Are Bananas Keto?

In addition, the micronutrient profile of your favorite banana is nothing short of fantastic, especially with potassium. One serving of 115 g can offer you 9% of the daily nutrient requirement. On top of this, the yellow fruit also contains essential vitamins and minerals like magnesium, sodium, zinc etc.

With such a diverse profile loaded with essential micro and macronutrients, bananas are one of the healthiest fruits for regular diets. In fact, daily consumption can help you with digestion, better cardiac health, weight loss and even cancer.

(But, the operative word here is 'regular diet.')

Will Eating a Banana Kick You Out of Ketosis?

To answer this question, you must know how carbs deficit puts your body in fat-burning mode. Statistically, you require less than 20 g of carbohydrates per day during your ketosis routine to qualify under a low-carb nutritional diet. However, the allowed proportion varies slightly from person to person based on body requirements and physical activity frequency.

Don't worry about the reduced carb count. Essentially, your body utilizes the macronutrients to pump energy. However, in its absence or with lesser availability, your system switches to fat and ketones instead of sugar or carbohydrates for its usual power supply. That is precisely what happens during the keto process.

That's to say, consuming an entire banana provides you with 24g of carbohydrates, immediately kicking you out of ketosis. So, if you're aiming to lose weight, now might not be the right time to go bananas!

How Can You Include Bananas on a Keto Diet?

Your high-in-carbs fruit isn't exactly keto-friendly, but there are ways you can include its goodness in your daily routine. So, add the fruit-centered edibles for the tropical flavor like banana extract or keto bread with sweet chunks. The following items will bring you the tasteful ketogenic meal without altering your insulin sensitivity:

Banana-Based edibles

One of the advantages of consuming banana-derived substitutes is that you relish the taste of the fruit even on a low-calorie budget. Make the most out of your keto regimen using:

Green Banana

These food items are the higher-starch version of the ripe alternatives. So, green bananas will add to your fiber nutrient intake while keeping the carb profile low.

On top of this, the starch (resistant variety) acts as a prebiotic for your gut and eventually boosts your weight loss process. However, remember not to overconsume to maintain your keto journey progress.

Keto Bread

Bananas recipes are all game, even when you have a strict keto low-carb diet chart to follow. One of the best ways to include the fruit is by baking it in slices of bread. You can enrich your moist loaf with delicious tropical fruit pieces.

Don't forget to enhance the taste with blissful dark-chocolate pieces devoid of sugar.

Banana Extract

Enhance your daily diet without getting rid of your favorite fruity flavor by including banana extract in your recipes. Since the essence doesn't contain any carbs or sugars, you will not be adding any extra calories to your dishes (Major relief for keto followers).

You can include the natural extract in various recipes such as flavored cream cheese, keto smoothies, low-carb ice cream etc. Ensure that you don't purchase the artificial variant containing synthetic ingredients.

Small Portion of a Banana

Even though a whole banana will ruin your ketosis routine, you can still consume a small bite-sized proportion of the ripened fruit. With 25% of the average fruit, your craving and nutritional requirements will be satisfied. Limit your intake to 5 g per snack, and your keto game will be on point!

Are There Any Alternatives to Bananas?

To mimic the tropical flavor of bananas, you can consume banana-derived dishes. However, to get the nutritional benefits, here're the food items that you must have in your ketogenic meals:

Fruits

The reason to be cautious with your fruit cravings during the keto diet is the presence of sugar. So, the larger the size, the higher will be the glucose proportion. For this reason, berries are the best food items to consume during ketosis.

Some varieties that you must consider are:

• Blackberries
• Cherries
• Raspberries
• Blueberries
• Strawberries

Besides these options, you can also include plum, avocado, kiwi, cantaloupe and peach in your low-carb diets.

Vegetables

There are two cardinal rules for having vegetables on keto:

Rule One: The vegetables sprouting above ground are the best ketogenic options as they are low in carbs. These edibles come in the range of 1-5 net carbohydrates per 100 g.

Rule Two: The root vegetables or the below-ground varieties are usually higher in carbohydrates, making them a wrong choice during keto. These food items carry 6-19 g carbs per 100 g serving.

If you want to consider the former vegetable variants, include:

• Asparagus
• Tomatoes
• Celery
• Spinach
• Lettuce
• Zucchini
• Cabbage
• Cucumber
• Broccoli

For below-ground vegetables, you can go with:

• Carrot
• Beetroot
• Celeriac
• Rutabaga

Note: Ensure that you stay away from potatoes (both the regular and sweeter variants) as the net carbs weightage is usually higher in them.

Concluding Remarks - Can You Consume Bananas on Keto?

Bananas are one of the most nutritious food items to consume in your daily life. However, as much of an energy booster they are, you should be wary of including them in your ketogenic diet.

If you're just beginning the fat loss routine, keeping your distance from the all-season favorite fruit is especially important. However, you can incorporate them sparingly once you've reached your optimum weight and have started the maintenance mode.

In place of bananas, it'll be 'fruitful' to include the alternatives such as avocado, broccoli etc., to compensate for the nutritional deficit. Besides, you can also use the food derivatives if you're craving the tropical taste!