Are Grapes Keto ? keto food guide

who doesn't love grapes, I mean there are tasty and full of healthy nutrients but are they compatible with the keto diet since I've started my job of nutritionist and health coach for serval years now, this question often came up "is it okay if I have grapes during my ketogenic diet" the answer to this question is a little bit tricky so stick with me and continue reading if you want to know the answer

Grapes and Keto Diet

Are Grapes Keto Friendly?

The main nutriments composing grapes are carbohydrates, the amount of carbs present in grapes is approximately 18 grams for a 100 grams serving so one cup of grapes ( 150g )would contain almost 27 g of carbs!! For this reason, grapes are not recommended when you are on a keto diet, to speak in general you need to avoid rich carbs fruits like grapes during a keto diet and keep your daily carbs intake under 20 g to reach Ketosis and achieve faster weight loss results. 
Are Grapes Keto

However, even if grapes are rich in carbs it doesn't mean that you should ban them totally from your nutrition, On average one grape weight 5g if we do the math it means that it contains 1.3 g of carbohydrates, so once in awhile if you crave for some grapes you can, for instance, cut 2 or 3 grapes into small pieces and use them as a topping for your salad, this way it would not have a big impact on your diet and like I say to people I'm coaching a little bit of something is better than nothing at all but remember to keep a record of your daily carbs intake to stay below the 20 g mark. 

You can also opt for a more " keto " fruit, I'm thinking of blackberries and blueberries which are more adapted fruit for keto due to their low carb consistency.
So to sum it up for you due to their significant carbs content (27 grams per 100 grams serving )grapes are not considered keto-friendly, grapes like many other high carbs fruits are not compatible with the keto diet, However, consuming a very small quantity of grapes (15 g) occasionally will not affect your diet if you keep your total carbs intake for the day under 20 g

Even if grapes are not keto-friendly they are rich in vitamins and minerals with great benefits to your body health, if you want to know more continue reading.

Grapes Nutritional Facts


Grapes nutrition fact 100 g serving
Nutrient Amount Unit
Calories 69.00 KCAL
Fat 0.16 G
Protein 0.72 G
Carbohydrate 18.10 G
Valine 0.022 G
Arginine 0.130 G
Histidine 0.022 G
Water 80.54 G
Sugars 15.48 G
Calcium, Ca 10.00 MG
Potassium, K 191.00 MG
Selenium, Se 0.1 UG
Vitamin E 0.19 MG
Lutein + zeaxanthin 72.00 UG
Tocopherol, gamma 0.07 MG
Niacin 0.188 MG
Pantothenic acid 0.050 MG
Vitamin B6 0.086 MG
Isoleucine 0.011 G
Leucine 0.022 G
Lysine 0.027 G
Cystine 0.010 G
Sucrose 0.15 G
Glucose (dextrose) 7.20 G
Aspartic acid 0.038 G
Serine 0.022 G
Ash 0.48 G
Fructose 8.13 G
Glutamic acid 0.081 G
Glycine 0.016 G
Proline 0.080 G
Thiamin 0.069 MG
Riboflavin 0.070 MG
Folate 2.00 UG
Vitamin K 14.6 UG
Manganese, Mn 0.071 MG
Vitamin A 66.00 IU
Vitamin A, RAE 3.00 UG
Carotene, alpha 1.00 UG
Tryptophan 0.011 G
Threonine 0.022 G
Methionine 0.009 G
Phenylalanine 0.019 G
Tyrosine 0.010 G
Alanine 0.022 G
Fiber 0.9 G
Iron, Fe 0.36 MG
Magnesium, Mg 7.00 MG
Phosphorus, P 20.00 MG
Copper, Cu 0.127 MG
Fluoride, F 7.8 UG
Sodium, Na 2.00 MG
Zinc, Zn 0.07 MG
Hexadecanoic acid 0.046 G
Octadecanoic acid 0.006 G
Octadecenoic acid 0.007 G
Octadecadienoic acid 0.037 G
Octadecatrienoic acid 0.011 G
Monounsaturated fatty acids 0.007 G
Polyunsaturated fatty acids 0.048 G
Choline 5.6 MG
Folate, DFE 2.00 UG
Betaine 0.1 MG
Saturated fatty acids 0.054 G
Tetradecanoic acid 0.001 G
Folate, food 2.00 UG
Vitamin C 3.2 MG
Phytosterols 4.00 MG
Carotene, beta 39.00 UG
Tocopherol, alpha 0.19 MG

Interesting Facts about Grapes

These are some interesting facts I found on grapes while I was doing my research so I thought it would be cool to share them with you
  1. Grapes are toxic to dogs, as a matter of fact giving your dog grapes, raisin or any other grape-based product even in small quantity has a chance of causing him a kidney failure, if you have a dog at home you need to be careful when you bring grapes to your house, you need also to inform your children about this because they can unwarily harm your pet (Trusted Source )
  2. There are over 7500 grape varieties over the world each one of them has a unique taste and flavor, they are mostly used in the wine industry (Trusted Source)
  3. The most expensive variety of grape in the world is made in japan it's called 'Ruby Roman', in 2016 a man bought 700 grams of this grapes for about 8000$, personally, even if I were on keto I would definitely like to taste it (Trusted Source)
  4. to produce a bottle of wine you need 2.5 pounds of grapes.
  5. almost 80% of the weight of a grape is water, to produce a raisin you have to dry it until this percentage become 15%
  6. Grapes produce naturally a substance on their surface which help them to protect from bacteria, fungi, and radiation

Pros and cons of eating Grapes on Health

Pros

Grapes were known across the ages for having incredible benefits on health, even though consuming them on keto is not recommended because of their high carbs content, these benefits include the following:

Grapes are a great source of antioxidant

Antioxidants are important to reduce the activity of free radical which are the cause of oxidative stress on a cellular level that may lead to major diseases like hypertension, diabetes and even cancer but don't worry even if you don't consume grapes during keto you can find rich antioxidant sources in different others keto fruits or vegetables like berries or broccoli (Trusted sources 1, 2, 3)

Grapes may prevent Skin cancer 

Resveratrol is an antioxidant that is found in grapes, studies have proven that this antioxidant is effective for skin protection against ultraviolet rays that are harmful to our skin (trusted source 1, 2, 3)

Grapes are good for your Heart 

Studies have shown that consumption of grapes and even wine is good for your heart and will prevent you from caching cardiovascular diseases, of course, you should drink wine with moderation drinking to much wine will lead you to the opposite effect alcohol is very damaging to your health (trusted sources 1, 2, 3)

Grapes are good for your memory 

Grapes contain compounds called polyphenol, studies have shown that if you consume these compounds on regular bases you will signally improve your neuronal signaling which may protect you from neuronal diseases like Alzheimer (trusted Source 1  2  3 )

Cons

I did many many pieces of research and I found that there are no known risks directly related to the consumption of grapes

Frequently Asked Question about Grapes

Is grape good for diabetic

When you suffer from diabetes you should aim to consume foods that have a low glycemic index to keep your blood sugar level normal, as we saw earlier on this post grapes contains 18g of carbs per 100 g serving and their glycemic index is on average about 50 which is high, so if you are diabetic and want to consume grapes you should monitor your blood sugar level and you shouldn't take them during your main meals to avoid a spike in your blood sugar level, in the other hand dried grapes or raisins are bad for diabetes because of their very high sugar content, remember that if you suffer from diabetes you should talk to your doctor before making any changes on your diet

can grapes be frozen?

Grapes can be frozen, give them a very good bath clean them thoroughly in water and then pull them off the stem one at a time you might found that some grapes look a little bit old or funky, just throw those in the garbage usually there's like between 10 to 15 bad grapes in 1 pound of grapes, you know it happens they're not all winners even if you buy them from like a very expensive grocery store they'll find one grape that looks then put them on a paper towel to dry off for probably half an hour and give them a little bit of space to don't overcrowd them after that put them in a freezer bag and tada they are ready to go to your fridge now.

when grapes get fermented

To get fermented it takes for grapes between 3 days and 1 week

when grapes go bad

when grapes go bad you will start noticing that they are softer and smell like vinegar manly because they are starting to get fermented if you put them outside the fridge, grapes can last 3 to 5 days depending on the weather the colder it will be the longer they will last, in the fridge, you can conserve them for a little longer usually around 7 and 10 days if you want to conserve them for a longer period you should probably freeze them

Bottom line

If you want the keto diet to work for you, you have to avoid grapes because they contain too many carbohydrates, however, if you are on a regular diet and not suffering from diabetes you should probably integrate grapes into your diet because of all the benefits they're offering for your health.