Is Nuun Keto? Unfortunately no, it is not. Nuun contains ingredients that are not keto friendly, however, as always, we have got you covered. We’ve listed our favorite keto friendly Nuun alternative below for you.
What is Nuun?
Nuun is a company that produces fizzy tablets designed to serve as a convenient way to add electrolytes and other healthy additives to your water.
Their goal is to “keep you as hydrated as possible” while separating electrolytes from carbohydrates.
Without the extra sugar or additives, Nuun can be a healthy addition to a Keto lifestyle.
A Keto-Cap (aka A Keto Recap!)
If you’re new to keto and want a bit more information, check out our keto beginners guide.
As a quick summary, if you need it, the keto (also known as the ketogenic diet) is a low-carb, high-fat diet.
The whole concept of the keto diet is that your body transitions from burning glucose, in simple terms, sugars or carbohydrates, to burning fat as its primary fuel source.
For a keto diet, people will restrict their macros to eating;
- 70% of their calories from fat
- 25% from protein
- 5% from carbohydrates
Sticking to these macros for a period of time will put your body into a state of ketosis. Ketosis is when your body has transitioned from burning carbohydrates as its primary fuel source to burning fat for fuel. It is at this point that you will start to see and feel the benefits of the keto diet.
There are a lot of new terms and abbreviations that you may come across, sometimes it can feel like a new language that you need to learn. In order to help you out and keep you on the right track, we have created a keto terms and keto abbreviations guide, bookmark these to make your keto journey easier.
Some people can be put off the keto diet because of the side effects, however, these are only short-lived and the health benefits of keto far outweigh the side effects.
One of the main benefits which attract people to the keto diet is that it can cause significant reductions in insulin levels (by up to 75%) and blood sugar levels, which can be attractive to those that struggle with diabetes, amongst other health complaints.
What is the Nutritional Value of Nuun?
Nuun has a variety of products designed to meet different needs such as rest, hydration, or energy. The nutritional values vary across the products, but generally have approximately the following nutritional values:
Calories: 35
Total Carbohydrates: 6g
Dietary Fiber: 1g
Total Sugars: 4g
Protein: 2g
How many Net Carbs are there in Nuun?
Research has shown that very small amounts of sugar can help with the absorption of fluids, so Nuun does add small amounts of sugar to its products. Approximately 2g of sugar is in most of their products, yielding a total of 4g of carbohydrates.
A key distinction to these carbs is that they mostly come from Dextrose, Citric Acid, and other natural flavors, and the body does not process citric acid the same way as it does sugar or dextrose.
Dextrose is chemically identical to glucose (sugar) and is high on the glycaemic index, just like regular sugar, it will spike your blood sugar levels.
To put things into perspective, dextrose has 85 grams of carbs per 100 grams and has a recording of 100/100 on the glycemic index. This is high!
Is Nuun Keto Friendly?
Nuun is not considered keto friendly since it does contain carbs in the form of dextrose which is high on the glycemic index and is likely to cause a spike in blood sugar levels and kick the body out of ketosis.
However, the company and many health enthusiasts do maintain that the limited carbs do fit well within a keto diet and can promote improved health – be very wary of these claims.
Are there different flavors or varieties that are not keto?
All of the varieties have approximately the same nutritional value, which means that all of the flavors are not keto friendly and should be avoided on a keto diet.
What are the Health Benefits of Nuun?
Nuun is best suited for endurance athletes, or when working out for an hour or more. Its ability to replenish electrolytes lost to sweat can help stave off dehydration.
The biggest health advantage seems to be the ability to rehydrate. Some experts claim though that the average person can adequately hydrate with water alone.
However, you can replenish the electrolytes in your body, without the use of non-keto friendly ingredients such as dextrose.
Below is our personal favorite electrolyte supplement, which is keto friendly.
Staying hydrated on the keto diet is really important, for more on how much water you should be drinking, check out our guide to staying hydrated on the keto diet.
If you’re planning on dehydrating yourself(!) and drinking alcohol on the keto diet, check out our ultimate guide to drinking alcohol on a keto diet. Also, you may be interested in, how to recover from a cheat day.
Summary: Is Nuun Keto?
No, Nuun is not keto friendly. Their products contain dextrose which is not keto friendly as it will spike your blood sugar and knock you out of ketosis. Instead, check out some of our favorite keto friendly Nuun alternatives listed above.