Is soy sauce keto?

People often consider the list of foods or food products during keto, simply because of the carb content in them. Keto diet wants you to have carbohydrate amounts as low as possible.

For this requirement in keto, a lot of food products get cut off from the recommended list for a keto diet. So, in this article, we are gonna talk about soy sauce.

Soya sauce is a sauce very popular among chefs and people who love to cook. Many popular dishes all around the world involve the use of soy sauce. It enhances the taste of any dishes and is extensively used for making popular Chinese dishes like noodles and chowmein.

So, it is one of those sauces which is mostly used while cooking. We should try and know about its contribution to our body while we are in keto.

Is Soy sauce keto-approved?

The soya or soy sauce is a salty, flavorful and dark-colored sauce. It is a staple product of many kitchens and is used in most of the households. It is produced from fermented soya beans. It is used in dishes for its extra tangy taste which spices up the dish.

Generally, the optimum amount of carb you can have during a keto-diet is about 20gms per day. Exceeding this amount of daily intake may cause us to fall out of ketosis. For people new to keto, ketosis is a condition of the body where the body chooses fat as the primary source of energy to produce ketones, instead of carbohydrates.

Soybeans are known to have high carbohydrate content making them unsuitable for keto. However, one spoon of soy sauce contains only 1gm of net carb. This makes it difficult to fit it into our keto diet because seasoning an entire meal requires more than just a spoonful of soy sauce. It can be used for flavoring without any hesitation in any kind of diet.

Alternatives to soy sauce

As it can be established, that soy sauce is not the best option for keto even though it can be used in small amounts for flavoring purposes during cooking. There are other options which are more suitable for a diet like a keto. Some of the sauces which we can try out during keto are:

Liquid aminos is a sauce which is also derived from soy and are a good source of amino acids. The important aspect is its low carb content. One tablespoon of liquid-aminos contains about 0.6gms of net carb. The only problem with this sauce is that it is expensive.

Coconut aminos are also a good substitute for soy sauce. As the name suggests, it is simply derived from the coconut trees and is also gluten-free. The coconut aminos also contain a little amount of sea-salt in them.

Downsides of Soy sauce

Soy sauce may be used in a number of dishes and maybe nutritiously fine but there are several downsides to it. This is one of the sole reasons for people to see the alternatives. The constituents present in soy sauce has the potential to pose serious health problems for a lot of people. Excess consumption of soy sauce may lead to the rise in blood pressure due to the presence of sodium in it. Sodium is also vital and hence small quantity of the sauce doesn’t cause harm.

Market soy sauce also contains an ingredient called histamine which has toxic effects on some people. They give rise to rashes, allergies, a condition of excessive sweating, and varied blood pressure in some people.

Some commercial brands selling soy sauce also contain gluten which seems to be a problem for people allergic to gluten. Excessive consumption of gluten may cause celiac disease. hence, it is best to avoid these types of sauces.

One more interesting thing is that soy sauce also contains phytoestrogens. This makes it good for people with low estrogen hormone levels and bad for people with levels of estrogen in the body.

The thing to be kept in mind is that this is not the case for every people and poses health risks such as these discussed above.

Bottom line

Coming down to the bottom line is soy sauce can be used for flavoring purposes in cooking dishes and can be included in a low carb diet like keto. However, there are some things one should keep in mind. Soy sauce is not meant for use in a bulk quantity. There are serious health risks in overconsuming soy sauce. Some times dressing dishes in a full meal requires the use of a large amount of soy sauce which is better to be avoided. This step, however, is a must for people following keto. One tablespoon does not do any harm and is within the approved limit in keto. There are a lot of other alternatives for soy sauce which is also keto-friendly.

Also read “Is popcorn keto?“