
It’s in this new market that we see a ton of new brands explode onto the market with their version of this type of drink.
White Claw Seltzer
It’s in this new market where we first see the emergence of the White Claw brand. First founded by the Mark Anthony Group in 2016, the brand was released with several different flavors to its name and has only gone from strength to strength.
By 2019, just 3 short years later, it was considered the best-selling seltzer drink brand in the United States.
The company has only gone from strength to strength from there, with the company reporting a 246.7% increase in profits in July 2020 from that previous amazing year.
In that same year, they also started releasing limited flavors of White Claw seltzer in Canada too.
All this to say is that White Claw’s seltzer drink is pretty much THE seltzer drink in the US, with a truly massive market, and one of the go-to seltzer drink options in stores across the country.
So of course people are going to see it and want to know if it can work with their diet!
What Is A Ketogenic Diet?
So, we’ve covered what exactly seltzer and White Claw are at this point. So, let’s take a look at the dieting part of this equation!
While people on ketogenic (or keto, as we will continue to refer to it in this guide) diets will know this already, a keto diet is essentially a dieting plan that aims to replace carbs as the main source of energy in your diet with foods that are high in protein and fat instead.
The thinking behind it is that carbs, being relatively empty when it comes to overall nutrition, are not properly burned through by the body, and instead turn into fat deposits around the body.
By increasing the amount of fat in your diet, the body becomes adapted to burning fat as its main energy source, the body achieves ketosis and learns to burn fat and fat deposits around the body for energy instead of carbs.
Protein is also included in this diet because it is rich in nutrients, and is burned much more effectively than carbohydrates in the body.
While originally used as a kind of therapeutic diet for children that suffered from epilepsy in the mid-20th century, the diet has since been picked up in a less extreme form by many nutritionists in the past 20 years as an effective way to lose weight.
Many people who have been on diets before may notice similarities between this and the low-carb and Atkins diets that also became popular around this time.
Why Many Alcohols Aren’t Good For Keto Diets
So, why, at the beginning of this guide, did we state that most alcoholic beverages aren’t great for keto dieting plans?
Well, that’s mainly due to the kinds of energy and calories that you’ll usually find in alcoholic drinks like beers and lagers. Something that beer and dieting enthusiasts may already be starting to put together.
Beer is traditionally made from some kind of grain, whether it’s wheat, maize, rice, or something similar. And because grain foods are often high in carbs, that high carbohydrate content is often carried over to many kinds of beer and lager.
This effectively means that most beers, and indeed many other similar alcoholic drinks, such as IPAs and even ciders too. Many of these drinks are far too high in sugars and carbs to be feasible in a keto dieting plan.
Nutritional Info For White Claw Seltzer
So, with that information out of the way, let’s take a closer look at the nutritional information of White Claw Seltzer, and see if we can’t get a better idea of whether or not this carbonated beverage is okay for keto diets.
Well, in terms of overall nutritional value, White Claw seltzer comes up pretty much empty in most regards, at least in single servings as a single 12-ounce can.
With no detectable protein, sugar, fat or nutritional fiber in them, and only 2 grams of total and net carbs in them, it’s effectively similar to trying a carbonated beverage.
So, as an answer to the original question that we mentioned at the beginning of this guide, the answer is yes, White Claw seltzer is fine to drink on a keto diet. At least when it is drunk in moderate amounts.
However, just keep in mind that there is still a small amount of caffeine in most mixes of seltzer, so there is a limit to what you can intake and still stay within a good ketogenic pattern.
Other Low-Carb Alcoholic Drinks
So, we’ve established that seltzer is an alcoholic drink that is low in carbs and is therefore a pretty good option when trying to consider drinks that can be enjoyed on a keto diet.
However, seltzer is by no means the only drink that you can keep enjoying. There are quite a few other drinks that can b enjoyed as normal, while still sticking to a keto plan.
Red/White Wine
A favorite drink for pretty much any meal or event, red and white wine are both very popular drinks to serve, as well as essential cooking ingredients for a variety of recipes.
And, fortunately enough for all wine enthusiasts that are thinking of dieting, they’re pretty low in carbs too!
A 5-ounce serving (or 150 ml) of red or white wine contains around 3.9 grams of total carbs in them.
So, while slightly higher than those that you would find in White Claw seltzer, they are still well within reasonable amounts to be drinking in keto diets, so long as their carbs are accounted for in your plans.
Vodka
Vodka is a staple spirit for many drinks and cocktails around the world, so it can impact how easy a dieting plan will be if you have to cut down or out on this drink completely from your regular meal or drink plans.
Luckily for us, vodka, and many other spirits for that matter, are carb-free, making them generally safe to drink on a keto diet (in moderation, of course).
Most distilled spirits, such as rum and whiskey, will also fall under this category.
Diet/Sugar-Free Soda
While the full-fat options for many sodas are definitely off the table for keto diets, the same is not true for their reduced sugar or sugar-free.
With their low empty calorie counts, drinks such as Coke Zero or sugar-free ginger beer are suddenly totally fine to drink in your keto diet.
They still contain other ingredients that should be kept in moderation, such as caffeine, but these will not affect your overall attempts to achieve ketosis through dieting.
What Types Of Drinks Should You Avoid On A Keto Diet?
We’ve talked plenty about drinks that are okay for a keto diet, seltzer included. But what about drinks that should be avoided while trying to stick to a dieting plan?
Generally speaking, stay away from any full-fat/sugar mixer drinks or sodas, on account of their high sugar empty calorie content.
By the same token, avoid many cocktail mixes, as they will also contain ingredients that tend to be high in calories.
Even some of the drinks that we have covered, such as red and white wine, and even White Claw seltzer, should only be drunk in moderation. They do still contain some empty calories, after all!
Final Notes – Is White Claw Seltzer A Keto-Viable Drink?
So, at the end of this guide, White Claw Seltzer is a drink that you can include in your keto diet. At least, within reasonable limits. Not only do they still contain alcohol, but those few carbs can add up over time!
