For those following a ketogenic diet, finding suitable desserts can be a challenge. Ice cream, a beloved treat, often contains high amounts of sugar and carbohydrates, making it seemingly off-limits. However, the growing popularity of the keto diet has led to the emergence of low-carb ice cream options, including Breyers CarbSmart. This article delves into the keto-friendliness of Breyers CarbSmart ice cream, examining its ingredients, nutritional information, and potential impact on ketosis.
Understanding the Keto Diet and Ice Cream
The ketogenic diet aims to shift the body's metabolism into a state of ketosis, where it primarily burns fat for energy instead of carbohydrates. This is achieved by drastically reducing carbohydrate intake and increasing fat consumption. When following a keto diet, it's crucial to carefully monitor carbohydrate intake, as consuming too many carbs can disrupt ketosis.
Traditional ice cream is typically high in sugar and carbohydrates, making it an unsuitable choice for those on a keto diet. However, low-carb ice cream options have emerged, utilizing alternative sweeteners and ingredients to reduce the carbohydrate content.
Breyers CarbSmart: An Overview
Breyers CarbSmart is marketed as a "frozen dairy dessert" designed to be part of a low-carb lifestyle. The label highlights its low sugar and net carb content, with claims of only 4 grams of sugar and 4 grams of net carbs per serving. But how does it truly measure up when scrutinized for its keto-friendliness?
Ingredients and Nutritional Information
To determine the suitability of Breyers CarbSmart for a keto diet, it's essential to examine its ingredients and nutritional information closely.
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The label on Carb Smart products mentions that it’s “part of a low-carb lifestyle” because it only has 4 grams of sugar per serving and 4 grams of net carbs.
A Closer Look at Sweeteners
When manufacturers reduce sugar in products, they often compensate by adding artificial sweeteners and sugar alcohols such as sucralose, aspartame, sorbitol, and xylitol. If you see any artificial sweeteners on your ice cream label, leave it on the shelf.
The Reality of Net Carbs
Some brands calculate net carbs by subtracting all sugar alcohols from the total carbohydrate count, while others subtract only half. It's important to be aware of how brands calculate net carbs, as this can significantly impact the actual carbohydrate content.
Keto-Friendly Alternatives
If Breyers CarbSmart doesn't meet your keto standards, several other brands offer keto-friendly ice cream options with cleaner ingredients and lower net carb counts.
- Rebel Creamery: This brand uses a rich, full-fat base of cream and egg yolks, resulting in a custard-like texture. Rebel Creamery packs its pints with healthy fats and sweeteners like erythritol. Rebel Creamery ice cream has significantly less net carbs per calorie on average than Breyers CarbSmart, no hidden carbohydrates, and its first ingredient is cream
- Halo Top: Halo Top utilizes sweeteners like erythritol and stevia leaf extract to achieve super-low net carbs.
- Edy's No Sugar Added: While labeled "no sugar added," this line still contains 5 grams of sugar per serving and uses Splenda, maltodextrin, maltitol syrup, and sorbitol as sweeteners.
- Arctic Zero: Arctic Zero offers plant-based, keto-friendly ice cream options sweetened with allulose and monk fruit extract. Allulose provides only 0.4 calories per gram compared to the 4 calories per gram from sugar.
- So Delicious: So Delicious makes dairy-free ice cream from full-fat coconut milk.
- Keto Pint: Keto Pint is another recently launched ice cream line made with high-quality ingredients and keto-friendly macros to match. The brand is keto-certified and soy- and gluten-free.
Homemade Keto Ice Cream
For those who prefer complete control over ingredients, making ice cream at home is an excellent option. Homemade ice cream isn’t as hard as it looks - especially if you’re using a no-churn recipe. You can use avocado, coconut milk, or heavy cream as a base and sweeten it with keto-friendly sweeteners like erythritol, stevia, or monk fruit.
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