Can You Eat Fruit on the Keto Diet?

When people first start a ketogenic diet, one of the first questions is, “Can you eat fruit on the keto diet?” Learn which low carb fruits can be enjoyed occasionally on a LCHF diet. 

By now, I’m sure you’re more than aware that the ketogenic diet is a very low carb diet that consists primarily of meat, seafood, cheese, vegetables, nuts, seeds along with plenty of healthy fats.

While fruit you won’t find fruit listed at the top of the approved foods list, you’ll learn that there are a handful of fruits that you can enjoy on occasion, as long as you’re carefully tracking your macro-nutrients so you don’t go over.

If you’re curious which fruits those are, check out this list of low-carb fruits you can enjoy while following a keto lifestyle.

Reach For Berries First

Before you consider any other fruit, know that berries are the best low-carb fruit choice you can make while following a keto diet. They’re the lowest in carb count they’re chock full of awesome nutrients that your body needs.

Raspberries, strawberries and blackberries each have about 6 grams of carbs in a single serving, which is about 1/2 cup. That equates to about a handful of berries.

These lower-carb berries are a great choice to add to your favorite summer salad, grab as a quick snack or indulge in a healthy dessert.

Blueberries are also relatively low in carbs compared to other fruits, but they have almost double the carbs per serving than the other berries. So I’d recommend only using them on a very rare, well-planned occasion.

Fruit with Fewer Than 10 Carbs Per Serving

In addition to berries, there are also a few other fruits that are comparatively low in carbs too. It’s probably best to only eat these fruits at the end of the day when you know your final carb count and whether you can splurge or not.

Each of the fruits on this list contain 10 net carbs or less, so one serving will cost you nearly half of the carbs you are allowed to consume each day.

However, like I said, if you find yourself with enough macros left at the end of the day, these fruits can be a yummy treat. They’re also a good choice if you prefer to do carb-cycling on the keto diet where you have some days where you’re allowed to consumer more than the 20 net grams per day the standard keto diet allows.

This list will show you how much you can eat of each of these fruits and stay just under 10 grams of carbs:

• 3/4 cup serving of cantaloupe
• 3/4 cup serving of watermelon
• 1/2 cup of cherries
• 1/2 of an orange
• 1/2 of a medium apple
• Meat from one fresh coconut
• 1 large lemon
• 1 medium peach
• 1 plum

You’ll notice that these serving sizes are quite small for some of the fruits if you want to stay under 10 grams in that sweet serving. If you do a little searching, you’ll learn that many fruits are too high in sugar to consume at all on a keto diet. So some staples like bananas and grapes are typically totally off-limit on the ketogenic diet.

It’s true. You absolutely do not have to consume fruit while following a keto lifestyle, but it’s a nice way to indulge in a little something sweet, boost your nutrient intake and switch up your regular food intake.

Do you choose to eat fruit on the keto diet?