What can I Drink to Keep me in Ketosis?

What can I drink to keep me in ketosis? It can be a bit overwhelming when you first go low carb and have to change so many eating habits. But what about what we can drink? If we feel deprived from too much too fast, it can be incredibly challenging to get your head around things, it’s possible to not even get started.

So when you have to change so many things, it can help to have a guide to what is keto-friendly to drink so that you can easily and effortlessly transition to a ketogenic way of eating, to help heal your body and mind.

Keto-friendly Hot drinks

Coffee

What about Coffee. Can I still drink that?  Many people ask me this question. My question is do you have milk and if so, what type of milk do you use.  When you use cow’s milk, and have more

than a couple of coffees a day, then maybe consider changing the milk you use, or reduce how many coffees you have.

When 250 mL of milk contains 12.5 grams of  lactose (a type of naturally occurring sugar), this could add up quickly in one day and potentially stall your weight loss, and throw you out of ketosis. An alternative to use is cream which has much less lactose per serving.

It tastes soooo good too, you’ll never miss cows milk again! Or try an unsweetened almond milk. This can be combined with cream to make it have that cow milk taste, but with much less sugars.

Black tea

If you’re a tea drinker, like myself, you don’t have to give it up when you go keto. You just need to adapt the milk you use, like I mentioned above. If you have a few cups of tea a day, the sugars from cows milk can really add up and kick you out of ketosis if you have too many throughout the day.

So have it without milk or use with almond milk. I add a decent amount of milk to my tea, so when I calculated this amount times how many cups of tea I had, I found it easier to adapt to a new milk instead of using cows 

milk.  I also love to add cream to my almond milk to give it a milky taste. It is filling and can help you not snack too frequently which also helps you stay in ketosis.

Green tea

Green tea has valuable properties that help our bodies by helping our brain create the feeling of relaxation but not make you sleepy.

It also has a high antioxidant content including polyphenols which also help prevent cancer, reduces inflammation, improves brain function, increases fat burning and slows down the aging process. For some health benefits of green tea click here.

Chai tea or Chai latte

I love this tea, it’s a fragrant mix of spices, black tea and milk or cream. It is frequently a mix of cardamom, cloves, black peppercorn, ginger, and cinnamon. You can make it yourself, or order one at your local coffee shop. You can also make it using ground ingredients and add coconut milk for an alternative flavour.

Berry Radical – Antioxidant Drink 

This is a powdered organic chocolate berry flavoured drink that is a powerful antioxidant that can be added to many different things, including smoothies and chocolate flavoured creations such as cakes. I usually have one per day and enjoy it in place of coffee with cream and almond milk.

This one I like to sweet with powdered stevia. You can get it online or some health food shops.

Hot chocolate

Using cacao, almond milk and xylitol or stevia, either heat up your almond milk on the stove top then add your cacao, or add boiled water like an instant coffee. The choice is yours.

Bone Broth

Home-made bone broth, especially on cold winter nights is full of nutritious gelatin which is like a glue that helps our bodies work like ligaments, tendons, joints, cartilage, skin and our skin.

You can make your own, simply get a chicken carcass from your local butcher or use left over roast chicken, put it in the slow cooker, and leave there for minimum of 4 hours.

Add some salt, roughly chopped celery, onion and carrot. Here’s a recipe with some helpful tips for you to follow to get the hang of it.

Bullet proof coffee

This is where ground coffee is brewed in a plunger, then added to the blender with butter and coconut or MCT oil which when blended tastes better than it sounds like it would. You can also add some cream to give it a milky taste if you prefer. Sweeten if needed with stevia or erythritol.

This drink has been described as boosting your energy levels as well as giving you high fat that your body uses to burn energy throughout the day when in ketosis.

Have a Keto-friendly Cold Drink

Water

Clean, clear water is essential for our bodies to stay hydrated.

Add some freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice for a refreshing taste.

Sparkling mineral water 

When you add lemon or lime juice, it can feel like you’re having a soft drink but without the nasties.

Coconut water

Is higher in carbs at 9 grams per serving of 240 grams, is not a drink you will want to have high volumes of as it will create a deficit of your carb count very quickly if you are aiming for 20 grams per day. Can be consumed alone or added to smoothies.

Chocolate Milk 

Make your own chocolate milk using almond or coconut milk or almond/coconut milk combination. Use either stevia, xylitol or erythritol to sweeten it. You can use either powdered cocoa or cacao.

It’s definitely possible not to feel like you’re missing out when you can create your own.

It works out better for your budget and you don’t have any extra additives like an overly sweetened premade chocolate drink.

Coconut milk

Contains healthy saturated fatty acids, made from the liquid inside the coconut and soaked in the coconut ‘meat’ which when strained is a thicker mixture. Can be consumed alone, or added to a wide range of recipes and beverages such as smoothies, chai latte and coffee.

Almond milk

Made from blending almonds and water, then strained. With only 1 gram of carb per serving, it’s the lowest milk available. Drink by itself, or mixed with smoothies, alcohol of choice, tea, coffee and chai latte.

Kombucha

This is a fermented tea that’s been around for over 2000 years originating in China. It’s been referred to as the ‘Immortal Health Elixir’.

Make your own, or buy it from a trusted source. This drink is a fabulous way to get a probiotic to help balance out your good bacteria with the bad ones. We need a balance of 80:20, which Kombucha can do and allow our bodies to work at an optimum level without the added sugars and artificial chemicals. When we have right gut flora we absorb our nutrients more efficiently and thus improve our health.

Protein shakes

You can have a protein shake as a meal replacement if you like. Be sure to check the label for how much sugar has been added to them, and if possible avoid ones that have sugar in them. Go for ones that have a sugar alternative such as stevia, xylitol or erythritol.

I use this one because it’s organic and sugar free. To sweeten it, you can simply add powdered stevia or erythritol. I don’t need to sweeten it however my daughters like to add a teaspoon of cacao and stevia to make it chocolate flavored.

Smoothies

Make your own smoothies – include green veges like spinach, kale and cucumber to make refreshing beverages with added nutritional benefits. When doing the ketogenic diet, it’s important to avoid juices from fruit, so be aware when you make these that you are able to use keto-friendly ingredients.

This is a good opportunity to add protein powder to smoothie for a good morning start.

We often make strawberry smoothies with almond milk, stevia, homemade vanilla essence and cream. To slightly thicken this you can also add a teaspoon of chia seed.

Alcohol 

Vodka, gin, whiskey, rum and tequila. The alcohol itself is sugar free, it’s the added mixers that have high sugars that will kick you out of ketosis. The trick is finding a way to drink this drink without adding sugars. If it’s less frequently, then having alcohol with artificially sweetened drinks would be the option to stay in ketosis. Still consider the amount of calories when drinking.

Low Carb Beer

It’s not ideal but it’s better than it’s carby counterparts.

So if you’ve been invited to your mate’s place for a bbq, and need to bring your own drinks, a low carb beer is an option for you. You still need to be aware of how many you’re having because they are low carb, not no carb and can quickly add up when you’re relaxing with friends.

Wine

Both red and white wines are lower in carbs than beer. Red has additional antioxidants. The majority of wines have between 3.2g and 3.8 grams per glass.  While sparkling whites are as low as 1.5 grams.

Avoid these drinks

Juice

With fruits in them. In particular, orange juice, apple juice and grape juice. The problem with fruit juice is that they have had all of the fibre removed, so all that’s left behind is the juice which consists of fructose. If you are concerned about missing out on vitamin C, fear not, there is equivalent vitamin C in tomatoes, capsicum or strawberries.

So if you are having a salad with your lunch or strawberries with your breakfast, you will still get your vitamin C.  Strawberries, by the way, contain a high level of water and Vitamin C, and are low in carbs, so make a great breakfast addition.

Fructose is a sugar which acts just the same way that refined sugar does to our bodies. It spikes our insulin response and contributes to weight gain, cardiovascular risk and type 2 diabetes.

One glass of juice contains 36 grams of carbs, or 9 teaspoons of sugar. This is equivalent to the same amount of sugar in a 12 ounce glass of coke.

Softdrink

Sugary ones as well as the sugar free ones. Do you know what aspartame does to the body? It’s a chemical creation which happens to have a sweet flavour. It’s created from aspartylphenylalanine-methyl-ester, there ain’t nothing natural about that!

It has been linked to cancer, and causes abnormal formation of brain pathways; that is, “miswiring of the brain” which contributes to many issues like behavioural and learning problems and endocrine issues linked to fertility. It’s not a real food source so avoid it where possible.

Conclusion

Be sure that you keep your fluids up, especially water, as without this essential liquid, we don’t survive.

But if we want a bit of flavor and to feel like we can jazz it up a bit, allow yourself to have some drinks without any guilt or feeling like you are missing out.

The key here is to be aware of whether the drink has any added sugar or made of sugar (like fruit juice) and find an alternative that will help you maintain ketosis to keep your body in the fat burning zone and keep your mind and body happy and healthy.

Do you have other drinks that you have found can be incorporated into your ketogenic or low carb diet? Feel free to leave a comment below.

Happy keto’ing friends