There are so many different diets people try to find their best nutrition plan. Some go vegetarian and give up all kinds of meats, some go pescatarian and give up meat but not fish, some go vegan and give up all kinds of animal-based food. Others go deeper and choose keto, paleo, or another kind of diet. It’s all done to create the best version of yourself, the healthy and lean one.
The keto and paleo diets have a lot of followers who will tell you their choice is much better. Let’s bring the terms down so you can choose whether any of them is for you.
Ketogenic (Keto) Diet in Detail
A ketogenic diet implies 70-80% of your daily calorie intake are from fat. The larger part of the remaining kcal goes to protein, and the carbs should take only 20 to 50 g. So this is an incredibly high-fat diet, but of course this fat must be from healthy food, at least most of it.
This might sound weird for those who hear about keto diet for the first time, but it has actually been used for medical purposes for many years. Children who suffer from epilepsy take up the more restricted version of this diet with about 90% of fat-derived calories. The purpose of keto is to turn our bodies from carb-burning to fat-burning, changing the main source of energy. The key process is called ketosis – it leads to the increased production of ketone bodies that are deemed to prevent epileptic seizures.
This diet can also help control blood sugar levels for those with type 2 diabetes, but most of the supporters of such a lifestyle use it for weight loss. Getting a lot of fat from avocado, butters, seeds, nuts, cheese and oils also helps improve skin and settle down hormone levels.
‘Caveman’ or Paleo Diet in Detail
A paleo diet implies you mostly eat foods that our Paleolithic-era ancestors presumably ate. This includes whole foods such as meats, veggies, fruit, roots, nuts&seeds. As to the taboos, the paleo diet excludes dairy, grains, added sugar, and most recently even honey got on the list.
The purpose of the diet is to exclude most processed foods, which also cuts consumed calories a lot. Specialists also say that you get more nutrients by following such a diet, and the ratio between the healthy and unhealthy foods that you consume becomes much in favor of the first.
Some also say going paleo can prevent heart disease and type 2 diabetes, but these claims need much more evidence to be deemed 100% true.
The Choice Is Up to You
Both diets are pretty restrictive, they both cut the amount of carbs you eat, especially that from legumes and grains. However, both of them are fueled with fear of getting your insulin levels too high and developing diseases. Fear of something isn’t exactly the best message for any diet or lifestyle. That being said, if you take only your weight-loss or health-boost goal as the basics, you can use any of these diets or their lighter variations to pursue them.