This Ketogenic Meal Plan is simple, quick to prepare, and optimized with the right macro ratios already calculated for you so that all you need to do is make your meals. Each of the 4 meals in this meal plan take a total of 25 minutes or less, require minimal (if any) cooking, and taste amazing!
If you don’t want to read about how the meal plan works, CLICK HERE to jump straight to the ketogenic recipes.
If you have diabetes and don’t know if a Ketogenic Meal Plan is right for you, start by reading this comprehensive guide to The Ketogenic Diet and Diabetes.
How the Ketogenic Meal Plan works
The meal plan has 4 daily meals with recipes that are exceptionally filling, and each meal is distributed equally in calories for maximum satisfaction. The reasoning for 4 meals rather than the usual 6 meals you find in other Diabetes Strong meal plans is due to the common appetite suppression brought on by a ketogenic lifestyle (1).
When you eat a ketogenic diet, you switch your body’s fuel source to fat rather than the body’s usual source, glucose (1). From this fuel source switch, the hunger hormone, Ghrelin, is reduced which causes your appetite to decrease (1). Because of the reduction in appetite, it is easier to adopt an intermittent fasting approach or an approach that lessons unwanted eating behavior outside your desired hours (AKA curbs the late night munchies). Therefore, I recommend eating 4 bigger meals rather than 6 small meals on a Ketogenic Meal Plan.
To make up for the 2 fewer meals, the 4 meals equally split the total calories (i.e. 400 calories +/- for each meal for a 1600 calorie meal plan). Therefore each meal is more fulfilling and eating 4 meals is far less time-consuming (think about it, you prepare 2 fewer meals each day).
In this entire Ketogenic Meal Plan, only 5% of the calories are from carbohydrates, 20% comes from protein, and the rest of the calories come from healthy fats, which makes the ketogenic adaptation a smooth transition from your current eating lifestyle.
Each meal is 5 net grams of carbs or less (for the 1600 calorie plan), and there is nothing “diet” about this meal plan because every bite feels like an indulgence (you even get a chocolate dessert!)
How to find your daily calorie need
We all have different calorie needs. Your daily calorie need depends on your size, fitness level, daily activity, gender, etc. When you are creating a healthy ketogenic meal plan, your first step should therefore always be to calculate your “calorie equilibrium”, or how many calories you need each day to maintain your current weight.
You can learn exactly how to find you calorie equilibrium with 5 easy steps in this post: “How to Find Your Daily Calorie Need“.
Once you know your calorie equilibrium, you can adjust your daily calories up or down to meet your goals. If your goal is to lose weight, I recommend that you eat 300- 500 calories less than your equilibrium each day (but no less than 1,200 per day). This should lead to a steady and healthy weight loss.
If you want to gain muscle, start out by adding in 300-500 calories more than your equilibrium each day and see what happens. If you find that you are also putting on a little too much fat, decrease your calories slightly.
Ketogenic Meal Plan recipes
The recipes in this Ketogenic Meal Plan has the following calories and macronutrients.
Meal 1 – Keto Egg Muffins
Servings: 3
Serving size: 2 egg muffins
Ingredients:
- 4 cherry tomatoes
- ¼ cup red onion, chopped
- 1 cup mixed greens (Spinach is great too!)
- 8 egg yolks
- ⅓ cup bacon, crumbled
- 1 ⅕ cup cheddar cheese, shredded
- 3 tbsp. unsweetened almond milk (optional)
- ½ tsp garlic salt
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
- Separate the egg yolks from the whites into a large mixing bowl. Discard or save the egg whites for another occasion.
- Wash and finely chop the mixed greens, tomatoes, and onion. Add to the egg yolk mixture.
- Add bacon, cheese, unsweetened almond milk, and garlic salt to the large mixing bowl with the veggies (personal recommendation: Keep out about 3 tbsps. of cheese to sprinkle on top once muffins have baked). Mix well.
- Grease the muffin tin with oil and pour a ¼ cup + 1 tbsp. of the egg mixture evenly into the muffin slots, which should yield 6 muffins. NOTE: You can use muffin cups to line the muffins to save time during clean up.
- Pop the muffin tray into the oven for about 12 minutes or until the edges are slightly a toasty brown.
- Immediately after taking the egg muffins out of the muffin tin, sprinkle tops of muffins with remaining cheese.
- Let cool for 2 minutes before serving.
Meal 2 – Keto Cobb Salad
Servings: 1
Ingredients:
- 4 cherry tomatoes
- ½ avocado
- 1 hardboiled egg
- 2 cups mixed green salad
- 2 oz. chicken, shredded
- 1 oz. feta cheese, crumbled,
- ¼ cup bacon, crumbled
Instructions:
- Dice the tomatoes and avocado, and slice the hardboiled egg.
- Place 2 cups of mixed green salad into a large salad bowl or plate.
- Measure out 2 oz. chicken, 1 oz. feta cheese, and ¼ cup bacon.
- Place tomatoes, avocado, egg, chicken, feta, and bacon in horizontal rows on top of the mixed greens.
- OPTIONAL: You can add 1 tbsp. of Ranch dressing for 73 calories and about 8 grams of fat (NOT included in the nutrition facts).
- Enjoy the whole serving.
Meal 3 – Pepperoni Pizza Bites
Servings: 1
Serving Size: 6 pepperoni pizza bites
Ingredients:
- 6 Slices (34 g), sandwich sliced pepperoni
- 2 tbsp. pizza sauce
- 3 oz. fresh mozzarella
- 1 tbsp. fresh oregano
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 400 F (200 C). Using kitchen scissors, snip three ½-inch cuts around the edges of each pepperoni slice, leaving the center uncut (like a 3-leaf clover).
- Press each pepperoni slice down into a regular sized muffin pant. Bake slices for 5 minutes, until edges are slightly crispy, but still bright red. Remove from oven, and let the slices cool in pans to harden (this helps the bites hold their shape).
- As pepperoni cups are cooking, finely dice fresh oregano.
- To remove excess oil, after the bites have cooked, place them on a paper towel for about 10 seconds.
- Wipe the grease out of the muffin pan with a paper towel, then return the cups to the pan. Place ½ tsp. of pizza sauce then ½ of an oz. of mozzarella in each cup. Sprinkle with fresh oregano.
- Place bites back in the oven for 3 minutes, or just until the cheese melts.
- Allow pepperoni bites to cool for about 3-5 minutes.
Meal 4 – Chocolate Keto Fat Bombs
Servings: 6
Serving Size: 2 balls
Ingredients:
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder (or cacao powder)
- 5 tbsp. natural chunky peanut butter
- 6 tbsp. shelled hemp seeds
- ½ cup, coconut oil
- 2 tbsp. 10% heavy cream
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp. Stevia
- 4 tbsp. unsweetened coconut flakes
Instructions:
- Mix together cocoa powder, peanut butter, and hemp seeds in a large bowl.
- Add room temp coconut oil and mix until it becomes a paste.
- Add cream, vanilla, and stevia and mix until it becomes a paste again.
- Roll into balls. You should be able to make about 12 balls total, which equals 6 servings (2 balls = 1 serving).
- Roll into shredded coconut (coconut included in nutrition facts, but optional if you are not a fan).
- Place balls on parchment paper on a baking tray.
- Freeze for 10 minutes.
Ketogenic Meal Plan grocery list
References
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I’ve been T1 for going on 20 years, currently on a CGM w/Medtronic which has the Auto Mode feature. Any experience with this insulin pump and how to bolus for a keto diet without bottoming out early before the fat converts? Typically the higher fat I almost have to delay the bolus as my BG spikes a lot later than straight fast acting carbs. Is going into Ketosis change the way the body converts carbs/fats to BG levels and is there risk if you’re in Auto Mode using the Medtronic 670G, which doesn’t use a basal rate, but uses an algorithm to adjust the basal based on the sensor glucose trends. I am just sick of highs and lows and the pharmaceutical industry altogether and looking into taking this keto thing seriously, but am kind of scared.
I personally found that I needed a lot more basal to handle a keto diet, so being on the 670G is probably helpful. We’re all different so my experience might not apply to you. I’d suggest doing what we always have to do when trying something new, proceed with caution and adjust as you go. I’d personally run a little high for a few days while figuring things out than bottom out completely
Thank you for your answer!
.Yours is the first site to mention needing to raise insulin basal rates. I thought I was doing something wrong because all the articles discuss lowering insulin requirements.
Now, if I could only figure out how to get over the stall!
I’m so glad I have found this www page, type 1 is so hard and I have gained over 30 kg’s And no one is helping me understand what to do
Glad you found us too. You’re not alone, and weight loss can be a struggle. I’d suggest you start with this article go get you going
Hello,
This is great. However there are only 4 meals listed…do you have any more meal plans that I can follow? Because I need something daily to follow. Doing this same menu everyday may get boring. If so can you please guide me to where I can get more daily meal plans please..I need to loose weight as well as control my sugar. thank you.
Sincerely,
Marina
Hi Marina,
This is the only keto plan we have available on Diabetes Strong. There are specific keto websites where you can find resources or you can reach out to Ariel (who created the plan, see her bio below) if you’re looking custom plans
Hi im reading about the plans and im interested since i am type 1 diabetic …. so i have to eat the same four 4 plans every day for a week pls? And the amount that i have to eat is the serving size pls?
Thanks Abigail
The idea is 4 meals per day. This is a sample meal plan. You can eat the same every day or add other meals yourself. This is a 1600 calorie meal plan if you need less you’ll have to reduce the serving sizes. All serving sizes are listed under the pictures of the meals
If you are type 1, talk to your Doctor first, there are risks for people with type 1 (ketoacidosis) you have to be monitored
Hi
I’m a type 2 Diabetic who just started Keto 3 days ago. I usually only take a small amt of long acting insulin once a day. Usually glucose is around 130 to 150. However today for first time EVER glucose 97!!!! I took no insulin today and find myself very satisfied having BP coffee and don’t get very hungry on Keto. Hoping my glucose stays low tomorrow as well. Is it ok if I don’t eat as I’m not hungry?
Thanks
Gail
That’s great, glad it’s working for you. It’s ok to not eat if you’re not hungry, just be careful that you don’t end up starving yourself.
What can i eat if my sugar goes low (diabetic)?
If you go low you’ll have to consume a fast-acting carbohydrate (like juice or glucose tabs), no way around that. What will be key is to keep the amount only to what you need (so not going overboard). You can always reduce your carbs elsewhere later in the day
I thought you were limited to 20 carbs per day. The meal plan had more than that.
This is my first day and I’m trying to get it right. Do you have a book with meal plans,I need to see a plan to follow. Thanks Linda
Hi Linda, this plan has around 20 grams of NET carbs (total carbs minus fiber). We don’t have a book with meal plans right now, but it’s something we are considering for the future.
This is great
How do I avoid low blood sugars to follow Leto diet?
You’ll need to focus on titrating your insulin. Given the low amount of carbs in the Keto diet, I suggest you take detailed notes on how your blood sugar reacts to protein and fats. That way you can determine how much insulin to take with food. As for your basal, if you consistently go high/low without any bolus on board it might be a good idea to revisit your basal rates
I am sensitive to dairy (casein) i can tolerate goats milk in limited amounts and summertime sheep’s milk. We also only do ghee, coconut oil or olive oil and an almond coconut milk blend (no added sugar) I usual substitute cheese for Daiya “cheese” but it’s not fat and I’m sure that can mess up the macros.
Is there a way to do this diet and be free of cows milk and cheese?
Hi Krissy,
Doing a 1:1 substitution would probably change the macros too much but that doesn’t mean that you have to eat dairy to eat a ketogenic diet. If you want to use the meal plan you’d have to adjust it with other sources of fat so that you match the macros. It will require a little work (I recommend using an online diary like MyFitnessPal for support) but you’ll end up with a plan that works for you and your needs
Can you do a keto diet if you are a pescatarian?
Absolutely! A lot of fish (salmon, mackerels, etc.) are high in healthy fats. If you prefer the leaner fish, you can always get your fats from vegetables (vegetable oils, etc.)
Thank you for creating and sharing this meal plan.
Could you please list regular carbs in the macro breakdown up top, too? Net carbs don’t help with insulin bolus; we need the regular carb count for that. As low carb as these meals are, it’s doubtful much of a bolus is needed, but we still do need that info. Thanks.
We can definitely do that. Give me a few days to connect with Ariel and get the full macronutrients.
Hi Colleen, great question and I completely understand that sometimes it is better to give insulin for all the carbs (rather than just net). Below is a breakdown of each of the recipes for 1 serving.
Egg Muffins = 6 total carbs, which contains 3 grams of fiber, and 1 gram of sugar.
Cobb Salad = 7 total carbs, which contains 1 gram of fiber and 5 grams of sugar.
Pepperoni Cups = 7 total carbs, which contains 1 gram of fiber and 0 grams of sugar.
Chocolate Fat Bombs = 7 total carbs, which contains 3 grams of fiber and 2 grams of sugar.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Thankyou for the breakdown! I’m quite excited to get started. I’m a T1 newly diagnosed (6m) and the hospital educator had me eating 30gm Carbs per meal which saw me a) Nearly vomit every meal as it was too much food b) gain a ridiculous amount of weight! (never really been a big carb eater, but my issue was not eating frequently!) (15+kg gained!) so bring on 2019 with a better relationship with food and a better relationship with myself, knowing how and what works with for my body. blessings xx😘