The ketogenic diet has become a trendy lifestyle, with several visible success stories circulated on social media. Unlike other health-related social media trends, the keto diet has been rigorously supported by a plethora of studies from nutritionists and doctors as a sure-shot way to lose the extra pounds.
The low-carb, high-fat diet has helped several individuals lose weight with tweaks to their regular eating habits to help them feel more confident whilst looking and feeling better.
If you know someone on a low carb diet and are confused about how you can help and support them, look no further. This keto gift basket guide is full of ideas on gifts you can give your friends and family while they are on their keto journey!
What to Know Before Making a Keto Gift Basket
Before assembling a gift basket for someone on keto, there are a few things that you should keep in mind! First and foremost, it is important that you include items that can be used or eaten by the recipient of your keto gift basket. If you are not following the keto lifestyle yourself, knowing what to give can be difficult. This section will help you to identify great keto friendly options to include in the gift basket!
Different Forms of Keto:
There are different forms and variants of the keto diet, such as the high protein or cyclical keto diet. These alternative forms often mean the dietary requirements and food choices are different, so it is essential that you have a good understanding of the varying keto diets.
The high protein keto diet focuses on building muscle whilst burning fat. If the intended recipient of your keto gift basket enjoys weight lifting or bodybuilding, it is highly likely that they follow a high protein keto diet.
The cyclical keto diet means that followers alternate between 'normal' eating and the keto diet during the week. For 5 days, followers of the cyclical keto diet usually eat carbohydrates and then reduce them on the weekends, fitting in with the keto carb regulations.
Additionally, lazy keto tends to follow a more relaxed low carb diet. These low carb dieters tend to eat mostly keto foods but don't track their macros as strictly as normal keto dieters do.
For keto gift ideas, these cyclical and lazy keto dieters will ensure that most small gifts or trinkets will be fitting. However, to make your gift box keto themed, you will want to fill it with keto friendly snacks.
Restricted Food Choices:
In order for the keto diet to be successful, there are set macros that need to be met daily. This means that keto dieters will at some point or another have to restrict their food choices. In line with keto’s low carb basis, your keto gift box should contain low sugar options as well as a lower total carbs amount when compared to non-keto gift boxes!
Also, make sure that you are aware of any other dietary restrictions that the intended recipient of your gift box follows. Just because someone is on the keto diet, does not mean that they can't also be gluten free or vegetarian!
Prioritize Homemade Keto-Friendly Treats:
The keto diet strictly advocates avoiding all processed food, therefore, try to prioritize the incorporation of homemade foods in your keto basket. This is an important rule to follow, as processed foods will often have hidden carbs, from how the food is cooked to any added sauces or thickeners. Unfortunately, these hidden carbs can send a keto dieter over their net carbs for the day, throwing them out of the desired state of ketosis.
Using homemade keto-friendly foods will not only ensure that you know all the ingredients are safe for the ketogenic diet, it will also add a lovely personal touch to the gift baskets.
Choose Healthy Fat Options:
The keto diet requires followers to eat very few carbs, with most of their consumed calories coming from healthy fat sources. These healthy fat sources, such as avocados and nuts, will help provide energy for their bodies in place of carbohydrates. As a result, it is important that these fats are healthy so that they can provide the body with all the nutrients it needs to stay energized and fulfilled throughout the day.
Healthy fat sources will also replace any minerals and vitamins lost by cutting your carbohydrates and can also help to stabilize symptoms of keto flu. The recipients of your keto gift baskets will be delighted to know that they can consume these healthy fat options without having to alter the rest of their daily food intake.
List of Keto-Friendly Foods:
For a better understanding of keto friendly foods to include in your low carb gift basket, we have provided a helpful list! Each of the food items listed below are low carb, making them a great keto gift to include in your care package.
- Nuts and nut butter - these are bursting with healthy fats, fiber and protein! Nuts are the perfect small keto snack that can be a great addition to a gift basket. Nut butters make a very useful ingredient for keto friendly cooking too.
- Chia Seeds - these are another great source of fat and can be easily sprinkled over smoothie bowls or keto meals, as well as added into blended drinks or soups themselves!
- Cheese - luckily, there is a wide variety of cheese to choose from, allowing you to add in various flavors to your keto gift basket.
- Trail Mix - a delicious keto snack for those on the go.
- Ready Made Keto Meals - for those with busy lifestyles, ready made meals are guaranteed to be helpful. Proper Good provides delicious ready made low carb keto meals that are packaged with ease of travel in mind! These keto pouches are also available with gluten and dairy free options too.
- Pork Rinds - great for keto friendly snacking and can be used in a range of recipes to add some meaty flavor!
List Of Foods To Avoid:
In order to avoid including the wrong types of food in your keto gift basket, follow this list of foods to avoid! This will prevent any unwanted supplies being wasted and will show to your gift box's intended recipient that you fully support them on their keto journey. The foods you should try to avoid including are as follows:
- Whole Grains - keto requires an ultra low carb intake in order to be successful, so try to avoid any type of whole grains! This includes bread, pasta and rice. If you want to include something similar to rice, check out our list of white rice alternatives to find some keto friendly ideas.
- Alcohol - many types of alcohol have so many hidden carbs and calories that they can be devastating to the keto diet. As a result, we recommend avoiding alcohol within your gift box.
- Processed Foods - it is best to avoid all types of processed foods when it comes to the keto diet. Processed foods typically include large amounts of sugars and unhealthy fats which will increase the carb content.
- Potatoes - potatoes have a higher level of starch compared to other vegetables, and this typically means they have a higher carb content. Consequently, it is best to avoid including potatoes in your keto friendly gift basket.
Keto Gift Basket Ideas
We have come up with 4 keto friendly gift basket ideas to help inspire you! From chocolate lovers to ameuteur chefs, we hope these ideas will help you to find inspiration for the perfect keto care package for your intended recipient. These ideas and gifts can easily be modified to suit different tastes and dietary requirements.
If your keto following recipient is currently being affected by the COVID-19 crisis, you can mix up the gift basket ideas with our coronavirus care package ideas!
Kitchen Essentials Keto Gift Basket
The kitchen essentials keto gift basket is the perfect choice for the ameutur chefs in your life! This gift basket could include a range of baking tools and keto friendly ingredients for use in future meals, or you could provide all the ingredients needed for one meal - you could even throw in a keto recipe for them to follow.
Additionally, this gift box is a great care package to give to anyone moving into a new home, as it provides the essential tools needed for keto cooking.
We recommend including any of the following items for this gift box idea:
- Meal Prep Containers
- Vegetable Spiralizer
- Avocado Slicer
- Frying Pans
- Food Processor
- Kitchen Mixer
- Keto-Friendly Cookbooks
- Instant Pot
- Sous Vide Water Oven
- Air Fryer
Homemade Treats Keto Gift Basket
For those who prefer to add a more personal touch, homemade keto treats can allow you to cater your items to better suit the tastes of its intended recipient. Think of their favorite foods and research a keto friendly recipe for it - for lovers of Mexican food, you can find a range of keto recipes here! You can also include smaller treats, such as detox teas, handwritten notes and candles to help express the sentiment of the gift.
For this style of gift basket, think about including the following:
- Fat Bombs
- Keto Ready Meals
- Homemade Keto-Friendly meals
- Handwritten Keto-Friendly recipes with matching ingredients
Chocolate Keto Gift Basket
This gift basket is great for those who love to indulge! Everyone loves to receive chocolate as a gift and being on a keto diet is no exception. There are certain types of chocolate that can be enjoyed as part of the keto lifestyle, so make sure you are sticking to these if choosing this style of gift basket.
If your intended recipient is following a high protein keto diet, adding chocolate flavored protein powder would be a fantastic personalization to the gift basket.
The following items would be perfect for this style of gift basket:
- Keto Chocolate
- Dark Keto Chocolate
- Almond and Walnut Dark Chocolate
- Roasted Nut Dark chocolate
- Chocolate Protein Powder
- Low-Calorie Chocolate Milk Powder
- Keto-Friendly Hot Chocolate and Mug
Keto Snacks Gift Basket
This gift basket enjoys a range of keto-friendly snacks, which is great if you're not too sure what foods the person likes! This hamper style of gift basket would also be the perfect summertime gift idea due to its picnic-like nibbles, and you can easily add small summer trinkets to complement this theme. We recommend placing these items in a reusable picnic basket and adding a picnic blanket to truly add some charm to the gift.
You can then include the following items to top it all off!
- Cheese and Keto-Friendly Crackers
- Pork Rinds
- Nuts and Seeds
- Keto Bars
- Cheese Crisps
- Beef Jerky
- Dark Keto Chocolate
Conclusion
With these tips, you will create the perfect keto care package for your friends and family. Not only will this gift basket support their health or weight loss journey, but it will also show thoughtfulness and care. Following a keto diet can be difficult, so show your loved ones that you support them with a keto care package. For other dietary lifestyles, check out this vegan gift basket blog post!
