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There are a variety of reasons to deviate from the Standard American Diet (SAD), whether it’s to achieve better health, lose weight, or simply eat a diet that is more appropriate for the human species. Two lifestyle choices that are on the rise are the vegetarian diet and the very low carb or keto diet. At first glance, vegetarian and keto seem like they couldn’t be more different. After all, most keto adherents swear by steak, bacon, and other meats. However, it is entirely possible to eat both vegetarian and keto at the same time.

A vegetarian low carb diet doesn’t need to feel restrictive, and there are many ways you can get creative in the kitchen while hitting your macros. Some vegans even follow a keto diet! Yet it is no secret that plant-based keto isn’t as easy as traditional keto. That’s why many people end up comparing the vegetarian diet to the ketogenic diet and asking themselves which is the right choice.

Ultimately, it comes down to whether avoiding meat or avoiding carbs is more important to you. If the answer is that both are highly important, committing to vegetarian keto is an easy descision. If you are wavering between choosing a high carb vegetarian diet or a low-carb omnivorous diet, you’ll have to think about your health goals and your personal ethics and make an informed decision. This article is designed to guide you through your journey as you find the right diet! Continue reading “Vegetarian vs. Keto: Pros and Cons of a Vegetarian Keto Diet”

It is a misconception that you cannot adopt a ketogenic lifestyle without eating meat. Vegetarian and pescatarian keto do not necessarily require a restrictive diet. In fact, there are many varied and delicious foods you can eat as a keto vegetarian or pescatarian. Feeling lost and uninspired during your grocery shopping? This pescatarian food list should be helpful whether you are new to the keto diet or just need some new ideas.

Everything on the list is keto-friendly, but remember to pay attention to serving sizes and monitor whether you’re in ketosis to be sure you’re not eating too many carbs. If you are a pure vegetarian and do not eat fish, you’ll see a few items on the list that you cannot consume, but many of the foods listed are vegetarian. Even if you do eat meat, a lot of these groceries are staples for the ketogenic diet that you’re likely to want in your kitchen. Most of them are standard items you should be able to find in a regular grocery store. You can also order them on Amazon Fresh if it’s available in your area, but if not, dry goods can still be ordered on Amazon.

So, without any further adieu, here’s the pescatarian keto food list to guide your grocery shopping!

Continue reading “Pescatarian Keto Food Shopping List”

Following a keto diet means you have to be careful when you eat out, but it is convenient to find a restaurant that caters to your needs. If you’re a keto vegetarian, finding food to eat at restaurants and fast food chains is even more challenging. Luckily, Chipotle and Pancheros Mexican Grill are both safe havens for keto dieters, and they even have vegetarian keto options!

This article lists what you can order as a keto vegetarian at Chipotle and Pancheros and the net carbs of those orders. It also answers whether or not certain ingredients used at these restaurants are considered keto. Oh, and it explores the mysterious questions of “What is Sofritas?” and “What is Tofusada?” (Spoiler: They’re the tofu options used by Chipotle and Pancheros respectively.)

Can You Eat Keto at Chipotle?

Yes, Chipotle has a lot of keto-friendly options. While the burritos and tacos aren’t keto, you can order a salad and only add keto-friendly toppings (omit beans and rice). Something great about Chipotle is that its selection can cater to a variety of dietary restrictions, from vegetarian to vegan to keto.

I found this post on keto Chipotle orders from KetoConnect when I was first researching whether the restaurant chain was keto-friendly. I even found a reddit thread where users were discussing how to order vegan keto at Chipotle. Luckily, as a vegetarian, you have the options of sour cream and cheese, making your keto Chipotle order a little more varied. As a keto vegan, you’re limited to lettuce, salsa, guacamole, and Sofritas (tofu) at Chipotle. Continue reading “Are Chipotle & Pancheros Vegetarian and Keto? Yes, Here’s What to Order”

Fish is an excellent source of protein and omega-3 fatty acids on any diet, and it fits perfectly into a ketogenic diet. If you’re a pescatarian on the keto diet, you have an advantage over keto vegetarians: you get to eat fish as a source of fat and protein. It’s not uncommon for keto dieters to get bored with the constant chicken and bacon they end up consuming. However, some fishes are a better source of fat than others, and when your body is using fat for fuel, it’s important to know which fishes will be best for sustaining you.

This article explores different types of fish and determines whether each is considered a fatty fish and is beneficial on the keto diet. We’ll start out with the fattiest fishes and then discuss a few types of fish that have low fat content. Whether you’re a pescatarian or meat eater, you should find this article helpful when shopping for your keto groceries. Continue reading “What Are the Best Fatty Fishes to Eat on a Ketogenic Diet?”

Ketosis is a metabolic state the body enters when it starts burning fat for fuel instead of glucose. Many people follow a ketogenic diet by restricting their carbohydrate intake because there are a variety of benefits of being in ketosis. If you decide to pursue the ketogenic lifestyle, chances are you’re serious about your health and want to be sure you’re doing the diet correctly.

There are four main ways to check whether you’re in ketosis:

• Ketone test strips, also known as “ketostix”
• Using a blood ketone meter
• Using a ketone breath analyzer
• Listening to your body

This article discusses how long it takes to get into ketosis and ways you can enter ketosis faster. It also covers each way to test ketosis in depth so you can decide which ketosis testing method is best for your lifestyle. Continue reading “How to Tell When You’re in Ketosis”

UPDATE 5/28/20: ENLIGHTENED has released a new line of keto-friendly ice creams that advertise the net carb counts on the pint. While the keto line is not as low in calories as the regular flavors, it is significantly easier to fit into your macros. I recommend the Red Velvet! Halo Top has also released a keto-specific line, and the pints are lower calorie than the ENLIGHTENED keto pints although they are higher calorie than regular Halo Top. Other brands that are intended to be keto-friendly rather than low calorie like Rebel Ice Cream have also emerged since I wrote this article, so I suggest looking beyond ENLIGHTENED and Halo Top for low carb ice cream options!

UPDATE 7/28/19: ENLIGHTENED has changed their packaging as well as some of their nutrition facts since I wrote this post. Flavors like vanilla and cold brew coffee that previously advertised 60 calories per serving now have 70 calories per serving. The differences are minor, but the reddit post that I embedded is no longer completely accurate, so I will need to revisit this most. Before buying any products, make sure you check the labels to confirm that you can fit them into your diet! Continue reading “ENLIGHTENED vs. Halo Top for Keto: Which Is Lower in Net Carbs?”

UPDATE 5/28/20: Halo Top has released a new line of ice cream that is intended to be keto and advertises net carbs rather than calories per pint! If you can’t find the keto flavors in your local grocery store, the post below will still be helpful for choosing the lowest carb regular flavors. However, the keto line allows you to indulge without worrying about macros!

Halo Top Ice Cream is advertised as a low-sugar, low-carb, and low-fat ice cream with flavors that range from 240 to 360 calories per entire pint. Of course, if you follow the ketogenic lifestyle, what you really care about is just how low carb this ice cream is. When I searched for the lowest carb Halo Top flavor, I didn’t find an immediate answer, so I looked at every single nutrition label of the dairy flavors. My hope with this post is to make information about the carb content in Halo Top easily accessible. Keep reading to find out how safe it is to eat Halo Top on keto and which flavor has the lowest total carbs and net carbs!

Is Halo Top Ice Cream Keto?

The short answer is yes. You can make room for Halo Top in a ketogenic/LCHF diet, so it’s safe to call Halo Top a keto ice cream. However, while the premise of Halo Top is that you can eat the whole pint (four servings) without guilt, that’s not generally the case if you’re keto. Sticking to one or two servings is ideal. That said, it’s not impossible to eat the whole pint and stay in ketosis, but you may have to eat close to zero carbs for the rest of the day because an entire pint of dairy Halo To, which contains four servings, has between 24g and 40g net carbs. Flavors range from between 6g and 10g net carbs per 1/2 cup serving.

Continue reading “What’s the Lowest Carb Halo Top? Here’s Every Flavor Ranked by Net Carbs”

Many people associate the ketogenic diet with eating lots of meat and are surprised to hear that it’s possible to follow it while being meat-free. One variation of the meat-free ketogenic diet is the pescatarian keto diet. Being a pescatarian (also spelled “pescetarian”) is very similar to being a vegetarian except that you eat fish. Pescatarian keto is not nearly as restrictive of a diet as you might imagine, and there are a variety of benefits to following it. Here are five of them.

1. Following a meat-free keto diet is easier if you add fish.

Vegetarian keto is entirely possible, and many people are able to achieve ketosis without eating any meat. Just check out the subreddit r/vegetarianketo, and you’ll see how many people have vegetarian keto recipes and tips to share. You may also want to consider ordering the book Ketotarian: The (Mostly) Plant-Based Plan to Burn Fat, Boost Your Energy, Crush Your Cravings, and Calm Inflammation. Vegan keto is possible too (see meatfreeketo.com for tasty recipe examples if you’re skeptical) although more challenging, and it’s vital to be somewhat savvy in the kitchen. Continue reading “5 Reasons to Follow a Pescatarian Keto Diet”