We’ve come across a few health professionals who are not fans of keto. Fair enough, there isn’t as much long-term research on keto as some other ways of eating. It must drive them nuts though when our blood work comes back time after time with perfect numbers. What drives me nuts is when health professionals say keto isn’t healthy. I always ask, it isn’t healthy compared to what? So, I thought I should do a series of blogs that compare keto to some of the top ways we eat as North Americans. This week we compare keto and carnivore diets.
The Keto Diet
Keto uses fat to create energy rather than carbs. A basic keto diet takes in 75% of its calories from fat, 5% from carbs, and 20% from protein. The carbs you do take in, when you do strict keto, are from vegetables and low-carb fruit (like berries). On a strict keto diet, you eat very little in the way of processed foods – it’s mostly fresh foods.
The Carnivore Diet
Last week, we did a blog comparing keto with vegan diets. The carnivore diet is pretty much the exact opposite of the vegan diet. If the food was once alive, or is a by-product of something alive, it’s usually fair game. This includes red meat, white meat, organ meat, eggs, and dairy. If you are at all an animal rights activist, this diet is probably not for you. If you’re a hunter who believes in eating and using every portion of the animal, keep reading.
Similarities Between Keto and Carnivore Diets
Both keto and carnivore diets focus on eating low amounts of carbohydrates. With the low carb levels, people on both diets can enter into ketosis, which means they are using ketones as energy rather than glucose. However, too much protein kick you out of ketosis, so that is something to watch carefully.
Both of these diets face criticism for eating saturated fats without restraint. Now, saturated fats are in baked goods, and those do have negative health effects. But, the saturated fats that we eat with both keto and carnivore diets come from meats and other protein sources. New research is showing there may actually be protective qualities to eating some of these fats.
The final similarity between these two diets is that you will naturally eat less food. Both meat and fat offer you the feeling of being full more quickly than carbs. Fats, especially, contain more calories per serving. Carnivores focus on proteins that offer higher levels of fat for this reason. If you’re trying to lose weight, this can work in your favour.
Differences Between Keto and Carnivore Diets
The carnivore diet focuses on getting proteins from animal sources. They do recommend using fattier cuts of meat. The macros aren’t terribly different from keto, but their focus on animal meats and by-products is a bit different. It’s technically possible for a vegetarian to be keto. It is not possible for a vegetarian to do carnivore diets.
The main difference between the two diets is the complete lack of plant-based foods. We don’t take in a lot of carbs on keto, but the carbs we do take in are low carb fruits (like berries) and vegetables. We also eat nuts and seeds, which are high in fiber and fat. These are not typically allowed on the carnivore diet.
My Thoughts on Keto and Carnivore
As I mentioned in my previous blog on keto and the vegan diet, I used to be a vegetarian. So, the thought of just eating meat makes me a little queasy. But, that’s my own bias. I know for a fact that the carnivore diet is not for me. But, is it for anyone? Well, I’m not sure, because there is little research done on it.
All we know is some celebrities say it’s worked for them. Joe Rogan is one of those celebrities. Seeing as I don’t respect his opinions as a celebrity (I don’t know him personally), I’m not really going to follow his lead on this one. I’ve learned through my reading on keto that sometimes health professionals ignore certain information to follow what they currently know. I don’t want to be a hypocrite, so I’m not saying it’s not for anyone. I just know it’s not for me.
Wendy
