10 Foods to Avoid On a Ketogenic Diet When Trying to Burn Fat

Ketogenic diet is a type of diet where you consume foods or snacks that are very low in carbs and high in fats, except ones with omega-6 fatty acids.

It is all about reducing your carbohydrate intake and substituting it with fat.

The reduction of carbohydrates puts the body in a metabolic state known as ketosis, this makes the body very efficient at burning fat to give energy.

Ketogenic diet causes a great number of reductions in blood sugar and insulin levels, and this has numerous health benefits.

However, it takes discipline and there are certain foods you need to avoid. Not knowing what not to eat can be very dangerous and can make the diet a complete waste of your time.

These are 10 foods you should avoid on a ketogenic diet.

1. Starch

Starchy foods are high in carbs, so you want to avoid them when you are on a ketogenic diet.

Avoid Bread, pasta, rice, potatoes (even sweet potatoes), French fries, potato chips, porridge, and muesli and so on.

You should also avoid wholegrain products and Legumes, (like beans and lentils), these are also high in carbs too.

Little quantity of root vegetables can be taken (except potatoes) are okay but be careful because carbs add up quickly.

However, there are now good replacements, for all this food that works for a keto diet. Like keto bread, keto porridge, keto rice, keto pasta.

2. Fruits

Fruits are known to be healthy, however, it doesn’t mean they can be added to the keto diet.

Fruits are high in sugar and carbs, so they should be avoided at all costs when you are on a keto diet.

These include tropical fruits, fruit juices, dried fruits, and fruit smoothies.

However, some fruits are low in sugar, like, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries, and eat them in moderation.

Your smoothies should contain vegetables, healthy fats, proteins like collagen or nut butter, chia seed or flaxseed and sugar-free liquids, like almond milk or hemp milk this will give you an omega-3 boost.

3. Sugar

Sugar is a big no when you are trying to lose weight, ketogenic diet or not. You have to cut out anything that contains sugar.

Try as much as possible to avoid sweets, candy, cakes, cookies, chocolate bars, donuts, frozen treats, and breakfast cereals.

Fruit juice sports drinks and vitamin water because all these are sugar water.

Try to read labels of foods to find hidden sugar, even in your source, condiments, dressings, honey, maple syrup, and agave.

4. Starchy Vegetables

Try to avoid root vegetables like carrots, turnips, and potatoes and consume more non-starchy vegetables like brassicas like Brussel sprouts, broccoli, collards, and kale.

Other vegetables you can also take include leafy greens, like chard, spinach, and lettuce, and non-starchy vegetables including bell peppers, eggplant, and zucchini.

The high starch content in those starchy vegetables is very problematic, this means they are high in carbs.

5. Processed Foods

This so obvious but as a reminder, processed food is not going to work for you if you are trying to lose weight normally, so it has no place in the keto diet.

They contain preservatives, artificial colorings, and lots of ingredients that are harmful. Try to eat fresh organic food, they are more healthy and delicious.

6. Artificial Sweeteners

Artificial sweeteners are not healthy, most people try to substitute for sugar, but since you should avoid sugar when on keto diet, artificial sweeteners are not left out.

They are made chemically, to have a sweet taste and this is injurious to the health.

They increase the level of your glucose and insulin and these will help you gain weight.

7. Chicken – It’s Just Not Fatty Enough

Everyone likes to have chicken, whether you are cooking it, eating out, putting it in greens, it’s delicious, but it’s a food you should avoid when you are on the keto diet.

The reasons are chicken isn’t fatty enough, compared to red meat or fish, chicken has more lean parts.

This makes it difficult to hit fat macros when you consume chicken. Chicken also contains a lot of omega-6 and this causes increased inflammation.

Red meat and fish have more nutritional values than chicken like omega-3 fatty acid which is of great benefit to the body.

However, if you must have chicken, go for the thighs as they contain a higher content of fat.

8. Pork and Fish Produced Through Factory Farming

It is a lot easier for companies and organizations to produce pork or fish by factory-farming, however, the methods used for the production of these products makes them inconsumable for people doing the keto diet.

Although the food is the same it has been altered due to how it was made. Pork and fish that has been mass-produced usually contain a lot of omega-6 fatty acid which causes inflammation.

Also, fish that have been factory-farmed usually contain a lot of mercury, products gotten from factory-farmed pork should be avoided at all costs.

These products, like hotdogs and sausages, contain harmful nitrates, and they don’t contain as many nutrients as grass-fed animal products.

Therefore, its best to search for animal products that were fed with grass and not grains instead of Thus, your best option is to search for animal products that haven’t been fed with grains.

9. Traditional Mayonnaise

Mayonnaise is a food fit for keto but it isn’t healthy.

There are types of mayo you should avoid as they are made with different ingredients.

Do not buy soybeans mayo as it contains refined vegetable oil and this causes an increase in inflammation.

However, if you love mayonnaise you should find ones with avocado oil, coconut oil and avoid the ones that contain canola oil, soybean oil, and sunflower oil.

10. Nuts

As crunchy as nuts are, they are salty and fatty. They are also very difficult to eat moderately. Nuts contain high contents of omega-6, and the keto diet aims to reduce omega-6.

If food is addictive even when it’s a keto-based food, it is very easy to overeat it and this will cut short or slow down your progress and nuts can be addictive.

If you love nuts though it’s better to stick to low carb nuts like pecans or macadamia, you can easily include this in your diet and even then you need to ration it so you don’t eat too much.