Are Graham Crackers Good For A Low-carb Diet?

Research shows that low-carb diets are effective in promoting weight loss. But changing eating habits to a low-carb lifestyle is a challenge, particularly if grains and cereals make up a significant portion of your diet. Graham crackers, which are made from carbohydrates may not fit into a low-carb diet. Whether graham crackers are good for a low-carb diet depends on the amount of carbs your diet allows and what other foods you're eating.

Low-Carb Diets

Low-carb diets such as Atkins and South Beach severely reduce carbohydrate intake to force your body into a state called ketosis, in which your body burns fat instead of glucose for fuel. There are carbs in most food groups, including dairy, vegetables, fruits and whole grains. During the initial phase of low-carb diets, you eliminate sugar, refined foods, grains, starchy vegetables and fruit and can eat only 20 g of carbohydrates a day. Later phases of low-carb diets add healthy complex carbohydrates from grains, vegetables and fruit, but still limit intake to 60 to 90 g a day.

Carbohydrates in Graham Crackers

Nabisco Grahams have 24 g of carbohydrates,1 g of which is fiber, and 7 g of sugar per serving, which is 31 g. Keebler Grahams have 22 g of carbohydrates with 7 g of sugar and less than 1 g of fiber per eight-cracker serving -- two full cracker sheets. Both brands are made with enriched flour, which is whole-grain flour that has been stripped of its nutrients and then had vitamins added back in. The New England Health Advisory warns that enriched flour is not as nutritious as whole-grain flour.

Graham Crackers in Low-Carb Diet

With 23 g of carbohydrates, graham crackers have too many carbs to be included in the early phase of a low-carb diet. You can eat them in later phases, but if you're limited to 60 g of carbs, a serving of graham crackers represents more than 30 percent of your allowance for the day. If you like skim milk with your graham crackers, you need to add 13 more g of carbs.

Whole-Grain Graham Crackers

One distinction low-carb diets make is between good carbs such as whole grains and bad carbs such as refined flour and sugar. Traditional graham crackers use enriched refined flour and sugar,so they have little nutritional value except for 2 g of protein. However, whole-wheat graham crackers use the whole grain, which provides more nutrients and fiber. For example, Mi-Del Whole Wheat Graham Crackers have 25 g of carbohydrates, 3 grams of fiber and 6 grams of sugar per four-cracker serving. While the total number of carbohydrates is relatively high, Mi-Del provides the nutritious whole grain, more fiber and less sugar.