Do you feel like you have to sacrifice your birthday cake for the keto diet?
Well, the truth is: You don’t have to. You can have your cake and eat it too.
It’s hard to be on a keto diet with a sweet tooth, we know how it feels.
Cassava flour is something we hear about often. Many substitutes for wheat flour have grown in popularity over the years, cassava included.
But is cassava flour keto friendly?
Carbohydrates are enemy number one in a keto diet. It’s no wonder, then, that we look for alternatives. Cassava flour has risen to replace many wheat-based recipes.
The reason?
Cassava flour is a gluten-free replacement for people that are possibly gluten intolerant. It also helps that it comes with a bucket list of vitamins and minerals.
Around 800 million people across the globe use cassava in their regular diet.
Let’s begin!
What is cassava flour?
Cassava is a tuberous or root vegetable, very similar in appearance to sweet potato, but without the orange tint.
How is cassava flour made?
To make flour out of it requires a complex processing system. This process looks something like this:
- The harvested cassava is grated into little pieces.
- The small pieces are then set to dry either naturally or more practically by using an industrial dryer.
- After it has thoroughly dried, the cassava will be ground to a very fine powder and the flour is thus made.
Fun fact:
The cassava is also known as yuca in a great number of parts of the world, especially in areas where it naturally grows, like the Caribbean.
Is cassava flour poisonous?
The cassava plant, or more specifically the root part is known to have naturally occurring cyanide. This is the reason why it can be toxic, but only if consumed raw. (*)
Processing the plant itself makes it safe to consume without any risk of cyanide poisoning.
Is cassava flour keto?
Cassava is what we would call a starchy product, and as such we assume it has high concentrations of carbohydrates.
Some nutritious values of cassava per 1 cup (*):
- Calories: 330
- Fats: 0.6 grams
- Carbs: 78 grams
- Protein: 2.8 grams
- Dietary Fiber: 3.7 grams
- Sugars: 3.5 grams
All these metrics denote one thing, cassava is not good for a keto diet. Very high in carbohydrates and sugar, almost double that of sweet potato.
We know the keto diet is very popular with people that have insulin-dependent diabetes. Using cassava flour will thus pose problems for your blood sugar levels.
What Can I Use to Replace Cassava Flour?
When trying to follow a keto diet it may seem impossible to have any kind of flour product included, especially if you were looking at cassava for substituting wheat.
So what is there to do?
We know how that fells and if you want to have a proper birthday cake for your birthday, you can.
You may be asking yourself:
Won’t will I endanger my ketosis if jump at the opportunity to eat cake? Not necessarily, because in trying to answer the question is cassava flour keto, we found options.
Almond flour
A highly encountered type of flour in many diets that replaces wheat flour, almond flour is fantastic. Made from crushed almonds, this flour is very low on carbs.
Almond flour nutritional value per 100 grams (*):
- Fat: 3.57
- Protein: 21.43 grams
- Carbs: 21.43 grams
- Dietary fiber: 7.1 grams
Almond flour has a sweeter taste than cassava with higher protein intake and fewer carbs. It’s also a very easy flour to find as it’s so widely used.
Chickpea flour
A more interesting take on a flour replacement, chickpea flour is made from ground chickpea, as the name implies. As a vegetable-based flour, it’s high in protein.
Chickpea flour nutrition facts per cup (*):
- Fat: 6.2 grams
- Protein: 21 grams
- Carbs: 53 grams
- Dietary fiber: 9.9 grams
Its veggie origins also offer vitamin C and iron as beneficial components to a diet. Along with this, there is the taste that has been described as earthy.
Coconut flour
Coconut has many uses, and keto friendly flour is only one. Made from the flesh of coconut by drying and grinding it to a fine powder.
Nutritional value of coconut flour for 100 grams (*):
- Fat: 13.33 grams
- Protein: 20 grams
- Carbs: 60 grams
- Dietary fats: 33.3 grams
This flour works perfectly for desserts as it still has a coconut taste after being processed into flour.
Coconut flour is almost as popular as almond flour for the keto diet.
Learn more: 8 Best Low-carb, Keto-Friendly Cornstarch Substitutes
FAQ:
- Why is cassava flour associated with the keto diet?
There are many other diets out there, and many people trying to find suitable replacements for wheat.
Cassava is a great example of a very popular type of flour used in many places around the world, but especially for gluten free and paleo diets.
This is the main reason cassava flour mistakenly gets consideration in the keto diet.
- Is Cassava flour good for diabetics?
Cassava flour is not particularly great for people with diabetes. Of course, if you consume it in moderation it should be ok, but we advise against it.
- What other substitutes are there for wheat or cassava flour?
You have probably already discovered by now that the answer to the question is cassava flour keto came with a resounding no.
Fortunately, there are many other types keto friendly flour out there.
Apart from what we already mentioned, there are:
- Chia flour
- Sunflower seeds flour
- Flaxseed flour
- Oat fiber
- Pecan flour
Fortunately, so many options present themselves to replace not only wheat flour but cassava as well.
- What can you make with any of these keto friendly flours?
It may seem like all these different types of flour will impede you from making anything you want. But can’t be further from the truth.
You can make just about anything with almond, coconut, chia flour, or any of the other keto inclusive flours.
The takeaway
Just because you have sworn off carbs to uphold a keto diet does not mean you will never be able to eat cake.
Modern technology and ingenuity have made it entirely possible for you to replace wheat flour with so many other types of flour.
Cassava is one type of flour that will be mentioned in the keto community but even if it’s not the best for keto, It’s not the only option.
Up Next:
- Is coconut flour keto friendly?
- Is almond flour keto friendly?
- Is chickpea flour keto friendly?
- Best Keto Flour List
