If you are thinking about trying the ketogenic diet, also known as keto, you are probably also thinking about the foods you can and can’t eat on this low-carb diet. After all, one of the most common things you’ll keto dieters ask is, “is that keto?”
To lose weight on the ketogenic diet, you need to drop your carb intake to 50 grams or less per day. That means no bread, rice, pasta, potatoes, and grains.
Faced with so few carbs, your body has no option but to start burning more fat for fuel. That’s what makes keto so effective. However, even slightly exceeding your carb intake limits can derail your diet, which is why it’s so important to pay attention to your food choices.
One of the most contentious types of food on keto is fruit. Most people regard fruit as healthy, and it’s often low in calories, but it also contains varying amounts of sugar, and sugar is not keto-friendly.
A few fruits are fine on keto, including avocados and coconuts, which contain more fat than carbs, and watermelon, which has lots of water. However, a lot of people eat berries on keto. So, this raises the question, are strawberries keto?
In this article, we reveal if you can eat strawberries on your low-carb ketogenic diet.
Are Strawberries Keto?
What are strawberries?
Strawberries are a small, red, sweet fruit that originated in 18th century Europe and is a hybrid of two wild strawberries from Chile and North America.
Strawberries grow on ground plants and are usually consumed fresh.
However, they’re also available frozen, canned, and as puree and jam, and are a common ingredient in baked goods.
Strawberries are grown worldwide and are a popular fruit for home cultivation.
Unlike many fruits, strawberries have their seeds on the outside, which, in botanical terms, makes them an aggregate accessory fruit and not a berry.
Strawberries are one of the most popular fruits, and a lot of food products contain them or are flavored like them, such as pies, ice cream, protein powder, and even lip balm.
Nutritional Information
Like all fruits, strawberries are packed with beneficial nutrients. The nutritional breakdown for 100 grams/3.5 ounces of raw strawberries is:
- 32 calories
- 91% water
- 0.7 grams of protein
- 0.3 grams of fat
- 7.7 grams of carbohydrates
- 2 grams of fiber
- 5.7 grams of net (useable) carbs
Strawberries also contain an abundance of micronutrients, including:
- Vitamin B6
- Vitamin B9
- Vitamin C
- Vitamin E
- Vitamin K
- Copper
- Copper
- Magnesium
- Manganese
- Phosphorous
- Potassium
As well as vitamins and minerals, strawberries contain several additional plant compounds:
- Pelargonidin
- Ellagic acid
- Ellagitannins
- Procyanidins
The Benefits of Eating Strawberries
With their high nutrient content, despite being low in calories and carbs, strawberries are very healthy and offer several benefits, including:
Better heart heath – a diet high in berries is linked to better heart health. Eating strawberries can lower bad LDL cholesterol while raising levels of good HDL cholesterol.
In addition, strawberries are associated with lower blood pressure and improved blood flow.
Cancer prevention – strawberries contain antioxidants and other cancer-fighting compounds. They may help slow tumor growth or prevent it entirely. Strawberries are especially effective against oral cancers.
Improved immunity – the high vitamin C content of strawberries means that eating them could strengthen your immune system, leading to fewer illnesses.
Low, stable blood glucose – strawberries are low in sugar and high in fiber, which means they digest slowly and have a minimal impact on your blood glucose. Low, stable blood glucose levels are good for your general health, help stabilize energy and hunger, and create the ideal environment for fat burning.
Are Strawberries Keto?
With just 5.7 grams of net carbs per 100-gram serving, strawberries are very keto-friendly.
Providing you avoid consuming too much carbohydrate elsewhere in your diet, you should have no problem fitting strawberries into your low-carb eating plan.
That said, it’s very easy to eat more strawberries than you realize, especially when faced with a large bowl of them.
Avoid accidentally eating too many and derailing your diet by weighing them out before you start eating.
That way, you won’t inadvertently eat too many.
Low in calories and carbs, strawberries are an excellent choice on keto.
Bottom Line
A lot of common fruits are off the menu on keto, including apples, bananas, pineapple, and oranges. This can leave a lot of low-carb dieters craving something sweet to eat.
The good news is that there are some fruits you can eat on keto that won’t interfere with weight loss.
Avocados and coconuts are the obvious choices, but you can also eat satisfying amounts of berries on keto, including raspberries and blueberries, and you can now add strawberries to that list.
Whether you buy raw or frozen strawberries, you can relax and enjoy them as part of your ketogenic diet. However, barware of canned and dried strawberries, as they usually contain added sugar, and could kick you out of ketosis.
