What was once deemed as a fad by the mainstream, the keto diet is gaining mainstream popularity and acceptance as a way to help the body burn fat, reduce inflammation, and achieve optimal health. Now, there’s a whole snack-food industry devoted to keto-friendly foods that are low sugar and low carb. But if you’re eating keto for health and you want to support the optimal body and brain functionality, keto-friendly superfoods are a no-brainer.
Nutrient-dense superfoods paired with a health-supporting keto diet will help you keep your weight in check and, most importantly, help you feel your best. And really, isn’t feeling good what life is all about?
Keep reading as we discuss what a keto diet involves, what are superfoods, what are some common keto superfoods, and then five surprising keto superfoods you should start eating today.
(We’re not doctors. This blog post is for informational purposes only based on our research. Before you change your diet, always discuss with your healthcare practitioner first.)
What are superfoods?
Superfoods are nutritionally dense foods high in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants with benefits that often include warding off cancer, contribute to a healthy heart, prevent diabetes, reduce inflammation, and assist with digestive issues.
What is keto?
In a very simplistic definition, the ketogenic diet is a way of eating that encourages your body to burn fat instead of carbohydrates. For your diet, this means trading in carbs for healthy fats, protein, and low-carb foods. Keeping your macronutrients and carbs in check will help your body enter into ketosis, meaning your body uses your fat stores for energy instead of relying on sugars (i.e. carbs).
Kale Yeah! Popular Keto Superfoods
When you put it together, there’s nothing better than keto-friendly superfoods—that is, foods that are nutrient-dense and low carb.
Common keto-friendly superfoods include avocados, blueberries, salmon, and kale. Keto superfoods include healthy fats, too, like coconut and olive oil. But sorry, bacon is not a superfood.
When it comes to keto superfoods, organic is great but better still, go wild if you can! Mono-cropped foods lack nutrition from over production, whereas wild foods are packed with natural nutrition that comes from nutrient-rich soils and rainwater.
5 Surprising Keto Superfoods to Start Eating Today
1. Salt
When following a keto diet, your body burns fat by processing it into ketones, the build-up of which is flushed out of the body in urine. In doing so, the body loses electrolytes. Sodium (salt) is both an electrolyte and a mineral and helps keep the body’s fluids in normal balance. Added salt can be a healthy part of your keto diet. Look for unrefined salt that retains its trace mineral content, which includes potassium, magnesium, and calcium. Read more about how to be salt smart here.
We recommend: Redmond Real Salt is the real deal free from anti-caking chemicals and heated processing that strips the natural minerals. Instead, Redmond Real Salt contains 60+ naturally occurring trace minerals and tastes amazing. Speaking of electrolytes, they also make Re-Lyte, a line of electrolyte powder mixes.2. Coconut Oil
Some of you may remember a time when coconut oil was thought of as bad for you because of its high saturated fat content. However, it is now commonly accepted that coconut oil raises good (HDL) cholesterol in your body and lowers bad (LDL) cholesterol in the body. Although, it’s essential to only consume virgin coconut oil and not refined coconut oil as the latter involves chemical processing, which compromises nutrition.
We recommend: Look for virgin, cold-pressed coconut oil that is solid at room temperature. This ensures no pre-existing anti-oxidants have been destroyed. Garden of Life Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil is guaranteed raw and is naturally rich in Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCTs) to give your body a boost. Its light flavor is delicious in everything from baking, to sautéing, to smoothies!
3. Mushrooms
Mushrooms are considered a keto superfood because they are low in fat and high in nutrition. But some mushrooms are more magical than others! A mushroom called Lion’s Mane is definitely a superfood as it has been shown to reduce inflammation, protect against dementia, boost immunity, help repair nerve damage, prevent diabetes, and ease anxiety and depression.
We recommend: Make everyday magic with Four Sigmatic! We’re big fans of their pure mushroom concoctions in the form of powered drinks, which make it is so easy to reap all kinds of nutritional rewards from various mushroom types, including Lion’s Mane.4. Regenerative Raw Cacao
Raw cacao beans are a superfood because of their high levels of antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals — like calcium, selenium, zinc, and copper. Plus raw cacao is a source of flavonoids, which are nutrients proven to lower blood pressure and improve blood flow. Look for regenerative cacao, as opposed to mass-produced cacao, produced in a sustainable agroforestry environment that naturally regenerates the surrounding flora and fauna, which contributes to healthy soil, and thus nutrient-rich cacao beans.
We recommend: Imlak'esh has some of the best regenerative raw cacao that is also organic and heirloom, resulting in amazingly flavorful, energizing, and mood-boosting chocolate — and it's the chocolate used in Pili Hunters' PiliBars. We also love Coracao organic chocolate who transforms the traditional bars and truffles into nourishing treats. Made with only natural ingredients, their chocolate is free from additives, preservations, and artificial ingredients.
5. Pili Hunters
Pili Hunters is the perfect keto nut and is the highest fat whole food on earth. Pili Hunters are 93% fat — no wonder they taste so buttery! — with only 2% of calories from carbs. Per serving, they contain 41g of fat and only 2g of carbs. They’re also one of the only nuts that are a complete protein. Pili Hunters are harvested in the wild from rainforests that thrive in volcanic-rich soil, accounting for their amazing health benefits, ranging from lowering bad cholesterol to fighting inflammation.
We recommend: Pili Hunters' wild pili nuts are sprouted and activated. When you support Pili Hunters, you’re also supporting communities in the Philippines and jobs here in the United States.
Do you already eat these surprising keto superfoods?
As the expression says, all things in moderation, and that even goes for keto superfoods! More is not always better, so listen to your body and eat for health, keeping all things in balance.
Adopt coconut oil into your diet by swapping out the butter in your favorite recipes. Fill up your salt shaker with pink Himalayan salt. Throw regenerative raw cacao into your blueberry smoothie bowls, and sprinkle pili nuts on top. All the above-listed keto superfoods are easy to add to your existing keto diet to kick it up a notch!
The Pili Hunters Promise
At Pili Hunters, we’re committed to pure, healthy foods. When our founder discovered pili nuts he was blown away by the taste. But it was the amazing health benefits that blew his mind. For Pili Hunters, it just makes sense to only use health-supporting ingredients. Instead of refined fats, we use virgin Avocado Oil and Coconut Oil on our pili nuts. You can enjoy the taste of Himalayan Salt on our Himalayan Pili Nuts, and our Himalayan Salt and Coconut Oil Pili Nuts are the ultimate keto snack.
For the times when you really need a treat, Pili Hunters Raw Cacao Pili Nuts have a light dusting of high-quality coconut sugar, making them still very low carb. Oh, and don’t get us started on our ultimate keto chocolate, either dark sweetened or unsweetened — made with pili nuts for the ultimate melt-in-your-mouth treat.
Speaking of creamy, our one-and-only Pili Hunters Pili Nut Butters contain health-supporting ingredients as well and incorporate the health properties of other nuts. We found a home for Lion’s Mane in our Pumpkin Spice Pili Butter blend, which is the perfect addition to smoothies or, our favorite, in our version of bulletproof coffee.
The best part? Using a combination of keto superfood ingredients like coconut oil, Himalayan salt, regenerative cacao, and Lion’s Mane not only makes Pili Hunters' pili nuts optimally nutritious but maximally delicious, too!
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