The ketogenic diet can be helpful but you need to pay attention to what you eat. Find out whether cherry tomatoes are keto-friendly or not.
These smaller tomatoes come in the colors red, yellow, green, and black. You can eat cherry tomatoes on their own as a snack or as an ingredient in a variety of dishes and recipes.
100 grams of cherry tomatoes or about 7 whole ones contain around 2.7 grams of net carbohydrates (total carbs minus fiber).
Whether or not this is ultimately keto for you personally depends on details like your body and the rest of the foods in your diet.
That being said, cherry tomatoes are generally considered to be keto-friendly due to their low carbohydrate content.
At the same time, they are not unique either. If you prefer one of its keto-friendly alternatives you can consider these too.
How many carbs there are in cherry tomatoes
With the information above and the carbs in cherry tomatoes, you can start to estimate how many tiny tomatoes you can eat while staying in ketosis.
100 grams of cherry tomatoes is about 7 whole cherry tomatoes and contains the following amounts of carbs (1):
- Total carbs: 3.9 grams
- Of which fiber: 1.2 grams
- Net carbs: 2.7 grams
It is still possible that these 2.7 grams of net carbohydrates in 100 grams of cherry tomatoes are enough to kick you out of ketosis.
That being said, this is a relatively low amount of carbs per 100 grams compared to many other whole foods. Because of this, cherry tomatoes are typically considered to be relatively keto-friendly.
Most people can eat at least 7 cherry tomatoes (2.7 net carbs) on keto if they are smart about the other foods they eat.
10 cherry tomatoes are about 142.9 grams and contain the following amounts of carbs:
- Total carbs: 5.6 grams
- Of which fiber: 1.7 grams
- Net carbs: 3.9 grams
Increasing the number of cherry tomatoes you eat will make it slightly harder to fit into a ketogenic diet. However, you should still have no problem fitting in 10 cherry tomatoes.
Whether or not you will stay in ketosis after eating these ultimately depends on things like the rest of your diet and the state of your body.
Other nutrition information cherry tomatoes
It can be easy to only focus on carbohydrates while following a ketogenic diet.
However, other nutrients like fats, proteins, vitamins, and minerals still influence whether you stay in ketosis and how healthy you are in general.
100 grams of raw cherry tomatoes contain the following nutrients (1):
- Calories: 18
- Protein: 0.9 grams
- Carbs: 3.9 grams
- Part of the carbs that is fiber: 1.2 grams
- Fat: 0.2 grams
- Vitamin C: 22% of the DV (Daily Value)
- Vitamin A: 17% of the DV
- Vitamin K: 10% of the DV
- Potassium: 7% of the DV
- Manganese: 5% of the DV
And some other vitamins and minerals in smaller amounts.
There are definitely also foods that are more impressive in this area but cherry tomatoes still contain a few valuable nutrients in nice amounts.
This can make them a good addition to a healthy keto diet.
Why cherry tomatoes are not always keto-friendly
Quickly going over the fundamentals of the ketogenic diet can help you understand why cherry tomatoes are not just always or never keto-friendly.
Additionally, this will help you approach your keto diet in a smarter way.
Getting your body into a state of ketosis and staying there is the main principle of this way of eating (2). To do this you have to keep your carbohydrate intake low enough.
Just how low depends on details like your size, weight, activity levels, body composition, etc.
For example, people with a lot of muscle tend to be able to eat more carbs while staying in ketosis.
That being said, there are some rough general guidelines that can help you in the right direction.
To get into ketosis, a common recommendation is to get 55%-60% of your calories from fat, 30%-35% from protein, and 5%-10% from carbohydrates.
This often comes down to eating around 20 to 50 grams of carbohydrates a day.
Something to note about these amounts is that they typically don’t include fiber. Your body processes this category of carbohydrates in a different way.
How many cherry tomatoes can you have on keto?
With the numbers above and how many carbs the rest of the foods you eat contain, you can make a rough prediction about how many cherry tomatoes you can eat while staying in ketosis.
For example, assume that you can eat about 21 grams of carbs a day on keto and that you already ate about 18 grams of these.
In that case, you can estimate that you can still eat about 7 cherry tomatoes or 100 grams on keto.
Something important to note again is that these are just rough guidelines. In reality, your body could be able to deal with fewer or more carbs on a ketogenic diet.
How to avoid eating too many cherry tomatoes on keto
In reasonable amounts, cherry tomatoes should be relatively easy to fit into a ketogenic diet.
That being said, there are situations where you already consumed a lot of carbohydrates from other foods.
In a case like that, just filling a big bowl of cherry tomatoes, potentially adding some mozzarella cheese and basil, and hoping that you won’t eat too much is not a great tactic.
Some of the following tips can help you stay in ketosis while following a diet plan that includes cherry tomatoes:
- Calculate and plan how many cherry tomatoes should fit into your eating habits
- Weigh this amount out and put the other cherry tomatoes out of sight
- If you find cherry tomatoes too tempting you may need to buy smaller portions
- Do not eat unmeasured amounts of cherry tomatoes while doing other things like reading a book
- If you really want to eat more cherry tomatoes you may need to eat smaller portions of other foods
If you get out of ketosis while eating cherry tomatoes you typically want to look at the other foods in your diet first.
That being said, it can also mean you need to take another look at your portions of cherry tomatoes.
Substitutes for cherry tomatoes on keto
In botanical definitions, tomatoes are fruits. That being said, because they are typically used as vegetables, the substitutes below will be vegetables.
Tomatoes are relatively high on the list of low-carb vegetables but there are even better options too. The numbers below are the amounts of net carbohydrates per 100 grams (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8):
- Chicory: 0.9 grams of net carbs
- Spinach: 1.4 grams of net carbs
- Green leaf lettuce: 1.5 grams of net carbs
- Celery: 1.8 grams of net carbs
- Radishes: 1.9 grams of net carbs
- Asparagus: 2.1 grams of net carbs
If you like these just as much as cherry tomatoes, you can consider switching up what foods you eat to keep things interesting.
Additionally, eating a variety of different vegetables is typically a good idea to get different nutrients.
What is your goal with staying in ketosis?
At this point, you likely understand that even small amounts of cherry tomatoes can potentially kick you out of ketosis if you already ate a lot of carbs.
Depending on your personal situation and goals with the ketogenic diet this could be a problem or not matter at all.
Certain people need/want to stay in ketosis 24/7. These individuals can likely still consume a few cherry tomatoes but want to be really careful about doing so.
On the flip side, many people are interested in the ketogenic diet because they want to lose weight.
If this is your main goal, cherry tomatoes can be a good food choice even if they kick you out of ketosis. The keto diet is not the only way to lose weight.
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FAQ
How many carbs are there in one cherry tomato?
One cherry tomato that weighs about 14.3 grams contains about 0.6 grams of carbs (including 0.2 grams of fiber).
