Carbs in Olives – Are Olives Keto Friendly?
Olives are commonly eaten as a snack. They’re also used as ingredients in the preparation of salads, stews, sandwiches and as optional pizza toppings. The amount of carbs in olives are not much making it a great addition to your meal and still meet your net carbs requirement.
The olive fruit – although sometimes mistakenly classified as a vegetable – has been cultivated since the Bible days. They have long established health benefits and are an integral part of the incredible Mediterranean diet, which is a great diet for heart health and longevity.
In this article we will at look the carbs in olives from a keto diet perspective. How can olives can help you keep being in ketosis whilst meeting your net carbs needs, why they are keto friendly and the amount of carbs in different commonly consumed amounts of olives.
Nutritional Content of Olives
About 100 grams (3.5 oz) of canned ripe olives has the following nutrition information:
- Fat: 10.7 grams, of which:
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- Saturated: 1.42 grams
- Monounsaturated: 7.89 grams
- Polyunsaturated: 0.91 grams
- Carbs: 6.3 grams
- Fiber: 3.2 grams
- Sugar: 0 grams
- Water: 80%
- Protein: 0.8 gram
- Calories: 115
Are Olives Keto Friendly?
Now you know the amount of carbs in olives, the next logical question is whether olives are keto friendly. The simple answer is ‘Yes’, olives are keto friendly and can be consumed daily or regularly as part of your keto foods list. Here’s why…
The keto diet requires that 75% of daily calories come from fats, 20 percent from protein and 5 percent from carbs. Making this adjustment from the Standard American Diet (SAD) can be very challenging so it’s important to get the right kind of good sources of food.
About 80 percent of the calories in olives are from the fat in olives. Considering that 100 grams (3.5oz) of canned ripe green olives or black olives have 115 calories make olives a great carb source to add to your meal.
Avocados are popular in their own right as a super and great keto food but the same serving size (100 grams of avocado) has more calories (160 cal). I’m not saying you should ditch avocados. Certainly by no means! But olives calories are really friendly and they make a great addition for variety in your meal.
Another advantage of having olives on hand is erm… they are handy. When you’re hungry and quickly needs a keto friendly snack, it’s a lot easier grab say 5 or 10 green olives than preparing an avocado.
Are Olives Good for You Even If You’re Not a Ketogenic Dieter?
Here are some additional health benefits of olives for added motivation to regularly add them to your food list, regardless of being a keto follower or not. The health benefits are primarily because of the rich presence of phytonutrients that have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antimicrobial and antiviral properties.
These include tocopherols, lipophilic and hydrophilic phehols, β-carotene, flavonoids, and terpenes. The high abundance of monounsaturated fat in olive oil is known to reduce the risk of heart disease.
1. Great antioxidant food
Olives are great antioxidant food removing free radicals from your body. These free radicals are bad chemicals that are not healthy for you but are found in our foods. They contribute to rapid aging, strokes and cancer. Studies have shown that the antioxidants found in olives zap up these bad guys from the system, keeping these diseases at bay.
2. Low calorie
One olive that is about 4 grams has about 5 calories. This makes olives calories super low, giving them a ‘negative calorie load’. Negative calorie load means you burn energy eating them than you use eating them.
How many calories are in 5 green olives? The value will be about 22 calories.
How many carbs are in 10 green olives? That will be equal to 2.4 grams. Find out more here.
3. Memory improvement
If you want to improve your memory eat a good daily serving size of healthy olives. The polyphenols present in olives reduces oxidation of brain cells, helping retain information better.
4. Improving skin tone and other properties
Olives contain oleic acid. Eat more of it to have clean, radiant and healthy skin. Olives also anti-cancer, reduces pain and help control your appetite so you do not overeat. This helps keep your weight in check.
5. Great source of vitamin E, minerals and fiber
Olives serve an excellent food source of vitamin E which neutralizes free radicals in your system. The also contain minerals such as sodium, iron and calcium.
Olives are salty containing about 60mg of sodium per olive. If you need to cut down on sodium intake, replace the brine with water to reduce the saltiness.
