The ever-rising popularity of a refreshing hard seltzer has placed Truly as one of the top contenders for the number one spot.
So what if we tell you that this hard seltzer all-star can be consumed on the ketogenic diet?
If like us, you grew up in the 80s and had the pleasure of enjoying the crisp taste of Mike’s Hard Lemonade and White Claw, then we know you have an understanding of what this article is about.
Better yet, we bet that you’ve found your way here because you can’t get enough of these alcoholic beverages!
We’ll cut to the chase – Truly is one of the few alcoholic beverages that contain little carbohydrates and can be consumed on the ketogenic diet.
In this comprehensive review of Truly hard seltzer, we’ll give you the truth behind Truly and how you can consume this without knocking yourself out of ketosis.
What Is A Hard Seltzer?
The hard seltzer came around due to a phenomenon when a pharmacist in Atlanta decided to infuse two precarious ingredients to create a wonderful syrup, now made sparkling.
In short, a hard seltzer is an alcoholic beverage that is composed of a liquor base and topped with sparkling water. The sparkling or seltzer water is mixed with the liquor and various other fruit extracts to give a wonderful refreshing taste.
Are Truly Keto Friendly?
Alcohol is a rather stigmatized topic around the keto community. In order to decide which alcohol to incorporate into your ketogenic diet, you need to look at not only the ingredients but also at how many carbs per serving.
There are a few basic rules to follow when considering drinking alcoholic beverages in the ketogenic diet, and these are:
- Low Carb Mixers
- Hard Liquors
- Light Or Low Carb Beer
- Certain Keto-Friendly Low Carb Wine
Luckily for us, a Truly hard seltzer is composed of a hard liquor mixed with sparkling water with certain fruit flavors. This ticks off two of the above rules above, making it suitable for the ketogenic diet.
So what does this mean for you?
Well, it means that as long as you don’t plan to binge drink this low-carb hard seltzer, you can drink Truly on the ketogenic diet without a significant dent into your state of ketosis.
However, like with all alcoholic beverages, we recommend that you drink in moderation for the safety of your health and body.
Carbohydrates In Truly
If you’re wondering just how Truly drinks are keto-friendly, then make sure to read on.
We are going to delve right into the nutritional content in a can of Truly.
Truly have stated that every single one of their fruit-flavored 12 oz hard seltzer contains (*):
- 100 Calories per can
- 5% Alcohol Volume
- 1 Gram of Sugar
- 2 Grams of Carbohydrates
And in a 16oz can of Truly Extra Hard Seltzer:
- 220 Calories per can
- 8% Alcohol Volume
- 1 Gram of Sugar
- 4 Grams of Carbohydrates
Evidently, Truly has slightly more than zero carbs per serving, but all of their drinks are low carb. In fact, each 12 oz can contain 2 grams of net carbs per serving, whereas their lemonade line contains 3 grams of net carbs per serving.
Which Flavors Of Truly Are Keto-Friendly?
As discussed, every 12 oz can of Truly contains the same nutritional content and 2 grams of net carbs, unless you opt for the Truly lemonade line and Truly Extra Hard Seltzer, which contain 3g of net carbs and 4g of net carbs respectively.
Truly’s Wild Berry Flavor
Containing only 2g of net carbs, the wild berry flavor of Truly is suitable for the ketogenic diet, and will not knock you out of ketosis if consumed in moderation.
Hipster’s Dream Truly Flavor of Blueberry and Acai
100 calories, 2g of net carbs, and a flavor that will send you to the beaches of Rio. Yes, the Truly blueberry and acai flavor is keto-friendly and will keep you in ketosis.
Truly Raspberry and Lime
The Starsky and Hutch of fruity-flavored alcoholic beverages and a juicy and tarty flavor that comes with minimal net carbs fit perfectly into our top choices of keto-friendly alcohol drinks!
Truly Black Cherry
Yes, you can consume this wonderful black cherry seltzer with minimal impact on your state of ketosis. Want to know a secret? It reminds us of the infamous diet soda, Dr. Pepper!
Truly citrus-flavored seltzers
All of the citrus range that Truly has to offer contains only 2g of net carbs and is suited to maintain your net carb content optimized for your ketogenic diet.
Lemonade Line
As you can tell, nearly all of the Truly low carb hard seltzer contain 2 grams of carbs other than the Truly Extra Hard Seltzer and the Lemonade Line which contains 4 grams and 3 grams of carbohydrates respectively.
The Lemonade Line comes in a variety of wonderful flavors which can really quench your thirst, but you need to be careful not to consume too many in one sitting, as one serving contains 3g of carbohydrates.
The Bottom Line
Truly offers flavor after flavor of wonderful fruity seltzers that provide nutritional balance in equal measures, so we’re going to give you this one tip for free!
All 12 oz flavors of Truly hard seltzer contain only 2 grams of net carbs and so will have little impact on your state of ketosis.
Is Truly Hard Seltzer Keto-Friendly Or Dirty Keto?
As a friendly reminder to all those new to the ketogenic diet, low-carb food and drinks are always keto-friendly.
They may contain artificial ingredients that can be detrimental to our health, so we categorize these foods as ‘Dirty Keto.’
Every single can of the classic Truly flavors uses the exact same ingredients, with the exception being the natural fruit essence used to give the different flavors their unique taste.
Why is this good?
Well, the majority of diet sodas used commonly in low-carb drinks use artificial flavoring and sweeteners to enhance their flavor. These artificial ingredients are linked to many health defects.
Truly prides itself on its use of natural, gluten-free ingredients that give its product 27 unique flavors and taste. The alcohol content is made from cane sugar, indicating that the alcohol is also natural (*).
As proven above, each can of original Truly hard seltzer contains just 2g of net carbs, 100 calories, and NO fat. But what are the ingredients?
- Filtered Carbonated Water
- Alcohol From Cane Sugar
- Natural Flavors
- Citric Acid
- Sodium Citrate
However, the Truly Lemonade Line contains a higher amount of net carbs due to the addition of extra sugars derived from cane sugar and sweetened using stevia. All flavors of Truly and those used in the Lemonade Line are free of the most common allergens. (*)
So, what’s the catch?
The Truly Lemonade Line and Ice Tea range are the only dirty keto flavors. These contain sugar and honey, both of which are not suitable for the ketogenic diet.
The Truly classic flavors are all keto-friendly and are suited for the ketogenic diet when consumed in moderation. Drinking more than 3 of these per day is not recommended as you may knock yourself out of ketosis.
Can I Lose Weight Drinking Truly On The Ketogenic Diet?
When we tell you that Truly is keto-friendly, this doesn’t mean that you should go ahead and drink this alcohol every day.
Why? Well, have you ever craved fat-filled food that is high in carbohydrates when drinking too much?
Well, that’s why. Drinking alcohol in moderation is preached widely through various healthcare professionals. When you consider losing weight, it is best to set yourself a set of rules to follow to help you reach your goal.
What have we found out so far?
- Truly contains 100 calories
- 2g of net carbs per drink
Although this may not seem like much – in fact, it may seem ideal for the ketogenic diet – but they will add up. Binge drinking Truly, whether it’s the original flavors or the Lemonade Line, will knock you out of ketosis and provide you with too many empty calories.
Its always been said that too many calories will halt your weight loss; however, alcohol tends to slow weight loss. This is because it is not only empty calories you are consuming but is also burned before fat, slowing down the fat-burning process that occurs when your body is in ketosis. (*)
In short, your body will stop burning all other fuel sources such as carbohydrates and fat and burn the alcohol instead. This reduces the rate at which you lose weight and interferes with the production of ketones.
Truly vs. White Claw: The Hardest Low-Carb Seltzer
The only other keto-friendly seltzer worthy of taking a spot in this blog post is White Claw.
White Claw is related to Truly as they both offer the same nutritional content in one serving of their drinks: 100 calories and 2g of net carbs in a 12 oz can.
However, white claw takes the lead in one section as they have produced 3 beverages with zero grams of net carbs.
In our humble opinion, there is no real winner when it comes to choosing the best keto-friendly hard seltzer between the two, as they both host their own array of benefits.
In Summary
Is Truly keto friendly? Yes, The classic flavors offered by Truly are keto-friendly.
The majority of the Truly flavors contain just 2g of net carbs and 100 calories, making them ideal for the ketogenic diet. The Lemonade Line and Iced Tea flavors Truly contain 3 grams of net carbs and contain extra sugar, deeming them dirty keto.
Drinking Truly on the ketogenic diet is completely possible given that you abide by your own rules set for helping weight loss and maintaining ketone production to keep your body in a state of ketosis. If you do not drink Truly in moderation, you may be liable to slow down weight loss.
