Is honey keto friendly?
For those of you in a hurry:
Honey is used in thousands of recipes and has been used for home remedies for ages, but before you put some honey in your tea we want to let you know if it will affect your new keto lifestyle. We’ve gathered information for you to answer the question, is honey keto friendly and you might be surprised by our findings.
Honey is not keto friendly. Sorry to break the news, but we will provide you with ways to substitute a keto alternative for honey below so read on.
What ingredients are in honey?
- Ѕugаrѕ
- 38% fruсtоѕе
- 31% gluсоѕe
- 5% dехtrіn
- ~3% ѕuсrоѕе
- ~2% рrоtеіn,
- ~0.2% mіnеrаl ѕubѕtаnсеѕ;
- ~2% ѕаltѕ оf оrgаnіс асіdѕ (mаlіс, lасtіс, оf ѕоrrеl, сіtrіс аnd tаrtаrіс);
- аlmоѕt аll knоwn nаturаllу trасе еlеmеntѕ (іrоn, рhоѕрhоrіс, mаgnеѕіum, саlсіum, сорреr, ѕulfur, роtаѕѕіum, соbаlt, gеrmаnіum, gоld, еtс.);
- Еnzуmеѕ
- іn ѕmаll аmоuntѕ оf vіtаmіnѕ (В1, В2, В3, В5, В6, Н, К, С , Е, РР, рrоvіtаmіn А);
(Gathered information from: https://honeypedia.info/what-is-honey-made-of-honey-ingredients)
Ingredients may differ for the different types of honey below:
According to the National Honey Board – “There are more than 300 different types of honey in the United States, each with a unique flavor and color depending on the blossoms visited by the honey bees.” Here are just a few of the most common honey types:
- Alfalfa
- Buckwheat
- Clover
- Eucalyptus
- Golden
- Manuka
Even though there are many types of honey the answer will be the same to Is Honey Keto Friendly? Keep reading to find out.
What is the carb count in honey?
Honey 17 grams of total carbohydrates in 1 tablespoon
Compare this to:
- Sugar 12.6 grams of total carbs in 1 tablespoon
- Maple Syrup 13 grams of total carbs in 1 tablespoon
- Agave Nectar 15 grams of total carbs in 1 tablespoon
Carb counts differ for different foods and sweeteners based on their ingredient composition. People on the ketogenic diet look at the net carbs when trying to figure out if they can eat something or not. You can calculate the net carbs by subtracting the grams of Dietary Fiber from the total carbohydrate count. This will leave you with the net carbs for a particular serving of the food item.
Will honey knock you out of ketosis?
According to the nutritional facts for honey above, yes this can certainly knock you out of ketosis. Keep in mind that the ability to get and stay in a state of ketosis is different for everyone.
Should you stop eating honey on keto?
If it’s easy to enter a state of ketosis:
You may be able to get away with eating a little bit of honey here and there, but you may want to only do this only on special occasions.
If it’s hard to enter a state of ketosis:
We recommend staying completely away from honey and everything it has to offer. We suggest looking at the alternatives at the end of our post for ways to substitute honey on keto.
Why is honey not keto friendly?
Plain and simple, there are high amounts of sugars that will increase your insulin levels. As stated in our post on How Do I Start Keto:
“Insulin is the hormone that is created by the pancreas which converts the carbs we ingest into energy-storing the fat we consumed because it simply isn’t needed.”
Are there any keto honey alternatives?
Substitutes for traditional sweeteners and sweet food has become a hot topic within the keto industry. One example would be this Keto Friendly Syrup I’ve tried and fell in love with, but are there any keto honey substitutes? I have scoured the internet, and there are some sugar free alternatives, but they have substituted the sugar with something that is not keto friendly.
The only sugar free honey keto alternative I could find with a keto friendly sugar was on Amazon. I will breakdown the product information below.
Organic Honey Alternative by Pyure on Amazon
Ingredients
Organic Soluble Tapioca Fiber, Water, Natural Flavor, Organic Stevia Leaf Extract (REB A), Organic Caramel Color, Tartaric Acid
Carb Count
- 14 grams of carbs, but 10 grams of dietary fiber
- 4 grams of net carbs
Reviews
This seems to be a fairly new product so there are very few reviews at the moment on their website or on Amazon at the moment. I have not tried this product out yet, but I will definitely do so and let you know how it is in the future.
If you come across a new brand or company that offer a keto friendly option for honey, leave a comment so we can try it out.
What are the substitutes to honey on the keto diet?
Although there aren’t any substitutes, there are some keto friendly alternatives for honey you can try out. These are the standard go-to alternatives for sugar, but they can work well with replacing honey in a recipe.
- Erythritol
- Monk Fruit Sweetener
- Stevia
- Xylitol
- Swerve
If you are looking for a sticky substitute for a recipe, I would recommend ChocZero’s Maple Syrup. They use Monk Fruit as the main sweetening ingredient.
Recap
Due to the various reasons stated above the answer to the question “Is honey keto friendly?” is a big no-no. Honey is NOT keto friendly because of the ingredients (mainly sugar) it has. This does not mean that honey is unhealthy. It simply means that we would not recommend pairing honey with the keto diet.
There are a few exceptions to this. If you find it a little easier than most to get into a state of ketosis and stay in it, we would not be opposed to you having very small amounts of honey every now and then. Just remember to check your ketone levels after eating it.
Take a look at some of the recipes that can mimic your favorite honey flavors.
Keto honey recipes:
- Keto Honey Bun by Nana’s Little Kitchen
- Keto Holiday “Honey” Cake by Completely Keto
