Written by Ansley Hill, RD, LD 
June 13, 2018

Today, you’d be hard-pressed to read a health magazine or step into any gym without hearing something about paleo and ketogenic diets.

Many people follow these diets because they want to lose weight or improve their overall health. Yet since both diets are so popular, you may be wondering how they differ.

Here is a detailed comparison of the paleo and keto diet, including which is best.

What Is the Paleo Diet?

The paleo diet, sometimes referred to as “the caveman diet,” is based on the principle that eating foods that were available to early humans will promote optimal health.

One of the fundamental theories behind the paleo diet is that modern food systems, production and processing techniques are damaging to human health.

Thus, if you adjust your eating style to mimic that of Paleolithic hunter-gatherers, you will better support your body’s natural biological function, improving digestion and health.

Paleo eliminates grains, legumes, processed sugar and most sources of dairy.

The main foods permitted on the paleo diet include:

- Meat and fish

- Eggs

- Nuts and seeds

- Fruits

- Vegetables — except corn, which is a grain

- Selected fats and oils, such as coconut oil, olive oil, avocado oil, lard, tallow, ghee/butter

- Minimally processed sweeteners, including raw honey, maple syrup, coconut sugar, raw stevia

For most, paleo is about more than just a diet.

There is also a strong focus on lifestyle practices, the environmental impact of food choices and total body wellness within the framework of the paleo philosophy.

SUMMARY

The paleo diet is an eating plan that emphasizes whole foods and eliminates grains, legumes and most processed foods in order to improve health. The diet also has a lifestyle component that focuses on wellness practices and exercise.

What Is the Keto Diet?

Most tissues in the human body prefer using the glucose from carbohydrates for energy.

Ketosis is the metabolic state in which your body uses calories from fat, instead of carbs, to create the energy needed to carry out its normal functions.

The keto, or ketogenic, diet aims to induce ketosis through the calculated adjustment of dietary macronutrients, namely carbs, protein and fat.

The keto diet macronutrient breakdown looks something like this:

- Fat: 60–80%

- Protein: 20–30%

- Carbohydrates: 5–10%

In comparison to a “standard” diet, the macronutrient distribution of the keto diet is shifted significantly in favor of fat, with moderate protein and very few carbs.

The purpose of achieving ketosis with this diet plan is to induce the metabolic breakdown of fat in your body. Thus, it’s imperative that macronutrient intake is tightly controlled, as otherwise you risk throwing your metabolism out of ketosis.

One of the main reasons that the keto diet has gained recent popularity is because of its potential to help you lose weight and improve blood sugar control.

SUMMARY

The keto diet is an eating plan that focuses on controlling the macronutrient distribution of meals in order to shift the body’s dependence from carbs to fat for energy.

These Diets Have a Lot in Common

Although they are distinct, paleo and keto diets share many characteristics. Below are some of the main ideas these diets have in common.

Both Emphasize Whole Foods

Fundamentally, both paleo and keto diet plans are intended to rely on whole-food sources of nutrients.

A whole food is a food that has undergone a minimal amount of processing by the time it gets to your plate.

Both keto and paleo diets strongly encourage eliminating all ultra-processed foods and replacing them with whole foods like fresh vegetables, meat, fish and nuts.

This is especially evident with the exclusion of processed fats, oils and sweeteners in both paleo and keto “rule books.”