Keto Shopping List: Are Dairy, Beans And Legumes OK? Get The Complete Keto Foods List

There are some foods that are in the grey area when it comes to the keto diet. This can make it confusing when creating your keto shopping list. This article will clear up some of the confusing keto food options so you will be confident next time you’re keto grocery shopping.

our keto shopping list takes the guess work out of the keto foods you can eat to get into ketosis and lose weight on the keto diet. you'll be guided to the right dairy options and will finally know if you can eat beans, legumes and hummus while on the ketogenic diet. #keto #ketodiet

Can you drink milk on the keto diet? What about peas and legumes, those are ok, right?

As a newcomer to the keto diet plan, you may wonder about some of your favorite healthy options like milk.

Whole milk contains fat, but what about carbs? If you wanted to drink a cup of milk, you’d be looking at a sacrifice of about 12 grams of carbs.

With an approximate total allotment of 30g of carbs per day, you may wonder if it’s wise to give up a little less than half of those carbs on just enough milk to put in your morning coffee.

What if you put heavy cream in that coffee?

Then you’d be looking at a much higher fat content, which could also mean that you require a far smaller portion of cream in your coffee for it to be satisfying compared to the serving of milk or even low-fat milk that you might have poured in prior to becoming a keto dieter.

Remember, the higher the fat content, the more keto-friendly your food choice becomes, because we’re aiming for high fat intake throughout the day, to serve as fuel for the body.

If you’re on the ketogenic diet, a glass of milk may be too high in sugar to be worth the investment. But what about cream, cheese, yogurt and cheese? Let’s look at the best dairy options for your keto shopping list.

Related: How to Get Into Ketosis

Contents

The Best Cheese for Keto Diet

Does aged cheese contain more fat and less sugar compared to a fresh cheese like mozzarella?

The answer is YES.

Aged cheeses contain little to no lactose because lactose gets broken down by the bacteria which help to make it so delicious as it ages. Lactose is milk sugar, so that explains why the carb count goes down the more cheese ages.

What cheeses are aged? Basically anything that tends to be harder, sharper and more tangy tasting, including:

Parmesan
Romano
Cheddar
Provolone

Soft aged cheese that you can add to your keto shopping list include

Swiss
Brie
Camembert
Blue Cheese
Feta

The ketogenic diet is about re-training your body systems to run on FAT for fuel, NOT sugar. So milk products, especially cheese that has not aged, is likely too high in sugar to be helpful for people on the ketogenic diet.

What about yogurt on the keto diet?

If yogurt is a staple on your shopping list, you’re in luck because you won’t have to give it up on the keto diet.

But like any food that contains carbs, you may need to limit the amount of yogurt you consume each day and balance with the correct ratio of proteins and fats.

Greek yogurt is thicker (it’s strained, sometimes double-strained) than regular yogurt. You need a good brand that’s also full-fat.

Compare the label to a popular low-fat yogurt and you’ll see that the carb number goes down when the fat/protein count goes up.

A serving of full-fat Greek yogurt will contain fewer carbs than the same sized serving of low-fat, traditional yogurt. Please note that your full-fat Greek yogurt should also be plain. Flavored yogurts contain added sugar which is a no-no on the keto diet.

You can add in a few berries to your plain yogurt to add flavor along with this sugar-free sweetener.

Other Dairy Options for the Keto Diet

With aged cheese containing more fat and less sugars than choices like mozzarella, it’s easy to see which dairy products are the smart choices if you’re aiming for 75% fats, 5% carbs in your daily calorie intake.

Another point to stress about dairy: quality counts for a lot, especially while on the ketogenic diet.

There are certainly a wide variety of keto-friendly dairy choices to eat with your meals, including butter, heavy cream, sour cream, full-fat Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, cream cheese, Parmesan and other aged hard cheeses, and more.

But remember that fat draws out toxins, so if you’re consuming a high-fat diet then you really want to pick clean foods that have the least amount of toxins as possible.

Dairy products that come from grass-fed cows and other animals will be the healthiest choice for your high-fat ketogenic diet.

Additionally, the higher the fat content in your dairy product of choice, the better off you’ll be in terms of burning fat for fuel, and losing weight.

Can I Eat Beans and Legumes on the Ketogenic Diet?

Many people who are a fan of vegetarian foods or who regularly include beans and legumes in their meal rotation want to know if these protein-rich foods are okay on a keto shopping list.

The truth is that beans and legumes can bring you out of the ketosis safe-range.

Of course, like any ingredient with carbs, you can eat it as long as you’re keeping a running log of your total carb intake for the day and you know you’re within the limits.

But most keto-dieters don’t want to sacrifice the high-carbohydrate count of a single serving of beans, while they’re striving to stay within their keto-eating and fat-burning goals.

Some examples to put things into perspective for you:

On the ketogenic diet, you’re looking for a low carb count per serving. So your ideal “main course” protein ingredient at a single meal should be a higher-fat choice, with a lower carb count and a moderate amount of protein.

As always, the ratio should be about 75% fat, 20% protein, 5% carbohydrates.

Black beans contain 40 grams of carbs and 15 grams of fiber, with a “net carbs” total of about 25 grams. Their fat content is nearly non-existent, making this a poor choice for ketogenic eating.

Most beans and legumes, such as lentils, mung beans, kidney beans, pinto beans, chickpeas and white beans reveal similar numbers.

The one exception is Eden black soybeans, which contain 6 carbohydrates per serving.

What about hummus on the keto diet?

The standard recipe for hummus is chickpeas, sesame paste, olive oil, and lemon. The added fats and the fiber added make hummus a more moderate carb-count than one might expect.

However, at 16 carbs per serving using the traditional recipe, hummus may be a carbohydrate sacrifice that you may not want to make knowing you’ll be forced to go extremely low carb or even no-carb for the rest of your day.

The possibility to adapt a hummus recipe to the keto diet is always an option if you enjoy chickpeas. For example, increasing the amount of sesame paste and decreasing the chick peas to a very small serving, could work if you’re open to differences in taste and texture.

Since nuts are so keto-friendly with their high fat count, you might try combining very small servings of beans with other types of nuts such as macadamia or brazil, to see what kinds of interesting dips you can come up with.