Often people got attracted to red color and if it is fruit-like cherries then the craving increases rapidly.
Now from the perspective of a keto lover, you may ask “are cherries keto”. The straightforward answer is no cherries are not keto-friendly.
Let’s discover the facts and check if there are any loopholes to eat cherries with the keto diet.
So, Are Cherries Keto?
The Keto diet prohibits high net carb fruits. As cherries are high in carbs and not on the keto diet.
A 100 gram serving of cherries contains 16 grams of total carbs and it’s mostly sugar. The high sugar of cherries makes it a high net carb fruit.
Furthermore, a little amount of fat compound is present in cherries, which is also against the rule of the keto high fat diet formula.
That’s why you can not consider cherries among keto friendly fruits.
Are Cherries on The Keto Diet?
Cherries are a rich source of carbs. The carbs of cherries contain 2 major sugar components mostly glucose and fructose.
Glucose and fructose both are notorious for boosting glucose levels in the liver (1). Accumulation of glucose can break your ketosis level.
So, the high density of sugar-rich cherries may not be suitable for a keto diet. However, we have found a way to eat cherries in keto.
Let’s discover how to insert cherries on the keto diet.
How Many Cherries Can I Eat on Keto?
One single sweet cherry weighs 8 grams and you will get 1.3 grams of carbs from it.
Subtracting the fiber we get 1.1 grams of net carbs for each cherry. The Keto diet allows you to eat 30 grams of net carbs per day.
Considering the fact you can eat one single cherry per day.
Are Cherries Low in Carbs?
No cherries are not low in carbs. Although if you restrict your cherries intake to 1 piece per day it is considered as low carb, as it contains 1.1 grams of net carbs.
Sweet Cherries Nutrition Value(8.2 g or a single piece) (2)
- Calories: 5.17
- Protein: 0.08 g
- Fat: 0.01 g
- Total Carbs: 1.31 g
- Fiber: 0.17 g
- Total Sugars: 1.05 g
Are Sour Cherries Keto?
Sour cherries are high in carbs and low in fat which is the opposite of keto diet criteria. So sour cherries are not keto.
The nutrition value of sour cherries is given below for your reference (Against 100 grams of serving 3).
- Calories: 50
- Protein: 1 g
- Fat: 0.3 g
- Total Carbs: 12.2 g
- Fiber: 1.6 g
- Total Sugars: 8.49 g
Net Carbs in Sour Cherries: After deduction of fibers the net carbs of sour cherries become 10.6 grams against a serving size of 100 grams.
Like sweet cherries, sour cherries are a rich source of fructose and glucose. Because of this, we have deducted only the dietary fiber to count the net carbs in sour cherries.
Are Maraschino Cherries Keto Friendly?
Maraschino cherries are widely popular around the globe. These are a preserved versions of sweet cherries.
However, maraschino cherries are a great source of carbs and it’s a sugar-filled food. Moreover, you will get a little amount of fat from these types of cherries.
So maraschino cherries are not keto friendly because of high carbs and very low fat composition.
Net Carbs in Maraschino Cherries: We can easily calculate the net carbs count of maraschino cherries from the nutrition table (4).
- Calories: 165
- Protein: 0.22 g
- Fat: 0.21 g
- Total Carbs: 42 g
- Fiber: 3.2 g
- Total Sugars: 38.8 g
After deduction of fiber component, we get 38.8 grams of net carbs of maraschino cherries from a serving size of 100 grams.
Are Bing Cherries Keto Friendly?
Yes, bing cherries are keto friendly if you eat one single piece. Like sweet cherries, one single piece of bing cherries contains only 1.3 grams of carbs (5).
That’s why you can eat bing cherries on the keto diet. However, bing cherries do not contain a considerable amount of fats. High fat foods are a priority for the keto diet.
That’s why you should eat other fat-rich foods with bing cherries to produce more ketones and stay in ketosis.
Are Rainier Cherries Keto Friendly?
Rainier cherries are a cross-product of bing and van cherries. Limited consumption of rainier cherries can be considered keto friendly.
Although Rainier cherries are a rich source of carbs, they can be easily avoided by a controlled intake. A single piece of rainier cherries provides 1.3 grams of carbs which is ok for keto (6).
As it is also not a rich fat source you need to consider other high-fat foods to continue ketone production and maintain the keto rule.
Final Thoughts
There are multiple types of cherries like sweet, sour, bing, maraschino, rainier, and van are available in the market. All of these species are high in carbs and low in fats which is the exact opposite of keto diet criteria.
So, are you not going to eat these delicious fruits with your keto diet!? Well, you can insert cherries in keto by limiting the intake.
You will get approx 1.3 grams of carbs from all of these cherry species if you eat a single piece. So you may consider cherries on keto by eating single piece of any cherry type.
