My coach said onions need to be raw b/c they caramelize when sauteed...can we cook them if they do not caramelize? Raw is so pungent that I tend to stay away. Would like to grill them and just not let them caramelize...

The short answer is that it depends on how carb sensitive you are.

While the amount of carbs in the onion does not change with cooking, the ability of your body to break down those carbs does. Cooking breaks some of the bonds in the long-chain sugars so they become short-chain sugars. As a result, your body absorbs more of the sugar in the onion faster. If you are really carb sensitive this could spike your blood sugar and take you out of ketosis.

I saute onions frequently for use in fajitas with cauliflower tortillas and have never felt like it has take me out of ketosis. I make up for it by eating an unrestricted that day as my third packet instead of a restricted. I don't know for sure that it matters, but it makes me feel better.

I just used green onion for everything, because you can cook it and I hate the scent & flavour of raw regular onions. If I wanted a raw onion type of food, I just used the white bulb part, other than that all my green onions got stir fried, lol. It still worked OK for me but it does depend on your body. Just make sure they do NOT carmelize if you decide to cook. You can prevent this by adding a teeny bit of water once they start to sweat.

Liana

I imagine it would be hard to grill an onion and NOT have it caramelize, but I've never tried!

I usually only use regular onions when I'm boiling (like soup) or cooking something in the crockpot. I don't think I'm super sensitive to the sugars from the caramelization but I figured better safe than sorry!

I cooked my onions to "sweat" them without Browning them. I usually did this on the stove top or even a few covered by a wet paper towel in the microwave.

Thanks everyone!

How do you know your carb sensitivity? Do you feel different?

I find white onions are only good if they are cooked to death so I just stay away from them. I thought it was too tough trying to only cook them a little bit. The only time I use any sort of onions are dehydrated ones in the spice section to add to the Big Mac in a Bowl recipe.

This is the best explanation I've ever read. Thanks for making it so clear and understandable!

I add raw red onions to my salad every day. They and the banana peppers make this diet even feasible for me.

I think the only way to know for sure is if you feel like you are no longer in ketosis the next day (significant overnight water gain, real hunger, etc). Others could probably give a better answer since there seem to be people who can feel their sensitivity just with regular eating.

I cook them all the time and it has no affect on ketosis for me. I am not carb sensitive...it takes about 100 carbs to knock me out and multiple days in a row. I have been following the IP lifestyle for 5 years and 2 months now. (initial loss of 80 pounds, maintenance for 3.5 years and then a small disaster the last 10 months (gained 39 back...ouch) and now down 17 of that 39. So I have tons of experience with this program and how it all works.

But everyone has there own thing. I have yet to find another person who has stayed committed this long and I think it is a lifelong commitment.