Can you eat carrots on a keto diet? Let's find this out.
This is the NINTH article in a never-ending series of short information-dense articles about specific types of fruits or vegetables regarding their compatibility with a keto diet and how they effect your health. If you are interested in a ketogenic diet and want to avoid common mistakes, make sure to read this series.
Today, we will be analyzing carrots. Are there carbs in carrots? Can you eat carrots on a keto diet? Are carrots keto friendly? How much of them can you eat in a meal or daily? Or should you avoid them completely because of their carb quantity?
Let’s find this all (and more) out.
Interested in discovering more fruits and vegetables to eat or avoid on a keto diet? Great! You can either browse the entire category of keto foods (click) or study the ABC Keto extensive section all about keto diet foods (click) with really lots of tips, visual guides and extensive food lists. Thanks to these guides, you will become a real ketogenic diet master and you will be very successful on your keto journey.
Nutrition Facts About Carrots
Here you will find all the necessary nutrition facts and information about carrots on a keto diet. The tables show only the facts and data that are interesting and relevant from the point of view of a keto diet and potential positive impact of carrots on your health (I hope you remember that health is the main purpose of a keto diet).
In the case of carrots, you are obviously interested in their carb quantity and the vitamins, minerals or microelements they contain. This is exactly what the tables show.
The tables show values for 100 g (3.5 oz) and 45 g (1.6 oz) which is the average weight of a medium-sized carrot. The values given in percentages refer to the RDI (Recommended Daily Intake) based on a 2000-calorie diet.
Nutrition Facts Of Carrots
This table shows nutrition facts about carrots per 100 g (3.5 oz).
Nutrition fact
Value
Calories
41 kcal
Fat
0,2 g
Total Carbs
9.5 g
Sugar
4.5 g
Dietary Fiber
2.8 g
Protein
0,9 g
Vitamin A
336%
Vitamin C
10%
Nutrition Facts Of A Medium-Sized Carrot
This table shows nutrition facts for a medium-sized carrot which usually weighs 45 g (1.8 oz).
Nutrition fact
Value
Calories
18 kcal
Fat
0,1 g
Total Carbs
4.3 g
Sugar
2.0 g
Dietary Fiber
1.3 g
Protein
0,4 g
Vitamin A
151%
Even though carrots are vegetables, they are relatively high in carbs, so they aren’t the best keto option.
As you can see carrots have a little bit more carbs than most vegetables and it seems relatively easy to exceed 20 g eating carrots. But how is it really? The sections below will tell you.
Carrots & Their Keto Compliance (5/10)
Here you will find information and facts about how keto compliant carrots are and whether eating carrots on a ketogenic diet will be a good idea for you.
HOW KETO COMPLIANCE IS ASSESSED: The keto compliance of a specific vegetable or fruit is calculated based on its amount of net carbs and glycemic index (GI). 1 is absolutely the worst type of fruit or vegetable that will spike insulin a lot and which you should avoid if you wan to stay in ketosis. 10 means a given fruit or veggie is keto-approved and you can eat it freely without worrying about getting kicked out of ketosis.
Here is a bunch of facts about carrots and a ketogenic diet you want to know about:
HIGH IN CARBS. Carrots are relatively high in carbs compared to other vegetables. They do contain some dietary fiber but their net carb quantity is still rather high (about 7.5 g of carbs per 100 g). A really huge carrot may weigh even 150 g and so contain almost have of your allowed daily carb quantity.
LOW IN CALORIES. Carrots are relatively low in calories compared to their size and weight. That’s because they are mostly made of water. If you aren’t on a very strict keto program and can go above 20-30 g of carbs net, feel free to eat carrots even every day.
LOW GLYCEMIC INDEX (GI). The glycemic index of raw carrots is only 16, which is very low. Even though carrots have some carbs, they are unlikely to spike your insulin (as long as they are raw).
AVOID COOKED CARROTS. The keto compliance of carrots probably ends the moment you cook them. There are unfortunately mixed studies on the glycemic index of cooked carrots. Some claim it changes only a bit and becomes moderate (about 49) while others say it can even be as high as 95 (which is more than sugar). Whoever is right, the best advice for you is to always eat them raw and never (over) cook them.
AVOID CARROT JUICE. Even though there are fresh carrot juices made of raw carrots, their number of carbs, sugar and GI is always way higher. Any vegetable in the form of juice is “condensed” and deprived of most of its fiber, which makes it less keto-friendly. A cup of carrot juice may have as many as 20 g of net carbs.
Carrots are both good and bad. They are generally OK but they have a darker (carb) side to them as well. That’s why carrots ideally fit in the middle of keto compatibility scale with the result of 5/10.
Check out other fruits and vegetables and how keto compliant they are: cucumber, grapefruit, or tomato
Carrots On A Ketogenic Diet & Health Impact (8/10)
Here you will find information and facts about the most important health benefits and nutritional values of carrots. Note that we are not assessing carrots in terms of their keto compliance here.
HOW HEALTH IMPACT IS ASSESSED: A keto diet is mainly about health so every product or food is also assessed regarding its impact on health. Products are analyzed based on the amount of nutrients, vitamins, minerals or toxic ingredients they contain. 1 is the worst product that is only a bit better than poison and should be avoided. 10 is a very healthy product that you should consume lots of it.
Here is a bunch of facts about carrots and their health benefits you want to know about:
RICH IN VITAMIN A. Carrots are extremely rich in vitamin A which has a lot of health benefits, such as, it helps detoxify the body, protects skin, hair, nails, is good for teeth and gums. Scientists also say that together with beta-carotene vitamin A also improves vision. One medium-sized carrot will provide more than 100% of RDI of vitamin A for an average person.
RICH IN BETA-CAROTENE. Beta-carotene is the second most important nutrient found in carrots. High consumption of beta-carotene is linked to reduced risk of strokes, heart disease and cancer.
MORE NUTRITIOUS WHEN COOKED. If you want to focus more on the nutritional side of carrots, you may want to eat them cooked. Cooking carrots apparently frees up more nutrients by dissolving cell walls.
CONTAINS OTHER NUTRIENTS AS WELL. Even though vitamin A and beta-carotene are the most obvious nutrients found in carrots, you will find other nutrients in smaller amounts as well. Carrots also contain some amounts of vitamin C, calcium, potassium, sodium or vitamin K.
On the health scale carrots score quite highly with the total score of 9 points out of 10. They are rich in nutrients, relatively low in calories, contain a lot of water and are, above all, a real food. That’s why if you are more about health instead of carb restriction, you should add carrots (both cooked and raw) to your daily menu.
If you are a health-oriented person who wants to follow (or follows) a keto diet, learn more about having Diet Coke and milk on a keto diet.
Bottom Line
Carrots are veggies and veggies are generally OK on any type of diet (maybe except for the carnivorous diet that totally excludes vegetables). Most people agree that vegetables are essential for your health. Without being (at least relatively) healthy, you will have trouble achieving your weight loss, body composition and fitness goals.
I am both a keto and veggie fan, so I recommend that you eat carrots on a keto diet. Whether you count them against your daily carb intake or eat them only occasionally should depend on your goals. But don’t eliminate them completely.
Remember that variety is key to both weight loss and health and these two always have to go hand in hand. So who’s next? Vodka!
If you find this mini guide helpful and useful, please share it with your friends on social media. My goal is to reach as many people as possible to help them make wise dietary choices and transform their lives. Thanks!
I really appreciate your balanced, common sense approach coupled with all sorts of information. Everywhere I look, I’m warned off carrots if I’m on a keto diet. Now I have a complete understanding of why that is. I also have all the facts, so I can make an informed decision. I’ll be enjoying carrots occasionally and I’ll really enjoy having them back on my plate. In fact, I’ll have a steamed carrot topped with butter as part of my dinner tonight! Thanks so much!
Hello Tania! Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. I really appreciate that 🙂 I’m happy to see you like my approach which is based on a lot of reading, research and experiments. Whether we should exclude a given type of food based on its too high carb content should should depend on our goals and unless we are doing a strict ketogenic diet (made for medical purposes) we surely can allow for a wider variety. Enjoy your carrots just like I do! Cheers!
4 Comments
I really appreciate your balanced, common sense approach coupled with all sorts of information. Everywhere I look, I’m warned off carrots if I’m on a keto diet. Now I have a complete understanding of why that is. I also have all the facts, so I can make an informed decision. I’ll be enjoying carrots occasionally and I’ll really enjoy having them back on my plate. In fact, I’ll have a steamed carrot topped with butter as part of my dinner tonight! Thanks so much!
Hello Tania! Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. I really appreciate that 🙂 I’m happy to see you like my approach which is based on a lot of reading, research and experiments. Whether we should exclude a given type of food based on its too high carb content should should depend on our goals and unless we are doing a strict ketogenic diet (made for medical purposes) we surely can allow for a wider variety. Enjoy your carrots just like I do! Cheers!
Carrot carbs are good carbs. I use carrots (and apples) as pre-workouts with much success.
Hi Ben 🙂 I totally agree here. Carrots and fruits are good as pre-workouts and way better than sugary protein bars. Good choice!