How to Eat More Fats & Best/Worst Nuts

What about adding additional fats from meat and nuts? Here are some ways that you can eat more fats when you’re on a keto diet and what type of meats & nuts you should be eating for keto.

 Low Fat Protein – Lean Protein On Keto

You need to add fats, but you don’t need to get them from your proteins. Keep your protein sources lean, so that you can control the fats that are coming in the diet from other sources. 

By eating a high fat cut of meat, you don’t know where that animal has been or what that animal has eaten. A lot of times they absorb toxins and pesticides. They hold these in their fat cells, so we don’t want to be consuming these in the old-fashioned grain-fed meat. They have high levels of estrogen, high levels of soy, and high levels of omega-6 polyunsaturated fats which are really bad for our bodies, especially on a ketogenic diet. Eat high-quality grass-fed meats that are leaner and then we can add the fats in fun ways. 

 Fun Ways To Add Fat To Your Keto Diet

Almond butter, mayonnaise, coconut oil, tahini, need I say more? Things like this are how you want to add fats. The biggest tip that I can give you is to make it fun and add your fats instead of eating them in your protein which can be dangerous. Here are some tips for adding fats into your meals with meat:

  • Use tahini creatively
  • Use almond butter and nut butter
  • Add mayonnaise to your meats or eggs. I know this one sounds crazy but it’s a great way to eat your eggs… add mayonnaise. Just have a couple of egg whites and a few egg yolks, so you can get your extra fats in and keep your protein ratios where you need it.

You don’t want to just be adding fats from animal sources all the time, it just makes a lot more sense to be able to control it.

Eat Nuts! Best & Worst Nuts on Keto

Here I want to talk about which nuts you should or shouldn’t have, and it’s actually not should or shouldn’t, you can have all the nuts that you really want, I just recommend that you eat some over the others.

  • Macadamia nuts are by far the best, super low carb content okay and they don’t really have skin so they’re easy to digest.
  • Almonds are in the gray area so you want to be eating them in moderation because the skin has what’s called phytic acid. Read about phytic acid and why you should be “sprouting them below.
  • Cashews are very inflammatory, so you want to use them in moderation. Don’t have a ton of them in one sitting. They’re technically a fruit and they’re higher carbohydrate, there’s around 9/10-grams of carbs in a serving of cashews compared to like 4-grams  of carbs in a serving for macadamia nut.
  • Brazil nuts are good to go on keto. They are super high in selenium
  • Walnuts really good for keto.
  • Pecans really good choice for keto.
  • Eat pepitas(hull-less pumpkin seeds) and sunflower seeds whenever you can over nuts because they’re less inflammatory because they have less phytic acid making them easier for the body to break down, plus they also make some really good sunflower butter and stuff out there that you can find at the grocery stores.

Phytic Acid and Why it’s Bad for the Keto Diet

Phytic acid doesn’t break down very well in the body. It has what is called anti-nutrients which are amylose inhibitors and they make it so that your body won’t break down the nuts all the way. They trigger an inflammatory immune response and this is the opposite thing you want to do since the ketogenic diet is all about reducing inflammation. Why would we want to add something in that’s notorious for causing inflammation within the body. You just have to be careful, so I recommend just even a small amount of almonds throughout the day. Maybe a couple of ounces throughout the course of the entire day.

Whenever you can also “sprout” them. This breaks down the phytic acid. To do this you just soak them in some water and you let them sit overnight. This will start the sprouting process which breaks down the phytic acid.

Recapping How to Eat More Fats & the Best/Worst Nuts

The biggest tip I can give to you is to eat lean grass-fed meats. They are safer and allow you to control where your fats are coming from in your keto diet. Use things like tahini, almond butter, nut butter, and mayonnaise for a fun way to add fats to your meals. And finally, nuts are a great snack if you need to get your fats up for the day, but eat in moderation since different nuts come with different nutritional facts. I recommend macadamia nuts. They are my go to!

Let us know if you have any questions about adding fats to your keto diet.