Once I began the ketogenic way of life, my desserts not often tasted just like the sugary treats I used to be used to, and the coconut flour ruined the feel.
Because of this many wheat flour alternate options are flooding the market, promising excellent desserts. Considered one of these alternate options is cassava flour. It acts like common flour and doesn’t have an aftertaste. However is cassava flour keto?
Beneath, I’ll reply all of your questions on cassava flour. I’ll cowl its carb content material and dietary info whereas taking a look at some lower-carb alternate options.
Is Cassava Flour Keto-Pleasant?
Cassava flour isn’t keto-friendly as a result of one cup incorporates 110 grams of carbs, knocking you out of ketosis.
However what’s extra worrying than the excessive carb depend is that cassava consists of maltose. This sweetener has a GI rating of 105, far larger than desk sugar’s GI of 65. This implies it spikes blood glucose and insulin ranges greater than sugar.
Cassava flour comes from the cassava plant, a starchy tuberous root vegetable excessive in starch.
Enjoyable truth: Corporations use cassava to make tapioca flour, one other meals that’s impractical on a low-carb food plan.
Cassava Flour Dietary Data
One cup of cassava flour gives the next macro and micronutrients:
- 110 grams of carbs
- 5 grams of fiber
- 4.5 grams of sugar
- Two grams of protein
- Zero fats or ldl cholesterol
You’ll additionally discover hint quantities of vitamin C, calcium and iron.
Can You Eat Cassava Chips on a Keto Weight-reduction plan?
A serving dimension of cassava chips has 17.8 grams of carbs and 1.8 grams of sugar, so you’ll be able to’t eat it on a ketogenic food plan.
However the actual drawback with cassava chips is that it incorporates no thiamine. This can be a concern as a result of your physique wants thiamine to metabolize carbs. Should you’re consuming cassava chips, you’re loading your physique with carbs, forcing it to make use of all its thiamine shops, resulting in a thiamine deficiency.
This may trigger signs like:
- Fatigue
- Lack of urge for food
- Sleep disturbances
- Irritability
- Poor reminiscence
So I recommend sticking to keto-friendly chips that you simply’ll discover at pharmacies and well being outlets. These chips include little carbs and in case you’re shopping for from an excellent model, they’ll include important vitamins like calcium, iron and potassium.
Cassava Flour Substitutes on a Keto Weight-reduction plan
Want keto-friendly flour alternate options to make desserts with? Take into account these 5 low-carb choices:
- Almond flour
- Lupin flour
- Sunflower seed flour
- Golden flaxseed meal
- Konjac flour
Almond Flour
Almond flour is the very best keto-friendly different to cassava flour as a result of one cup solely has 10 grams of web carbs and a whopping 56 grams of fats.
Almond flour is excessive in nutritional vitamins like:
- Vitamin E
- Magnesium
- Calcium
- Copper
- Manganese
This implies you’ll be able to take pleasure in desserts with almond flour and concurrently enhance your vitamin and fats consumption.
I additionally want almond flour over an alternate like coconut flour as a result of coconut flour is bland and dry. Whenever you’re consuming desserts, you’ll chunk into items of coconut, which ruins the feel. In distinction, almond flour blends properly into keto recipes.
However although it’s low-carb, I’d recommend not going overboard as a result of oxalate content material. These oxalates regulate calcium in crops, however in case you overeat, it will probably promote kidney stones.
So if in case you have a household historical past of kidney stones, I like to recommend limiting your almond flour consumption.
Lupin Flour
Whenever you consider keto flour, you most likely consider almond and coconut flour. However lupin flour is a useful different because it goes properly with most recipes.
One cup of lupin flour incorporates 48 grams of whole carbs and 44 grams of fiber, giving it a web carb depend of solely 4 grams. This excessive fiber content material helps digestion and regulates blood sugar ranges, making lupin a good selection for diabetics or anybody battling constipation.
It’s additionally GMO-free and excessive in vitamins and antioxidants akin to:
- Carotenoids
- Magnesium
- Phosphorus
- Zinc
However lupin flour has some lectins and phytic acid, which may set off anybody delicate to those compounds. Nonetheless, the quantity is minuscule, so it shouldn’t be an issue carefully.
Sunflower Seed Flour
The problem with almond flour is that you would be able to’t use it as a one-to-one substitute for wheat flour in an everyday recipe and count on it to work. You’ll have to stay with keto recipes.
That is the place sunflower seed flour may help.
A cup of sunflower seed flour has lower than 22 grams of carbs, so you’ll be able to eat it on a keto food plan. It additionally incorporates 30 grams of protein, which is useful if you wish to construct muscle.
One of the best half is that you would be able to make sunflower seed flour at house.
All you have to do is grind a cup of sunflower seeds in a espresso grinder, sift the flour right into a bowl and also you’re good to go. From right here, use your do-it-yourself flour as a one-to-one substitute for wheat flour.
Golden Flaxseed Meal
Flaxseed meal is a scrumptious flour possibility on a keto or paleo food plan as a result of it’s low in carbs and you should use it alongside xanthan gum to make keto flaxseed bread, wraps or granola bars.
Most well being outlets and pharmacies promote flaxseed meal. However at all times get high quality flaxseed as I observed extra manufacturers including fillers to chop prices.
Konjac Flour
Konjac is 97 p.c water and solely three p.c fiber, so that you take pleasure in it on keto. A cup of konjac flour gives a whopping 240 grams of dietary fiber with zero web carbs.
This fiber doesn’t have an effect on insulin because it isn’t digestible. In contrast to pecan flour, you’ll be able to eat as a lot konjac flour as you need with out interfering with ketosis.
Producers truly use the konjac plant to make konjac noodles, extra generally referred to as shirataki noodles, that are additionally keto.
However the kind of fiber that konjac has is exclusive. It incorporates glucomannan and research present that this fiber decreases starvation hormones, blood sugar and constipation.
Closing Ideas on Is Cassava Flour Keto
You may’t eat cassava flour on a keto food plan. Cassava flour has over 110 grams of carbs per cup, shortly knocking you out of ketosis.
The larger drawback is the dearth of thiamine. Since your physique wants thiamine to digest carbs, consuming a variety of carbs with out supplementing it with thiamine can result in a deficiency, leading to signs like fatigue and poor reminiscence.
Thankfully, there are a number of keto alternate options to cassava which are extra flavorful.
Go for almond flour, lupin flour, sunflower seed flour, golden flaxseed meal or konjac flour when making ready keto recipes. These choices are lower-carb and produce higher outcomes than cassava flour.
