Some of you may object to our “Objectionable” rating on certain ingredients and ask why some whole foods are not keto friendly.
- “Why isn’t corn keto-friendly? It’s a whole food!”
- “Isn’t honey better than a sugar alcohol?”
- “Aren’t whole peas healthier than processed Pea Protein Powder?”
- “Wouldn’t it be better to eat fresh fruit than to eat keto-friendly processed foods?”
Well…
It depends. Let me explain.
Healthy Metabolisms Can Handle More Carbohydrates
If you are young, healthy, active, and eat a balanced diet, the answers for you are a resounding YES! Whole is definitely best. You likely have a very healthy metabolism that works as it should. You can likely eat 50 or even higher carbohydrates each day without affecting your blood glucose. Lucky YOU! Most of us using this site are NOT metabolically healthy, so our carbohydrate level needs to be under 20. This eliminates the majority of starchy and sweet whole foods.
Unhealthy Metabolisms Need Far Fewer Carbohydrates
I Heart Keto Mart isn’t rating ingredients for the metabolically healthy few (88% of adults are unhealthy metabolically). We are rating products for the majority of our viewers who have chosen the keto or low-carb diet because they have damaged their metabolisms. After years and years of ingesting too much sugar and too many unhealthy carbohydrates, the majority of us flocking to the ketogenic diet have had a diet high enough in carbohydrates and sugar for two lifetimes by the time any symptoms start to show up. As a result, even small amounts of carbohydrates wreak havoc on our insulin and blood glucose levels. This metabolic resistance syndrome, which causes insulin resistance, frequently escalates to a diagnosis of Diabetes type 2 – one of the deadliest and most preventable diseases on the planet.
Bio-Individuality
If you come across an ingredient that is marked “Debatable” or “Objectionable,” but you consume it frequently and are achieving all of your health goals, by all means, continue having it in your diet! Due to bio-individuality, all of us process foods differently, and foods that are “hard no’s” for some are “easy yes’s” for others. I Heart Keto Mart’s ratings are geared toward those who have unhealthy relationships with sugar and carbohydrates, both mentally and metabolically. Most of us are “hard no” on any sugars that affect our blood glucose. Sugar alcohols, Monk fruit, and Allulose are all considered “Acceptable”, but this is a slippery slope.
The Dangers of Sugar Addiction
For many of us who have sugar and carbohydrate addictions, these artificial sweeteners kick cravings back up for us, and for some, these alternative sweeteners still spike insulin and glucose. This is where each viewer individually has to decide what works and what doesn’t. As a side note, we have several ketone and glucose measuring aids available here. It’s beneficial to check these levels after eating particular foods to see how they affect your blood glucose and ketone levels.
Do What Works FOR YOU!
There is no cookie-cutter keto diet or low-carb diet. That is why we will never police you on what you have to eat to be considered keto or low carb. Some of you are moderators and some are abstainers. Others can have real sugar in small amounts, but many can’t go near it. There are also a few of you who can have 50 – 70 carbohydrates a day and stay in ketosis, while others of us can only have 20 before we’re kicked out of ketosis. These are all factors that vary greatly from person to person. You will have to figure the particulars out for yourselves, but I Heart Keto Mart is excited to walk beside you on your journey and help however we can!
*Disclosure and Disclaimer: I Heart Keto Mart is not a health care provider. We are an online keto educational site that shares keto approved products and low carb products and defines and rates their ingredients. I Heart Keto Mart’s hope is that our viewers will educate themselves on “all things ingredients” so they can easily identify keto approved ingredients and eliminate or greatly restrict unacceptable keto ingredients. I Heart Keto Mart is the best online keto store and online low carb store with 1000s of products. We are keto affiliates and each of the keto approved products we rate is linked to the vendor’s site where the product may be purchased. I Heart Keto Mart may earn a small commission from these sales. Amazon is one of these affiliates.