Comparison Between Keto and Paleo Diets

Keto and paleo diets ate popular diets that you can not do without hearing each time you visit a gym. They are diets that are followed by a lot of people to help them lose weight on the one hand and improve their general health. Both diets have a long history of being effective in the regulation of weight. The question now is, what is the difference between paleo and keto diets?

This article elaborates on the comparison between the two diets, as well as which one of them you should adopt and for what purpose.

Paleo diet

The Paleo diet is also recognized as the caveman diet. By implication, it is believed that following the diet of early humans will boost your overall health. The reason behind the adoption of this diet is the fact that most foods that are available for human consumption today are processed, and this can cause damages to both the foods’ nutritional contents and the human eating the processed foods. Thus, in order to avoid damages to both foods and human health, it is best to go natural, and the caveman diet is a great choice to make.

Adopting a Paleo diet comes with numerous health benefits, some of which include the boosting of metabolic and biological processes, boosting optimal health, and improving digestion.

On a paleo diet plate, there are no grains, no legumes, no dairy, and no processed sugars. The only kinds of foods you are mo0st likely going to find on a paleo diet plate are;

• Eggs
• Fruits
• Meats
• Fish
• Natural fats from the likes of avocado
• Natural sugars like honey or coconut sugar
• Nuts and seeds

Most people who follow paleo diets complement the diet with lifestyle and environmental changes to enhance general body wellness, as well as the effectiveness of the diet.

Keto Diet

The glucose from carbohydrates is what most tissues in the body use to produce energy for the body. Ketosis occurs when the body, instead of carbohydrates, begins to use fat to generate energy in order for the body to carry out its proper functions.

A keto diet comes in handy when you want to induce ketosis. This involves a measure and carefully calculated amounts of nutrients, some of which include fats, protein, and carbs.

In essence, a keto diet is a low-carb, high-fat diet, which is aimed at inducing the body to use fat for the production of energy rather than using carbs to that effect.

The nutritional contour of a ketogenic diet is as follows;

Carbohydrates; 5% or in most cases, less than 5%

Fats; between 60% to 95%

Protein; between 15% to 30%

A keto diet has more fat contents compared to other nutrients like carbs and protein. The purpose of a ketogenic diet is to help burn up the unnecessary fats in the body, which in turn reduces a metabolic breakdown of fat and gives you a firmer shape and regulated weight.

One of the motives why ketogenic diets are common among people today is because it has the tendency to reduce and regulate your weight, as well as your blood sugar levels.

Similarities

Although both paleo and keto diets have a lot in common, they still share some similar characteristics. Some of the factors that both paleo and keto diets share in common include;

Whole Foods

Both ketogenic diets and paleo diets emphasize whole foods. They are made up of 90% whole, natural and unprocessed foods. Both diets strongly frown against processed foods and additives. Instead, they substitute processed foods for whole, natural, and unprocessed ones. Some of this category of foods include;

• Meat
• Fish
• Vegetable
• Seeds and nuts

Grains and Legumes

Both diets discourage the inclusion of legumes and grains in them. Being a caveman diet, the ideology behind the paleo diet is the fact that the early men never ate legumes or grains, as these kinds of foods were not part of their diets. Thus, sticking to a paleo diet means sticking to the early humans’ diet. In addition, another ideology behind the paleo diet is the belief that legumes and grains are packed with antinutrients that can be harmful to human health.

Antinutrients are properties like phytates and lectins, mostly found in plants and tamper with the nutrient absorption process of the body. These compounds are said to have the tendency to cause digestive issues, especially when they are consumed in large quantities.

On the other hand, the major reason why the keto diet frowns at legumes and grains is that they contain high amounts of carbohydrates, and keto diets are meant to have low carb contents. When you are on a keto diet, and you consume foods that are high in carbs, you might expose yourself to the risks of putting an end to your ketosis. At this point, you might begin to experience unnecessary weight gain.

Added Sugar

Both diets are completely against the idea of including added or processed sugars into your diet. This still boils down to the fact that they discourage every form of processed foods or ingredients. They contain wholesome, natural, and unprocessed foods.

However, of the two diets, paleo is more flexible when it comes to abiding by this particular rule. This is because some paleo diets contain unrefined sugar like honey. On the other hand, be it natural or refined, keto diets do not allow for the inclusion of any form of sugar or sugar sources. This is because most sugar sources contain high carb contents.

Healthy Fats

Both paleo and keto diets encourage the inclusion of healthy fats in them. However, if you must include fats in your paleo and keto diets, the fats must be natural and unrefined. Some food sources that contain natural and unrefined fats include; fish, nuts and seeds, avocado and olive, and so on. These natural fat food sources have been found to be effective in the improvement of heart health as a result of their mono and polyunsaturated fats contents.

They do not encourage refined fats like trans fats, as they are dangerous to the heart health and the overall health, especially when they are consumed in large quantities.

Keto diets contain higher amounts of fatty foods compared to paleo diets. This is because the major idea behind keto diets is to consume enough fats that the body would use for the production of energy in place of carbs.

Weight Loss

Paleo and keto diets are great dietary choices to make if you want to lose weight. Although short-term weight loss has been recorded among people who follow these diets. Notwithstanding, research is still ongoing as to whether the weight loss can be sustained over a long period of time.

For example, women in their postmenopausal stage experienced 9% weight loss after 5 months of following a paleo diet and 10% weight loss after 10 months. Asides from these, no other significant weight loss has been recorded over long periods of time.

Whole Foods Carbs

Paleo foods are flexible with the no carbs rule. It allows for more inclusion of carbs contents in the diet. It is not as much of a no-carb diet compared to the keto diet.

Although paleo does not allow grains and legumes, they allow for other food sources that contain carbs. Some of these food sources include; vegetables and fruits, as well as unrefined sweeteners. In other words, the carbs in paleo diets might be limited but are not eliminated completely.

On the other hand, keto diets eliminate all rich sources of carbs like grains, fruits, certain vegetables, legumes, and sweeteners. This is because there is meant to be a calculated amount of carbs in keto diets.

Dairy and Soy Foods

Keto diets, when it comes to the no-dairy rule, are still a bit flexible compared to paleo diets. In fact, most keto diets contain heavy dairy products. Dairy is allowed in a keto diet. Some of the dairy products allowed in keto diets include; yogurt, butter, and heavy cream. However, some other dairy products like ice cream or milk are avoided as they might contain high carbs content.

In addition, keto diets also allow for soy products. However, on the other hand, paleo diets do not.

In conclusion, the ketogenic diet is a low-carb, high-fat diet, while on the other hand, the paleo diet involves foods that early humans consumed. Both of them are aimed at encouraging weight loss.