Too much dessert can FEEL icky, am I right?! It looks so good or sounds delicious. You might be totally full from dinner. But then someone mentions the idea of dessert and you suddenly find a little more room. So you look at the menu, or in the cupboard, and you find yourself a little sweet treat. Unfortunately actually eating it can lead to blood sugar spikes and then the following crash. 

That’s why I like to swap in some lower sugar (or sugar-free) treats. I can still stick to my keto diet, satisfy my sweet tooth, and feel energized throughout the day. That’s winning all around. These treats might help pick you up from that mid-afternoon slump or you might need something sweet after dinner. Whenever it is, finding some keto recipes that are going to keep your daily net carbs in check can be life-changing 🙌🏼

Carbohydrates are not bad, BUT it’s good to be an informed consumer 💪🏼

Carbs are converted to sugar in the body – no matter what source they come from (veggies, beans, grains, etc.). You don’t see the sugar of course – but your body does – and over time it takes a toll. So what does this mean for you? You need to think about all of the sugars/carbohydrates you’re consuming over the course of the day. It’s not just about the added sugar, although that’s important. This is why a lot of people are switching to almond flour, gluten-free or keto-friendly treats. It’ll help remove some of those sugars from your diet.

This can be referred to as the “Hidden Sugar” effect – interesting, yes? Again, it’s always good to be an informed consumer and make food choices that you like AND are great for our bodies.

Low Carb Peanut Butter Cookies

In this recipe, I’ve skipped all the flour, even coconut flour! This dramatically cuts back on the carbs and you’re using a low carb sweetener too. You can use a sugar substitute like monk fruit, stevia or other keto sweeteners you can purchase from the health food shop. After you’ve made a batch of these, you can look to reduce the amount of sweetener down to ¼ cup. But make sure you try the recipe first! You can also look at add some chocolate chips if you’re looking to mix it up.

Try these super easy, low-carb cookies for a delish treat that’s low sugar! See the below image for the recipe!

Ingredients

• 1 cup keto peanut butter

• 1 egg

• ½ cup sugar substitute

• 1 Tbsp butter

• ½ tsp vanilla

Instructions

1. Turn oven on to heat up to 350 degrees.

2. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.

3. Mix all the ingredients together. If you start with the eggs and butter at room temperature this will be a lot easier!

4. Scoop into large tablespoon size amounts, roll into balls, place on the baking tray. Pat down using a fork to form criss-cross patterns.

5. Once the oven is hot, bake for 12-15 minutes. Cool completely before eating.

More Information

So what is a keto diet and why should you think about following one?

A ketogenic diet is one that is low in carbohydrates and high in fat. This can sound counterintuitive for people that grew up hearing that fat was bad and seeing the supermarket shelves stocked full of low-fat options. But recent studies have shown that eating in this way can help you lose weight and improve your health. 

Before starting any sort of diet change, make sure you speak with a health care professional to ensure it is right for you. Information on this page should not be taken as medical advice. I can only provide general advice and information.

The keto diet has some similarities to the Atkins and low-carb diet, so you may be familiar with some of the principles. Eating in this way, replace carbohydrates with fat, can help your body enter a state called ketosis where you become efficient at burning fat stores. 

There are a few different variations on the standard keto diet, but any research you might read has generally only been conducted on the standard. Although there may be good principles behind adjustments, studies to understand the benefits may be limited.

So What Is Ketosis?

This is a metabolic state of the body where you switch from using carbohydrates or sugars as your primary fuel to using fat. This happens by reducing the amount of glucose you’re consuming, which is usually the main source of energy for your cells.

A ketogenic diet will usually allow for 20 to 50 grams of carbohydrates per day and then using high-fat food to leave you feeling full and satiated. This includes foods like meat, fish, eggs, nuts, and healthy oils. You will want to ensure you’re not consuming high levels of protein as this can be converted into glucose. This would slow down your transition into a ketosis state.

Intermittent Fasting

Another common methodology used to help induce ketosis is intermittent fasting (IF). Most of us fast overnight, from dinner or our last snack until breakfast in the morning. IF just extends this a little longer. The most common IF protocol is to fast for 16 hours and eat for a window of 8 hours.

This doesn’t mean just skipping breakfast or reducing the number of calories you’re eating. You still want to eat your three meals a day and consuming your normal amount of calories. The only thing you’re changing is the window that you’re eating them in. 

You can pick a window that is right for you. It might be 7 pm to 11 am that you fast, if you like an early dinner. Other people prefer later and start fasting at around 10 pm at night and don’t eat until 2 pm. Look at when you’re usually eating to see what will work best for you.

Another important step is to build up to IF. If your body is used to having calories fed to it for most of the day and night, this can be a huge change. It’s a good idea to start tracking how long you’re normally fasting overnight, without any changes. Then slowly start to increase this by 30 minutes every couple of days. Build up to your desired fasting window gradually so that your body and mental state can adjust to the lack of calories at certain times of the day.

Foods To Avoid

So you’re ready to start living a ketogenic diet? You might be a dive all-in sort of person, or a gradual build-up might suit you better. However, you do it, here are the foods you want to avoid on this diet.

• Grains and Starches. This is what generally comes to mind when you start thinking about carbohydrates. Rice, wheat-based products like pasta or bread, cereals. All of these foods are very high in carbohydrates and are generally highly processed so should be avoided. The few carbohydrates you’re going to consume will come from other sources.

• Sugar Laden Foods. These foods are most likely adding calories and carbohydrates to your diet without you even noticing. Drinks like sodas, smoothies and fruit juice should be replaced with water. Sweets like cake, ice cream and candy can be replaced with foods like the cookies above!

• Fruit. Although it has some great benefits, it does come with a lot of sugar as well. A small portion of fruit like berries each day is okay.

• Root Vegetables. These are healthy, but high in carbohydrates. This means skipping the potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, parsnips, etc.

• Alcohol. This is made up of carbohydrates and converts to sugar in your system. So skip the beer, wine, liquor, and mixed drinks.

• Beans or legumes. This includes peas, kidney beans, lentils, chickpeas, etc.

• Low fat or diet products. We want to go for the high-fat versions of low-fat mayonnaise, salad dressings, and condiments.

• Unhealthy fats. Not all fats are equal, so make sure you’re getting high-quality fats and skip past the processed vegetable oils, mayonnaise, etc.

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