Tools & References

The Keto-Friendly Food List

A simple green, yellow and red map of what to build meals from, what to keep an eye on, and what to leave at the trailhead. No counting required to start, just clear terrain.

How to read this

Green, yellow, red, like trail blazes

This is the Trail Markers approach in food form. Green foods are your everyday base. Yellow foods are fine in modest amounts and worth watching. Red foods are the ones that keep the old loop running, and the ones we re-route one at a time.

You do not remove everything at once. In the Base Camp and Lookout programs, you swap one red food a week for a green one that scratches the same itch. Small, doable, permanent.

GREEN : BUILD FROM THESE
  • Meat, poultry, fish, eggs
  • Leafy greens and salad
  • Broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini
  • Avocado, olives, olive oil
  • Butter, ghee, coconut oil
  • Cheese and full-fat dairy
  • Nuts and seeds
  • Berries (in moderation)
YELLOW : WATCH THE PORTION
  • Tomatoes, peppers, onions
  • Carrots, beets, squash
  • Greek yogurt (plain)
  • Dark chocolate (85%+)
  • Legumes (small amounts)
  • Higher-sugar fruit
  • Milk
  • Cashews
RED : RE-ROUTE ONE AT A TIME
  • Bread, pasta, rice, cereal
  • Potatoes and fries
  • Sugar, candy, desserts
  • Sugary drinks and juice
  • Most packaged snacks
  • Beer and sweet cocktails
  • Honey, syrups, jam
  • Low-fat 'diet' products
"You are not on a forbidden-foods list. You are choosing, one swap at a time, terrain you can actually climb."
A plate that works

What a green meal looks like

Palm-sized proteinEggs, fish, chicken, beef. The anchor of every plate, and the thing that keeps you full.
Two fists of vegetablesLeafy and colourful, above the ground. Fibre, minerals, and volume without the flood.
Real fat to tasteOlive oil, butter, avocado. Flavour and satisfaction, and slower digestion.
Water and saltOn lower carb, you need more salt and fluid than you think. See The Electrolyte Shield.
Once the cupboard is right

Then the question becomes what to cook

A good list tells you what to buy. It does not tell you what to make at half past five on a Tuesday, when you are tired and nothing is defrosted. That is the other half of the job, and it has its own page.

The Provisions (Recipes) List → is the companion to this one: eight vetted keto and carnivore recipe sites, every one with a substantial free library, and the reason each earned its place.

Where are you on the mountain?

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SourcesVolek JS, Phinney SD. The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living, 2011. • Hallberg SJ, et al. Effectiveness and safety of a novel care model for type 2 diabetes. Diabetes Therapy, 2018. • Athinarayanan SJ, et al. Long-term effects of a novel continuous remote care intervention. Frontiers in Endocrinology, 2019.
Ascent Metabolic Coaching provides education and behaviour-change coaching, not medical diagnosis or treatment. Decisions about medication and personal medical care belong with your healthcare team.