Trying to decide between the Keto vs. Paleo diets as they are both popular biohacks? Here’s what you need to know.
The difference between the Keto or Ketogenic Diet and the Paleo Diet is: The Keto diet is focused around eating three macronutrients, Protein, Carbohydrates (carbs) and Fat and is higher in fat and lower in carbs and sugar than a Paleo diet. A Paleo diet focuses on the type of foods you eat and reduces the quantity of grains, dairy and processed foods you consume.
In terms of which is better Keto or Paleo? The is: It depends on your goals and what nutrition you need to achieve them, what you like to eat and your lifestyle.
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What is a Keto Diet?
A ketogenic diet is one that involves cutting a lot of carbohydrates from your diet. Instead, you take in a lot of a specific type of fat in place of the carbs you’ve removed. This approach to food becomes a gateway for your body to experience a state of ketosis.
Ketosis happens when fat enters the liver to produce an acid called a ketone. This is what enters the bloodstream to become converted to energy and fuels you during this diet.
During this state of ketosis, your body’s default way to provide energy is to burn up all the ketone your body produces in a given period and this burns fat, not sugar or carbs.
There are several ways you can measure what you are burning in the body as fuel, so it’s not guesswork, for example I use what’s called a Lumen, a device that you breathe through to measure this.
Positive Effects of The Keto Diet
- Easier to Loose Weight
- Helps Prevent / Reduces Certain Health Risks
- Promotes Healthier Living in the Long Run
- Positive effect on appetite
- Greater fat loss from the abdominal area
- Reduced Triglycerides (fat in blood cells)
- Increase in Good Cholesterol
- Reduced Blood Sugar and Insulin Levels
- Lower Blood Pressure
- Helps Brain Function
- Beneficial to Kidney function
- Wide range of food options
This ultra-specific diet can lead to a lot of noticeable effects during your first week. A lot of them are positive, so it’s a great biohacking technique.
In a ketogenic diet, only about 10% of your diet consists of carbohydrates.
Eliminating that much starch and sugar from your diet can lead to a significant loss in your weight.
In fact, people say this diet has the fastest weight loss time among all trending diets today.
This is because all your energy comes from the fat, which turns into ketones. This means you’re using up your fat reserves as fuel, leading to a faster weight loss process.
Despite having fat as the most abundant food in this diet, ketogenic diets help prevent certain health risks. This is because the consumption and burning of fat promote the reduction of cholesterol in your body. Burning fat as soon as it turns into ketones leaves your body with no fat to burn other than the remaining bad cholesterol.
This process sets the possibilities of certain health risks like heart diseases from happening. The absence of bad cholesterol also reduces the risks of strokes and such from happening.
People also often think Keto diets are bad for your kidneys, in fact, the low carb, high-fat diet can actually help them as both of these can cause harm.
The beauty of a ketogenic diet is that it enhances satiety. This means you’re going to feel more satisfied with smaller amounts of food than usual. This leads to fewer cravings of unhealthy food in the future.
Also, there are more and more recipes catering to the ketogenic diet. These tend to be both delicious and healthy. Not only will you be feeling healthier, but you’ll also feel more fulfilled with your food options.
Negative Effects of The Keto Diet
- Tiredness
- Initial Sugar and Carb Cravings
- Flu Like Symptoms
As you’re reading this, you may be thinking the ketogenic diet is too good to be true. But it also has negative effects associated with it.
Having very little starch or carbohydrates in your diet means you have less of this of energy to burn and some people are heavily reliant on this based on their current diet.
While ketone may be good in short bursts of exercise, you’ll find that certain aerobic workouts such as jogging, biking, or anything prolonged will require a different energy store to be accessed and this may not always be as efficient or easy for the body to do.
The most alarming effect you may experience is the keto flu. This happens during the first week of your ketogenic diet. It happens because it’s the first time your body adjusts to the new diet introduced by you.
The sudden lack of your body’s regular fuel causes certain things to happen. These things can include dizziness, nausea, regular headaches, and positive effects of fatigue.
What is a Paleo Diet?
A paleo diet reflects the food eaten by hunter-gatherers in ancient times and it’s why people refer to it as the caveman diet. It’s strange to think this at first, but going back to what happened many centuries ago is not uncommon in biohacking
This diet, like the ketogenic diet, is lower in carbs compared to a typical western diet, however, it also cuts out all the things followers consider artificial – things like sugar, salt, and anything processed, including refined vegetable oils.
The only foods permitted in this diet are fresh seafood, meat from grass-fed animals, fruits and vegetables, and certain oils that need no refinement to be eaten.
Positive Effects of The Paleo Diet
- Higher Protein intake for muscle growth
- Increased Iron consumption
- Healthier Cells
- Better brain function
- Improved gut health and digestion
- Less Allergies – you avoid wheat and gluten too
- Reduction in inflammation
- Increase insulin sensitivity
- Reduced risk of disease
- Fat cell size reduction
- Staying fuller for longer
- Simple to follow
Paleo cuts out artificial items from your diet like processed food, fast food, and junk food, and this obviously has many benefits.
Along with this cutting out what they call “empty carbs” and therefore calories, especially those with added sugar and chemical-laden food and drink, can really make a positive impact quickly to how you feel and your energy levels will change for the better and stabilize, rather than have highs and lows depending on what you’ve eaten – no more mid-afternoon slumps.
The main difference between this and the ketogenic diet is that this one permits the consumption of more lean meat. This is essential for those looking to consume protein naturally and this has advantages when you’re looking to build muscle and recover from a heavy workout. This also allows you to feel fuller after you’ve eaten a meal with meat in it.
Having seafood in your diet brings a lot of iron into your body. This helps you become resistant to many of the negative effects that keto tends to have. It also helps prevent deficiencies like anemia because you’re consuming plenty of iron.
Another thing those who follow a paleo diet like is that you don’t need to count calories and macronutrients, it’s a simple approach with far fewer rules to follow which can help you eat in a way that suits your lifestyle and it also makes it mentally less stressful – we never like to be thinking about food too much if at all possible.
Negative Effects of The Paleo Diet
- Tiredness and initial sugar and carb cravings – in the short term
- Bad breath
- Increased Low-Density Lipoprotein (LDL) or “bad” cholesterol
- Can be expensive
Not everything is positive on the caveman diet.
While there aren’t many disadvantages in terms of your health, the paleo caveman diet is restrictive to a fault. This brings a lot of downsides to the diet on its own.
Food in this diet often has no other alternative. This gives the followers of this diet next to no choice for the dishes they can prepare. This often leads to them purchasing the same products in their local stores.
Also because the foods on a paleo diet try to avoid having preservatives fresh is the only real way to do this (although you can freeze it) and this tends to be more expensive than the pre-packed ready meals many people are used to buying. You also need to prepare the food as opposed to just popping it in the oven or microwave for as long as the pack recommends.
But fresh and when possible organic is best and this also applies to the vegetables and fruits too. Yes, this can mean that some fruit and veg are harder to get as it’s out of season, but you should put your health first and learn to prepare and cook food to fuel your body if you take your health seriously.
Now you know if the Keto or Paleo diet is right for you.
Both diets are great ways to biohack and some people also combine them with techniques like intermittent fasting.
Now you’re better informed so can tell which diet, Keto vs Paleo is right for you from health, fitness goals, and lifestyle perspective.
Basically, both diets have their pros and cons but the ketogenic diet is great for a quick weight loss regime. Meanwhile, the paleo caveman diet is great for muscle gain.