Is the Keto Toast Cleanse Your Key to a Healthier Gut? We Investigate

The keto diet has a ton going for it. (We can eat cheese, avocado and bacon pretty much whenever we want? Truly glorious.) But let’s face it: a life without bread is no life at all. Sure, you can make pizza crust and breadsticks out of cauliflower and they’re fine, but sometimes a girl just needs some carbs. Or so we thought until we sampled Uprising Food’s incredibly convincing keto loaf, which tastes more like regular bread than anything else we’ve tried.

So when Uprising Food introduced its new keto toast cleanse, we were intrigued. Is it possible that by eating keto bread for three days straight, you could actually speed up the efficiency of a sluggish gut? We had to find out. 

Uprising Food’s ketogenic loaves of bread, which come in a cube ready to be sliced up, is keto- and paleo-friendly and gluten-free. Each slice contains 2 net carbs, 6 grams of protein, 11 grams of fat (only one of which is saturated) and 9 grams of fiber. It’s made from apple cider vinegar, organic egg whites, baking powder, salt and water, plus almond flour, golden flaxseed and psyllium husk—an ingredient that’s rich in fiber.

These ingredients are healthy all on their own, but when combined they result in a fiber-rich “superfood,” according to Uprising, that’s here to save your fiber-deprived gut’s day.

If you are sold and want to try the keto toast cleanse for yourself, you’ll first have to order a $48 starter bundle. It includes four bread cubes that you can cut into eight slices each. Every day, you’ll work five slices into your diet—the brand recommends eating one to two slices per meal and spacing your meals about four to six hours apart. Oh, and drink plenty of water—your body is going to crave it once you give it the amount of fiber it’s supposed to have in a day (25 grams for an adult woman) versus the amount most of us actually consume (around 15 grams—yikes).

We know what you’re thinking: How am I going to subsist on five slices of bread for three days straight? You can enhance your toast with keto-approved toppings like grass-fed butter, olive oil, MCT oil, nut butters, sea salt and other spices and seasonings, as well as foods like avocado, relishes, krauts, kimchi, fresh herbs, pesto and cheese. Yum, this actually sounds pretty delicious. 

Uprising Food says that by taking part in its keto cleanse, people can experience a “complete microbiome makeover” to get their gut health back on track. Hmm. We asked nutritionist Wendy Leonard and Lisa Young, Ph.D., RDN, for their unbiased opinions.

“For some people, following this program could be a way to reset and get them off those ingredients that are harmful to the gut,” Leonard tells us. “But it won’t be entirely beneficial for anyone if they do not continue with a healthy diet and lifestyle modifications after the cleanse. Everyone’s microbiome is unique and influenced by genetics, diet, environment, medicine and supplements, stress and other inhabitants of the gastrointestinal tract, including viruses, yeast, fungi and bacteria.” So, like any diet, you have to be consistent to see results.

Whether you decide to take the relatively low-lift cleanse for a spin or not, it’s important to remember for your post-cleanse life that in order to keep your gut healthy, you’ll have to eat plenty of “whole foods like fruits, veggies, beans, healthy proteins, olive oil and whole grains,” says Young.

So while it’s not a miracle fix, it sounds like eating high-fiber keto bread for a few days certainly couldn’t hurt—as long as you get the OK from your doctor first.

Grilled cheese that’s also good for your gut? OK, we’ll give it a whirl.