More Powder To You: The Best Keto Protein Powders to Reach (and Maintain) Ketosis
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Almost every diet will have you cutting out carbs and sugars. The difference with the popular ketogenic diet is that you’re adding healthy fat back in to make up for that huge drop in calories. And there are easy ways to stay on track with your keto goals, namely, a good keto power.
What You Need to About Buying Keto Powder
The ketogenic diet isn’t a modern trend or fleeting fad. In fact, the earliest form of it dates back to the time of ancient Greece, when physicians noticed that altering an epileptic patient’s diet drastically helped reduce the frequency and intensity of their seizures. Today, while it’s still used by people with epilepsy (along with medication), people have generally embraced it for weight loss, decreasing acne and skin inflammation, curbing hunger cravings, and managing Type 2 Diabetes.
The goal when starting the ketogenic diet is to get yourself into a state of what’s called “ketosis” – where your body relies on ketones for fuel instead of carbohydrates. Ketones are a type of acid that your liver creates from fat, and then sends into your bloodstream to be used for energy. A diet that’s low in carbs (usually under 30g daily) and high in nourishing fats, with adequate satisfying protein, can allow your body to transition into this mode and start quickly metabolizing that fat for fuel.
Keto powder can get you on the fast track to ketosis, and help you stay there. Each powder has its own special formula, features and flavors. Some include MCTs (medium-chain triglycerides), which are rich in healthy fats and often derived from coconut or palm oil. Others include the ketone BHB (Beta-hydroxybutyrate), one of the three main ketones your body produces when it’s running on fats for fuel. As a supplement, this can help speed up your body’s process of metabolizing ketones, and decrease symptoms of what’s known as the “keto flu” – which can hit beginners with brain fog, irritability, nausea, cravings, stomach aches, and sore muscles.
Diet and discipline are a big key to keto success. But the best keto powders can also be part of your daily routine, providing a great ketosis-friendly energetic stimulant for mornings, workouts, or the afternoon slump.
We’ve rounded up some of our favorite keto powders that you can get online. If you’re just beginning your keto journey, start with a little less than the recommended serving, to see what your tolerance is before you fully dive in. Of course, as with any supplement, make sure to do your research – on both the product and the diet – to be certain you’re playing it safe.
1. Perfect Keto Collagen Peptides Protein Powder with MCT Oil
With only two net carbs per serving, Perfect Keto is, as the name suggests, pretty perfect for the keto (or really any low-carb) diet.
Each scoop is packed with healthy ketosis support – 10g of collagen protein and 5g of pure MCT oil powder to be exact. The combination of MCT and collagen slows down your body’s absorption of protein, preventing it from being converted to glucose, and maximizing its efficiency. Collagen itself also supports the growth and shine of hair and nails, as well as providing benefits for joints, muscles, tendons, ligaments, eyes, gut, heart and brain health too. It also contains acacia fiber, which won’t cause unwanted blood sugar spikes.
The powder dissolves easily and instantly into any drink, hot or cold, giving you a boost of sweet, chocolate-flavored energy at anytime, though morning and pre-workout are the most common. Many users report that the protein in just one scoop in their morning coffee can suppress hunger well into (and past) lunchtime, and tastes even better with some full-fat whipping cream mixed in. No blender is needed to mix it into drinks like coffee or almond milk, and the potential for making your own shakes or smoothies are deliciously endless.
PROS: Tastes great and contains no added sugar. Free of gluten and dairy. Even comes with a scoop, so no measuring is involved either. Also since the oil form of MCT is messy and requires proper blending (or else it floats on top), it’s nice to have it available in a simple powder.
CONS: We wish there was a larger amount of servings in one jar. Flavor may be too sweet for some.
2. ZonePerfect Keto Powder
Meet your exact macros with ZonePerfect’s mix of 75% fat (18g), 20% protein (10g), and 5% total carbs (2-3g). Made with with MCTs from butter, for an extra helping of healthy-fat fuel, these powerful powder packets will help your body get into, and continue to support, a state of ketosis — especially on the go.
Thanks to its individual serving packets, ZonePerfect’s keto powder provides steady and satiating energy anywhere, anytime, without sacrificing your health goals or dietary needs. The result, when blended right, is a creamy, filling, and satiating meal substitute, and a nice balance of nutrients with minimal carbs per serving too.
No gluten, soy, flavors or colors, and zero artificial sweeteners are in here. It does contain Stevia, however – some say a bit too much. But the flavors are meant to be dessert-y, and are available in white chocolate cream and vanilla frosting.
PROS: Comes in packets instead of scoops, which may be a better option for those always on-the-go instead of in the kitchen. Doesn’t taste like typical “diet food,” and leaves no unpleasant lingering aftertaste either.
CONS: Difficulties getting it to blend smoothly, sometimes requiring the full force of a blender. And while there’s no aftertaste, some say it can leave an oily “after-texture” in one’s mouth.
3. Keyto Collagen Protein Powder With MCT Oil
There’s a lot that Keyto’s all-natural collagen protein powder has to offer – aside from getting your non-keto friends to finally pronounce the diet’s name correctly.
Sourced from grass-fed and pasture-raised cattle, Keyto’s hydrolyzed collagen powder does more than just a regular collagen supplement alone. For starters, it’s combined with MCT Oil powder from coconuts, along with essential electrolytes, for a noticeable uptick of energy while keeping your ketone levels in check.
Collagen, the most plentiful protein within us, is also the main protein in the makeup of our connective tissue. As your age goes up, along with exposure to stress and sunlight, collagen production levels start going down, which can ultimately lead to things like wrinkles, joint pain and hair loss. Supplementing with a collagen protein can help skin rejuvenate, and may help digestion, as well as maintaining the heath and strength of joints and muscles. Keyto’s collagen mix, combined with the MCT oil, slows down your liver’s collagen absorption, increasing its efficiency as the “glue” that repairs and holds our bones and tissues together.
Keyto isn’t just for keto though – this powder fits in just fine with the paleo crowd, or really any low-carb diet.
PROS: Mixes into any drink extremely well, with no remaining lumps or salty taste that can sometimes accompany MCT oil.
CONS: While it avoids the unpleasant saltiness, some report it’s entirely too sweet, with an overpowering amount of Stevia that can negate the taste of the drink it’s being mixed with.
4. Keto Drive Exogenous Ketone Performance Complex
Zhou’s Keto Drive’s blend is designed to get you on a fast track to ketosis. Or keep you in it if you’re already there.
This mix has a little of everything – the biggest selling point being its patented BHB complex to help increase your blood’s ketone levels, up your athletic endurance, focus your mental performance and give you the boost of energy you need (with no caffeine). Keto Drive is also supplemented with a combination of vitamin A, calcium, sodium, and magnesium, all with no carbs and no sugar. It’s a packed formula that’ll pair well with a low-carb lifestyle.
Zhou tests all the ingredients at their Utah lab, and the patented powder itself is made in the USA (with globally-sourced ingredients). The 14.7 grams per serving can also help mitigate the negative effects of the dreaded “keto flu” too.
PROS: Premium ingredients. Mixes easily into water in seconds with no chunks, especially with a shaker bottle.
CONS: Exogenous ketones have an undeniably awful taste. And while all of the keto powders we reviewed here have mixed feedback about their flavors, this one seems to have divided users the most. The orange-mango flavor may not be for everyone.
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