Counting Carbs in Champagne on a Keto Diet

Understanding Carbs in Champagne

Champagne, known as a festive drink for celebrations, may seem off-limits for low carb diets like the ketogenic diet. But with the right brand and serving size, enjoying the occasional glass of bubbly may be possible without kicking you out of ketosis.

How Many Carbs are in Champagne?

Most champagne and other sparkling wines contain around 1 to 4 grams of residual sugar per 5 ounce serving. This equates to about 3 to 10 grams of carbs from the sugars that remain after the second fermentation process.

Though quite low carb compared to beers, wines, and mixed drinks, thats still a significant number of carbs for some following a keto diet (which recommends around 20 to 50 grams of total carbs per day).

Types of Champagne

There are several distinct types of champagne and sparkling wines that impact the carb and sugar content:

• Brut Nature, Ultra Brut, or Brut Zro - Extremely dry with 0 to 3 grams of sugar per liter and only 1 gram of carbs per glass. The lowest carb champagne options.
• Extra Brut - Very dry, contains 0 to 6 grams of sugar per liter.
• Brut - Most common style, dry but with up to 12 grams of sugar per liter.
• Extra Dry - Sweeter but still crisp with 12 to 17 grams of sugar per liter.
• Sec or Demi-sec - Sweet styles with over 32 grams residual sugar per liter. Too high in carbs for a keto diet.

Keto-Friendly Champagne Brands

Some top low carb champagne options include:

• Freixenet Carta Nevada Brut Cava - impressively has less than 1 gram of carbs and sugar per serving
• Gruet Brut - terrific brut from New Mexico with only 4 grams carbs and sugars
• La Marca Prosecco - slightly sparkling, light and crisp at 5 grams carbs per glass
• Zonin Prosecco - follows keto guidelines at 3 grams of carbs
• Diego Zamora Brut Rose - flavorful Spanish cava brut ros under 5 grams of carbs

Calculating Your Carb Limit

Determining if champagne fits into your keto diet depends greatly on your personal daily carb allowance.

Standard keto guidelines say carbs should make up only 5-10% of total daily calories. However carb tolerance can vary greatly by individual.

Heres a quick overview of typical carb ranges on a keto diet based on a persons activity level and metabolic factors:

• Sedentary woman: around 15-25 grams daily
• Active woman: 20-30 grams per day
• Sedentary man: 20-30 grams per day
• Active man: 25-35 grams daily

Using a macro calculator personalized to your body and goals can help fine tune the optimal carb intake for you.

Tips for Drinking Champagne on Keto

If sticking strictly under 20 grams of net carbs daily, champagne may need to remain an occasional treat. But using the following tips makes enjoying the fizzy drink easier without throwing you out of ketosis:

• Stick to brut or extra brut styles
• Measure your pours (5 ounces is standard)
• Sip it slowly to make it last
• Skip juice or sugar based mixers
• Stay hydrated to minimize hangover or fat cravings
• Account for champagne carbs in your daily tally

Creating Low Carb Champagne Cocktails

In addition to sipping dry styles of champagne, sparkling wine, or cava straight, you can also mix up delicious keto-friendly champagne cocktails like:

• Mimosa - Brut champagne with diet orange soda or low sugar orange juice
• Bellini - Bubbly combined with your choice of low carb purees like raspberry, peach, or strawberry
• French 75 - Mix brut champagne, gin, lemon juice and stevia or monk fruit sweetener
• Paloma - Blend sparkling ros with soda water, lime juice and your choice of non-sugar sweetener

Other Low Carb Alcoholic Drinks

In addition to brut champagne and dry wines, sticking to sugar-free mixed drinks with low carb mixers opens up more possibilities for imbibing while staying in ketosis.

Best Low Carb Spirits

Distilled spirits like vodka, whiskey, tequila, rum, and gin tend to be zero carb and sugar-free. This makes them ideal diet mixer options. Just be sure to skip the sugary juices, sodas, liqueurs or syrups.

Some tasty keto-friendly spirits include:

• Vodka - Tito's, Ketel One Botanical, Belvedere
• Gin - Tanqueray, Bombay Sapphire, Aviation
• Rum - Bacardi Silver, Malibu, Captain Morgan 100 Proof
• Tequila - Patrn Silver, Espoln Blanco, Casamigos Blanco
• Whiskey - Jameson, Johnnie Walker Black Label, Gentleman Jack

Low Sugar Mixers

Finding zero carb or low sugar mixers is key to creating keto-friendly cocktails. Options like:

• Plain soda water
• Diet tonic
• Unsweetened iced tea
• Diet cranberry juice
• Sparkling water
• Diet ginger ale
• Powerade Zero

Then flavor with lemon, lime, cucumber, mint, berries or your choice of low carb sweeteners.

Dry Wine Varietals

In addition to brut champagne, many dry red and white wine varietals can fit a keto diet in moderation. Some top picks include:

• Pinot Grigio
• Chardonnay
• Sauvignon Blanc
• Rose wines
• Cabernet Sauvignon
• Pinot Noir

Be sure to check the residual sugar content on any wines nutrition label before pouring a glass.

Low Carb Sweeteners

To add sweetness without adding carbs, use non-nutritive sugar substitutes. Great options include:

• Monk fruit or erythritol blends
• Stevia extracts
• Sucralose (Splenda)

Other Low Carb Mixers

Some other tasty additions for low sugar cocktails include:

• Fresh lemon or lime juice
• Berry purees sweetened with stevia
• Cucumber, basil, mint
• Bitters
• Unsweetened nut milk or coconut milk

Keto Friendly Mocktails

Missing out on fun fruity drinks? You can still enjoy deliciously flavorful mocktails minus the alcohol and added sugar.

Try mixing any combination of the following:

• Sparkling water
• Flavored soda water
• Herbal tea
• Diet ginger ale or lemon-lime soda
• Citrus Juices
• Berry purees
• Cucumber slices
• Fresh herbs like mint, basil or rosemary
• SF syrups like Torani or Monin

Customize your sugar-free mocktail with your choice of low carb sweeteners to perfectly suit your tastebuds.

Staying in Ketosis While Drinking

Yes, you can have an occasional drink and stick to the ketogenic diet. Youve just got to be smart about carb counts.

• Stick to dry champagne, low carb wine, zero sugar spirits
• Mix with non-sugary ingredients like citrus, herbs and sugar substitutes
• Pace yourself - sip slowly and hydrate with water
• Account for alcohol carbs in your daily tally

Drinking to excess can cause you to make poor diet decisions or bring on cravings. So enjoy your champagne and cocktails in moderation as part of an overall balanced low carb lifestyle.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare professional before starting any new treatment regimen.