Keto Diet for Beginners: 8 Keto Comfort Food Swaps

If you spend any time outside your house or on social media, you have heard of the Ketogenic Diet. The Keto Diet has hit the world by storm in the last few years, and it has piqued your curiosity.

Many people think the keto diet is super restrictive, but with these 8 keto comfort food swaps I’m sharing below, you’ll never feel deprived!

Now, keto comfort foods might not seem like they belong in the same sentence. But believe it or not, you can have all the comfort foods without packing on the pounds!

I’ve found so many keto comfort food recipes since starting the keto diet. The trick to staying keto is simply modifying your old favorites into healthier ones.

Jump straight to the Keto Comfort Food Swaps!

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Benefits of the Keto Diet

Many people assume the Keto Diet is meant to be a temporary solution to knock off a little (or a lot) of added weight. And while many people do use it only temporarily, I’m here to say it can be a lifestyle change worth keeping.

So why start the Keto Diet in the first place?

• Lose Weight
• Gain Mental Clarity
• Improve Your Gut Health
• Lose Inches Around Your Waist
• Stabilize Blood Sugars
• Increased Energy

Lose Weight

You’ll turn your body into a fat-burning machine when you quit burning glucose and start burning fat.

Mental Clarity

Your body produces ketones which are an alternate source of energy for brain function. Ketones are produced naturally in the body while fasting or on a strict low-carb, high-fat diet.

Improved Gut Health

Eating processed food and sugar can irritate your gut, which then triggers an immune response, causing inflammation. Think, less bloating, less gas and fewer upset tummies.

Lose Inches Around Your Waist

That inflammation that we mentioned in the last point? That bloat causes your waist to expand…a quick and easy way to reduce a quick inch off your waistline is to reduce inflammation!

Stabilize Blood Sugars

This isn’t just for diabetics. When you eat too much sugar and carbohydrates, your body cannot produce enough insulin to keep up. Glucose builds up in your blood causing high sugar levels. A strict low-carb, high-fat diet can keep your glucose levels consistent.

Increased Energy

Imagine not having that mid-afternoon crash, but a steady energy level all day instead! When your body uses fat for fuel, you have a constant fuel supply, versus a high carb diet where your body is always looking for that next glucose hit.

So that’s the why. Now you’re intrigued but not really sure where to start, right?!

Let me guess, you like the idea but worry about giving up your favorite comfort foods. Hey, that was my biggest hurdle too. I am a recovering, self-proclaimed “carb junkie”, so I get it!

But before we dive into whatever the heck you CAN eat, let’s take a quick look at Keto Diet basics.

What is the Keto Diet?

The Keto Diet focuses on three specific “macros”: Fat, Protein, and Carbohydrates. (What’s a macro you ask? Macronutrients are those things your body needs in large quantities to function properly.)

High Fat

Bring on the butter and bacon! Right? Well maybe, but there are lots of other healthy fat sources, such as avocados and olives, to enjoy. The key is to make fat 75% of your diet….

UNLESS! You are trying to lose weight with the keto diet. In that case, you will use fat as a lever, dialing it up to gain weight and dialing it down to lose weight.

But even if you eat less fat to lose weight, you never want to really consistently adopt a low-fat diet because your body needs fat for healthy hormone production.

Related Article: What are Macros – Keto Diet 101

Moderate Protein

Contrary to popular belief, unlike the Atkins Diet of the 1990s and early 2000s, you don’t get to eat all the protein you want. Protein should make up 20% of your diet.

Low Carbs

It’s nearly impossible to avoid all carbs. You should aim to make carbs no more than 5% of your diet. Carbs add up super quickly, so you’ll want to keep track of these, at least until you have a good handle on your eating habits.

I held off diving into the Keto Diet for many years because the idea of tracking macros was not appealing at all. It sounded difficult and time-consuming. And while, yes, it does take more time out of your day than just popping the food in your mouth, the actual time of logging and calculating macros is minimal.

And thanks to modern technology, there’s an app for that! My favorite app for tracking food and macros is Cronometer.

The Cronometer app is known for having the most accurate nutritional data.

And if you upgrade to Cronometer Gold (which I personally have!) you can get rid of those pesky ads, plus get…

• Diary Groups & Timestamps
• Fasting Timer
• Customer Charts and Biometrics
• Nutrition Scores + Food Suggestions to meet your goal
• and SO MUCH MORE!

It also has an option to sync with devices like Apple Watch, FitBit, and more so you can track you food and fitness all in one place!

8 Keto Comfort Food Swaps + Keto Recipes

The simple answer is you can eat meats, nuts, and green veggies. Stay away from the grains. For some people, keeping it simple might be great.

For me, I needed a little variety. I have moments where I NEED keto comfort food. I want to enjoy desserts and party appetizers. I tend to get FOMO with food. (side note for those without teenagers in your house, FOMO is the “fear of missing out”)

The following is a small list, meant to give you hope, that you can enjoy variations of all your favorite foods on the keto diet.

1. Almond Flour / Coconut Flour

These will be your go-to flours for baking. Cakes, Cookies, and Pie, OH MY! Friends, you do not have to give up these things! Yes, there is life after wheat!

In fact, I have a bunch of videos teaching how to make some delicious keto comfort foods on my YouTube channel. And for those needing a sandwich, I have a new bread recipe that is the bomb-diggity.

Almond Flour Recipes

• Almond Flour Peanut Butter Cookies
• Keto Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies
• Perfect Keto Pie Crust
• Keto Mini Pizza Bites
• Keto Graham Crackers

Coconut Flour Recipes

• Keto Sausage and Cheese Mini Muffins
• The Absolute Best Peanut Butter Cookies

2. Natural Low-Glycemic Sweeteners

Not all sugar alternatives are created equal. Some are chemicals and others are natural. But not all-natural sugar alternatives are created equal either.

Confused yet?!

You specifically want natural sugars that do not impact your blood glucose levels. This includes sugar alcohols like Erythritol and plant sweeteners like Stevia and Monk Fruit.

Here are a few dessert recipes using keto-approved sweeteners!

3. Cauliflower

I feel the eye-roll happening on this one but stick with me for a sec. You’ve all heard of Cauliflower Mash in place of mashed potatoes, which is okay at best, but have you tried Loaded Cauliflower Mash?

Folks, add butter, sour cream, bacon, and chives to anything, and you will fall in love.

This brings me to the next bit of cauliflower dark magic…. Cauliflower Tots! {mic drop} I know it sounds ridiculous, but with the right seasonings, you CAN pull off a tater-tot swap for Cauli-Tots. Trust me, this is one of the comfort food swap recipes you will thank me for.

4. Zoodles

I grew up hating zucchini, and roasting zucchini still doesn’t get me all excited…I can tolerate it at best. But spiralize this veggie and suddenly you’ve got my attention. You see, pasta is my personal comfort food. It’s like…. everything.

Perhaps a moment of silence as I reminisce on my days of bottomless pasta bowls…

The zoodles probably saved me. No joke. Thanks to my handy-dandy Spiralizer, I can save money on spiralized veggies, and enjoy my spaghetti too!

5. Zevia

Ok, this isn’t a food, but sometimes a girl needs a soda, and we all know that the chemical sugar alternative found in most diet sodas are not good for you. Enter in, a soda that is sweetened with stevia!

I know, it’s brilliant! While I do promote drinking water and coffee on most days of the week, having the occasional Zevia sure satisfies the soda craving without all the bad stuff.

The Zevia brand has expanded its product line quite a bit since I started keto in 2018 and they include drinks such as Tea, Sparkling Water, Mixers, and more!

Click here to visit the Zevia Store on Amazon!

6. Fat-Head Dough Pizza

This is the one area where I will adamantly reject cauliflower as a pizza dough substitute. Fat-Head dough can be used in so many ways, but it is especially yummy as a pizza dough.

The base ingredients are Almond Flour and Mozzarella Cheese, with a few other things thrown in. You can have your pizza and ENJOY it too!

7. Keto Chips

What good is a dip if you don’t have a chip? Once again, Almond Flour to the rescue. There are many recipes to choose from, but is my personal favorite.

Keto Pita Chips and Guacamole

8. Ice-Cream

This is an easy keto comfort food swap out because, for most ice-cream, sugar is going to be the only “non-keto” ingredient to change out.

Now, in a pinch, I will buy a pint of Halo Top ice cream from the grocery store, but I prefer to make my own. I purchased an ice cream maker just for this purpose.

Substitute sugar with your Natural Sugar Alternative of choice, and you’d never know the difference.

Keto Ice Cream Recipes to try!

• Keto Strawberry Ice Cream Recipe
• Keto Wine Ice Cream Float
• Sugar-Free Coffee Ice Cream
• The Best Keto Tiramisu Ice Cream
• Super Creamy Keto Chocolate Ice Cream
• Keto Chocolate Almond Marshmallow Ice Cream
• Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream Recipe
• Keto Vanilla Ice Cream
• Keto Almond Butter Ice Cream

So there ya go! Eight awesome keto comfort food substitutes. Once you realize that you can enjoy a variety of food on the Keto Diet, sticking with it becomes easy.

Whenever someone asks me, “But don’t you miss {insert food of choice}”, my response is, “There’s a recipe for that!”

There are some creative food bloggers out there, creating amazing copycat recipes, so before you resign yourself to “never eating” something again, take a quick look on google or Pinterest. Or heck, bookmark THIS BLOG. Every chance I get, I’m turning my former favorite dishes into keto-friendly eats.

You’ll be surprised how many foods can be Keto-fied with a few keto comfort food swaps!