Which is right for you? What are the advantages and disadvantages to Keto and Paleo diets?

Keto or Paleo
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Which is right for you? What are the advantages and disadvantages to Keto and Paleo diets?
Today we are going to take a look at 2 different styles of eating. We are going to compare Paleo to it’s younger cooler and hipper brother Keto. To help us decide which would be the best plan for us.

Now as many of you know when I first leaned up and got into shape I had a very paleo inspired meal plan and to this day I promote many of the philosophies surrounding paleo eating.

What a lot of you may not know is that I have done a Ketogenic diet before and put myself into ketosis. Now I haven’t been in ketosis for about 3 years. That is the last time I got myself ultra lean and it did work.

Keto and Paleo are often painted with the same brush. People considering them both low carb, high fat diets and this can be the case but it doesn’t necessarily have to be. Just like two brothers share some of the same genetic traits they can still grow up to be two very different people.

So let’s look at what they have in common. First is the emphasis on whole food eating choosing foods that have been minimally processed. The less processed the better. Paleo is a little stricter on this point.

Next is they both eliminate grains and legumes. They do this for different reasons. A Paleo diet in theory is based on what they felt early humans ate, which is why it is often referred to as the caveman diet and this reason, along with the fact they contain anti nutrients that interfere with the bodies ability to absorb nutrition. Is why they avoid them. (There is some evidence that there maybe some benefits to eating foods with these compounds)

Keto on the other hand doesn’t consume grains and most legumes because of their carb content.

Both plans remove all added and refined sugars. With this time Paleo being the more lenient as it allows unrefined sources like honey.

When we look at the ways these two plans are alike. The biggest advantages to both of them is the emphasis on whole food eating as this is the foundation of any successful meal plan whether it is to lose weight or build muscle as it gets the most quality nutrition into our bodies for the least amount of calories.

Now let’s look a little closer at the differences as this will better help us to decide what would be the best fit for us.

The biggest difference between the two is the focus on Ketones. This is the main goal of a Keto diet raising Ketones until you reach nutritional ketosis. Ketones are a alternate energy that comes from fat that the body uses when it doesn’t have enough of it’s preferred energy source, glucose which comes from carbohydrates. These ketones come from both the fat you ingest as well as your stored body fat. Hence the appeal for people who want to lose weight.

It is this emphasis on using fats for energy that brings us to the next big difference. And it is probably no surprise that a Ketogenic diet is higher in fat and lower in carbs than Paleo.

In order to maintain this high fat low carb ratio Keto has excluded fruits and starchy vegetables like sweet potatoes. A Paleo diet includes both. But there is one thing that Keto includes that a strict Paleo diet would not and that is dairy. Heavy creams, butter and unsweetened full fat yogurt are key items in many Ketogenic plans.

Paleo is very lifestyle based with it’s emphasis being on not only eating like our ancestors but moving like our ancestors. Keto on the other hand is more Macronutrient based needing in insure they are always in ketosis by keeping their fats over 60% and their carbs no higher than 10% of overall calories.

In someways Keto has an advantage because they track macronutrients. This greater food awareness can help you keep your diet balanced. With such a high fat diet you need to be really aware of where that 10% carbs is coming from, making sure they are from non-starchy vegetables so you can take advantage of the micronutrients they contain.

Paleo doesn’t limit the amounts of any of their approved foods. The reasoning is that depending on where our ancestors lived their macros would have been different. And I can’t argue this, but our goals are probably very different then our ancestors. So we could benefit from having a greater awareness of the macronutrients we are consuming.

One of the great things about a Keto or Paleo diet is it gives us a structure to work from. Most people have no idea what they should be eating or how it breaks down into Macros, let alone micronutrient wise.

Now if you find the thought of trying to track your macros a little overwhelming you would be better of starting out with a more paleo inspired eating plan like the one I did I video on not to long ago. Then once you have become used to that and if you want to fine tune your diet even more. Then you could take a look at tracking your macros and possibly even Keto.