What to know about keto sweets

 

Keto sweets are a great alternative to regular sugar and can help make the keto diet easier to stick with. Unfortunately, you can’t eat chocolate keto cake for all of your meals. Here’s some stuff to know about eating keto sweets.

  • Most, but not all keto sweets will give you an upset stomach if you eat too many of them. And it’s easy to go overboard since you can usually only eat one or two servings to be at your limit. Some sweeteners are worse than others. Anything with sugar alcohol has the highest chance of giving you an upset stomach, with the most common sugar alcohols in keto sweets being Maltitol (which is particularly bad about it), erythritol, allulose, and xylitol. Monkfruit and stevia tend to be much kinder to your stomach, but are often still in sweets with a lot of fiber, which can also give you an upset stomach. 
  • Most, but not all keto sweets will taste a little different than you’re used to, with some sweeteners having an aftertaste. Chocolate tends to hide keto sweeteners the best, so it’s a good place to start. My favorite keto sweet is Choczero, and with their chocolate bark I’ve yet to find anyone who can tell it’s different from regular chocolate. Because it uses monkfruit it’s very easy on the stomach too.
  • Most keto bread-type desserts will have a different texture than you’re used to– they tend to be very dense. Although it’s possible to have fluffy keto breads it’s not what you’ll find in most recipes. They still taste great, just brace for them tasting a little different.
  • Sweeteners can stall progress on health goals, especially weight loss. While there’s no doubt that going completely without sweeteners is physically healthier than eating sweeteners, do what you need to do to actually stick with keto long-term. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. But consider cutting back the frequency of sweeteners if you’re finding yourself stalled. For example going from every day to every other day, or even just once a week, once a month, etc.
  • All sweeteners still trigger your body’s reaction to sweetness. Even my favorite, monkfruit. In my personal experience even going from just 5 drops of monkfruit in my coffee in the morning to no sweeteners at all in the day is a massive gap in how well I feel. (But again, don’t let perfect be the enemy of good for staying on track!)

My notes on specific sweeteners

  • Monkfruit is my favorite sweetener. It’s got a fruity aftertaste but that’s generally hidden in anything chocolate and pairs well with anything fruity. It’s easy on the stomach and goes a long way. 
  • Stevia is another natural sweetener that I’d generally recommend, but I’m mildly allergic to it. It’s in the same family as ragweed and people with ragweed allergies are more likely to be allergic to stevia. As a fairly common allergen pay attention to your body’s reaction to eating it. I’d recommend trying some stevia chocolate and see if you feel itchy, have a sore throat, get a headache, or any other common allergy symptoms. Basically, if you don’t feel well after eating it don’t eat it anymore. (It makes my throat itchy and I get a terrible headache every time.)
  • Sucralose. This has virtually no aftertaste, and you’ll find it frequently in drink syrups and sauces because of that. Personally, sucralose makes me insanely hungry. Beware that it is often packed with maltodextrin as a bulking agent, which can add on some carbs.

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