Dietary & Allergen Information
Are you currently eating keto? Can't eat nightshades? We've included tags on our Balanced Bites Meal descriptions to make it easier for you to choose which Meals are right for you!
Check out the descriptions of the tags below to find which tags you need to look out for!
Dietary Tags
PALEO | KETO | 21DSD-FRIENDLY | MACRO-FRIENDLY
Allergen Tags
DAIRY-FREE | EGG-FREE | NIGHTSHADE-FREE | NUT/SEED-FREE
If you're looking for ingredients and nutrition facts for each meal, check out this page.
Balanced Bites Meals that have the PALEO tag are created with standard Paleo principles in mind.
These meals are all:
gluten-free
grain-free
soy-free
dairy-free*
legume-free**
refined sugar-free
*These meals will be dairy-free in terms of main ingredients, but may contain ghee. Please read ingredients if you have a strict dairy allergy and cannot consume ghee (clarified butter, which has milk proteins removed).
**These meals may contain peanut butter. If you have a strict peanut allergy please read all ingredients on our Paleo-tagged meals.
These dishes have a varying carbohydrate level (most are low-carb at fewer than 20g of net carbs per serving, but some may be higher). Any sugars indicated on the Nutrition Facts panel are from naturally occurring sources, like tomato or dates. In limited cases, small amounts of honey may be used (for example, in a cranberry sauce) to take the edge off of the tartness. This will only ever be in very limited quantities.
Learn more about Paleo in Diane's first book, Practical Paleo: A Customized Approach to Health & a Whole-Foods Lifestyle.
Balanced Bites Meals that feature the KETO tag include fewer than 20g of net carbs for the entire meal.
These meals are all:
gluten-free
grain-free
soy-free
legume-free
added sugar-free
These meals may contain dairy.
Any sugars indicated on the Nutrition Facts panel are from naturally occurring sources, like tomato or dates. In limited cases, small amounts of honey may be used (for example, in a cranberry sauce) to take the edge off of the tartness. This will only ever be in very limited quantities.
Per the meal plans and recipes in Diane's book on keto (see below), you can easily plan a day's worth of meals around including one or more of these meals while aiming for around 30g of net carbs per day.
Note that there is no specific, exact number of carbohydrates that every person needs to eat to maintain a state of nutritional ketosis. A food cannot be "keto" or "not keto," since ketosis is a metabolic state. Different people may eat a highly varied level of carbohydrates to maintain a state of ketosis from person to person.
These meals will be supportive of maintaining a state of ketosis for the vast majority of folks who have that aim. If you have specific questions, you can reach out to us at any time via our contact page. If you have been prescribed a medical ketogenic diet, please consult your physician as to whether our meals will serve your needs.
Learn more about Keto in Diane's book, Keto Quick Start: A Beginners Guide to a Whole-Foods Ketogenic Diet with More Than 100 Recipes.
Note that there is no specific, exact number of grams of fat, carbohydrates, or protein that every person following a macros-based plan will want or need.
Balanced Bites Meals that feature the MACRO-FRIENDLY tag include:
- 25g or fewer of fat
- 20g or more of protein
- 40g or fewer of carbs
- 500 cals or fewer total per meal
Note that if a meal comes with a sauce packet, we do not count the packet content for the above criteria since you can choose to add as much or as little of the sauce as you want, keeping the meal more customized to your needs. So, the MACRO-FRIENDLY tag is for the meal in the tray itself, sauce packet contents are to be counted separately as you wish. Sauce packet macros are listed on the meal labels under the main macros.
These meals are all:
gluten-free
grain-free
soy-free
legume-free
These meals may contain dairy or added natural sweeteners (we use these minimally/sparingly).
These meals will be supportive of eating generally lower-fat, but we cannot take your personal needs into consideration. You may need to adjust another meal in your day to be lower in fat to allow for your Balanced Bites Meal to fit your plan.
You can find many of our meals entered into My Fitness Pal app, or you can enter them yourself if you'd like. Note that the barcodes on our labels are for internal use only and will not load macros into your app upon scanning.
Balanced Bites Meals that feature the 21DSD-FRIENDLY tag are compliant with The 21-Day Sugar Detox guidelines.
Some of these dishes do contain dairy, which is compliant on levels 1 and 2 of the 21-Day Sugar Detox. For more information on the 21-Day Sugar Detox, visit 21daysugardetox.com.
Learn more about The 21-Day Sugar Detox in Diane's books,
The 21-Day Sugar Detox Daily Guide
The 21-Day Sugar Detox (original guide book)
The 21-Day Sugar Detox Cookbook
Balanced Bites Meals that feature the DAIRY-FREE tag do not contain any dairy. Dishes may be prepared with ghee, which is clarified butter where the milk proteins have been removed.
If you have a strict dairy allergy, please read all ingredient lists. If a meal contains milk, cream, or cheese, we will not mark it dairy-free. We do not use butter in our meals, only ghee.
Why might someone want a dairy-free meal?
Some people are allergic to dairy or find that they are sensitive to it, resulting in any one or more of the following physical symptoms:
- joint pain
- skin irritation
- acne
- digestive distress
- general fatigue / inflammation
- autoimmune condition flare-ups
Balanced Bites Meals that feature the EGG-FREE tag do not contain any eggs.
Why might someone want an egg-free meal?
Some people are allergic to eggs or find that they are sensitive to them, resulting in any one or more of the following physical symptoms:
- joint pain
- skin irritation
- acne
- digestive distress
- general fatigue / inflammation
- autoimmune condition flare-ups
Balanced Bites Meals that feature the NIGHTSHADE-FREE tag do not contain any nightshades.
The nightshade family of vegetables are: tomatoes, potatoes (this does not include sweet potatoes), eggplant, and peppers / pepper spices (this does not include black pepper).
Meals marked nightshade-free will not contain tomatoes or tomatillos, white potatoes, eggplant, or any hot, sweet, or bell peppers or any pepper-based spices like paprika, chili powder, or cayenne.
Why might someone want a nightshade-free meal?
Some people find that they are sensitive to nightshades, resulting in any one or more of the following physical symptoms:
- joint pain
- skin irritation
- acne
- digestive distress
- general fatigue / inflammation
- autoimmune condition flare-ups
Balanced Bites Meals that feature the NUT/SEED-FREE tag do not contain any nuts or seeds.
Why might someone want a nut/seed-free meal?
Some people are allergic to these ingredients or find that they are sensitive to them, resulting in any one or more of the following physical symptoms:
- joint pain
- skin irritation
- acne
- digestive distress
- general fatigue / inflammation
- autoimmune condition flare-ups