Is honey keto?

Honey Facts

The short answer: no.

The long answer: still no, but that doesn’t mean honey is bad for you or can’t be part of a healthy diet. Honey just happens to be high in carbs––which are healthy and valid sources of fuel for your body in moderation––while the keto diet requires consuming almost no carbs at all. 

Keto, short for the ketogenic diet, is a low-carb, high-fat diet trend in the vein of the Paleo, South Beach and Atkins diets. To quote the Harvard Health Letter:

“The keto diet aims to force your body into using a different type of fuel. Instead of relying on sugar (glucose) that comes from carbohydrates (such as grains, legumes, vegetables, and fruits), the keto diet relies on ketone bodies, a type of fuel that the liver produces from stored fat.”

The keto diet typically limits a dieter to a set amount of carbs a day, often 0g, 20g or 40g. So, if a keto adherent really wanted to sneak in some honey, they could: a spoonful or two at most. But a little sweetness would come at a steep cost. They’d have to fill up on only fat and protein for the rest of the day, which would mean no fruits, grains, legumes, nuts and very few vegetables.

We’re a honey company, not a keto company, so we’ll be frank: we think honey belongs in just about every diet, even the ones that restrict carbs. Raw and unfiltered honey is made almost entirely out of glucose and fructose––simple sugars that digest more slowly than sucrose, the main component of table sugar. Because they digest more slowly, they have a lower Glycemic Index, which is the technical way of saying they don’t cause a strong sugar crash.

Raw and unfiltered honey has something to offer everyone. Our advice? Try it, even if you’re on a diet.

More on Honey Facts