Keto and paleo diet: a beginner’s guide

The new year is around the corner and new health goals and resolutions are brewing among many. If your ‘new-year-new-me’ list includes a weight loss plan, several options on the internet may entice you to jump on the bandwagon.

On the quest for the ideal diet, you will encounter the keto and paleo diets. Despite having their own share of acolytes, it is important to reassess the potential benefits before committing to either camp for neither a failed resolution nor a counterproductive diet is a good start to the new year.

Two of the long-standing diet programs that have been charming people are ketogenic and palaeolithic diets. On one hand, the keto diet stems from ketogenesis which is the process of breaking down fats for energy.  On the other hand, the paleo diet is based on the ideology that humans are not designed to eat processed food.

The weight loss with keto is attributed to the process where the body starts breaking down stored fat instead of carbohydrates as its primary source of energy. The paleo diet excludes all grains and legumes, considering that the ‘palaeolithic hunter-gatherers’ did not have access to refined food, and raw variety was the source of nutrition.

“Every body type is unique and has specific nutritional requirements and to be precise, one should reach out to a qualified dietitian or a health care practitioner to make an informed choice of their personalised diet,” says Vidhyapriya R, consultant dietitian, Bengaluru.

What is keto diet

The ketogenic diet has been linked with several health benefits such as improved blood glucose levels and weight management. In this, an individual follows a  low carbohydrate, adequate protein, and a high-fat diet.

“The purpose behind this approach is to achieve a state of ketosis, a metabolic condition in which the body turns to burn fat reserves instead of glucose,” says Vidhyapriya. The body utilises fats instead of glucose as a primary source of energy following a process called ketogenesis.

“The idea is for you to get more calories from fat and a lesser amount from carbohydrates. You cut down on most of the easy-to-digest carbs, like sugar, pastries, and white bread,” says Sharanya Shastry, sports and clinical nutritionist from Delhi.

A 2019 study published in the journal Nutrients states that keto diets are good for managing type 2 diabetes, but the same does not apply to type 1 diabetes. It further highlights that weight loss due to a low carbohydrate diet is good for type 2 diabetes initially but may not hold strong in the long run.

The macronutrient distribution in the keto diet depends upon the type. For example, very low-carb keto, medium-chain triglyceride keto, calorie-restricted keto, standard ketogenic, cyclical ketogenic and targeted ketogenic all have varied distributions of carbs, proteins and fats.

“A typical keto eating plan has approximately 70-80 per cent of fat, 5-10 per cent of carbs and 10–20 per cent of protein as total calories,” says Vidhyapriya.

She lists the typical foods followed in a keto diet:

• Red meats, eggs, fish, and chicken
• Avocado, cauliflower, berries, broccoli, spinach, beans, nuts and seed oils, and plant-based milk products
• Specific dairy products like cheese, paneer and dark chocolates

Short-term studies show ketogenic diets with very low carbohydrate content are effective in weight loss and improving metabolic profiles. However, the potential pitfalls of following such a stringent diet procure the challenge of sustaining it in the long term.

Planning the paleo diet

A few billion years ago, the hunter-gatherers of the Palaeolithic era did not have the skill to farm or process food. They depended on hunting, fishing, and gathering wild plants and animals to satisfy their hunger.

The 21st-century paleo diet asserts that optimal health is attained by adopting the diet of Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers. This belief stems from the idea that the human body is naturally designed for this lifestyle.

Followers of this diet stick to the food that could have been available for the Palaeolithic people. “The paleo diet includes whole, unprocessed foods like vegetables, nuts, seeds, and meat,” says Shastry.

According to Vidhyapriya, this diet also includes the following foods –

• Fresh lean meats
• Fish
• Eggs
• Vegetables
• Fruits
• Roots and nuts
• Olive oil
• Coconut oil
• Seeds

Like the keto diet, this diet is also low in carbohydrates. The paleo diet is, however, high in protein and moderate in unsaturated fats. It restricts high glycaemic index foods, those high in fibre and low in sodium and refined sugars.

Ramifications

Both keto and paleo are restrictive diets that emphasise cutting down on carbohydrates drastically. Most research has studied these diets for a short period of time. While the short-term benefits are aplenty, the long-term effect of these diets is still blurry.

Vidhyapriya notes that adhering to any diet that omits a particular food group for the long term and increases the frequency of consuming specific new food groups.

“Imbalanced intake of macros hampers the micronutrient uptake, ending up in deficiencies and eventually costing you extra expense on supplements and hospital visits,” adds Shastry.

Evidence abounds that carbohydrates are a vital source of energy, which, when exempted from the diet, can cause several health complications. “Very low-carb diets like keto and paleo may result in fatigue, hunger, constipation, and headache, which may or may not subside eventually,” says Vidhyapriya.

Keto versus paleo

*Inputs from Sharanya Shastry, sports and clinical nutritionist, Delhi