The Art Of Keto

Dispelling keto misinformation and helping you lose fat.

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Is Coconut Milk Keto Friendly [Why Some May And Some Not]

I remember the first time I had real fresh coconut milk. It was when I first traveled to the Philippines as a child that I was introduced to this rich and creamy goodness.

Ever since then, I’ve been hooked. I started using it in smoothies, soups, curries, and just about everything that I wanted to make extra creamy. 

However, when I started my ketogenic diet, I wasn’t sure if it was low-carb enough to include still.

Is coconut milk keto friendly? Coconut milk is moderately keto friendly with fewer carbs than regular milk and may be included while following a ketogenic diet.

In this article, I’ll go over exactly how many carbs are in coconut milk, the difference between some coconut milks, the brands with the lowest net carbs, some amazing keto friendly recipes, and much more.

Is coconut milk keto friendly pinterest

Is Coconut Milk Keto Friendly?

Coconut milk is keto friendly, and here’s why. 

Even though coconut milk has a few carbohydrates, it has a proportionally small amount relative to its serving size.

While you don’t want to consume a lot of coconut milk, including a cup (8 fl oz.), whether in a smoothie or a recipe can easily fit into your daily carbohydrate allotment. 

The most significant determining factor when it comes to whether a particular food is keto-friendly or not depends on how many carbohydrates you stick to each day. 

Most individuals following a ketogenic diet end up consuming anywhere between 20 and 50 grams of net carbs to achieve and stay in a metabolic state of ketosis. 

For example, if you had 20 grams of net carbs per day and ate something with 10 grams of net carbs, then that item would not be as keto-friendly as to someone who had 50 grams of net carbs per day.

You can look at your net carbs for the day, almost like a budget you get to spend, and what you choose to spend it on is entirely up to you.

There are no black or white rules when it comes to keto; the only requirement is that you keep carbs low enough to achieve and maintain ketosis, and that number will vary from individual to individual.

How Many Carbs Are In Coconut Milk

Just how many carbs are in coconut milk? While the number of carbs can vary from brand to brand, your average cup (8 fl. oz.) serving of coconut milk has a total of 13.3 grams of carbohydrates with 5.3 grams coming from fiber, thus leaving you with 8 grams of net carbs. 1

Relative to regular cow’s milk, coconut milk has about 33% fewer carbohydrates than your standard eight fl. oz. cup of whole milk. 2

Just remember, the 8 grams of net carbs is for an entire cup of coconut milk. If your recipe only calls for 1/4 cup or a couple of tablespoons, the amount of net carbs significantly decreases.

Also, brands will vary, and some have as little as 1 gram of carbohydrate per cup. If you’re interested in these more keto-friendly brands, I’ll be listing them down below.

 Another friendly note, coconut milk found in the carton, will generally be more diluted than the ones you’ll find in the can, which is why they are more low-carb than your average canned variety.  

If you want to use coconut milk as a beverage, I would recommend purchasing coconut milk in a carton.

However, if you’re looking for the creamier variety to use in recipes, I would recommend using the canned version of either coconut milk or coconut cream.

Coconut Milk Nutrition

Coconut milk is rich in vitamins and minerals, especially potassium, which is quite vital while following a ketogenic diet. 

Coconut milk is also high in saturated fat, but I’ll cover why that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

For one cup of coconut milk (8 fl. Oz), you’ll get:

  • 552 calories
  • 57.2 g fat
  • 13.3 g carbohydrates
  • 5.3 g dietary fiber
  • 5.5 g protein
  • 88.8 mg magnesium
  • 2.2 mg manganese
  • 240 mg phosphorous 
  • 631 mg potassium

Is Coconut Milk Healthy

As I stated in the previous section, coconut milk is high in saturated fat, but that doesn’t necessarily make it a bad thing.

Studies show quite the opposite when it comes to coconut fats in regards to cholesterol and heart health. Here are just a few of the health benefits of coconut milk.

Cholesterol and heart health

Cholesterol and triglycerides show improvement with coconut intake. 

An 8-week study involving 60 men found that coconut milk porridge lowered LDL (bad) cholesterol while raising HDL (good) cholesterol by 18% compared to soy milk 3 

Additional studies also found that intake of coconut oil or flakes reduced LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels while improving HDL cholesterol 4 

May benefit weight loss

Coconut oil contains medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs)

Unlike other sources of fats, MCTs are shuttled directly to the liver, where they’re used for energy or ketone production, thus making them less likely to be stored as fat. 

Also, compared to other fats, MCTs may help reduce appetite. A reduction in appetite can help you decrease your calorie intake, which further leads to additional weight loss. 5 

If you ever decide to add oil on keto to hit your fat intake, my first go-to would be MCTs. However, I would much rather supplement straight MCTs versus adding additional coconut milk.

Boosts immune system

Coconut oil contains a fat called Laurie acid, which researched believe can support the immune system by fighting viruses and bacteria that cause infections 6 7

Certain animal studies found that coconut extract also helped to reduce inflammation and swelling, although in injured rats and mice 8 

How Is Coconut Milk Made?

If you’ve ever seen a coconut opened or cracked one open yourself, you’ll realize there’s only coconut water to be found. 

How then is coconut milk made?

Coconut milk is made similar to how various nut milk like almond milk is produced. In this case, the coconut flesh is grated and soaked in hot water.

From this step alone, coconut cream and coconut milk are created. After the coconut cream rises to the top, it’s then skimmed off, and the remaining liquid is squeezed through a cheesecloth to leave us with the coconut milk.

When you repeat this process, the coconut milk becomes thinner and more watery, which is how “lite” coconut milk is created. 

Here’s an interesting little video that shows you how coconut milk is made from the farm to the can (or carton).

Keto-Friendly Coconut Milk Brands

Coconut milk is quite common in most grocery stores, so finding it isn’t as hard as it once was. 

Here are a few coconut milk brands and their corresponding net carb count per 1 cup.

Just remember, you want to look for the cartons that say unsweetened. You may end up like me and buy coconut milk full of added sugars if you don’t otherwise. 

The cans don’t generally have added sugars, so you don’t have to worry about the “unsweetened” labeling for canned coconut milk.

  1. So Delicious Unsweetened Coconut Milk – 1g 
  2. Trader Joe’s Unsweetened Coconut Beverage – 1g
  3. Silk Unsweetened Coconut Milk – 1g
  4. Thai Kitchen Coconut Milk – 3g
  5. Goya Coconut Milk – 8g
  6. Native Forest Coconut Milk – 6g

As you see, the net carb count can vary significantly between brands (and carton vs. can), so choose wisely.

And choose the one that fits your needs (cooking vs. drinking).

What’s The Difference Between Coconut Cream and Coconut Milk

If you briefly skimmed the how coconut milk is made section, you’ll see that after the coconut flesh is grated and soaked in hot water, the cream rises to the top and then scraped off.

Similar to how heavy whipping cream is created from dairy milk, coconut cream is gathered in the same way.

The result is a creamier, fattier, and usually less carbohydrate version than the milk portion.

If you have the calories to spare and want a richer and more creamy substitute for coconut milk, then try coconut cream. You could also just use heavy whipping cream if you’re not opposed to using dairy.

What’s The Best Milk For Keto?

So is coconut milk the ultimate alternative to dairy milk for keto? 

Not necessarily.

 There is no “best milk” for keto. The best milk will vary from person to person because everyone has different needs and taste buds.  

I could tell you the best milk for keto is coconut milk, but if you hate coconuts, then that wouldn’t do you any good, would it? 

In terms of kinds of milk you can try that are low carbohydrate aside from coconut milk, there is:

  • Almond milk
  • Cashew milk
  • Soy milk
  • Macadamia milk
  • Flax milk
  • Hemp milk

The best thing you could do is give them all a try and find one that you enjoy the taste of. 

That would be “the best” milk for keto FOR YOU.

Keto-Friendly Coconut Milk Recipes

Now that we’ve established that coconut milk is keto friendly, what are some ways you can use this delicious beverage to spice up your keto kitchen?

Here are a few ways to start incorporating a little coconut milk.

Coconut milk keto smoothie

One of the best ways to make a smoothie extra thick and creamy is by using coconut milk. Of course, this is assuming you like thick and creamy smoothies, because if you like watery smoothies, then I don’t think we can be friends. 

Here is a delicious keto breakfast smoothie using coconut milk, almond milk, and coconut yogurt. 

What you’ll need:

  • 1/2 cup Coconut Milk (canned)
  • 1/2 cup Almond Milk
  • 1/4 cup Coconut Yoghurt
  • 1/2 tsp Stevia (or favorite non-calorie sweetened)
  • 4 Strawberries (or substitute other berries)
  • 1/2 scoop of protein powder (I like this one)

Simply combine all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Keto Thai Coconut Soup

If there is any ethnic cuisine notorious for using coconut milk, it’s Thai cuisine.

This coconut soup is full of flavor and can easily be used as a main course. 

Photo and recipe courtesy of Explorer Momma 

KETO FRIENDLY COCONUT MILK SOUP

Creamy Coconut Milk Pudding

A little cream cheese combined with some coconut milk makes for a delicious coconut pudding in this recipe from Low Carb Yum.

Photo and recipe courtesy of Low Carb Yum 

Keto friendly coconut milk pudding

Coconut Milk Ice Cream

Want an easy to make coconut milk ice cream? This recipe only requires three ingredients. 

Photo and recipe courtesy of The Big Man’s World 

Keto coconut milk ice cream

Coconut Milk

Not a recipe per se, but if you’re interested in making your coconut milk at home, here is a video that takes you step by step in doing so.

The Takeaway

Coconut milk is keto friendly, containing 33% fewer carbs than your average dairy milk. 

Coconut milk found in a carton will generally have less carbs per cup compared to that found in a can since they are diluted.

If looking to enjoy a glass of coconut milk, you’re better off sticking with the carton versions, just make sure it says unsweetened on the label.

However, if you’re looking to use coconut milk in other recipes, while it has a few more carbs, I would recommend the canned variety.

How To Do A Keto Maintenance Phase For Better Results

An often forgotten discussion is the importance of a keto maintenance phase; it doesn’t matter whether your goal is fat loss or muscle gain. There should be a point where the goal should be to neither lose or gain weight, and this is why.

What is a keto maintenance phase? A keto maintenance phase or “reset phase” is a period you will bring calories up to maintenance with the goal of recovery from both the physical and psychological stress that comes with dieting.

The keto maintenance phase can almost be broken down into two types of phases:

  1. The Diet Break Phase 
  2. Maintenance Phase

I’ll go over both these scenarios along with when and why you may want to implement them. Then, we’ll discuss how you can apply this knowledge to help you achieve your goals more efficiently and maintain your weight loss.

Keto maintenance phase pinterest

Does The Keto Diet Have Phases?

All diets should have phases, better known as nutritional periodization. You can think of these phases as mini goals to ensure long-term success is achieved. 

In this article, the phases I’ll be discussing are the different types of maintenance phases you should be implementing. 

When the majority of people approach dieting, it’s usually an all or nothing mentality. Many don’t have a plan; they just know they want to lose weight. 

Not having a plan may lead you down the path of hitting plateaus when they could have been avoided. The worst part of not having a plan is regaining the weight after all the hard work you put in.

Ok, maybe that’s not the worst…

The absolute worst is ending up HEAVIER than when you started your diet in the first place.

 The reality is the 85% of people who are overweight or obese will successfully lose weight in their lifetime, but a staggering 95% will regain the lost weight within three years. 

What’s more alarming is that of the 95%, almost 50% will regain more weight than they lost.

Talk about mind-blowing.

When Should You Use A Keto Maintenance Phase?

This is where the different maintenance phases come into play, and there are various reasons you may want to implement them. 

Some of the reasons you may want to implement a maintenance phase are:

  • Hit your goal weight
  • A lot of weight to lose
  • Going on vacation
  • Stressful period

Why Have A Keto Maintenance Phase?

There are nearly a dozen reasons why you may want to implement a keto maintenance phase. 

Depending on where you are in your journey will dictate what that reason is, but nearly everyone can and should use a keto maintenance phase, or at least some period where the goal is to maintain weight simply.

The goal of the maintenance phase(s) will vary, but in general:

  • Physical Recovery
  • Psychological Stress
  • Hormonal Recovery
  • “Reset Bod Fat Set-point”
  • Planned Or Unplanned Life Event

The Importance Of Maintenance 

There are two specific types of maintenance phases I want to go over. 

First, the diet break, to be used during the weight loss phase. The second type of maintenance phase is the recovery phase, which happens after the diet is over.

The “Diet Break”

For those with quite a bit of weight to lose, which is all of us, this is a critical phase that shouldn’t be neglected.

Because let’s face it… we all have more weight to lose then we think or care to admit.

On the short side, I imagine you may be dieting for eight weeks, with most people in the 16-24+ week range. Some people may be chronic dieters that feel like they’ve been endlessly dieting their whole lives, I’ve been there too.

 Dieting is a stress on our body AND our mind. The purpose of the diet break phase is to help both our mind and our bodies recover from this stress, thus allowing you to continue dieting and keep losing weight. 

Think of this as a three steps forward 1 step back approach. 

By inserting diet breaks, you will be allowing some hormonal processes to recover, and help prevent any negative hormonal adaptations from occurring that arise from dieting.

You’ll also be giving yourself a psychological break, an often overlooked aspect of dieting. By mentally taking a break from dieting, you’re allowing yourself to keep pushing forward when you resume the diet. 

Think of a diet as a very long multi-day road trip. 

You wouldn’t just hop in your car and endlessly drive until you reach your destination. Instead, you would stop for gas, stop for food and stretch, stop to sleep at night, then resume driving after taking a breather.

Each time you stop and resume driving, you feel a little better than had you just kept pushing straight through. It may take you a little longer to get to your destination, but you arrive there safer, less stressed, and more refreshed.

The “Maintenance Phase”

Many people assume they can endlessly diet their weight off, or once they hit the end of their timeline or reach a target weight…

It’s all done.

Then, they go back to whatever they were doing before their “diet.”

The problem with that is, what you were doing before you started dieting is what landed you in this predicament in the first place.

Then, the cycle starts all over.

This is what makes this maintenance phase so important. We want to keep the weight off, and NOT have to diet for the rest of our lives. 

 You can think of this phase as a reset phase because it’s during this time that we want to attempt to get your body used to your new body fat level, and hopefully create a new body fat “set point.” 

Think of your body fat set point as the thermostat in your home. Your body works in very much the same way in that it tries to regulate how much fat you carry on your body. 

If you go above your body fat setpoint, your body combats this by making you less hungry, and you may non-consciously begin to move a little more. 

The same thing applies in the opposite direction, if you drop under your body fat setpoint, then your body increases hunger and may cause you to be more sedentary than usual.

How To Maintain Weight After Keto Diet Or Implement A Diet Break

This is the part where we go over how to implement the maintenance phases along your journey. 

Diet break implementation

Let me start by saying that even though it’s called a diet “break,” it doesn’t give you an excuse to go hog wild. By diet break, I simply mean a break from eating an amount of food that causes you to lose weight. 

Since it’s a caloric deficit that allows us to lose weight, we can also refer to this period as a “deficit” break.

Therefore, the goal is to bring calories up to maintenance for an extended period, usually between 3-14 days. The longer or more aggressive you’ve been dieting, the longer this time should be.

There are no set rules on how long or how often to take these diet breaks, but I’ll provide you with a general recommendation.

The calorie increase should ideally come from fat and/or protein since you’re following a ketogenic diet. 

Whether you raise calories from fat or protein is up to you. What’s most important is that you’re feeding yourself enough food to maintain your weight, give or take ~2 lbs.

With more food, we might expect to gain a little weight due to increased water and food volume in the stomach, but if you haven’t gone off the rails, I can assure you this is just transient weight. You should quickly lose this weight plus more once you resume dieting again.

Diet breaks or “maintenance phases” became popular due to the MATADOR study in which more significant weight and fat loss were achieved by alternating periods of dieting (caloric restriction) with maintenance phases (energy balance).

The Matador study also found that interspersing these periods helped reduce some of the mechanisms your body down-regulates in response to weight loss and caloric restriction. 9 

How to stop losing weight on keto, the maintenance phase implementation

So if you’ve reached your goal or don’t care to diet any longer, this phase is for you. 

If you’re instead looking to transition off keto or move to a different diet, I’ve written about that as well. This section is for those who still want to maintain a ketogenic lifestyle, though the principles are still the same for any diet.

Ok, so you’ve reached your goal… now what?

After you achieve your goal weight, we want you to stay there. This phase is so important but often overlooked.

The same way we went about a diet break will be the same way you’ll implement the keto maintenance phase. You want to raise calories enough to where you are maintaining your weight, give or take ~2 lbs.

Now, we can add a few calories from fat and protein each day, or you may want to stick with your current deficit but add in 1-2 days of higher caloric eating. Now, I’m not saying to have a cheat day, but some people prefer 1-2 days of higher calories than seven days of medium calories.

Just remember, you can still go overboard and gain weight by greatly overeating 1 or 2 days a week.

In the end, it all balances out. 

For this maintenance phase, I would suggest maintaining your weight for a minimum of 4-6 weeks before attempting to slowly titrate your calories up, almost like a “reverse diet.” 

Briefly put, the reverse diet is another phase where our goal is to bring calories up further to our new maintenance slowly. Just like the metabolism can adapt and slow on the way down, your metabolic can adjust and speed up. 

During this reverse phase, the goal is to add a small amount of calories week to week, allowing your weight to maintain or creep up slightly. You then begin to add calories if weight remains the same, or in some cases, even begins to drop – Yes, while eating more.

How Do you Find Maintenance 

Since our different maintenance phases require you to eat… at well… maintenance, how do we find what that is?

If you’ve been tracking your calories and macros, you’re already ahead of the game, but if you haven’t, I have ways to figure that out as well.

For those tracking macros

If you’ve been tracking, the way to find your maintenance is to determine your average rate of weight loss each week while you were dieting and do a little bit of math.

On average, a pound of fat contains 3,500 calories.

If you were losing at a rate of one pound per week, then we know you’ve been in a -3,500 calorie deficit over the week. Spread across seven days, this would average out to 500 calorie deficit you were in per day. 

Protein contains four calories per gram, while fat contains nine calories per gram. If we were to split the difference and increase both protein and fat, that would equate to:

Fat = 250 / 9 = ~28 grams of fat

Protein = 250 / 4 = ~63 grams of protein

Therefore, you would increase your daily intake by 28 grams of fat and 63 grams of protein per day and monitor weight. 

For those that haven’t been tracking

Even though you haven’t been tracking your calories or macros, the same method could be used as the one above.

However, you can go about this one of three ways:

  1. Begin to start tracking calories and macros loosely
  2. Increase portion sizes slightly and monitor weight
  3. Do a little bit of both 1 and 2

If you want a “just eat this amount,” keep reading on.

Keto Maintenance Calculator

If you want to know precisely how many calories and macros to eat, then head over to the keto macro calculator. 

Enter your stats in the different fields, and when it comes to “your goal,” set that to maintain or start conservatively and set it to weight loss (10%).

Setting the calculator to weight loss (10%) may account for some of the metabolic adaptation and be more accurate depending on how long you’ve been dieting.

Another method is to simply take your body weight in pounds and multiply it by 12-15. 

If you’re a reasonably sedentary female, stick to the lower end (12), whereas if you’re an active male, you may want to go towards the higher end (15).

Take, for example, a sedentary female who weighs 130 lbs. She would then take her body weight and multiply that number by 12.

130 x 12 = 1560 calories per day

Keto Maintenance Strategies 

After coming out of a period of dieting/caloric restriction, your body is primed to regain the lost weight. 

  • Hunger is higher
  • Energy is lower

Our goal during this period is to implement simple strategies that we can incorporate into our daily lives to ensure we don’t undo all the progress you’ve worked so hard for. 

Many of the same strategies that you’ve implanted to lose the weight should be many of the same strategies that you can utilize to keep the weight off.

Here are a few strategies you can implement.

Intermittent Fasting or Time Restricted Eating

Whether you’ve been intermittent fasting or not, studies show that the simple act of limiting your eating window causes people to be less hungry, thus eating fewer calories overall.

In this particular study, delaying breakfast by 1.5 hours and moving dinner up by 1.5 hours was enough to cause individuals to lose weight. [footnotehttps://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S2048679018000137[/footnote]

Increasing Protein Intake

Protein is one of the most satiating macronutrients, if not the most satiating macronutrient.2 

Protein also has the highest thermic effect compared to any other macronutrient.

The thermic effect of food (TEF) is the amount of energy (calories) required to digest, absorb, and metabolize meals. Protein has a TEF of 20-30% versus 0-3% from fat and 5-10% from carbohydrates. 

Increase Dietary Fiber

Start getting in those veggies! One of the successful strategies individuals use to lose and to maintain their weight loss is more fiber in the diet.

While you could technically fit anything into your net carbohydrate allotment for the day, you’re better of spending them on fibrous vegetables.

Physical Activity

In this study, physical activity was a part of 88% of people who successfully lost and maintained their weight loss. 3 

Self Monitoring

Self-monitoring, whether that’s keeping a food journal, progress photos, or periodic weight measurements is also a great strategy that helps you stay accountable and not track

How To Properly Come Off A Keto Diet – Eating Carbs After Keto

If you plan to come off of your ketogenic diet, you should expect some weight gain with the introduction of more carbohydrates. 

For every gram of carbohydrate your body stores, an additional three grams of water is also stored. While this may cause some individuals to panic, it is merely water weight.

To learn more strategies on how to transition off keto and into another diet, read my article below.

How to transition off keto

The Takeaway

Having periods of maintenance, where you are trying to maintain your weight during and/or after your diet, is both an effective strategy for continued weight loss and weight maintenance.

Dieting is both a physiological and psychological stress. Keto maintenance phases may help if you find yourself not losing weight on keto or helping you transition once you’ve reached your goals.

Is Lily’s Chocolate Keto Friendly? [All Their Products Explained!]

One of my downfalls when it comes to losing weight is undoubtedly my sweet tooth, but especially when it comes to chocolate.

Especially DARK chocolate. 

Naturally, I wondered whether I could still indulge in chocolate now and then while following a ketogenic diet, and Lily’s was one of the first brands I discovered.

Is Lily’s Chocolate Keto Friendly? All of Lily’s chocolate products are keto friendly, but certain varieties do contain more carbohydrates than others.

In this article, I’ll go over exactly which of LIly’s chocolate products and bars are keto-friendly and which to be mindful of, the best chocolate to stick to while following a ketogenic diet, the benefits of chocolate, and keto friendly recipes using Lily’s products.

Is lilys chocolate keto friendly pinterest

Are Lily’s Chocolate Bars Keto Friendly

Overall, most of Lily’s chocolate bars are keto friendly. However, there are a few select varieties that have more net carbs than others. 

Lily’s chocolate bars can remain low in carbohydrates because their products are sweetened with erythritol (sugar alcohol) and stevia (non-calorie sweetener). 

Both erythritol and stevia have a negligible effect on blood glucose. Erythritol has a glycemic index (GI) of 1, and stevia has a GI of 0.

Most individuals following a ketogenic diet usually count net carbohydrates, which means the carbs left after subtracting both fiber and sugar alcohols. 

Which Lily’s Chocolate Bars Are Keto Friendly?

As of writing this article, Lily’s currently has 15 varieties of chocolate bars that they carry under three different categories:

  • Milk chocolate “style”
  • Dark chocolate
  • Extra dark chocolate 

Below is a list of Lily’s chocolate products and the amount of total carbohydrates, fibers, sugar alcohols, and net carbs per serving (30g).

Dark (D) Milk (M) Extra Dark (EX)
ProductTotalFiberSug Alc.Net
LIly’s D Almond15g9g3g3g
Lily’s D Coconut15g9g3g3g
Lily’s D Original16g10g4g2g
Lily’s D Crispy Rice17g9g3g5g
Lily's M Creamy Milk17g10g5g2g
Lily’s M Salted Almond16g9g4g3g
Lily’s M Salted Caramel17g10g5g2g
Lily’s M Hazelnut14g8g3g3g
Lily’s EX Blood Orange16g9g5g2g
Lily’s EX Extra Dark15g8g5g2g
Lily’s EX Salted Almond13g8g4g1g
Lily’s EX Sea Salt14g8g4g2g
Lily’s EX Salted Caramel14g7g4g3g
Lily’s EX Extremely12g7g2g3g
Lily’s EX Intensely10g6g2g2g

On average, each bar contains two and a half to three servings in total. 

As you can see above, the highest-carbohydrate variety of Lily’s chocolate bars is the crispy rice with 5 grams of net carbs per serving. An entire Lily’s dark crispy rice bar with three servings would contain 15 grams of net carbohydrates.

 While it may not be the best idea to eat the whole chocolate bar at once, the most you would be setting yourself back is 15 grams of net carbs by eating an entire bar of their highest-calorie variety.  

However, there are other reasons besides the carbohydrates why you shouldn't eat an entire bar (or two) in one sitting. 

Is Lily’s Dark Chocolate Chips Keto Friendly?

Lily’s chocolate chips are produced in the same way as their chocolate bars, with one difference, they’re in chip form. 🙂 

This means the chips are also sweetened with erythritol and stevia.

Below is a list of the different varieties of LIly’s baking chocolate chips and their baking chocolate bar with the total carbohydrates, amount of fiber, sugar alcohols, and net carbs per serving (14g).

ProductTotalFiberSug Alc.Net
Lily’s M Baking Chips8g4g3g1g
Lily’s D Baking Chips8g5g2g1g
Lily’s S Baking Chips8g5g3g0g
Lily’s D Baking Bar8g4g2g2g

Compared to the baking chips, the baking bar has the “highest” net carb count with 2 grams of net carbs per serving, which is still relatively low in the grand scheme of things.

Are Lily’s Peanut Butter Cups Keto Friendly?

Below is a list of the different varieties of LIly’s peanut butter cups with the total carbohydrates, amount of fiber, sugar alcohols, and net carbs per serving of 2 pieces (36g).

ProductTotalFiberSug Alc.Net
Lily’s M PB Cups18g7g8g3g
Lily’s D PB Cups17g5g8g4g

What I find interesting is that Lily’s sells bags with multiple cups (6) or in packages of 2, similar to that of Reese’s cups.

Now, what’s interesting is that the cups in the multi-bags use roasted peanut flour as their main peanut butter flavoring, but the two-packs use peanut butter.

In either case, they both contain similar amounts of net carbohydrates per serving as one another.

Are Lily’s Chocolate Covered Nuts Keto Friendly?

Below is a list of the different varieties of LIly’s chocolate covered nuts with the total carbohydrates, amount of fiber, sugar alcohols, and net carbs per serving of 1oz. (28g).

ProductTotalFiberSug Alc.Net
Lily’s M Peanuts12g6g2g4g
Lily’s D Peanuts10g5g2g3g
Lily's M Almonds12g5g2g5g
Lily's D Almonds9g5g2g2g

Lily’s milk chocolate covered almonds have the highest net carb count relative to the other varieties with 5 grams per serving.

Are Lily’s Caramels Keto Friendly?

Below is a list of the different varieties of LIly’s caramels with the total carbohydrates, amount of fiber, sugar alcohols, and net carbs per serving (28g).

ProductTotalFiberSug Alc.Net
Lily’s M Caramel18g8g5g5g
Lily’s D Caramel16g6g4g6g
Lily's M Popcorn18g9g3g6g
Lily's D Popcorn18g10g3g5g

Out of all of LIly’s chocolate products, the caramels contain the most amount of net carbs per serving. If you choose to indulge in Lily’s caramels, do so in moderation.

How Many Carbs Are In Lily’s Chocolate

 On average, Lily’s products contain between zero and six grams of net carbohydrates per serving.  

Lily’s specialty products, more specifically, the chocolate covered nuts and especially the caramels, contain the most carbohydrates relative to their other products. 

The caramels contain five or six grams of net carbs per serving, and the chocolate covered peanuts contain between two and four grams of net carbs per serving.

Lily’s chocolate bars and baking chips average between one and three grams of net carbs per serving.

For a full list of net carb counts for LIly’s different products, please scroll up to the appropriate section.

What Is The Best Chocolate For Keto

Most people, including myself, never thought of chocolate as a low-carbohydrate food. Still, when you strip down chocolate to its natural form, cocoa, it is very low in calories and carbohydrates.

Your typical chocolate bar is then mixed with cocoa butter, sugar, and dairy in varying proportions, thus making them what we’ve all be used to enjoying growing up.

Typically, the darker the chocolate, the less sugar it would have. This is why you’ll generally see a percentage of chocolate, especially on dark chocolate varieties. 

The percentage written on the packaging indicates the amount that comes straight from cocoa beans. As an example, a 70 percent bar has seventy percent of it coming from cocoa beans, and the remaining 30 percent consists of everything else.

As is the case with Lily’s chocolate, the “darker” the chocolate, the less room for other ingredients, especially their primary sweeteners erythritol and stevia.

When looking for the best chocolate to indulge in while following a ketogenic diet, your best bet is to:

  • Stick to higher percentage chocolates, higher the better.
  • Find chocolate sweetened with non-nutritive sweeteners (erythritol, stevia, Splenda, aspartame, etc.).
  • Check the nutrition label and ingredients list for hidden ingredients.

Benefits Of Chocolate

While chocolate is quite tasty, there may be other reasons to indulge.

Rich in polyphenols

Cocoa is rich in polyphenols, especially flavanols, which have been shown to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. However, due to the processing and heating process, cocoa can lose some of these beneficial properties. 4 

May reduce high blood pressure

The flavanols in cocoa are thought to improve nitric oxide (NO) levels in the blood. Elevated levels of NO are associated with better blood flow and lower blood pressure. 2

  • L-Citrulline has also been shown to improve NO levels. 

Lower risk of Heart Attack and Stroke

These same properties that affect the blood may also reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke.3 4 5

Improve blood flow to your brain

Some research also suggests that the intake of cocoa daily may improve mental performance. 6 7

Ketones and ketogenic diets show positive effects on neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. The addition of cocoa in the diet may further aid in the prevention, though more research is required. 8 

Improve mood and reduce stress

A study on chocolate consumption in pregnant women found that higher and more frequent intakes of chocolate were associated with improved mood and reduced stress in babies. 9

Yes, in their babies! 

In men, a study done on seniors showed eating chocolate improved overall health and psychological well-being. 10

Is Lily’s Chocolate Healthy?

With the good must also come the bad. 

While not directly related to chocolate, Lily’s products do contain a significant amount of fiber and sugar alcohols, which allow them to have a low net carb count.

Sugar alcohols have been shown to have some benefits, such as:

  • Improvements in dental health 11 
  • Prebiotic benefits 12 
 On the flip side, too much of anything is never a good thing.  

Sugar alcohols in some individuals can cause digestive problems when consumed in large amounts. You’ll know if you ate too much because you may experience symptoms like:

  • Gas
  • Bloating
  • Diarrhea

If you have irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or sensitive to FODMAPs, considered refraining from Lily’s chocolate products.

Lily’s Chocolate Keto Recipes

Are you looking for some inspiration to bake with Lily’s chocolate? Here are some recipes sure to tickle your tastebuds.

Keto chocolate nut clusters

Use some salted mixed nuts for this recipe or a mix of your favorites. I like to use either macadamia nuts or almonds for these clusters.

LILYS KETO RECIPES NUT CLUSTERS

Photo and recipe courtesy of Peace, Love, And Low Carb

Keto pumpkins chocolate chip cookies

Chop up Lily’s chocolate bar or use their chocolate chips to make this pumpkin-inspired cookie treat.

Lilys keto friendly pumpking chocolate chip recipe

Photo and recipe courtesy of Hip2Keto

Easy sugar-free keto peanut butter fudge

For those that enjoy RICH treats, this one is for you — using heavy whipping cream (HWC), peanut butter, and some of Lily’s chips making for a surprisingly tasty keto-friendly treat.

Keto peanut butter fudge lilys keto friendly recipe

Photo and recipe courtesy of Butter Together Kitchen

Where To Find Lily’s Chocolate Near You

Lily’s has gained in popularity over the last couple of years, and I’ve been seeing them pop up at most local grocery stores I’ve visited. 

If you want to find a store locally, you can visit there store locator here, but the varieties they carry will differ. 

I like to purchase my LIly’s in bulk online, which usually comes out cheaper.

Alternatives To Lily’s chocolate

With keto gaining popularity, many other companies have started to come out with there own low-carb keto-friendly chocolates. Below is a list of some alternatives you may want to try:

The Takeaway

Lily’s chocolate bars and the rest of their product line is keto friendly with the highest product containing 6 grams of net carbs per serving.

When indulging in Lily’s chocolate products, ensure you include the net carbs in your daily amount and make sure to observe the correct portion sizes per the nutrition label provided.

Want to see what other keto “candy” is keto friendly? Check out my article.

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