Before you change your diet, you will probably want to know if it is more expensive to eat keto. Eating on a ketogenic diet definitely can be more expensive than eating for what most Americans call a normal diet. How much more expensive will depend on several factors. For example, where you live, what season it is, are you able to grow your own food etc. There are some ways that I have found that helps to reduce my grocery bill that I will talk about later on.
Why is eating keto more expensive?
Well, if you are truly following the keto lifestyle you are going to be particular about what foods you eat. You will be eating organic, pasture raised meat and dairy, and organic nuts, fruits and vegetables. You will also not be eating the fillers that most all of us ate growing up. The big fillers I am referring to are things like potatoes and rice.
For most of my life, I have been a meat and potato kind of guy. I would have some sort of vegetable on my plate, but the meat and potato would be the largest portions. Why do Americans eat this way? Well for starters, potatoes are very cheap for the volume of food you get. Potatoes and rice are known as fillers. Fillers are cheap to buy, easy to prepare, and make you full faster. Keep in mind that there are many other types of food fillers out there, I am just picking on potatoes and rice in this example.
Do fillers have any real nutritional value?
While fillers do contain some marginal nutrients and minerals, they do not contain enough to be considered a nutritional food. The potatoes and rice in this example are also starchy foods. That means that they are filled with carbohydrates that break down into sugars in our bodies very quickly. So if you are following the keto diet, these are exactly the foods that you want to stay away from. In turn, it also means that the cheap fillers are no longer viable options. No more steak and potatoes ☹
So buy whole foods that do not have fillers. The fillers are not free, and really don’t help you nutritionally, and can hurt your blood glucose.
Why pay for pasture raised and organic foods?
With today’s farming practices, the soil has become completely depleted of the micro-nutrients and minerals that are needed for nutritional foods. Because of this, we have created Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO). This can apply to all types of plants and animals. If you look at a label, many times the product will state Non-GMO, meaning that the product was not genetically modified.
The farmers will also spray fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides, insecticides and possibly some other products onto the plants/soil to be able to produce a good crop. The fertilizers are not a good substitute for the lost minerals and nutrients that have been depleted from the soil. They do help the plant grow, but the product still will not have the nutritional value that the same food our great grandparents ate. All herbicides, fungicides and insecticides are put on the plants to help them to grow and be pest/disease free, but usually leave a residue. You then consume that residue (if the food is not properly washed), and that wreaks havoc in our bodies. Besides the fact that many are just plain poisons, they will also affect our hormone production in a negative way.
By buying organic, the farmer does not use any of these chemicals on their foods. That allows you to eat the foods and have a much reduced risk of any of the bad affects. The process of farming organic also means that the farmer will not be able to produce as much food as a farmer that does use those harmful products. In turn, organic foods tend to cost more. If you would like to know more about what meats to buy, you can read more here.
When you buy organic, pasture raised eggs you may notice that they are very different from the mass produced ones. The shell will be harder, the egg yolk will be a more orange color vs light yellow. Personally, I think they even taste much better. The harder egg shell and more “amber” or orange yolk are indicators that the chicken was given a more nutritional diet. The better diet in turn allows the chicken to produce a better quality egg.
Since the chicken was not produced in a large chicken house that was designed to mass produce chickens and eggs, the farmer is not able to have as many chickens. If they don’t have as many chickens, they will not produce as many eggs, and in turn have to charge more per egg to keep their farm afloat. I have a whole blog dedicated to eggs here if you want to know more.
I think I have over explained why many keto foods are more expensive due to the production manner. Hopefully though that will not stop you from buying these better quality foods. I have heard many of my friends that eat keto tell me that they were able to get off of prescription medication just by changing their diet. Even if you are not needing any prescriptions yet, wouldn’t it be nice if you could postpone those meds as long as you can? To me it is worth it. I have seen too many friends and family be sick and die from complications of diseases like diabetes that may have been able to actually be reversed if they would have known about this diet.
I didn’t start out the diet going full organic and pasture raised. Even if you start eating the cheap
eggs and other non-organic counterparts, it will still be a whole lot better of a diet than eating all of those carbs and sugars. I encourage you to start the diet however you can. Once you are into keto and have your kitchen keto friendly, then upgrade one item at a time to organic and pasture raised. That way you will not take such a large hit to the wallet at one time. I really hope that no one starts the diet just to quit because of the cost. The real savings will come in the lack of medical bills later on. Keep that in mind when you start shopping keto. Eat healthy and live better.
For more tip on how to reduce your grocery bill, check out my blog here.
