Can you have fruit on a keto diet? – The Best Low Carb Fruits Under 10g Net Carbs
If you are following a low carb or keto diet, then you may have a hankering for some of your favourite seasonal fruit.
Is fruit even allowed on a keto diet? How can you add fruit to your low carb lifestyle? What are the best low carb fruits for keto?
Below is a comprehensive list of low carb fruits that have 10g net carbs or less for a reasonable serving, as well as some thoughts on adding fruit to your low carb diet.
This may be a somewhat controversial topic, there are many people out there who will make a sweeping declaration that you cannot include fruit in a keto diet and be successful.
For those people, that very well may be true, but it is absolutely not true for everyone.
The idea that you can never enjoy fruit again may be whats holding you back from committing to low carb eating permanently.
If that’s you, then keep reading, because I promise you, there is hope.
Lets discuss how you can determine if adding fruit to your diet will work for you.
Can I Have Fruit on a Keto diet?
The answer to this is really going to depend on you and your reasons for following a keto diet.
This advice is mainly targeted to anyone using a low carb diet for weight loss and general health.
If you are following a ketogenic diet for medical or therapeutic reasons, where ketone concentration is crucial, then you, should consult with your dietician.
So can you have fruit while following a low carb diet?
In short, fruit is allowed on a low carb or keto diet, if it works for you and your goals.
To help you figure this out, there are some questions you need to answer.
- Does having a fruit increase cravings, hunger, or appetite, making it harder to stick to my diet?
- Does it make me feel ill, bloated, uncomfortable or anything like that?
- Are there any other side effects that will impede my progress towards my goals?
You need to self experiment and figure out which low carb fruits, and how much of them work for you, and which don’t.
If you can answer no to all of these questions after eating fruit, its likely you can incorporate some fruit into your low carb diet without issue.
How to Introduce Fruit to Your Low carb or Keto Diet
If you have been following a low carb diet for some time and you have ever cheated with a sugary snack, then you know it can make you feel like absolute garbage.
This can also happen after eating fruit for the first time in a while.
If your body isn’t used to the extra sugar in fruit, it can actually make you feel sick and even cause gut wrenching stomach pain.
To mitigate these effects and introduce fruit to your diet painlessly, I recommend starting small with some very low sugar fruit from the list below such as berries, wait a day or so, and see how it effects you.
If everything goes well, (use the questions above to self assess) then you can try some more. Pretty soon you will have a good idea of what you can, and cannot tolerate.
This will take some time, but there is no rush, the last thing you want to finish make a rash decision that derails your hard work.
Use the comprehensive list of low carb, low sugar, keto friendly fruits below to help you decide where to start.
What are the Lowest Carb Fruits for Keto?
The list below outlines as many low carb, low sugar, fruits as I could find, that are 10g of net carb or less per reasonable serving.
Although some fruits could technically be under 10g net carbs if the serving was small enough, I didn’t include those because the serving size unrealistic to enjoy.
I also did not include things that are technically fruits like tomatoes and peppers. When you are craving fruit, its unlikely you are looking to take a big bite of a tomato.
A list of the lowest carb fruits
| Fruit | Serving Size | Net Carbs |
|---|---|---|
| Acai Berry | 1 cup (230g) | 2.7g |
| Apricot | per fruit (35-40g) | 3.1g |
| Blackberries | 1 1/2 cups (215g) | 9g |
| Blueberries | 1/2 cup (75g) | 9g |
| Cherries | 10 fruits (80g) | 9.7g |
| Clemintine | per fruit (75g) | 7.4g |
| Cranberries, fresh | 1 cup (100g) | 8.4g |
| Currants, fresh | 1 cup (115g) | 9.6g |
| Figs, Fresh | per fruit (50g) | 4.5g |
| Gooseberries | 1 cup (150g) | 8.8g |
| Grapefruit | 1 cup (110g) | 9.8g |
| Guava | per fruit (55g) | 5g |
| Kiwi | per fruit (70g) | 8g |
| Kumquat | per fruit (20g) | 1.8g |
| Lemon | per fruit (85g) | 5.3g |
| Limes | per fruit (70g) | 5.1g |
| Loquat | per fruit (20g) | 2g |
| Lychee | per fruit (10g) | 1.5g |
| Orange | per small fruit (100g) | 9g |
| Peach | per small fruit (130g) | 10g |
| Plum | per fruit (110g) | 9.9g |
| Prickly Pear | per fruit (100g) | 6.1g |
| Pumpkin, fresh | 1 cup (115g) | 7g |
| Raspberries | 1 1/2 cups (185g) | 10g |
| Rhubarb | 1 cup (125g) | 3.3g |
| Soursop | 1 cup (60g) | 8.1g |
| Starfruit | per fruit (125g) | 4.8g |
| Strawberries | 1 cup (152g) | 8.3g |
| Watermelon | 1 cup (100g) | 7g |
If you can think of a fruit you would like me to look into and add to the list let me know in the comments down below!
Low Carb Recipes With fruit!
Fruits Not on The List
Does this mean you can’t have any other fruit other than what’s on the list?
No, of course not.
Only you can know what works best for you. I still eat cantaloupe and honeydew from our garden, seasonally, even though its got a bit more sugar.
But it works for me, you need to determine what works for you. The 3 self assessment questions we discussed above are a great starting point to figuring this out with any food.
But Isn't Fruit Healthy?
Healthy is a subjective term that means different things to different people.
It’s also important to differentiate healthy from essential.
There are people who consider meat healthy, and many who don’t, yet on both sides of the line there seem to be people who are doing just fine, because they have found what works for them.
Yes there are fruits that contain vitamins that could be considered good for your health, but like it or not, fruit contains lots of sugar, and even though its natural sugar, its still sugar.
Eating something with too much sugar can definitely effect your ability to maintain a low carb diet by increasing cravings and hunger.
So the question is not “Is fruit healthy” its “Does eating it work for me”
Can I Have Fruit Juice?
If you are following an IIFYM (if it fits your macros) approach to low carb eating then technically, you can have a small portion of fruit juice within your macros.
But here is where I start to caution you.
Fruit juice, even homemade, is sugar water. You are basically taking all the good stuff from eating fruit, removing it and leaving a super concentrated, sugary, hyper-palatable beverage, that is very easy to over consume.
If you can drink fruit juices and still stay on track (using the 3 self assessment questions above), then by all means who am I to say you can’t.
However, I strongly encourage you to stick to fresh, whole, fruits that are in season.
3 Tips for Eating Fruit on a Low Carb Diet
- Enjoy your favourite fruits seasonally: This isn’t really a rule but it makes sense, I honestly believe this is how fruit is intended to be eaten. When they are in season and at their peak deliciousness. This is usually in the summer months.
- Enjoy local fruits: Tying into the first tip, seasonal, local fruit is likely to be the freshest and best tasting fruit you’ll get your hands on, aside from supporting your local community, this makes what you are eating worth it.
- Start Slow: Whats the rush? You don’t want to dive head first into a mistake that can potentially set you back. Start slow, and figure out what works for you.
