Is Spam Keto Friendly?

Created and initially used due to the ease of transport and delivery the Spam is erroneously looked at as an unhealthy comfort food. Knowing more about this versatile canned food may change your perspective to look at it.

While on ketogenic diet you are always on the lookout for tastier food options with high protein content and low or no carb content. While sliced, salted and canned pieces of pork’s thigh might not the nice looking source of protein but it is definitely a good source for the ones on keto diet.

With many varieties and flavors available and types of dishes it can be used in, the possibilities are immeasurable with Spam.

After going through this article, you will look at spam in a different light. We tried to cover everything there is to know about spam and its compatibility with keto diet.

Is Spam Keto Friendly?

Contrary to popular belief most of the varieties and flavors of spam are good source of protein and fats and are low in carb content.

Most flavors of spam are high fat, high protein and low on carbs. Most of spam varieties are keto friendly.

One 2 ounce serving of spam contains 1 to 2 grams of carbs. Only a few types of spam varieties contain a little more carb than this. Even if we consider the variants of spam that contains more than 3 grams of carbs as keto unfriendly, the list of keto friendly spam varieties is much longer.

What varieties of Spam are keto friendly?

• Classic
• Lite
• Less sodium
• Spam with real Hormel bacon
• Oven roasted turkey
• Hickory smoke
• Hot & spicy
• Jalapeno
• Black pepper
• Chorizo
• Spam with Portuguese sausage seasoning
• Garlic
• Spam with cheese
• Mezclita
• Single classic
• Single lite
• Spam spread

Varieties of Spam that are not so keto friendly

• Spam teriyaki
• Spam tocino

Definitely keto unfriendly varieties of spam

• Spam fries
• Spam patties

How Many Carbs are in Spam? 

Following table indicates the carb content in one 2 ounces (or 56 grams) serving of spam, for the variety single classic and single lite the quantity of spam considered is 71 grams. We have only listed the carb content of keto friendly varieties of spam.

How Many Calories are in Spam? 

The numbers indicated in the table below correspond to single serve quantity of spam. For all the varieties this quantity is considered to be 2 ounces except single classic and single lite, for those the quantity of spam is considered 71 grams.

What Ingredients are in spam?

The spam original classic is the most basic and most favourite variant of all. The other versions contain all the ingredients used in spam classic and some added flavouring.

The major ingredient in spam classic is pork with ham, so basically the meat from any major pork sections. The other ingredients are salt, water, modified potato starch, sugar and a preservative.

Among all the ingredients pork with ham, salt and water are perfectly keto friendly items. As pork with ham is low in carbs and high in protein and fats, water has no carbs, salt is necessary electrolyte on keto diet.

The modified potato starch and sugar are not keto friendly ingredients. But these are present in very tiny quantity and has no power to mess with your ketosis except if you eat spam in large quantity.

The preservative used in spam is sodium nitrite. While it might have some adverse effects on your health but has nothing concerning keto diet.

Spam Nutrition Facts

With pork as main ingredient the spam is nutritionally rich. Single serving of spam classic fulfils around 20 percent of daily fat requirement and more than 10 percent of average daily protein requirement.

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Even the calorie content of spam is significant. Most of the calories in spam are due to the fat content.

Following table represent the nutritional facts of single serving of spam original classic weighing 2 ounces.

Spam keto meals ideas

Spam can be used in many ways in making keto friendly meals. Spam is a keto friendly food item; you only have to make sure that other ingredients in your recipe are keto approved.

You can use any keto friendly variant of spam for making a simple keto sandwich. Or pair it with any egg recipe.

Some of the delicious keto meals that can be made using spam are; spam egg roll bowl, keto spam meatballs, Hawaiian garlic spam musubi, bacon flavoured spam eggs and spinach.

These are just few of hundreds of other possible meals that can be made using any of spam variants.

How is Spam Made?

Spam contains most of the meat from pork shoulders. It is made using mainly six ingredients namely pork with ham, sugar, salt, water, modified potato starch and preservative. Spam variants other than the classic original use some added flavours.

The chopped pieces of pork are sprayed with a little salt and sugar for taste and then covered with mix of modified potato starch and water to maintain the moisture in the meat. A preservative sodium nitrate is added so that the spam can last longer.

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Is Spam Healthy?

Spam is high calorie high fat food. A single serve of 2 ounces has 16 grams of fat out of which 6 grams are saturated fats. It also contains noteworthy quantity of cholesterol. So, if consumed regularly on high or even in moderate quantities spam is not healthy.

Some scientists also suggest that the preservatives like sodium nitrite can be carcinogenic. There is no definite proof though.

Consuming spam once in while for convenience and taste it offers is okay, but for regular basis there are many other healthy sources of protein and fats.

Does spam pass the keto test?

If it is only about ketosis then yes spam is keto friendly and can safely be consumed while on keto diet. But considering the overall health there are other better options.

Spam is a convenience food can be always kept handy as it has long shelf life but this comes at a cost of high calories, fats and damaging preservatives. It is always advisable to control and reduce its intake.