Why You Should Reconsider Fruit-Flavored Snacks On A Keto Diet

Anyone switching to the keto diet will probably go through a list of foods they like to have but are now worried they will have to give up. Will fruit snacks, for example, become a banned decadence? Well, at its basic core, the ketogenic diet substitutes carbohydrates with fat — and lots of it. The idea, Healthline explains, is that without the usual amount of carbs to focus on, the body's metabolism switches to burning fat for fuel instead. This is called ketosis. The potential benefits of the keto diet include effective weight loss, lowered blood sugar levels, and a reduced risk of heart disease.

However, the Harvard Medical School cautions against following the keto diet. One reason is that the switch to a fat-heavy diet raises your daily intake of saturated fats past the recommended limit of 7%. Another worry is that the foods people eat to reach a state of ketosis may be low in nutrients and fiber and fail to provide an adequate level of carbs for the brain to properly function. 

These issues become clearer when you consider that Healthline says the keto diet either excludes or drastically reduces the amount of grains, fruits, and legumes you can eat. Still, this does not necessarily mean that you have to completely eliminate fruit snacks from your diet.

If you are considering the keto diet but cannot part with your fruit-flavored snacks, you'll have to consider whether the options you've selected are made with real fruit or some kind of artificial sweetener. If we look at the FDA's standard nutritional table, both naturally occurring and added sugars count as a type of carb. This is important because keto usually restricts one's daily carb intake to less than 50 grams (per Healthline.) Because of this, Welch's was deemed by the keto website Sure Keto to be "NOT KETO!" with an added emphatic skull. Similarly, Keto Picks gives fruit roll-ups one out of five stars, which translates to "not keto compatible."

Keto Chow does accept that most keto plans can incorporate fruit. However, they clarified with bold text that this is only when the incorporation is done right. While you can have fruit, Keto Chow suggests an alternative: Keto Chow's branded shake mixers. In fact, a whole fruit snack market geared towards keto followers has sprung up to the extent that Keto Anytime can devote an article listing off the best keto fruit snacks. Still, the sugar amount in these snacks is significantly lower than more mainstream fruit snacks, meaning if what you actually like is the sugar, you will have to adjust.