Fruits are often too high in carbs to be considered keto-friendly. Find out whether this also applies to pomegranates and what other options you have.
Raw pomegranates contain around 14.7 grams of net carbs (total carbohydrates minus fiber) per 100 grams.
In theory, you could potentially be able to eat tiny amounts of pomegranates while staying in ketosis.
That being said, the carbohydrates in pomegranates will typically be too much. In turn, it is fair to say that pomegranates are typically not keto-friendly.
If you are interested in eating fruit on your ketogenic diet, there are many pomegranate substitutes that are more keto-friendly.
Carbs in pomegranates
To figure out whether a food like pomegranates is keto-friendly for your situation in what amounts, you want to know how many carbs they contain.
100 grams of pomegranates contain the following amounts of carbs (1):
- Total carbs: 18.7 grams
- Of which fiber: 4 grams
- Net carbs: 14.7 grams
If you take into account that you will likely also consume carbs in other types of foods, the net carbohydrates in 100 grams of pomegranates will often kick you out of ketosis.
One cup of pomegranates is about 175 grams and contains the following amounts of carbs:
- Total carbs: 32.7 grams
- Of which fiber: 7 grams
- Net carbs: 25.7 grams
As you can expect, consuming bigger amounts of pomegranates also means eating more carbohydrates. This amount alone will often be enough to get you out of ketosis.
You could also consider taking your portion sizes the other way and consuming tiny amounts of pomegranates.
However, even if you stay keto this way, it is likely not worth using so many of your daily carbohydrates on such a small amount of food.
Other nutrition information pomegranates
There are examples where it can be worth eating tiny amounts of foods that are high in carbs when following a ketogenic diet because the foods contain so many valuable nutrients.
The fats, proteins, vitamins, and minerals in pomegranates will still play a role in achieving goals like losing weight and getting healthier.
100 grams of raw pomegranates contain the following nutrients (1):
- Calories: 83
- Protein: 1.7 grams
- Carbs: 18.7 grams
- Part of the carbs that is fiber: 4 grams
- Fat: 1.2 grams
- Vitamin K: 21% of the DV (Daily Value)
- Vitamin C: 17% of the DV
- Folate: 10% of the DV
- Copper: 8% of the DV
- Potassium: 7% of the DV
And some other vitamins and minerals in smaller amounts.
Pomegranates do contain a few valuable nutrients in nice amounts but at the same time, there are more nutritious food alternatives too.
From a nutrition perspective, it is likely not worth trying to fit tiny amounts of pomegranates into your ketogenic diet.
Why pomegranate is often not OK for keto
As mentioned, even though pomegranates are not that keto-friendly, you may be able to fit tiny amounts into your diet.
That being said, by going over the keto fundamentals you can find out why it is often not OK to do if you want to eat reasonable amounts of other foods.
For a way of eating to be a ketogenic diet, it has to put and keep you in ketosis. Ketosis is a state where you mainly use fat as fuel (2).
To achieve this, you have to keep your carbohydrate intake low enough. Details like your weight, muscle mass, genes, and workout habits influence what is low enough.
This principle makes ketogenic diets more confusing. However, to help you get at least some idea of how many grams of pomegranates you could eat, there are some imperfect general guidelines.
A typical guideline is that you want to get 55%-60% of your macronutrients from fat, 30%-35% from protein, and 5%-10% from carbohydrates to stay in ketosis.
This typically comes down to eating around 20 to 50 grams of carbs a day.
Keep in mind that you don’t include the fiber in pomegranates and other foods in these amounts. Fiber is a category of carbohydrates but your body deals with it in different ways
How much pomegranate can you eat on keto?
With the keto principles above and how many carbohydrates the other foods you eat contain, you can roughly estimate how much pomegranate you can eat on keto.
For example, let’s say you conclude that you can eat 25 grams of net carbohydrates a day without getting kicked out of ketosis.
Additionally, you already ate 22.1 grams of net carbohydrates.
In that case, a rough estimation would be that you can still eat around 2.9 grams of pomegranate on your keto diet.
Again, keep in mind that these are rough predictions. Ideally, you would have a way of measuring your ketone levels to know for sure.
Can you drink pomegranate juice on keto?
You can eat pomegranates in a variety of recipes and ways. One of these is pomegranate juice.
By removing the fiber from pomegranates, you also change their nutrition values per 100 grams and in turn, how keto-friendly they are.
You can find the amounts of carbs in raw pomegranates and pomegranate juice compared in the table below (1, 3).
| Values Per 100g | Raw Pomegranates | Pomegranate Juice |
|---|---|---|
| Total Carbohydrates | 18.7 g | 13.1 g |
| Of Which Fiber | 4 g | 0.1 g |
| Net Carbs | 14.7 g | 13 g |
Surprisingly enough, these nutrition data sources imply that pomegranate juice is lower in carbs than the regular raw fruit.
At the same time, you need to keep in mind that it is a lot easier to consume half a glass of pomegranate juice than 100 grams of the fruit.
Additionally, fiber tends to reduce how much the carbs you eat spike your blood sugar.
So in the end, it would be interesting to have studies that compare to what extent each food/drink raises your blood sugar.
That being said, pomegranate juice is typically not keto-friendly either.
Substitutes for pomegranates on keto
Many people like pomegranates over more traditional keto-friendly foods for their sweeter taste. Luckily, you don’t have to give up on this completely.
There are a good amount of fruits that are lower in net carbohydrates. You can find a few examples and their net carb values per 100 grams below (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9):
- Blackberries: 4.9 grams of net carbs
- Raspberries: 5.4 grams of net carbs
- Strawberries: 5.7 grams of net carbs
- Watermelon: 7.1 grams of net carbs
- Cranberries: 7.6 grams of net carbs
- Cantaloupe: 7.9 grams of net carbs
You may prefer these fruits over pomegranates anyway or at least like their net carb values more.
Keep in mind that you still can’t eat these substitutes in unlimited amounts if you want to stay in ketosis.
How to avoid eating too many pomegranates on keto
By now it should be clear that pomegranates can easily kick you out of ketosis if you don’t watch your portion sizes enough.
Preparing a big bowl of pomegranates and hoping that you won’t eat too much will typically not be that keto-friendly.
Following some of the tips below will typically be a smarter way to avoid eating too many pomegranates on keto:
- Estimate beforehand how many grams of pomegranates you can eat
- Prepare this number of grams but put the rest of the pomegranates out of sight
- Don’t eat unlimited amounts of pomegranates during other activities like reading a book
- If you really like pomegranates and crave them too much, it may be smarter to buy smaller or no amounts
Why do you follow a ketogenic diet?
Even small amounts of pomegranates will often kick you out of ketosis due to their high amount of net carbs.
Whether this is a problem and to what extent depends on what your plans are with your ketogenic diet.
For example, there are people who need/want to stay in ketosis 24/7. These individuals likely want to stay away from pomegranates completely.
On the flip side, pomegranates can be decent for weight loss and health. Even if they increase your carb intake too much to stay in ketosis.
Ketogenic diets can be helpful for these health goals but they are typically not the only way to achieve them.
It is worth noting that pomegranate juice is still often not recommended when trying to lose weight or get healthier.
- Total carbs: 18.7 grams
- Of which fiber: 4 grams
- Net carbs: 14.7 grams
FAQ
Do pomegranates have carbs?
Yes, pomegranates have carbs. More specifically, 100 grams of pomegranates contain around 18.7 grams of carbohydrates (including 4 grams of fiber).
Is pomegranate high in carbs?
Raw pomegranate contains around 14.7 grams of net carbohydrates per 100 grams. There are worse options too but for fruits, this is relatively high in carbs.
