Last Updated on August 9, 2022 by Toya
Is spam Keto friendly? Are you really able to eat a food like canned spam on keto? How many carbs are in spam anyway? Find the answer to all these questions below!
What is spam?
SPAM is a brand of cooked, canned pork that was very popularly used during World War II. Spam is still widely used today in many countries.
Types of spam
There are many different types of spam including:
- Spam classic
- Spam teriyaki = Spam teriyaki is made with pork with ham, mechanically separated chicken, sugar, water, soy sauce powder, modified potato starch, salt, flavoring, sodium phosphates, potassium chloride, soybean oil, oleoresin of paprika and sodium nitrite and has 5 grams of carbs per serving.
- Spam breakfast scramble = Spam breakfast scramble is made with some ingredients including scrambled eggs, potato starch and sugar to name a few, and there are 3.76 grams of carb sin every 100 grams.
- Spam meat spread = Spam meat spread is made with pork, mechanically separated chicken, ham, salt, sugar, water, spices and sodium nitrite and has 1 gram of carbs in every serving size.
- Spam lite
- Spam 25% less sodium
- Spam with real bacon = Made with much of the same ingredients like classic spam, with the addition of rendered bacon fat, spam with real bacon has only 1 gram of carbs in every serving.
- Spam garlic = Spam garlic is made with pork, water, garlic, modified potato starch, salt, sugar and sodium nitrite and has 1 gram of carbs per serving.
- Spam oven roasted turkey = Spam oven roasted turkey is made with white turkey, turkey broth, salt, modified potato starch, sugar, dextrose and sodium nitrite and has only 1 gram of carbs per serving.
Spam ingredients
According to the manufacturers of spam, Hormel Foods Corporation, classic spam contains these six ingredients: Pork with ham, salt, water, modified potato starch, sugar and sodium nitrite.
Spam calories
Classic spam contains 180 calories in every 56 grams serving size of spam.
Is spam keto friendly?
While spam does only contain only 1 gram of carbs per serving, spam should be limited on keto because it does contain ingredients like modified potato starch, sodium nitrate and sugar which are not foods that are recommended on keto.
Therefore, while spam can be considered a dirty of lazy keto food, it is not a good option if you’re doing clean keto as it contains:
- Modified potato starch: Modified starches are additives used in foods. Modified potato starch is derived from grains and vegetables, such as wheat, maize, potatoes and belongs to the Carbohydrates family
- Sugar: Sugar contains a lot of carbs and is a no no on keto anyway.
Spam nutrition facts (i.e classic spam)
- Calories: 180
- Total fat: 16g
- Saturated fat: 5.99 g
- Cholesterol: 39.8 mg
- Sodium: 790 mg
- Total carbs: 1 g
- Dietary fibre: 0 g
- Sugar: 0 g
- Protein: 7 g
Final thoughts about eating spam on keto
While spam is very low in carbs and only contains 1 grams of carbs according to food central data, it is still made with ingredients like sugar and modified potato starch which makes spam a product that you should be cautious of when doing clean keto. On the other hand, if you’re doing dirty keto and you have no problem with eating highly processed foods, you can try out some spam every now and then if you choose.