When it comes to eating healthy, we’re all trying to figure out what works best for us. For some of us, the keto diet is the way to go. A lot of you seem to be asking, are Smart Sweets keto? So for all of our keto eaters out there, we’ve done some investigating and hope you will stick around to read what we found out!
Does the new SmartSweets recipe mean less fiber?
First things first. If you didn’t know, SmartSweets recently updated their recipe and it no longer includes tapioca fiber. This fiber was falsely helping reduce the amount of net carbs. I say falsely, because it has been found that tapioca fiber doesn’t always act like a true fiber in our bodies. Therefore, the team at SmartSweets pivoted and found two new fibers to include in their new recipe!
How many total net carbs are in each serving?
Each 50g bag of SmartSweets candy is considered one full serving. While each bag has a fairly high amount of carbohydrates (40g+), the total net carbs for each candy bag is 18g. The Soft Chews, which are similar to Starbursts, are currently the only SmartSweets candy with 15g total net carbs.
So how does the total net carbs amount get so low? The secret is SmartSweets mix of lots of fiber and the use of Allulose sweetener in every candy. The back of every bag shows you the total net carbs breakdown, which is a nice design feature! Having the net carbs listed on the back of the bag can help you to determine are SmartSweets keto too.
What is Allulose sweetener and is it safe?
Allulose sweetener is a sugar that is found naturally in certain foods like raisins or figs but it can also be produced in a lab. What makes this sugar special is that it actually isn’t metabolized by the body. Because of it’s non-sugar like properties, the sugar is actually required by the Food and Drug Administration to be labeled as a carb.
But here’s the catch. In a recent study in 2020, scientists found that the body still registers these foreign sweeteners as glucose. That means that eating these types of sweeteners still triggers an insulin response and could therefore be dangerous for diabetics.
So are SmartSweets keto friendly?
If you’re on the keto diet and trying to stay in ketosis, sweets can be super tempting. Are SmartSweets keto friendly? With newer studies coming out all the time, it seems like we don’t know enough about these new sweetener types. Therefore my gut says sugar (whether natural or fake) is sugar at the end of the day. So if you’re doing a keto diet, stay away.
As with anything that hasn’t been fully tested for keto, you have to be careful and understand that it could still kick you out of ketosis. But you alone have to be the one to decide if SmartSweets are keto. You have to decide if you want to “use your carbs” for SmartSweets on any particular day. SmartSweets has done a great job of being transparent as to what they put in their candy, in order to help you make an educated decision.
Regardless of what type of diet or way of eating you prefer, we all wish for a magical way to lose weight but still eat things like candy along the way. But the truth is, candy will more than likely always be some level of “bad” for you. Personally I’d rather stick to ingesting regular sugars than any type of man made one.
It’s those small, marginally healthier choices that we make throughout the day that can really add up to something substantial. So I personally believe that the best option is to work on building a habit to decrease your candy intake by replacing it with natural sweets like apples dipped in peanut butter and honey.
Which SmartSweets are the best flavor?
All the SmartSweets candies are surprisingly good! If you are a sour fan, I would suggest starting with the Sour Blast Buddies. Those things are dangerous. You also really can’t go wrong with the Peach Rings The only SmartSweets option I wasn’t so impressed with were the Sweet Chews aka the Starbursts alternative which was a bummer. But I can safely say that these tasty sweets are a MUST TRY.
Want to get a little variety pack to taste test your way through the SmartSweets options? Check out Amazon for a 6, or 8 flavor variety pack!
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8 Responses
It’s not up to the consumer to define keto friendly or not, it’s an actual science. Don’t put that in your articles.
You’re absolutely right it is science! What we consume and put into our bodies, is ultimately how are body does or does not get into a state of ketosis. So my point here was that if what we consume can meet certain criteria for our body, then it can be considered “keto friendly” in my opinion. I get your point though, that a food can’t necessarily be keto friendly. In the end, it is how we consume food that dictates that. Great point!
The carbs are to high, unless it’s made with erythritol, Stevia or sugar alcohol it doesn’t bind and cause weight gain then that would be a better product because this has 3 g of sugar, to me that says no you cannot eat this. My sister says the body cannot be fooled whether it’s real sugar or not.
I tend to agree with the fact that the body can’t be fooled! Smart Sweets uses something called allulose as their sweetener. There have been some scientific studies that have looked into how allulose does not actually spike insulin levels in the body, so Smart Sweets says it can be subtracted to 0g sugar. But like all things, we think it’s important to do your own research. Even when you look at the net carbs it’s pretty darn high, so I’d probably not eat a whole bag if I were doing keto.
These candies raise my sugar levels way up. Not good for diabetics. Found out the hard way!
Gosh, that is interesting! Especially when allulose sweetener registers as a carb by the FDA.
So thanks to your comment, I did some further digging and found this study released in 2020 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7014832/). Basically the study confirms that your body still treats artificial sweeteners like glucose, causing it to release insulin. I’ll be sure to update the post with a more detailed summary but just wanted to say thanks again for your comment!
Randomly found this page while curious about this candy, but I am familiar with the study you linked. I’d take it with a massive grain of salt; it was conducted in the middle of India with no information on how its study groups were recruited or how it controlled for any external factors. Heck, it doesn’t even include its own data. It draws tentative conclusions from a number of other studies, one of which the authors either neglectfully or dishonestly misrepresented; the 2011 study it cited showed a link between AS and type 2 diabetes UNTIL the results were controlled for outside factors. The actual conclusion of the 2011 study was that there was a correlation, but an even stronger correlation with the study participants’ other habits. Colloquially, that might mean that people with unhealthy habits are more likely to try to “balance” them with AS while continuing those habits rather than making any other healthy lifestyle changes.
Given that misrepresentation, I’m mildly suspicious of how any cited study in this article is presented. That being said, it’s very fair to say it’s still unclear what really is and isn’t keto, in terms of sugar substitutes.
Also those watermelon gummies were so sticky I was worried they’d pull out a filling 🤣🤣🤣