I thought I would quickly share my personal thoughts about two great vegetables that simply don’t get the love they deserve. On keto, we are (rightly) informed to steer clear of starchy vegetables that are high in carbohydrates. NO to potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, yams, corn etc. But… many people insist that onions and garlic should fall into that category too because ‘they grow below the ground’. While this is true, and yes they are higher in carbs than the green, leafy veg – I think we should take a closer look at them. Both are standard items in my pantry – and they should be in yours too. Here’s why:

 

THE (ACCURATE) CARB COUNTS

After peeling, trimming and chopping up a 1 x medium onion I am consistently left with approximately 100g of edible onion flesh (I trialled this several times). According to NUTRITICS®, 100g of edible onion is 7.9g carbs.

After peeling, trimming and chopping up 2 x large garlic cloves, I am consistently left with approximately 6g of edible garlic flesh (I trialled this several times). According to NUTRITICS®, 6g of edible garlic is 2g carbs.

NUTRITICS® is a professional, cloud-based software tool fully approved by the relevant Trading Standards organizations and is EU and FDA-compliant. It is used by multiple sectors including healthcare, education, food service, food manufacturing and sports doctors worldwide. It is also the software I have invested in and have been using for many years, not only for myself, my clients and indeed this blog, but its the only one I trust explicitly.

 

FLAVOUR

Many of my recipes kick off with the standard “1 medium onion and 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped and fried” (in either lard, butter or coconut oil). This is a universal base for many recipes – and rightly so. The flavours created when caramelising onions (and garlic which should be added long after the onions as garlic burns quicker) will enhance a dish immensely. I care about flavour and I know you do too, we eat for pleasure not only for fuel.

Now, I can understand how a medium onion and 2 garlic cloves (at 9.9g carbs total) is alarming for a one-person serving, but recipes that call for this base are generally serving more than one person. Assuming your keto beef stroganoff (as an example) calls for this base and your recipe serves 4 people… well that’s only a 2.5g carbs per serving added. Not too shabby given all the flavour your dish will be enhanced with. Since we are ‘allowed’ up to 20g carbs a day on keto (up to 30g for more active people), why be concerned with such low amounts? Our allocated carbs SHOULD be coming from vegetables. A wide variety of nutrient-packed, high-fibre vegetables. And onions and garlic are powerhouses!

(If you are cooking for less people, simply go halvies and use an onion-saver / onion pod. There are plenty on the market that are affordable and eco-friendly.)

 

Carbs and flavour aside, lets talk about a subject I have recently become very passionate about:

 

GUT HEALTH

I recently started delving further into the importance of gut health and all I can say is MIND = BLOWN. (See below for the two books I highly recommend and simply could not put down).

I have long been a believer in probiotics (and avoid antibiotics as if they are the plague themselves) and take an excellent probiotic daily. Now, I am not saying that antibiotics don’t have their place in modern medicine, I just find it alarming how a 5-day course of antibiotics (taken any time in your life, even your youth) could wipe out one-third of your good gut bacteria – which can take months or even years to restore. Since a healthy gut microbiome is essential to overall health, I know that I am not alone in wondering whether staying in bed and drinking liquids if you have a cold (and “sweating and shitting it out” as a very eloquent nurse once advised me), is a FAR better option than destroying your precious microbiome.

Which brings me to onions and garlic…

A quick recap in case you didn’t know whats happening inside you:

Probiotics are living microorganisms (live bacteria) that keep our gut flora in check. They are essential to life. There are trillions of them and they keep us healthy. We like them and we need these little buddies of ours.

Prebiotics are what these important living organisms ‘feed on’ to thrive. It would therefore make sense to ensure that our little buddies are well-nourished, wouldn’t it? Prebiotics are essentially soluble fibre.

I have researched the list of foods high in soluble fibre (prebiotics), and many of them are sadly not keto-friendly. But two stood out. Yup, you guessed it: onions and garlic.

I will leave you to do your own research on the additional (numerous) health benefits of both garlic and onions which I have not even touched on, but I mostly want to use this opportunity to encourage you delve further into our precious micobiome: its fascinating reading!

So, before you opt for that processed salami (which often contains glucose and dextrose), opt for real food instead that will benefit your overall health.

You have 20g carbs per day: SPEND THEM WISELY.

 

RECOMMENDED READING

These are the two books I recently devoured. While there is a lot of reference to consuming legumes and other starchy foods, read it with a ‘keto brain’ – and spot the keto-friendly foods which are useful to our microbiome. You may also find it interesting that both books are very anti-sugar. (er… no surprise there!)

 

 
 

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