What can you eat on a vegan keto diet? And is it even possible to combine these two restrictive dietary patterns together? There are many reasons why people may decide to follow a keto diet. Cutting down on carbohydrates can promote rapid weight loss, improve blood sugar metabolism and even boost longevity, for starters.
The problem is, a classic keto diet consists almost entirely of animal-based products and strongly advises avoiding most fruit and vegetables. If you’re a passionate vegan (or you simply can’t stand the taste of meat and dairy), that may sound like a deal breaker. But it doesn’t need to be.
Following a vegan keto diet is surely not an easy task and it will require quite a lot of planning and preparation. Most likely, you will have to go out of your comfort zone, try new foods and learn new recipes. Chances are, you will also have to invest in some dietary supplements and the best vegan protein powder. But if you’re ready to shake things up a bit, keep reading. In this article, we will discuss what you can eat on a vegan keto diet and the pros and cons of changing your dietary habits.
What is a vegan keto diet?
In a nutshell, a vegan keto diet combines plant-based eating with an extremely low carbohydrate intake. To better understand how it may work in practice, let’s start by discussing the principles behind both of these approaches.
To put it simply, ketogenic diets focus heavily on the overall macronutrient ratio, while vegan diets are very particular about the types of food you can eat. Vegan diets exclude everything that is either made of animals, uses animal derivatives or harms living creatures in any way. That means no meat, dairy or eggs, but also no honey, shellac or bee pollen. Many table dressings, sauces, alcoholic drinks and processed foods will also land on the red list. Always check whether a particular food product has been branded as vegan-friendly – you may be shocked to see how many grocery items are not fully plant-based.
The next step is making sure you eat according to the recommended macronutrient ratio. Ketogenic diets contain approximately 75% of dietary fat, around 15-20% of protein, and up to…