In this article we will discuss the top most popular drinks that people talk about when they’re on the keto diet and we’ve broken them down as to whether they’re good or bad. And if they’re bad we’ll give you a solution.
Pea protein vs whey protein
First thing we want to talk about is pea protein versus whey protein. So a lot of people consume whey protein when they’re on the ketogenic diet because it doesn’t have a lot of carbohydrates. In fact, sometimes there’s only one or 0 grams of carbohydrates, which would lead people to believe that it’s a perfect thing to consume when you’re on keto. If you consume a little bit of whey protein while you’re on a keto diet it’s not going to totally kick you out of ketosis and ruin everything.
However you might want to consider using pea protein instead and here’s why. Whey protein elicits insulin spike. The Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism actually published a study that found that a little bit of whey protein elicited a higher insulin spike than white bread. So white bread is as high glycemic as you can get. What happens is that whey protein absorbs so fast and has so much leucine in it, that it actually spikes your insulin which could very well kick you out of keto for a short amount of time.
Now again, you’ll get right back into keto, that’s not the end of the world, and there are some benefits to whey, but going with a vegan protein or pea protein is actually going to work better. It still absorbs fast, but it doesn’t have such a high concentration of the leucine, it doesn’t spike your insulin, so you’re getting all this absorption. You’re getting it without the insulin spike, so even if you’re not vegan, go with the pea protein, it just works better and it’s actually easier on your gut too.
Cold vs regular brew
We all love to have some coffee occasionally. A lot of people drink their regular coffee, but the problem is that when you actually brew coffee and you go through that process it leaches a lot of the toxins out, even if it’s organic you’re still getting a lot of the pesticides. The first time those coffee beans are actually rinsed after they’ve gone through a roasting process and the whole harvesting process is literally when they’re brewing in your hot water, so you’re getting all of that and you’re getting the acid, which is really just tough on the body
But let’s talk about the benefits of the cold brew, instead of focusing on the negatives of the coffee. The benefits of the cold brew is that the acid does not leach in, it’s a lot smoother, it has a powerful earthy taste, but it has higher caffeine content, it’s like taking a caffeine supplement. So go for cold brew whenever possible.
Again, regular is not bad and when it starts getting colder out, it’s not always fun to have cold brew, but it will make a difference. And then take it one step further and go with nitro cold brew if you have that as an option, that’s even smoother, but also there is some evidence showing that the nitrogen infusion could actually make the caffeine a little bit more available as well.
Matcha vs energy drinks
If you’re looking for energy throughout the course of the day, don’t go for an energy drink. Matcha is the way to go. It’s already gaining a lot of momentum, but it is huge now, especially in the ketogenic community. That has to do with the fact that it’s highly thermogenic, so it gets your body’s temperature up, and it gets it up fast. And it does so without any caffeine. It also boosts the dopamine response within the body so it stops you from craving food plus you’re getting a direct impact on CCK. CCK cuts cravings directly too.
So the reason we’re comparing it to energy drinks is simply because the energy drinks are going to have the mystery sweeteners in them. We’re usually looking at aspartame, acid sulfate potassium, sucralose, etc. What ends up happening with those, you can have an excitotoxin response, it may or may not spike insulin.
But worse off, it’s the crash, that’s what you’re getting with energy drinks and that ends up rebounding into cravings. So you’re getting this dopamine hit and then all of a sudden you’re falling back from it and you have to compensate for that somehow, so you eat .That’s why you should go for the matcha instead of the energy drinks.
Half and half vs coconut cream
Let’s talk about the half and half. Of course, you can have your half and half, you’re going to have your heavy cream as those are keto, but there are some better solutions here and maybe some things that you didn’t know existed. So when it comes to half and half, you’re dealing with some very inflammatory things, particularly something known as BCM7. So BCM7 is a bioactive opioid. What that means is it’s a specific peptide that actually triggers an addictive quality within your body.
Casein protein that is in half and half can be very addictive. That explains why cheese and dairy are so addictive to us. We just want to consume more, it’s an opioid response, it has a bioactive opioid in it, you just don’t want to get yourself addicted to cheese and dairy. Also it’s very inflammatory, which is why you don’t want to get addicted to it.
So our recommendation is to have half and half just a couple times a week, the rest of the time go with coconut cream. Go for coconut cream whenever possible, it’s got MCT’s in it and it’s easier to digest, and medium chain triglycerides actually don’t even need bile salts, so it doesn’t even require a bile. It goes straight into your system and gets converted into ketones and fatty acids that are used for energy in the body, therefore it’s easier to break down.
Sparkling mineral water
You can have sparkling mineral water instead of soda. Sparkling mineral water is awesome stuff, simply because it already has the minerals infused in it, so by the sparkling process minerals are getting added into this water, so you’re getting some of the sodium, you’re getting some of the potassium, you’re getting what you need. So sip on this all day long, that’s perfect for keto. In fact, it actually adds to the benefits of keto.
