Flaxseeds may be known as a type of healthy food but that does not mean low-carb. Find out whether flaxseeds are keto-friendly or not.
You can sprinkle flaxseeds on your yogurt, soup, or salads or use them as an ingredient in certain other dishes and recipes.
It is typically recommended to eat flaxseeds in their grounded form to make the nutrients more easily absorbable.
That aside, 100 grams of flaxseeds contains about 1.6 grams of net carbohydrates which is total carbs minus fiber.
There are some situations where this is not the case but you can generally consider flaxseeds to be very keto-friendly.
A few things you do want to keep in mind are that flaxseeds contain relatively high amounts of fiber, calories, and protein. Some people may want to limit how much they consume of these nutrients.
Total and net carbs in flaxseeds
The next step is finding out how many grams of carbohydrates flaxseeds contain. With this information, you can see how much of this food fits within the rest of your ketogenic diet.
100 grams of flaxseeds contains the following amounts of carbs (1):
- Total carbs: 28.9 grams
- Of which fiber: 27.3 grams
- Net carbs: 1.6 grams
If you already ate a lot of carbs, these 1.6 grams of net carbohydrates in 100 grams of flaxseeds could be enough to kick you out of ketosis.
That being said, compared to most whole foods, flaxseeds are relatively keto-friendly.
One tablespoon of ground flaxseeds is about 7 grams and contains the following amounts of carbs:
- Total carbs: 2 grams
- Of which fiber: 1.9 grams
- Net carbs: 0.1 grams
By considering smaller amounts of flaxseeds, it becomes even easier to fit this food into a keto diet.
You ultimately have to figure out how many carbs your body can deal with at what times before getting kicked out of ketosis and looking at the carbohydrate contents of the other foods you eat.
Other nutritional details about flaxseeds
So far, most of the attention went toward the number of carbs in flaxseeds.
And while these are still the main focus of a ketogenic diet, other nutrients like fat, protein, vitamins, and minerals also influence whether you stay in ketosis and how healthy you will generally be.
100 grams of flaxseeds contain the following nutrients (1):
- Calories: 534
- Protein: 18.3 grams
- Carbs: 28.9 grams
- Part of the carbs that is fiber: 27.3 grams
- Fat: 42.2 grams
- Manganese: 124% of the DV (Daily Value)
- Thiamin: 110% of the DV
- Magnesium: 98% of the DV
- Phosphorus: 64% of the DV
- Copper: 61% of the DV
And some other vitamins and minerals in smaller amounts.
Flaxseeds are not only really low in carbohydrates. They also help you consume a variety of nutrients in nice amounts.
This combination makes flaxseeds a great potential food option for a healthy ketogenic diet plan.
Why flaxseeds are almost always keto-friendly
To better understand why flaxseeds are not always keto-friendly it can be helpful to quickly go over the keto fundamentals. This will help you approach the diet in a smarter way.
The ketogenic diet comes down to eating in a way where your body mainly uses fat as fuel (2). To achieve this you have to keep your carbohydrate intake low enough.
How long depends on details like your body weight, body composition, activity levels, genetics, etc.
That being said, there are some general guidelines that can help you figure out how many grams of flaxseeds could fit into your keto diet.
To stay in ketosis you generally want to get around 55%-60% of your macronutrients from fat, 30%-35% from protein, and 5%-10% from carbohydrates.
For most people, this means eating about 20 to 50 grams of carbohydrates a day.
Something important to note is that these amounts typically don’t include the grams of fiber in flaxseeds and food. Your body processes this category of carbs in a different way.
How much flaxseed can you have on keto?
To estimate how much flaxseed you can have per day on keto you can use the keto guidelines above, the amounts of carbohydrates in your diet, and the net carbs in flaxseeds.
For example, assume there is a person who can eat around 23 grams of net carbohydrates on keto. Additionally, this person already ate around 21 grams of net carbs.
In that case, they can still eat around 100 grams of flaxseeds on their keto diet.
One important thing to remember is that the guidelines above are rough estimations. In reality, you would ideally measure your ketone levels to double-check.
How to eat flaxseeds on keto
Flaxseeds are not really the type of food you eat by the tablespoon.
What foods you combine them with will influence how keto-friendly your meal or snack is a lot.
The first thing to note is that it is typically recommended to ground down flaxseeds. This will make the nutrients in them more available.
Your body can find digesting the whole version challenging.
That aside, once you have grounded flaxseeds, you can add them to relatively keto-friendly foods and dishes like soup and yogurt.
Other options include keto-friendly versions of salads, wraps, porridge, bread, smoothies, and baked goods recipes.
Why do you want to stay keto?
With the ketogenic diet fundamentals, you know that even small amounts of flaxseeds could potentially be the food that kicks you out of ketosis.
How careful you need to be about your carbohydrate intake depends on your goals with the ketogenic diet.
For example, there are people who need/want to stay in ketosis every minute of the day. These individuals can likely still find a way to implement flaxseeds in their diet but want to be careful.
On the flip side, flaxseeds can still help you lose weight and become healthier even if they kick you out of ketosis. A ketogenic diet has its benefits but it is not the only way to achieve these goals.
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FAQ
Does flaxseed spike your blood sugar?
Similar to most, if not all, foods, flaxseed spikes your blood sugar to some extent. That being said, due to the low net carb count, this blood sugar spike should be relatively low.
Is flaxseed considered a carbohydrate?
Only a tiny amount of the calories in flaxseeds come from net carbs. In turn, flaxseed is typically not considered to be a carbohydrate. Do keep in mind that flaxseed contains a lot of fiber which is technically a category of carbohydrates.
Is flaxseed OK on keto?
Flaxseeds contain around 1.6 grams of net carbs and 27.3 grams of fiber per 100 grams. These things make it so flaxseed is typically OK on keto.
