Is Fruit Juice Keto?
Colorful fruit juice tastes sweet, feels refreshing, and brings a range of nutrients to your diet. Squeezing vibrant fresh strawberries or oranges into a juice is a delightful way to start your day, deliver some sweetness, fuel a workout, and keep you going until lunch or dinner. Some juices, like apple and grape, might have you reminiscing about your childhood. What if you’re following a ketogenic diet? Is fruit juice keto?
Is Fruit Juice Keto?
The answer to whether fruit juice is keto is, it depends. Overall, it’s best to avoid juice on keto because most fruit juice is made with sugary fruit, so it’s too high in carbs to work for keto macros. Too much sugar, especially in a liquid form, can quickly bump you out of ketosis.
Juicing fruits and veggies with a juicing machine also removes a large portion of the fiber. Fiber and fat help slow down any rise in blood sugar. Juicing is a great way to get nutrients, but you’ll need to obtain your healthy fiber elsewhere and be mindful of the carb count.
The majority of store-bought fruit juices have well over 10 grams of net carbs per serving, which is too high for most keto dieters. As an example, a small 8 oz bottle of apple juice from Family Dollar Stores Inc. has a surprising 28 grams of net carbs. That’s with no added sugar and just three ingredients: apple juice concentrate, water, and vitamin C (ascorbic acid). [1] Most keto dieters have a daily carb allowance of 20-50 grams of net carbs.
An 8 oz drink of cranberry juice from Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc. also has just over 28 grams of net carbs. The ingredients are cranberry juice concentrate, grape juice concentrate, apple juice concentrate, pear juice concentrate, natural flavors, pectin, and ascorbic acid. [2]
It’s easy to see how most fruit juices are off-limits for keto dieters, even without any added sugar. That doesn’t mean that you’re completely out of fruit juice options.
Top Tips for Choosing Fruit Juice on Keto
Some fruits, like lime and lemon juices, are keto-friendly and lower in carbs without compromising flavor. If you’re bored of drinking plain water and you’re missing fruit juice, add some lemon or lime juice to the water to spruce up the taste. Use sparkling water for a fizzy beverage.
Always check the carb count on the label if you’re buying a fruit juice product, and watch out for any sneaky added sugar or syrup. If you’re starting with a higher-sugar fruit like oranges or apples, you know that the fruit juice is going to be naturally rich in sugar, despite what claims the company might make on the label.
Many keto dieters avoid even fruit juices that have a lower carb count because they contain ingredients that aren’t keto-friendly, such as agave nectar. For example, an 8 oz serving of strawberry lemonade juice from Whole Foods Market has around 6 grams of net carbs, but most keto dieters would steer clear of ingredients like agave nectar due to the fructose sugar and potential interference with ketosis. [3]
You can always test your ketones and blood sugar response after you consume a certain fruit juice to be sure. You can also go for other keto-friendly beverages like tea, coffee, sparkling water, and some veggie juices (made with keto-friendly veggies and greens and no added sugar or syrup). The most keto-friendly veggies include celery and leafy greens like kale and spinach.
Keto-Friendly Beverage Recipes from Ketogenic.com
Instead of risking ketosis for a questionable store-bought fruit juice, check out some of these satisfying low-carb drink recipes from Ketogenic.com:
References
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Database. Apple Juice, Apple. FoodData Central (usda.gov)
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Database. Cranberry, 100% Juice, Cranberry. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/2563283/nutrients
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Database. Strawberry Lemonade Juice. FoodData Central (usda.gov)
