Is Baking Powder Keto Friendly?

This is the era when everyone has become health conscious. We all become label readers to know the nutritional value of every food. Many people have chosen to eat vegan or organic foods to consume more healthily.

To stay healthy, young, fit, and active, we all take the first initiative of losing some extra weight by following a diet plan. But, Losing weight is not enough to stay healthy. It takes a proper diet plan to maintain that weight ourselves.

To follow a diet, the ketogenic diet is a popular one. This is a whole lifestyle where you have to cut carbohydrates from your diet and take more protein and fats. This keto diet has been on the top list for several years.

There are some restrictions on foods in keto. Are you afraid now as a foodie? If you love baked food and think about doing ketogenic, you must be worried- is keto allows baking powder or not? Don’t worry I am here to tell you that. Is baking powder keto friendly? Let’s find the answer for you.

Is baking powder keto friendly

What Is Keto Diet?

The Keto diet is a short form of the ketogenic diet. It is a diet plan where you cut your carbohydrates like sugar, rice, flour, etc., from your daily diet and add more protein and fat. This plan fulfills your daily calories with more protein and fat than carbs.

When we take carbs, it breaks like glucose in our bodies. That glucose is stored as sugar in our body. It breaks down in the body soon and easily, making you hungry and pressurizing you to consume more.

We all know that carbohydrates make our body fat, and taking an excessive amount of carbs is not suitable for our health.  And if we want to lose our body fat, the first thing to avoid is carbs.

What Does Keto Do To Your Body?

Before starting a new diet plan, you must know the formula of that diet and understand how it will work on the body.  So, if you are thinking of stepping into Keto, you should know how keto works in the body?

what does keto do to your body

Keto requires us to restrict our dietary carbs. Now, carbs are the source of energy for our bodies. If we cut off carbs, how would it work?  When you cut off the carbs from your daily diet, your body depends on the stored fats to gather energy.

Otherwise, the fats get stored and do not break when the body has carbs. But when you don’t have enough carbs, you must break the fats to have energy.

In this process, body fat produces ketone acid while breaking, and that ketone becomes the power source of our body and brains. Ketosis helps to higher the body metabolism, and body fats tend to burn faster, and we lose weight as a result of this whole process.

Baking Powder Formula

Sodium hydrogen carbonate is the chemical name of baking powder. It’s a combination of powdered acid and sodium bicarbonate. It is not taken as food, it is used in some recipes to ferment or increase the volume and give a lighter texture to baked food recipes.

So basically, it works as a rising agent of the baking mixture. It produces carbon dioxide in the mix and makes it rise in heat.  

baking powder formula

If you are a DIY enthusiast, You can also make the baking powder at home by mixing the appropriate amount of cream of tartar and bicarbonate of soda.

There are two kinds of baking powder-

Single-acting baking powder-  In this, only one type of acid is present in the single-acting baking powder, and it activates over the heat, not in the liquid or mixture.

Double-acting baking powder- Two acids are present in this formula where one acid works in the liquid or mixture and the other one works in the heat. The first acid, carbon dioxide, gets activated before the baking, and the second one gets activated in the middle of the baking. And they together make the baking dish even better.

Baking Powder Usage

Baking is considered art, and to make this art, baking powder is the main character for every baking food item.

Cake, bread, pasta, cookies, biscuits, and many other foods require baking powder to make perfectly.

baking powder usage

Besides baking, baking powder also has other uses as hacks in daily life. It can work as a deodorizer that can vanish the odor from your carpet if you add some baking powder with your regular detergent powder. It will boost the energy of your washing powder and make your clothes cleaner and odorless.

Baking powder can keep you out of ants, and it can unclog your kitchen drain if you pour vinegar with some baking powder. It can be great to freshen up your shoes. You can clean your microwave too with baking powder.

Nutrition Value Of Baking Powder

If you want to use baking powder to make a dish or add it to your diet, you should know its nutritional value.

nutrition value of baking powder

Moreover, if you want to find the answer is baking powder keto friendly? then you should know the nutrition fact about baking powder.

1 tsp of baking powder contains:

Nutrition factAmount
Carb1.3 grams
Protein0 grams
Fiber0 grams
Fat0 grams
Calories2

In the chart, we can see that the nutrition fact of baking powder is quite low. It has got a good amount of carbs and calories, that can break in the food while cooking.

Can You Have Baking Powder While Keto Dieting?

In the above, I have mentioned that baking powder has only carbs and calories, which is quite high if we check the ratio. You have to cut carbs from your food list in the ketogenic diet.

The ketogenic diet requires 70% fat, 20-25% protein, and 5-10% carbs in daily food. Baking powder is basically 28.26 grams of net carbs in 100 grams of serving.

The Keto diet does not allow you to take high carbs, so the baking powder might not be keto-friendly. It will not help the ketosis even if you take a small amount.

On the other hand, baking powder is low in fats. But the ketogenic diet stands on the fat, if you consume more carbs than fats then it will not work. Though baking powder does not have any added carbs like sugar or oils, it is a plain ingredient still high in carbs.

So, in that case, if you fancy baking and love baked food how would you make it without baking powder? Well, there is some substitute of baking powder that could help you do your keto.

Substitute Of Baking Powder

Eggs

Eggs have 0.7 grams of carb in every 100 grams, so it’s low in carbs and can be used as an alternative to baking powder. Many bakers make bread, cake, and cookies using eggs instead of baking powder.

Agar-agar

Agar-agar is also low in carbs and minimally processed. So you can use agar-agar while staying in keto.

Egg Yolk

Egg yolks give you healthy fats and it’s a whole food easy to digest. It has only 3.6 grams of net carbs in 100 grams. So egg yolk is ideal for your keto.

Coconut Milk

Coconut milk is high in fat and slightly processed. It has 5.4 grams of carbs in 100 ml. So coconut milk can be your friend in keto.

Things To Keep In Mind

Though keto is a really effective process of controlling your diet, and in the ketogenic diet, you don’t have to starve during this process too, people are very eager to follow this process. Still, there are some facts and information you should keep in mind.

Daily Exercise 

Though keto makes you lose weight rapidly, still you should never skip your daily exercise for keto. You should do at least 20 minutes of daily exercise.

Drink A Lot Of Water

You should always drink at least two liters of water whether you are in keto or not because without staying hydrated you can’t be healthy.

Proper Sleep

Without proper sleep, your metabolism might get slower. So, you should sleep at least 6 to 8 hours. And you should not stay awake at night as it can slow your metabolism.

Patience

Everybody is different, so you should be patient to notice the changes while doing the keto. You might get the result earlier or later according to your body type. So, don’t worry.

Consult A Nutritionist

Before starting anything new with your diet or bringing any change you should always consult a nutritionist first. Otherwise, you could get some major side effects that can worsen your health.

Frequently Asked Questions

Keto is a very complex process to follow and you might get confused about many things. Other than is baking powder keto friendly? there are some other questions too.  Let’s see some questions that people also ask normally. I hope it will help you to clear your thoughts.

1. Does baking powder have carbs?

As baking powder contains a certain amount of corn starch, it has carbs in its nutritional value, but the amount of carbs is not that much. If you take one spoon of baking powder, there will be 1.3 grams of carb.

So, as long as you do not stuff your food with baking powder, you don’t have to worry much about carbs in baking powder.

2. Does baking powder count as healthy?

Baking powder is just an additive to food. When you make something with baking powder it is just used at a small ratio to other ingredients.

No study shows baking powder contains any toxic ingredients in itself. But overdosing is not healthy at all. Overdosing may cause allergies and other health issues.

So, baking powder does not affect your body if you take it at an average amount.

3. Can I make baking powder at home?

Of course, you can make baking powder at home. It is a good DIY and very healthy for maintaining keto.

You can make baking powder with only three simple ingredients like cream of tartar, corn starch, and baking soda. Just mix one part of baking soda and two parts of the cream of tartar with one tablespoon of cornstarch, and it’s done.

4. Is there any side effect of baking powder?

Baking powder is basically a chemical formula that is used as an additive in some foods. It does not have any strong flavor to have noticeable side effects.

But if you have certain health issues like nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea then it may lead to worse conditions. So, do not take baking powder if you have this kind of health condition.

5. Is there any healthy substitute for baking powder?

Though baking powder is non-toxic and does not do any serious health problems. But if you think you want to try a better substitute then you can switch to plain yogurt, it works just fine with baking recipes.

6. Are baking powder and baking soda the same?

Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate that works on the liquid batter, but baking powder is an acid with sodium hydrogen carbonate. Baking powder works in dry ingredients as well as liquid, and it has a more substantial effect on baking goods than baking soda.

So, baking powder and baking soda are not the same, and their working process is different. 

7. Why do we use baking powder for baking food?

Baking foods like cake, bread and etc. are required to be fluffy and rise in the microwave to be soft and tasty. So, baking powder is basically an acid that works as a chemical leavening agent. It works on the batter and helps the baked goods to rise well in the heat of the microwave and make them soft.

8. Is baking powder vegan?

Since no animal-based ingredient is used in baking powder so it is totally vegan friendly. It came from an all-natural source. So, it is 100% vegan.

Final Thoughts

The ketogenic diet got pretty much hyped worldwide nowadays. As it is not a regular diet process and you don’t have to starve all day or compromise the portions that’s why it is so popular and fun to follow.

As you can’t have carbs in this diet, as a baker or baking food lover you must be worried about having baking powder in your food. So, I tried to help you by doing a little research and informing you that baking powder might not be keto-friendly, and you can have some alternatives to it.

So, I hope, my writing helped you to find the answer- is baking powder keto friendly.

Hey there. I am a registered doctor and founder of this site. The main goal of this site is to help individuals with good food habits, diet, and nutrition. In my spare time, I enjoy cooking, exploring different food recipes and diets.

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