Keto versus low carb is a debate that rages on in our community and not only confuses the general public, but confuses the hell out of our community. Let’s hopefully end this debate today.
The Questions Around Keto Versus Low Carb
What is Keto?
Keto is a way of eating that has you taking in less than 5% of your calories from carbs. It’s usually a standard of 20 grams of net carbs or less a day. You eat a higher level of fat and a moderate level of protein. You reach a state of ketosis, which means that your body uses fat as energy rather than carbs.
What is Low Carb?
When you eat a low carb diet, less than 20% of your calories come from carbs. For weight loss, people usually eat between 50 grams and 100 grams of net carbs a day. Once you lose what you want, you go into a maintenance mode where you eat between 100-150 grams of net carbs a day. You eat a moderate level of healthy fats and a higher level of protein. Then you focus on eating carbs that are complex – whole grains, fruit, vegetables, beans. You are not in ketosis, so your body does use carbs for energy on this plan.
There Is Benefits to Both
Benefits of Keto
When you are in ketosis, you tend to feel full. There isn’t the constant feeling of hunger that so often accompanies trying to lose weight. Eating this way stabilizes your blood sugar and your energy. You don’t tend to have the mid-afternoon lull that makes you want to nap. Keto has been shown to decrease inflammation, which can have many health benefits. Diabetes is often treated with this way of eating. One study found the keto diet improved insulin sensitivity by 76% and in a test group, 95% of people who ate keto were able to stop using diabetes medication (bodybuild.com).
Benefits of Low Carb
This way of eating is a bit more relaxed than doing keto as you don’t need to track quite as carefully and you have more options to eat complex carbs like fruit, whole grains, and beans. Complex carbs have less of an impact on blood sugars, so your insulin levels are more stable. You still eat healthy fats, which helps you to feel full. Many people eat their carbs timed around work outs to give them an extra energy boost.
Koopa isn’t much for caution in a diet debate.
Cautions of Keto
People say keto is difficult to maintain long term. We don’t really have a choice but to stay with keto due to Bill’s health restrictions, so we will let you know. It is a lot of prepping, planning and work, but if you are dedicated to the health benefits like we are, so far it seems worth it.
Cautions of Low Carb
Some people find the lack of structure and rules an issue with low carb eating. They can find themselves sliding back into eating simple carbs like white bread, sugary beverages, and baked goods because there are no set rules. Since you are not in ketosis, it can also lead to energy highs and lows. Also, you tend to get hungry and need to eat every 3-4 hours.
Keto Versus Low Carb – The Cautions
Cautions of Both
You do need to be careful to get enough nutrients with both of these ways of eating. Although, we have found that by getting most of our carbs from vegetables, we are getting more nutrients than we did before. Lowering your carbs can also lead to constipation, so be sure to get enough fiber and maybe take a supplement to help with that.
Benefits of Both
Lowering your carb intake is not a bad thing, especially simple carbs. Both ways of eating are beneficial to your heart health and can improve reliance on diabetes medication. You experience less hunger and the reduction in sugars helps your mental health. Both will help you lose visceral fat, which is linked to heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, certain cancers, and stroke. Keto versus low carb might not be a battle to the end.
Make Your Choice of Keto Versus Low Carb
Which One Should I Chose?
Honestly, I would encourage you to just chose one and get going with it. Our society eats way too many carbs and the impact of that on our health is evident when you look around and see the obesity rates. If you need your whole grains and fruits, low carb might be a better option for you. Personally, I prefer keto because it has the structure to it. If I don’t constantly control what I put into my body, it’s a quick slide down into old habits. I enjoy not feeling hungry, the consistent energy levels and the mental clarity keto provides me. Whatever you chose, your health will thank you if you just stick to it!
Wendy
