Reading a health magazine or going to a gym without hearing about paleo and ketogenic diets is difficult today.
Many people adhere to these diets to reduce weight or enhance their health. However, given the popularity of both diets, you may wonder how they vary.
Here’s a comparison of the paleo and keto diets, including which is superior.
What is the paleo diet?
The paleo diet, sometimes known as the “caveman diet,” is based on the idea that consuming foods available to early humans promote maximum health.
One of the central tenets of the paleo diet is that current food systems, manufacturing, and processing methods are harmful to human health.
As a result, modifying your dietary habits to resemble those of Paleolithic hunter-gatherers can better support your body’s natural biological function, enhancing digestion and health.
The Paleo diet excludes grains, legumes, processed sugar, and dairy products.
The paleo diet allows the following foods:
- Meat and fish
- Eggs
- Nuts and seeds
- Fruits
- Except for corn, which is a grain, vegetables
- Coconut oil, olive oil, avocado oil, lard, tallow, ghee/butter, and other fats and oils
- Raw honey, maple syrup, coconut sugar, and stevia are minimally processed sweeteners.
Paleo is more than simply a diet for most people.
Within the paleo concept, there is also a significant emphasis on lifestyle habits, the environmental effect of dietary choices, and overall bodily wellbeing.
What is the keto diet?
Most tissues in the human body prefer to obtain energy from carbs via glucose.
Ketosis is a metabolic state in which your body utilizes fat calories rather than carbohydrates to generate the energy required to perform routine operations (1).
The keto or ketogenic diet tries to induce ketosis by adjusting dietary macronutrients, specifically carbohydrates, protein, and fat.
The macronutrient breakdown for the keto diet is as follows:
- Fat: 65-90%
- Protein: 10-30%
- Carbohydrates: less than 5%
The macronutrient distribution of the keto diet is dramatically skewed in favor of fat, with moderate protein and extremely few carbohydrates, compared to a “normal” diet.
Establishing ketosis with this eating plan stimulates your body’s metabolic breakdown of fat. As a result, it’s critical to keep your macronutrient intake under strict supervision, or you risk knocking your metabolism out of ketosis.
One of the primary reasons the keto diet’s current popularity is its ability to help you lose weight and improve blood sugar management (1).
These diets have a lot in common
Despite their differences, the paleo and keto diets share many similarities. The following are some of the key concepts shared by various diets.
Both emphasize whole foods
The paleo and keto diets are fundamentally designed to rely on whole-food nutrition sources.
Whole food has undergone minimum preparation before arriving on your plate.
The keto and paleo diets advocate eliminating all ultra-processed foods in favor of whole foods such as fresh vegetables, meat, fish, and nuts.
This is especially true given the absence of manufactured fats, oils, and sweets in paleo and keto “rule books.”
Both eliminate grains and legumes
The paleo and keto diets severely forbid consuming grains and legumes for different reasons.
According to the paleo movement, this removal is partly based on the assumption that grains and legumes were not likely part of early human diets and carry antinutrients.
Antinutrients are substances present in plant-based meals, such as lectins and phytates. Consumption in significant numbers interferes with your body’s capacity to absorb minerals and nutrients and may induce digestive irritation (2).
However, research shows there may be advantages to eating foods containing these chemicals (2).
The keto diet also excludes grains and most legumes due to their carbohydrate content.
Grains and legumes provide a considerable quantity of carbohydrates to the diet. You risk taking your body out of ketosis if you eat them while on the keto diet.
Both eliminate added sugar
The keto and paleo diets both severely restrict the consumption of added sugars.
This comes under the theme of avoiding highly processed foods in general for both diet regimens.
On the other hand, Paleo dieters are a little more lenient with this rule, as unrefined sugar sources like honey and maple syrup are still allowed.
Due to the high carb content of these foods, Keto does not allow any added sugar sources, refined or not.
Both emphasize healthy fats
Both the paleo and keto diets advocate using unprocessed, healthy fats, which is in keeping with their common aim of promoting maximum health.
Both diets also advocate for moderate-to-liberal use of refined oils such as olive and avocado, nuts, seeds, and seafood. Because of their polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fat levels, these foods are proven to enhance heart health (3).
Both diets also restrict the use of highly processed fats, such as trans fats, which are harmful to one’s health when ingested regularly (3)
The keto diet strongly emphasizes fat in general, as it is the foundation of the whole diet. While Paleo is not strictly a high-fat diet, it does employ this guideline to promote public health.
Both may be effective for weight loss
One of the critical reasons for the keto and paleo diets’ appeal is the belief that they would aid in weight loss.
Unfortunately, there needs to be more evidence on how beneficial these diets are for long-term weight loss. However, some short-term studies are promising.
In a small study of postmenopausal, obese women who followed the paleo diet lost 9% of their weight after six months and 10.6% after a year. At the 24-month milestone, no more substantial weight change was seen (4).
One review of data on low-carb, high-fat (LCHF) diets, such as the ketogenic diet, found that adopting this eating pattern can result in short-term weight loss (5).
This might be because a high fat diet generally results in decreased appetite and fewer overall calories ingested. It is also possible that the ketosis process leads to more effective removal of the body’s fat storage. The precise reason is yet unknown.
Finally, further study is required to establish a definite causal association (6).
Paleo focuses more on ideology, while Keto focuses on macronutrients
The ideological message, or lack thereof, is one of the fundamental distinctions between the paleo and keto diets.
The paleo diet focuses a strong emphasis on lifestyle factors in addition to eating. It explicitly advocates a particular form of exercise and attention in daily activities to complement the nutritional pattern.
Incorporating brief, intensive intervals of activity into your regimen is a cornerstone of the paleo lifestyle. This physical exercise is supposed to alleviate the tension associated with lengthier training.
Yoga and meditation are two more stress-reduction techniques advocated by the paleo diet.
Combined with a healthy diet, these activities promote whole body and mind well-being, resulting in superior overall health.
While the paleo diet is quite strict, macronutrients are not emphasized. You can consume as much protein, fat, and carbs as you want if you choose them from a predetermined list of “allowable” items.
On the other hand, Keto does not have a related ideology or way of life. While it encourages using nutritious foods, the primary focus is macronutrient allocation.
Any lifestyle modifications besides the keto diet are up to the person and are not part of the diet program.
Paleo Allows for Whole-Food Carbs
Although paleo restricts some carb sources, it is not a low-carb diet in the same way that Keto is.
Because paleo does not emphasize macronutrients, your diet may be heavy in carbohydrates, depending on the items you consume within the restrictions.
Because grains, processed sugars, and legumes are prohibited, the paleo diet’s carb sources are restricted but not eliminated. Paleo still includes carbohydrates from whole food categories, including fruits, vegetables, and unprocessed sweets.
On the other hand, the keto diet prohibits all carbs, including starchy vegetables, fruits, grains, sweets, and legumes.
Regardless of their source, many high-carb meals do not fit into a keto diet since total carb consumption must be below a particular threshold to maintain ketosis.
Keto allows dairy and some soy foods
Keto allows, even promotes, the use of dairy products. Many ketogenic diet regimens include high-fat dairy products such as heavy cream, butter, and unsweetened full-fat yogurt.
Due to their low fat-to-carb ratio, other dairy items, such as ice cream and milk, are forbidden on the keto diet.
Soy foods like tofu, tempeh, and soybeans are permitted on the keto diet as long as they do not exceed your daily macronutrient allowance. Soy milk, on the other hand, is usually avoided.
Paleo, on the other hand, forbids soy and bans practically all dairy.
The paleo diet allows only grass-fed butter as a dairy product. However, there is still debate within the paleo community whether this concession is genuinely consistent with paleo ideology.
Furthermore, soy products are legumes, which are not permitted in the paleo diet.
Which One Is Healthier?
The paleo and keto diets can be healthy alternatives, depending on how they are utilized and followed.
In a side-by-side comparison, the paleo diet is the healthier choice for most people.
Paleo gives you greater nutritional flexibility and more possibilities for daily attaining the full range of nutrients your body needs. It also promotes a healthy lifestyle in general.
Paleo is simpler to sustain long-term with less risk for social isolation because of the freedom in food choices.
Keto is not for everyone, although it may be an effective therapy option for some health concerns.
Consumers should also avoid overeating saturated fat on a high-fat diet. According to research, it may raise the risk of heart disease (7).
Keto is more challenging to sustain because of the tight compliance required to induce ketosis. It necessitates considerable preparation and is less responsive to changing social settings.
Keto’s lack of flexibility makes acquiring enough nutrients complex due to the restricted alternatives.
The bottom line
The ketogenic diet is distinguished by its high fat content and shallow carbohydrate level. It might help with weight loss and blood sugar management.
The paleo diet emphasizes consuming whole foods that people were considered to have access to during the Paleolithic era. It also promotes exercise and other forms of wellbeing.
When properly designed, both diets can improve your health.
However, long-term research on the safety and efficacy of these diet programs needs to be revised, and some of the limitations can be difficult to adhere to.
A paleo diet is a superior option for most people since it allows for more incredible food variety than the keto diet, making it simpler to stick to over time.
In the long run, the diet that works best for you is the most excellent option.
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