What’s not to love about popcorn?
It’s an easy, healthy snack, ideal for taking on-the-go or for getting a film night. We are talking about air-popped java or popcorn that has been heated in healthy, high-temperature cooking oil. Not popcorn that’s coated in unhealthy sugar or fats like kettle corn or the movie popcorn you get in a theatre.
But, is popcorn keto-friendly? Does this qualify as a keto snack? The solution is dependent upon your daily carb limit.
On a proper ketogenic diet, carbohydrates are severely restricted to 5% of calories from carbohydrates to enter the body into a state of ketosis. This most restrictive period of a ketogenic diet is usually followed for only a short period and will likely not include some grains, like popcorn, on the meal plan.
But most men and women follow a modified variant of a keto diet, which allows for more versatility with carbs. An altered keto diet generally aims for significantly less than 50 grams of net carbs every day. Targeted and cyclical keto diets also provide for greater flexibility with carbohydrate intake. On these kinds of low-carb diets, popcorn may fit right into your daily carb limit.
What’s Popcorn?
Popcorn is favorite snack food, appreciated by men and women for thousands of years.
How can a little hard corn kernel create its magic transformation into popcorn? Each corn kernel includes a tiny amount of water that converts into steam when heated. Ultimately, the tough outer shell reaches its stress stage, and also the kernel explodes, resulting in a spongy white flake of popcorn.
Since whole grains are fiber and nutrient-dense, they can lessen the risk of many significant diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes.
There are two main methods to make popcorn — moist and dry.
The wet method uses hot oil to help disperse the heat and pop up the corn kernels. This method may also be done on the stovetop.
Should you prefer this approach, make sure you use a high-temperature cooking oil such as avocado or processed coconut oil. You can even use ghee, which is clarified butter.
Nutrition Facts
- 30 calories
- 0.4 g fat
- 1 g protein
- 1.2 g fiber
- 6.2 g total carbs
- 5 g net carbohydrates
3 Cups of Air-Popped Popcorn
- 90 carbs
- 1 g fat
- 3 grams of protein
- 3.6 g fiber
- 18.6 g total carbohydrates
- 15 g net carbohydrates
- 9% of the Reference Daily Intake (RDI) for magnesium
- 9 percent of the RDI for phosphorus
- 12 percent of the RDI for manganese
- 6 percent of the RDI for zinc
Is Popcorn a keto snack?
If you’re in the induction period of a keto diet, snacks generally will be high-fat and very low-carb, like eggs, avocados, cheese, nuts, and seeds. During this period, popcorn is not considered a right keto bite choice.
But if you obey a modified, targeted, or cyclical keto diet afterward — at just 5 grams of net carbs per cup — popcorn can work as a suitable keto snack option.
Be sure to check the nutritional information on any store-bought microwave popcorn and pre-popped bagged popcorn. Avoid any kinds of popcorn products with added sugar, unhealthy fats, and additives.
Start looking for products with a short ingredients list, made with only salt and wholesome vegetable oil, like olive or coconut oil.
Keep away from movie theater popcorn completely, as you don’t have any method to control the amount and type of oil used. Instead, pop your popcorn at home in your popcorn maker or on the cooker and bring it with you into the movie theater.
Or, even if you plan, you can earn keto popcorn out of cheese. This procedure requires over 24 hours because you want to allow time for the cheese to wash out, but it’s worth it if you’re looking for a highly satisfying keto bite.
Best Strategies to Add Flavor to Popcorn
Here Is an Excellent list of ways to season your bowl of popcorn without adding sugar
Portion Size Matters
Keep in mind that 1 cup of popcorn contains 5 grams of carbs (net), so part size does matter. If you’re trying to stick with a 50 g daily carbohydrate count, restrict popcorn portions to 3 cups per day. Fill on additional Lowcarb snacks at home only If 3 cups of popcorn weren’t sufficient to satisfy your Appetite.
Satisfying Snack Favorites on Keto
Here are some satisfying keto snack choices if you have hit your carb count limitation for snacks:
Nuts — Macadamia nuts and pecans are equally great options.
Beef Jerky or Pork Rinds — Sometimes, the saltiness of those low-carb snacks is just what you need to satisfy a hunger craving.
Hard-boiled eggs — Hard-boiled eggs make for a simple, high-protein portable keto snack.
Avocado –A entire small-medium avocado (136 g) nets just 2.5 grams of carbohydrates. This superfood is packed with minerals, vitamins, heart-healthy fats, and fiber. All you need is a knife and a spoon to enjoy this low carb treat.
Cheese — Many kinds of cheese matches well into a keto diet. Also, it’s a great way to get some excess calcium in your diet plan.
Cottage cheese –Top a delicious cottage cheese bowl with toasted almonds or sunflower seeds that provide you that satisfying crunch. Other fantastic toppings or mix-in choices comprise stevia sweetener, vanilla extract, coconut flour or scents, almond milk, and cinnamon.
Roasted Cauliflower — There is a motive cauliflower is a keto fan-favorite. It’s packed with nourishment, low-carb, and contains a hearty texture that fills you up.
Açaí bowl — Netting only 1 gram of carbs per serving (100 g) and packed with nutrition, açaí berries are the nearly perfect food for a low-carb diet. Regrettably, most store-bought açaí bowls are loaded with sugar, so it is best to make your very own keto-friendly açaí bowl at home. Be sure that you use unsweetened frozen açaí puree mixed with unsalted almond milk and include a stevia sweetener.
Top with coconut flakes, berry or chia seeds, and nut butter.
Keto popcorn — There are some wonderful keto recipes online for keto popcorn made with only cheese, not corn kernels. The down-side is that it requires at least 24 hours for the cheese bits to wash out before you inhale them, but it is well worth the wait.
In the end, you have a delicious, low-carb, crunchy treat. Bake a big enough batch so that you have this keto-friendly snack on-hand throughout this week
