Short answer: No. Honey is a high-carb food to avoid. Honey is roughly 82 g net carbs per 100 g, so even a single teaspoon costs you 5.7 g net carbs — being raw, local, or organic doesn’t change how your body processes the sugar.
| Per 100 g | Total carbs | Fibre | Net carbs | Fat | Protein | Carb band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Honey | 82 g | 0 g | 82 g | 0 g | 0.3 g | High-carb |
One teaspoon (7 g) has about 5.7 g total carbs, 0 g fibre and 5.7 g net carbs. A tablespoon (21 g) costs about 17 g net carbs.
Source: USDA FoodData Central.
What to watch for
The “natural” halo is what catches people. Fynbos, raw, cold-extracted, organic — lovely words, same sugar. Honey is roughly 80% fructose and glucose with almost no fibre, so it hits your blood sugar like table sugar. A drizzle over yoghurt, two spoons in rooibos, honey-glazed nuts: each “little bit” is 6–12 g carbs, and most of us don’t stop at one.
SA shelves make it tempting. Local honey labels talk about bees and fynbos, not carbs. Some “honey-style” syrups are worse — cut with glucose syrup and flavouring. I pointed Banting Buddy at a squeezy “honey blend” at Spar and it flagged added glucose syrup on top of the honey itself. If the label says blend, put it back.
You’ll also find honey hiding in banting-unfriendly places: health bars, “sugar-free” rusks sweetened with honey, salad dressings, marinades and biltong glaze. Honey is still sugar on an ingredients list, wherever it sits. For strict banting days I’d skip it completely rather than trying to micro-dose it — a teaspoon here and there keeps the sweet craving alive without ever satisfying it.
What to eat instead
For sweetness, xylitol, erythritol, and pure stevia are the standard Banting swaps (for occasional use) at near-zero net carbs — xylitol measures like sugar for baking, erythritol stays grainy in cold drinks. A teaspoon of either in tea costs you nothing worth counting. If you want honey flavour in a dressing, a drop of vanilla plus your usual sweetener gets you close enough. And if the craving is really about comfort, a block of 85% dark chocolate scratches it for ~3 g carbs.
Related questions
- Is milk banting friendly?
- Is banana banting friendly?
- Is oats banting friendly?
- How to count net carbs
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General information only, not medical advice. If you take medication for diabetes or blood pressure, talk to your doctor before changing how you eat. Last updated: 2026-09-19. Sources listed on each page.