Is Jimmy Dean Sausage Keto Friendly? (Solved!)
Adjusting to a ketogenic diet may be a real challenge. Most of us aren’t used to consuming so few carbohydrates and so much fat. As a result, people who have just shifted to this diet have to constantly check the nutritional content of the foods they eat.
When thinking about easy keto breakfast foods, is Jimmy Dean sausage keto friendly?
The suitability of Jimmy Dean sausages for the keto diet depends on the variety of sausage. Plain pork sausages are perfect for keto, while maple pork sausages and turkey sausages are not. Read on to find out why certain sausage types are better for your keto diet and how to choose the best varieties.
Is Jimmy Dean Breakfast Sausage Keto Friendly?
To understand whether Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage is keto-friendly, let’s first define the rules of the keto diet.
The ketogenic diet consists of low-carb, high-fat foods. The main purpose is to put your body into ketosis, a metabolic state where the body starts burning fat more efficiently. Furthermore, ketones that result from fat burning in the liver supply energy to the brain, helping you to think and stay active.
Typically, the ketogenic diet requires you to limit your daily carb consumption to 20-50 grams a day. However, the exact figures depend on a number of factors, such as your age, sex, weight, and underlying health condition. Fat should be received from sources rich in protein, such as fish or eggs.
Technically, you can eat any food as long as you stay within the required carb frame. Two ounces of Jimmy Dean pork breakfast sausage only contains one gram of carbs. In comparison, two ounces of apples contain nearly eight grams of carbs.
But Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage is high in protein, containing over nine grams per two ounces, and over 15 grams per two ounces of fat. You can safely eat up to 40 ounces of Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage, though eating that much is highly unlikely.
However, it’s important how you cook the sausage and what you eat it with. The sausage shouldn’t be cooked using processed vegetable oil (you don’t even necessarily need oil to cook sausage) and shouldn’t be topped with mayonnaise, ketchup, sugary syrups, or jams. Avoid consuming any bread, vegetables, and fruits for breakfast.
Is Jimmy Dean Maple Sausage Keto Friendly?
While Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage is one of the most keto-friendly sausage options, maple sausage from the same brand will have a more detrimental impact on your diet due to the way it’s seasoned.
Jimmy Dean maple sausage contains 3.3 grams of carbs per two ounces, over three times more than the regular pork sausage. The higher carb content is related to the sugars contained in maple syrup.
To reach 20 grams of carbs a day, you would need to consume 12 ounces of sausage.
Again, it’s highly unlikely that you would eat that much. Still, you should be aware of the carbs that Jimmy Dean maple sausage add your daily carb intake.
Is Jimmy Dean Turkey Sausage Keto Friendly?
Jimmy Dean turkey sausage is the most keto-friendly sausage the brand produces. It contains less than one gram of carbs per two ounces of sausage.
Plus, the protein content is even higher than that of the pork sausage – 10.8 grams as opposed to 9.1 grams.
However, the fat content of turkey sausage is about three times lower than that of pork sausage. This may be an advantage in some cases, but the keto diet requires over 70% of your calorie intake to consist of fats. Therefore, pork sausage may actually be a better choice for keto.
What Kind of Sausage Can I Eat on Keto?
Most ketogenic resources suggest your calorie intake to consist of 70%-80% fat, 5%-10% carbs, and 10%-20% protein. For a 2,000-calorie diet, this translates to about 165 grams fat, 40 grams carbohydrate, and 75 grams protein.
Based on the suggested values, Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage is the ideal option. Jimmy Dean turkey sausage is too low in fat and maple sausage too high in carbs.
Other suitable sausage types are chorizo, Vienna sausage, and pork bratwurst. Chorizo contains more carbs than Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage – 2.6 grams per two ounces as opposed to one gram. However, it’s higher in fat and protein, containing 17.6 and 13 grams, respectively.
Vienna sausage contains 1.2 grams of carbs per two ounces and 14.2 grams of fat. Bratwurst has about the same values, containing 1.6 grams of carbs and 16.44 grams of fat per two ounces.
Plant-based sausages are the enemy of your keto diet. While they are great for other diets, being low in calories and fat, they are the exact opposite of what the ketogenic diet requires. They’re extremely high in carbs due to the plant content.
Click here for my full article that discusses keto-friendly types of sausage.
In Summary
Hopefully, this article answered your question on if Jimmy Dean sausage is keto-friendly.
Now that you know how to evaluate the nutritional content of sausages, you can adjust your keto diet accordingly.
Remember that you don’t have to forsake favorite foods entirely to follow the diet. Rather, be mindful of your portions.
