In this article, we’ll try to show you the keto diet vs paleo: what’s the difference between them? Also, what are the keto and paleo diets? And its health effects, and which one is better for you?
Among the most popular diets, today are the keto and paleo diets. It is not known that they may share some similarities, but there may be some differences, particularly in which foods are allowed or which should be avoided.
Did you know?
While on the keto diet, your body will need to produce ketones to obtain stored energy from the fats.
If you want to get into ketosis quickly, and want to use some exogenous ketones or external supplement (we’re sure you’ve heard about it a lot), we recommend that you first get a thorough knowledge of this topic through its pros and cons.
What is the Paleo diet?
The Paleo Diet is an eating plan based on foods similar to those that humans may have eaten in the Paleolithic period.
The paleo diet includes lean meat, fish, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, those foods that humans in the past have been able to obtain by fishing. While limiting foods that include dairy products, legumes and grains.
The Paleo diet has other names, such as the Stone Age diet, the caveman diet, and the hunting diet. Because there is a perception that our ancestors followed this diet automatically for long ages, and that was when they relied on eating what they hunted or gathered from fruits and vegetables.
The goal of the paleo diet is to return to a diet similar to what humans ate in the past. This is because he believes that the human body has adapted to this type of diet better than it is now from modern and different diets. (Which appeared with agriculture)
Agriculture has changed everything that people eat, with dairy products, grains and legumes becoming additional essential nutrients in the human diet.
According to the theory, this relatively fast and late diet shift outpaced the capacity of the body to adapt to it.
So it is believed that one of the contributing factors to the prevalence of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and other ailments today is the imbalance with this modern diet.
* Benefits of the Paleo Diet
May want to follow the paleo diet, for the following reasons:
- Lose weight and burn fat.
- Protects against obesity.
- Prevention of diabetes and chronic diseases.
- Maintains blood sugar levels.
- Protects the heart and enhances its integrity.
What Is The Ketogenic Diet
The ketogenic diet has recently gained increasing popularity due to its multiple benefits, as it is known to be a low-carb, high-fat diet.
When reducing carbohydrate consumption, and replacing them with fats. This remarkable reduction in carbohydrates puts the body into a metabolic state called ketosis.
However, ketosis can be dangerous when ketone levels are too high in the body. So this will be accompanied by some side effect called keto flu.
Your body becomes efficient at burning fats for energy as this happens. These fats are converted into ketones in the liver, which can provide energy for the brain.
* Benefits of the keto diet
- Helps to lose weight and burn more fats
- It provides the body with the necessary energy that the body needs throughout the day.
- Helps to raise the level of good cholesterol in the blood and reduce bad cholesterol (of course, if it is followed properly).
- May protects against some types of cancer (because it slows down the growth of cancer cells).
- The ketogenic diet helps to strengthen nerve cells and enhance the metabolism process. (The keto diet improves brain capacity and nerve energy, due to its strengthening of antioxidants in the body)
- May reduce the seizures and convulsions of patients with epilepsy.
Keto vs Paleo Diets: What’s Allowed And What’s Not Allowed
* Allowed foods on Paleo
- Eggs.
- Seafood and fish and: shellfish, salmon, shrimp …etc.
- Meat: Beef, chicken, lamb, turkey …etc.
- Vegetables: kale, broccoli, peppers, onions, carrots, tomatoes, and all kinds of potatoes (sweet potatoes …etc).
- Fruits: apples, bananas, oranges, avocado, berries, strawberries…etc.
- Nuts: walnuts, macadamia, almonds, relish, pumpkin seeds …etc.
- For healthy oils and fats: olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil…etc.
- Salt and spices: sea salt, turmeric, garlic, …etc.
- natural sweeteners.
- And finally, full-fat dairy products.
* Foods not allowed on Paleo
- Grains, such as wheat, bread, pasta, oats, and barley.
- Legumes such as peas, lentils and peanuts.
- Low-fat dairy products.
- Artificial sweeteners or refined sugar (sweets, soft drinks, ice cream, energy drinks).
- Processed foods in general.
* The keto foods you should eat
Some foods help in losing weight and limiting carbohydrates on the keto diet, including:
- Eggs (Important for the keto diet).
- Meat: This includes beef (high fat) and chicken.
- Fish and seafood: You can eat them of all kinds.
- Low-carb vegetables: Non-starchy vegetables are known to be low in carbohydrates and calories, but rich in many nutrients that are beneficial to the body (such as cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, tomatoes, avocado, zucchini, green beans…etc).
- Some fruits: such as berries and strawberries.
- Nuts: You should choose low-carb nuts such as pecans, macadamia, hazelnuts, etc.
- Natural fats: We mean healthy fats, which include olive oil, natural butter, coconut oil and avocado oil.
- Full-fat dairy products(cream and cheese).
* Food To Avoid On Keto
The keto diet requires you to include low-carb foods in your diet, here is a list of some high-carb foods.
To avoid if you are trying to lose weight with a ketogenic diet.
Grains: Grains are a rich source of carbohydrates, and they should be avoided.
These grains include the following:
- Oatmeal
- Rye
- Barley
- Wheat Grains
- Whole Wheat Flour
- Rice
- Quinoa
- Corn
- It also includes made products such as (bread, pasta, biscuits … etc).
Fruits and vegetables: While fruits and vegetables are good sources of nutrition and making a healthy diet for weight loss, some fruits and vegetables should be avoided on the keto diet as they may be high in carbohydrates.
The list of fruits includes:
- Apples
- Grapes
- Bananas
- Peaches
- Pineapples
- Raisins
- Dates
- Mangoes
- Pears
The list of vegetables includes:
- Potatoes (Because it is high in starch and carbohydrates, it is dangerous for diabetics)
- Sweet Potatoes
- Baked Potatoes
- Peas
- Carrot
- Yam
- Corn
Beans and legumes
Legumes and beans are rich in protein, which is a fact everyone knows, and other nutrients (such as iron, zinc and potassium), but few realize that they are also rich in carbohydrates, so you should avoid legumes on the keto diet for weight loss.
- Lima Beans
- Baked Beans
- Lentils
- Black Beans
- Lobia
- Green Peas
- Kidney Beans
- Green Beans
Dairy: Dairy products are a rich source of protein, but some can also be rich sources of carbohydrates(such as cheese, milk, and yoghurt).
Soft drinks of all kinds, because they contain a high proportion of carbohydrates and refined sugars.
Natural sweeteners or other sugars such as honey, date sugar, and maple syrup. (these natural products are rich in sugar)
Keto vs Paleo Diets: What are the differences?
Now let’s get to know the keto diet vs paleo what are the main differences between them.
* Modern physicians adopted the keto diet (low in carbohydrates and high-fat) in the 1920s to treat epileptic seizures in young children.
* The keto diet is a popular diet for losing weight, controlling blood sugar, improving heart health and some neurological disorders.
* The Paleo diet can help you lose weight quickly. The concept of this diet began in the 1970s and spread in the early 2000s.
* The paleo diet remains unrestricted compared to the ketogenic diet because it encourages certain activities outside the diet, such as exercise and mindfulness exercises (yoga), and does not place any restrictions on macronutrients (carbohydrates, fats and proteins).
* You can notice the main difference between the two diets is that on the keto diet, most of the calories come from fat, while most of the calories come from protein on the paleo diet.
* The keto diet focuses on excluding foods that are high in carbohydrates and sugar, as we note that most fruits and vegetables (especially starchy vegetables) are forbidden in the keto diet, although the paleo diet allows eating more fruits and some natural sweeteners and vegetables that It contains high carbohydrates without any problems. As mentioned earlier, they also have some rules for meat and dairy products.
* The ketogenic diet needs to stay within a specific group of carbohydrates, fats and proteins to stay in the known ketosis state. Usually, a person following the keto diet should consume (70–80% fat, 20–25% protein, 5–10% carbohydrates)
* Usually, the keto diet (higher in fat) compared to the paleo diet. The paleo diet (higher in carbs) compared to the keto diet.
keto vs paleo: what are the similarities between these two diets
Both paleo and keto emphasize eating whole foods as opposed to processed foods, as fat is an essential component of the ketogenic diet to maintain ketosis.
Both diets focus on high-quality foods rich in important nutrients for the body, and exclude grains and legumes, but for different reasons.
As for the ketogenic diet, it is all about high carbohydrates, and for the paleo diet, they argue that the ancient human diets did not contain grains and legumes.
Keto vs Paleo Diets: Which One Is Better For You
* Summarization
Everyone can benefit from both diets, but you should focus on the type of diet that is best for your personal goals.
For example, if you suffer from diabetes or have high cholesterol, it is important to follow a keto diet that may be beneficial for you, due to the restriction of carbohydrate intake and reduced insulin sensitivity.
Endurance athletes may also benefit by adapting to the fats that characterize the ketogenic diet because the body can use them for a long time to obtain energy from fat stores instead of glucose.
On the other hand, paleo may also be a better plan for resistance athletes (like bodybuilders and CrossFit), as the carbohydrates can be better used during training sessions.
After comparing the keto diet vs the paleo diet, we note that there is no clear winner, both are good options, but this depends on the best diet that you can stick to in order to focus on your food choices, to achieve amazing and sustainable results for a long time, just trust yourself. And continued.