Nutrition is always changing. New diets and trends appear daily. It’s easy to get lost in the hype. But, the simplest approach is often the best.
This brings us to the paleo keto diet. It is a strong mix of two popular, proven diets: the paleo diet and the keto diet. This combo helps you tap into your body’s natural fat-burning ability. You’ll feel amazing.
The paleo keto diet merges the principles of the keto diet1, which prioritizes low carbs and high fat, with the paleo diet2, which emphasizes whole, unprocessed foods our ancestors enjoyed.
Think of grass-fed meats, healthy fats, and lots of veggies. They mimic what humans might have eaten in the Paleolithic era. You will also incorporate healthy oils such as avocado oil as part of the paleo keto diet.
What is a Paleo Keto Diet?
This isn’t a trendy fad diet. It’s a return to basics. Many consider it a healthy lifestyle.
A paleo keto diet means avoiding processed foods, grains, and sugars. These can upset your body’s balance. You replace these with nutrient-dense options.
Your body, instead of using sugar for energy, burns fat for fuel. This is called ketosis. You may wonder if the paleo keto diet is sustainable long-term.
Consider your health goals. They will help you find what works best for you.
How does it differ from a standard keto diet?
The paleo keto diet takes a stricter approach to dairy. Traditional keto allows some full-fat dairy, like cheese and cream. The paleo aspect typically avoids it. Why? Because our hunter-gatherer ancestors didn’t eat dairy.
The difference is in the approach to carbohydrates. Standard keto diets often aim for a 70% fat, 20% protein, and 10% carbohydrate breakdown.
Most Ketoers on a standard keto diet limit themselves to 50 grams of carbs per day, even going as low as 20 grams in certain cases.
Paleo keto aims for a similar macronutrient ratio. It urges you to listen to your body. Choose nutrient-rich, natural foods. Don’t obsess over measuring every gram.
This differs from paleo keto. It stresses eating more vegetables, including some high-carb ones, without strict limits.
You should eat more animal fats to meet your diet’s macros.
For more on balancing fat intake within your diet, check out this guide on low-fat diet.
Foods to Eat on a Paleo Keto Diet
The foundation of a paleo keto diet involves consuming unprocessed, nutrient-dense foods similar to what our hunter-gatherer ancestors would have eaten.
The paleo keto diet centers3 around animal fat and protein consumption. This eliminates refined sugars, processed foods, grains, and most dairy.
It also restricts starchy vegetables while emphasizing foods that are rich in healthy fats. Let’s break this down further:
Protein: Your Building Blocks
- Meat: This includes grass-fed beef, poultry, lamb, and wild game, offering an excellent source of protein and important nutrients.
- Fish and Seafood: Wild-caught salmon, tuna, sardines, mackerel, shellfish are loaded with omega-3 fatty acids, essential for heart and brain health.
- Eggs: An excellent source of protein and other essential nutrients. Choose pasture-raised eggs when possible.
Healthy Fats: Your Energy Source
- Avocados: Packed with healthy fats, fiber, and various vitamins and minerals. You can eat them plain, in salads, or use them to make guacamole.
- Olive Oil: Choose extra-virgin olive oil for salads and low-heat cooking to ensure you’re benefiting from its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
- Nuts and Seeds: Almonds, walnuts, macadamia nuts, chia seeds, and flax seeds provide healthy fats, fiber, and protein. Enjoy these in moderation as they can be calorie-dense.
- Coconut Oil: Use it sparingly for cooking or enjoy small amounts in smoothies.
Non-Starchy Vegetables
- Leafy Greens: Spinach, kale, lettuce, arugula offer a nutrient-packed base for salads or can be used in various recipes.
- Cruciferous Vegetables: Broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, cabbage are rich in fiber and important nutrients.
- Other Non-Starchy Vegetables: Asparagus, zucchini, bell peppers, mushrooms can be cooked, grilled, or eaten raw to add variety to your diet.
While fruit is generally considered healthy, it’s essential to enjoy it in moderation on a paleo keto diet. It is best to stick to low-sugar berries such as blueberries, strawberries, or raspberries.
Choose organic options to limit exposure to pesticides, always paying attention to how these foods affect your progress towards ketosis. Everyone responds to diet and lifestyle changes differently.
Benefits of the Paleo Keto Diet
A plethora of research suggests this way of eating offers advantages beyond just shedding a few pounds. Decreasing your carb intake can help you enter ketosis much quicker.
This shift away from a western diet and incorporating aspects of the carnivore diet can greatly benefit you.
Weight Management and Blood Sugar Control
Switching to a paleo keto diet has been linked with achieving quick weight loss, even though research is needed to determine a causal link.
Research suggests4 switching to a low-carb, high-fat eating pattern like paleo keto can help individuals lose weight, especially in the short-term.
For example, some studies show that a paleo keto diet could help you lose more weight short term than a vegetarian diet.
Ketosis is when your body uses fat instead of carbs as its primary energy source. One reason the paleo keto diet has garnered recent popularity is due to its potential benefits in facilitating weight loss and regulating blood sugar levels5.
When you switch to this way of eating, your body transitions from burning carbs to burning fat for energy. The restricted intake of sugars and carbohydrates helps control blood sugar spikes.
This is important, especially for individuals with type 2 diabetes who often face challenges managing blood sugar levels.
By removing grains, processed foods, and sugars while promoting protein and healthy fat intake, this diet stabilizes blood glucose. Some researchers even argue that short-term weight loss occurs with this style of eating.
Decreasing Inflammation and Disease Prevention
A significant meta-analysis concluded that paleo diets can play a preventative role against chronic disease, such as reducing the risk of heart disease.
One way the paleo keto diet does this is by shifting your balance of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids. Many keto diets already reduce or eliminate heavily processed fats like trans fat that harm your health if you frequently eat them.
These fats, particularly the omega-6 variety, are notorious for promoting inflammation in the body.
You replace these culprits with the power of anti-inflammatory omega-3s from fatty fish, olive oil, and other healthy fats, aiding in combating chronic inflammation.
Improved Mental Clarity
A study has shown that the paleo keto diet may have significant effects on a person’s overall metabolic health, such as reducing glucose levels and combating metabolic syndrome.
The paleo keto diet shifts your focus from carbs to fat, which some research suggests provides the brain with its preferred energy source – ketones.
It may lead to sharper thinking, heightened focus, and a calmer state of mind. Maple syrup and other artificial sweeteners are not allowed on this diet.
Possible Side Effects
Adopting a new diet can lead to initial changes that might not be entirely comfortable.
But being prepared and understanding these possible effects helps navigate the transition smoother. You can always incorporate some sugar alcohols into your diet to help if you need to.
The Keto Flu
As your body switches from using carbs to fat for fuel, you may encounter flu-like symptoms. Think fatigue, headaches, and nausea. This typically lasts a few days as your body adjusts.
Stay hydrated by drinking plenty of water and consider adding electrolytes to your routine. Some folks feel it’s best to slowly decrease their carb intake over time to ease the transition and reduce the severity of these symptoms.
Nutrient Deficiencies
Whenever you drastically change your diet and eliminate entire food groups, there’s a chance of nutrient deficiencies. But on the paleo keto diet, you get nutrients naturally from the foods you eat.
Pay special attention to your mineral intake, particularly calcium and magnesium, which are essential for bone health and muscle function.
Legumes are not allowed on the paleo keto diet, so it is important to incorporate other foods that can replace the lost nutrients you may experience when not eating them.
Sustainability
Paleo keto, though incredibly beneficial, is definitely stricter than most diets. While you’re not obsessing over carb counts like in traditional keto, sticking with paleo-approved foods can take dedication.
But it’s about finding what works best for your own lifestyle and creating a sustainable plan.
Some individuals have had success cycling this approach with their usual eating habits, incorporating paleo keto principles for a few weeks at a time followed by more balanced weeks.
This flexibility can enhance both enjoyment and long-term adherence to the diet.
You could make paleo keto a temporary jumpstart for improved health, blood sugar balance, and weight loss goals.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a paleo keto diet?
Yes. This diet combines the core principles of both paleo and keto for a nutrient-rich way of eating that helps achieve ketosis. This means choosing unprocessed foods, high-quality fats, lean proteins, and avoiding grains, processed sugars, and legumes.
What is a paleolithic ketogenic diet?
It focuses on eating like our hunter-gatherer ancestors. You stick with lean meats, healthy fats, non-starchy veggies, and low-sugar fruits while ditching grains, dairy, and processed foods to enter ketosis and enhance your well-being.
What fruits are allowed on the paleo keto diet?
Stick to low-sugar options, like raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries. Enjoy these in moderation as part of your daily carbohydrate intake.
Can I mix keto and paleo?
That’s precisely what the paleo keto diet does. This dietary approach blends both styles by incorporating unprocessed, whole foods rich in protein and fats while avoiding grains, sugars, and most dairy to induce a state of ketosis.
Conclusion
A Paleo Keto Diet is the best way to achieve peak wellness. It is a sustainable approach. This hybrid diet may help you. It combines paleo’s focus on whole, nutrient-rich foods with keto’s fat-burning effects.
The Paleo Keto Diet can help with weight loss and reduce inflammation. It may also boost heart health, mental clarity, and energy.
This approach emphasizes natural, high-quality ingredients. It helps you nourish your body. It also gives you the long-term benefits of paleo and keto diets.
If you want lasting health, try the Paleo Keto Diet. It may help you reach your wellness goals.
- https://metapress.com/what-are-the-characteristics-of-the-keto-diet-what-can-you-eat-on-it-what-foods-are-helpful[↩]
- https://www.diabetes.co.uk/diet/paleolithic-diet.html[↩]
- https://www.diabetes.co.uk/paleo-keto/foods-to-eat-on-paleo-keto-diet.html[↩]
- http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/11/2/2092/htm[↩]
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK499830/[↩]
