What Foods Are Banned on Keto? The Unedited 2017 Original
This is the original camera file of my "banned foods" video. I recorded it on 2017-09-01 and it went up on YouTube the next day. The talk is the same, and this file runs about ten seconds longer than the upload. The full write-up of that video, with the fibre-label evidence, is Are Any Foods Banned on Keto?. This post doesn't repeat it. It looks at where the idea went next.
In this recording
- [0:00] The question: which foods are banned on keto? In the medical sense, the only test is whether your blood ketones are in the nutritional-ketosis range.
- [1:01] People get into ketosis while eating the "anti-keto" foods, like sugar, soy, grain and certain oils. So no food is keto or not keto.
- [1:37] A ketogenic diet is any mix of foods you can eat habitually and still be in ketosis regularly. The dose makes the poison.
- [2:21] In a calorie deficit your diet tolerates more. The real trouble is hidden ingredients like maltodextrin, not rules from a book or a guru's formula.
- [3:01] Omega-3s have decent research for general health, which is where the grass-fed and Kerrygold butter advice comes from, but they aren't tied to ketosis.
- [3:47] MCT oil has some solid research behind it but isn't required.
- [4:23] Keto is more about what you don't eat. If you're having trouble, count total carbs.
- [5:04] Sugar alcohols vary, and US labels don't split soluble from insoluble fibre, so a high-fibre bar is a guess.
- [5:53] Sugary and high-glycemic foods are the problem ones. A food you love can often stay in a small dose.
- [6:34] Under 50 g a day is the usual definition. Some people need under 20 g, which is why 20 gets repeated.
- [7:16] If cutting grains, dairy or sweeteners helped you, I'm not arguing. Just keep apart what's good for health, what's good for weight loss, and what's specific to keto.
Then vs now: from "no banned foods" to "no required diet"
In 2017 I was arguing with the keto police. My point was that keto is defined by ketosis, not by a list, and anyone adding rules on top was adding them for some other reason (live NJEV9182).
By March 2020 I'd taken the same logic a step further. In a Live during a reboot, I said low carb mostly makes it more comfortable to eat fewer calories. If the social cost of keto is worse for you than the hunger of a regular diet, do a higher-carb, low-calorie diet instead, and I'd still help you (live NILS3514). In the same Live I said everybody gets about fifteen days a year of excuses like holidays and birthdays. Lose weight the other 350 and you'll be fine (live NILS3514).
The trials back up the 2020 version more than the purity rules. In DIETFITS, 609 adults on a healthy low-fat or healthy low-carb diet lost 5.3 kg and 6.0 kg over a year, and the difference wasn't significant (Gardner et al., 2018). The National Lipid Association says low- and very-low-carb diets aren't superior for long-term weight loss, though they may give more loss in the short term (Kirkpatrick et al., 2019). The American Diabetes Association calls low-carb one of several eating patterns, and says cutting total carbohydrate has the most evidence for improving blood sugar (Evert et al., 2019).
So "no banned foods" and "keto isn't the only way" are the same idea, applied at two sizes. The dose decides for a food. What you can stick with decides for a diet. More in the DIETFITS study explained.
The line that holds up
The last minute is still the part I'd keep: people do keto for epilepsy, tumour control and cancer treatment, not only weight loss (live NJEV9182). If that's you, the carb number and the food list aren't yours to loosen on your own. Settle them with your doctor, especially if you take medication for diabetes or blood pressure, because those doses can need changing when carbs drop. I said it bluntly in 2019: I'm not an oncologist, so don't go treating your cancer with keto (video 1JbK1_ClDmY). See who should talk to a doctor.
Key points
- No food is banned on keto. Ketosis is the test, and the dose decides.
- Watch hidden, high-glycemic fillers. Count total carbs if net carbs aren't working.
- Omega-3s, grass-fed butter and MCT oil are optional extras, not keto requirements.
- By 2020 I said the same about keto itself: if another way of cutting calories fits your life better, use it.
- Medical keto (epilepsy, cancer, diabetes on medication) is planned with a doctor.