KETO vs Herbs & Spices

Depending on your culinary prowess or inclinations, you are considering adding spices and herbs to the keto meals you are making for your kid.

I am a big fan of spices and herbs. With my heritage - Italian cuisine - some spices and most herbs are definitely a staple in my kitchen, on top of being an excellent alternative to just using salt to enhance the flavour of your dish.

One thing I am conscious of is that the ketogenic diet can put additional strain on the digestive / filtering system, and high sodium isn't necessarily good news for the kidneys.

So, really, using herbs and spices to me serves a dual purpose: flavour profile, and health.

Some Like it Hot

Georgia loves a bit of heat in her food. She has been known for thoroughly enjoying spicy enchiladas meat (before the diet), some of her favourite sauces are Chipotle and Sriracha, and I have made her low-carb pasta with classic cayenne pepper tomato sauce.

Whilst it might not be for all children, and I appreciate Georgia being on the unusual side of the spectrum here, these are all great options.

Take chilli and cayenne pepper as an example.

Spice, pepper, red or cayenne

Quantity per 100g of product

Protein - 12 g

Fat - 17 g

Carbohydrate, available - 32 g

sugars, total - 25 g

Spice, chilli powder

They’re rich in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. They may help reduce blood pressure, and inflammation, and they have other health related claims I am not interested in trying to promote.

Sticking to just being an awesome alternative to salt, and a great palate-widener, you would have noticed that these come with carbohydrates count and, because of that, you must weight them and include them into your calculations when working out the ratio.

It sounds trivial, especially when you think you are "just adding a pinch", but as you will know by now, exact ratios cannot count on "pinches" unless you are using a precision scale to ensure that the pinch is, in fact, not more than 0.1 or 0.2 grams.

That's what I do with cayenne pepper and chilli pepper - measure the food and ensure it's not more than 0.1 grams.

With other spices, you will need to include that to your calculations.

The Weight of Spice

Let's take a look at a few options, arbitrarily, to give you an example.

Spice, cinnamon, ground

Quantity per 100g of product

Protein - 12 g

Fat - 14 g

Carbohydrate, available - 13 g

sugars, total - 7.2 g

Spice, allspice, ground

Spice, ginger, dried, ground

Or look at this. Take onions, a relatively low carb vegetable (around 5 grams per 100g of product). If you have powdered onion in your spice rack, and use it for cooking, this is the kind of nutritional values you are dealing with

Spice, powder, onion

Quantity per 100g of product

Protein - 10 g

Fat - 1.1 g

Carbohydrate, available - 48 g

sugars, total - 48 g

If you are looking at adding even just a small amount to your kid's keto food, you must count it in your ratio.

0.5 grams of powdered onion contain 0.24 grams of carbohydrates, this is definitely a non-neglectable item. That's the equivalent of a quarter of a teaspoon, a very small portion.

Thankfully, the New Zealand Food Composition Database is there to help you, and it will store precious information about most (if not all) the spices in your kitchen.

What about Herbs?

Now, with some Herbs, you can breathe a little bit more easily.

Take this with the proverbial metaphorical grain of salt: dried herbs will have a higher concentration of nutrients purely by virtue of being dehydrated - so 100% of the physical product is concentrated.

Unless you are using small quantities of fresh herbs, you must apply the same caution you would use with spices.

Here are some common (well, common to me) examples.

Spice, oregano, dried

Quantity per 100g of product

Protein - 9 g

Fat - 4.3 g

Carbohydrate, available - 5.3 g

sugars, total - 3.9 g

I would add (and did) dried oregano to my calculator and take it into account, if not for the carbohydrates, for the protein count.

Look at the difference between fresh and dried basil.

Herb, basil, raw

Quantity per 100g of product

Protein - 3.1 g

Fat - 0.6 g

Carbohydrate, available - 1.7 g

sugars, total - 0 g

Herb, basil, dried

Here is a few more.

Herb, coriander, leaves, dried

Quantity per 100g of product

Protein - 22 g

Fat - 4.8 g

Carbohydrate, available - 42 g

sugars, total - 10 g

Herb, thyme, dried, ground

Don't let these numbers deter you from using herbs and spices in your food - you will just need to pay a little extra attention at the macros total, your ratio, and learn to maximise the right combinations.

For example, I know zucchini and eggplant are very low in carbohydrates, so they are naturally a good companion to herbs and spices. Conversely, things like kumara or pumpkin, with a higher carbohydrates count, might need for you to rely on the few herbs that are still low enough (although some are higher in protein) or pick fresh herbs instead.