The Carb You Should Eat
As Amazon and Instacart Associates, this post may contain affiliate links that allow us to generate income.
I know, a Keto Friendly Carb sounds like a contradiction in terms, but hear me out, it will make you feel better and lose weight faster.

When I was a kid my Mom never had to tell me to eat my veggies.
I’ve always liked steamed broccoli or cauliflower, especially with cheese sauce.
And salad – I’ve always liked salad with lots of different stuff in it.
Even though Keto has been a big thing for at least the last five or ten years, I still hear detractors saying that you can’t eat enough vegetables on a low carb diet. That it’s impossible to get enough nutrition, and you can’t get enough fiber on Keto.
I personally eat more veggies than I did before Keto.
The disconnect here is confusion about carbohydrates, and the different types of carbs.
To make the Keto diet work and get into ketosis in a healthy way, it’s very important that you understand carbohydrates.
So what is a carbohydrate?
The nerdy answer is: any one of a number of organic compounds made up of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, and having the ratio of 1|2|1 of said carbon|hydrogen|oxygen.
And I’m sure that explanation is about as useful as a chocolate tea pot.
Carbohydrates include sugars and starches, everybody knows that. These are the calorie-carbs, and they are not Keto friendly carbs.
But what most people don’t know is that dietary fiber is a carbohydrate.
We want to limit eating sugar and starch because they cause an insulin response.
But fiber is different, it is truly a Keto friendly carb.
You want to eat lots of dietary fiber because it will keep your gut happy, keep you regular and provide a whole bunch of other benefits…
(Psst, it can even help with menopause symptoms. I am not qualified to write about that my wife posted about it here).
That’s why when we talk about a low-carb diet, what we really mean is low net carb diet.
What are Net Carbs?
Net carbs are: What you get when you subtract the non-calorie carbs from the total carbs.
Non-calorie carbs include things you don’t need to eat, sugar alcohols (like erythritol) and rare sugars (like allulose).
You don’t need to eat any of these, in fact if you can do with out the sweets, I recommend you don’t eat them.
Dietary fiber is also a non-calorie Keto friendly carb that you absolutely should be eating
This is all on the food label in grams.
They don’t have a line that says “net carbs” but it is easy to figure.
In the pistachio label (below) you can see that there are 9 grams total carbs and 3 grams of fiber for a net carbs of 6 grams.
Total carbs – Fiber = Net Carbs or (9-3=6)

Many Keto dieters only concern themselves with the net carbs because it’s net carbs that cause an insulin response and keep them out of ketosis.
And once they get the net carb number they forget about the fiber.
That’s a big mistake.
Regardless of your diet, you need fiber.
Women need about 25 grams a day, and men need about 38 grams.
The average American consumes less than 15 grams of fiber.
Fiber makes you poop, and I can tell you from my personal Keto experience, this is very important.
The bacon and cheese that I ate for the first few days on my Keto journey taught me a lesson that I’ll never forget.
My stomach hurt like hell. Avoiding constipation should be enough motivation to eat your salad, but sometimes it isn’t.
There are few other important reasons to get enough fiber in your diet.
Bacteria – there is good bacteria and bad bacteria in your digestive system, mostly in your large intestine and colon.
It’s complicated, but the gist is that the good bacteria thrives when you have enough fiber, and the bad bacteria thrives when you don’t have enough fiber.
When you don’t have enough fiber, and especially if you consume a lot of sugar, the bad bacteria can run amuck, and cause weight gain, or at least stall weight loss.
When you have enough fiber, the good bacteria helps you absorb the nutrients that your body needs to function correctly.
So with enough fiber, not only will your weight loss plans be more effective, but you will feel a whole lot better because you won’t be malnourished.
A high fiber diet also helps control blood sugar and insulin.
Fiber improves your immune system, helps with conditions including type II diabetes, food allergies, inflammation and even arthritis.
There is no down side to eating enough fiber.
That’s why I recommend that you track your fiber intake with your other macros.
I also recommend that if you are not getting enough fiber from your regular food, you get a supplement like Inulin.
It’s slightly sweet but doesn’t have much flavor otherwise. You can mix it into your coffee, tea or even into your dinner.
Or, you start adding more salad and other high fiber foods to your diet. Flax and Chia seeds are some of my favorites.
Try this Keto Breakfast Cereal. It’s high fiber and delicious.
Or our High Fiber Bread is just fantastic and full of fiber.
The Takeaway-
Fiber is the Keto Friendly Carb that you should be eating.
Eating fiber will help you lose weight faster, and make you feel better.
There is just no downside, so do what your mother said and eat your veggies. And, if you are new to this lifestyle, check out the 9 signs that you are in ketosis.
That’s all for now, until next week