When I set out to start with the keto diet, the biggest thing I was concerned about was how will I restrain myself from snacking! After all, one of the reasons for my weight gain has been my inability to let go of cookies, crisps, and everything in between.
Naturally, I wanted to know which snacks I could still enjoy, albeit occasionally. Finding the right (acceptable) snacks can be quite challenging when you are on a keto diet. There is quite a long list of items you cannot devour.
But, it turns out that there is one snack that is often associated with the keto diet – whisps crisps. If you were to ask me, cheese whisps make for a delicious munchy!
So, are whisps keto friendly? Yes, they are, if you choose the right flavors! They are often considered to be a worthy alternative to conventional potato chips. Let’s delve deeper into the whisps world to find out more!
Are whisps really keto friendly?
Before diving deep into how many keto whisps one can eat during their diet, let’s start with the basics. If you are new to the world of keto friendly crisps, I am sure you haven’t heard of whisps.
Neither had I previously. I was very happy in my world of Doritos, but certainly, my body wasn’t. This led me to the path of keto and ultimately to whisps.
What are Whisps?
To the naked eye, Whisps looks exactly like any other tiny potato chips. You know, I am a crisp expert myself (meme, intended!), and I pride myself in being able to detect that whisps were not really made out of potatoes the first time I saw them.
So, what exactly are they then, you may wonder? Well, they are very small and crispy slices of parmesan cheese. And this composition makes whisps keto friendly usually. One thing that is common in all flavors of whisps is that the crisps do not have any trans-fat in them.
Considering that this type of fat is specifically prohibited in a keto diet ticks at least one box for keto enthusiasts. Additionally, all whisps are also gluten-free as they don’t contain any added sugar. But, other nutritional values of whisps may differ depending on the flavor you choose.
The Whisps You Can Eat (Or Not)
There are various different types of flavors available in whisps crisps. Some of them are keto friendly; others are not.
Are you a cheese crisp lover and wondering whether or not your favorite flavor of whisps cheese crisps keto friendly or not? Let’s find out.
1. Parmesan
The parmesan flavor is keto friendly since it has 1g of carbs and no sugar! Additionally, in 28 grams worth of the snack, there are 150 calories. The crisps do not contain any trans-fat and contain sodium (350mg), protein (13g), calcium (360mg), and iron (0.1mg).
2. Tangy Ranch
The Tangy Ranch has a creamy and cool flavor that is made from cheddar cheese and an array of spices. Since Tangy Ranch has a high carb content (3g), it is not keto-friendly. It contains sugars like dextrose, sugar, and maltodextrin.
3. Hot & Spicy
For those of you who like spice, you might prefer the Hot & Spicy flavor among the others. It has 2g of carb per serving but is among whisps that are keto friendly. It also contains 50mg of potassium, 310mg of calcium, and 420mg of sodium per 28g of whisps.
4. Nacho Cheese
Are cheese whisps keto friendly if you buy the nacho cheese flavor? Sadly, no! I was very disappointed to learn this since nacho cheese is my favorite flavor. Unfortunately, the flavor contains maltodextrin, which is a known non-keto sweetener that can interfere with the keto diet.
5. Garlic Herb
Another flavor that sadly contains maltodextrin and hence might not be the best choice during the keto diet is Garlic Herb. It is quite sad since the flavor profile of these whisps is pretty good, owing to the addition of garlic, basic, and herbs!
6. Cheddar
The conventional cheddar cheese whisps are among the safest keto friendly snacks out there within the whisps world. It has the recommended amount of carbs (1g). Its nutritional composition also includes 40mg potassium, 330mg calcium, 10g protein, and 330g sodium.
7. BBQ
To be honest, I never like any crisp that is BBQ. But if you do, this whisp might be your true calling. It is keto friendly as well as gluten-free. It has 1 g of carbs, 340mg of calcium, 50mg of potassium, 14g of fat, and 10g of protein. The onion, paprika, and tomato included in the crisp give it the classic BBQ flavor.
8. Asiago & Pepper
For those of you who like chipotle, you might like the Asiago & Pepper flavor of whisps. This keto friendly snack has 1g of carb, 11g of fat, 340mg of sodium, 330mgof calcium, 40mg of potassium, and 0.1mg of iron.
What Makes a Food Keto Friendly?
One thing I learned early on in my keto diet is that understanding the science behind keto is imperative to know whether a given food is keto friendly or not.
Let’s take the current snack quest as an example. A simple search of whether or not are whisps keto friendly might lead to a simple answer of ‘yes, they are.’
But, there are certain flavors that aren’t. And only by knowing what makes a food keto friendly can you hope to make well-informed food choices.
The Science of Keto
The Keto diet relies on the body’s ability to get calories from fat and protein instead of carbohydrates. In this diet, at least 80 percent of your calories should come from fat, about 5-15 percent from protein, and at most 10 percent from carbs.
Therefore, you must cut back on your carb intake, especially ones that are easy to digest. If you don’t, you end up rendering your keto diet useless.
Food to Avoid
Here are some types of food that you should ideally avoid during a keto diet.
- Grain-based food items like corn, wheat, granola, pasta, rice, cereal, etc.
- Sugar like table sugar, sweetened beverages, maple syrup, honey, etc.
- Fruits like bananas, apples, oranges, etc.
- Tuber-based food and products, including potatoes, potato chips, yams, etc.
How to Identify Keto Friendly Food?
To identify keto friendly food, you need to look beyond their nutritional information. Just because something has 2g of carbs doesn’t mean it is good enough to be incorporated into your diet. This is because there are various different types of carbs out there.
While some are easy to digest, others are not. And the easier the carb is to digest, the more it will be used for energy by the body, thereby replacing fats and protein.
For example, in some whisps crisps, additional sugar is added called maltodextrin. This is a technical name that not many are aware of, which leads to people thinking that there are no carbs in the product.
So, delve deeper into every food and look at the ingredients as well.
Also, be on the lookout for different additives and flavors. There are certain ingredients that cause insulin spikes in the body, which can also end the ketosis process.
Being on the lookout for such additives along with other ingredients that are prohibited in the diet help in making the right food-related decisions.
Common Ingredients to Avoid
As a rule of thumb, here are certain ingredients you need to look out for. If a given food item has any of these ingredients listed, then the item is not keto friendly, irrespective of whether it is marketed to be.
- Sugar (Barbados sugar, Beet sugar, Brown sugar, Cane sugar, Castor sugar, Coconut sugar, Corn sugar, etc.)
- Syrups (Brown rice syrup, Buttered syrup, Carob syrup, Corn syrup, Malt syrup, etc.)
- Chemical names of sugar (Dextrose, Fructose, Galactose, Glucose, Maltodextrin, Maltose, etc.)
- Artificial sweeteners (Acesulfame K, Alitame, Aspartame, Cyclamate, Neotame, etc.)
- Grain (Amaranth, Barley, Buckwheat, Corn, Oats, Millet, Rice, Rye, Quinoa, Sorghum, etc.)
- Thickeners and starch (Arrowroot, Cornmeal, Cornstarch, Cassava, Chickpea flour, Fava bean, etc.)
- Trans fat (Diglycerides, Interesterified oils, Margarine, Monoglycerides, etc.)
- Highly processed vegetable oil (Safflower, Grapeseed, Corn, Cottonseed, Canola, Soybean, etc.)
Wrapping Up
Writing as someone who habitually snacks a tad too much, the fact that I had even ANY keto friendly snacks to nibble was a huge win for me to begin with.
I am sure some of you can’t relate to this feeling. If you are a picky eater, the chances are that you aren’t just concerned about whether or not you are whisps keto friendly. Instead, you would want to know whether your preferred flavor is.
So, I hope that all of you like the flavors that you can eat on this diet. In case you don’t, my sympathies are with you. But, do try the acceptable flavors; you will gain an appetite for them in due time.
Meanwhile, you can use the list of common ingredients and forbidden food items to filter and find food that you can eat in keto. I will embark on this quest, too, and let you know of my discoveries. So, stay tuned (and wish me luck!)
To find out more about what other foods are keto friendly, click on one of the links below: