This article is written by Louise Hendon. She’s the author of several keto cookbooks, including the Essential Keto Cookbook. You can click here to learn more about Louise and her keto blog.
Please note that I am not a doctor or registered dietitian. Before starting any new diet and exercise program please check with your doctor and clear any exercise and/or diet changes with them before beginning.
Lots of Paleo diet followers are curious about the Keto diet.
And it’s not surprising as they’re two of the most popular diets over the past decade.
But what’s the difference between Keto and Paleo?
Is one better than the other?
And is there a way to combine the two?
In this article, I’ll discuss the five main differences between Paleo and Keto, share which one is “better,” and give you tips on how you can get the benefits of both at the same time.
What is Paleo?
Paleo originates from looking over the diets of our hunter-gatherer ancestors and seeing what they’ve discovered works for our bodies over millions of years.
This means eating high-quality, unprocessed foods – lots of vegetables, grass-fed meats, and healthy fats. Or as Brian puts it: “eat simple, clean, real food.”
But Paleo also includes non-food related principles, such as getting exercise and focusing on mental health through mindfulness practices. You can read about Brian’s 5 primal principles here. They include focusing on food quality and sustainable sources, exercising outdoors, rest, meditation, and simplifying life.
What is Keto?
Keto originated as a diet to help kids with epilepsy, and its focus is mainly to get your body in ketosis. This is when your body begins to use fat for energy instead of glucose.
And the main way to get into ketosis is by limiting your carbohydrate intake.
For most people, eating less than 25g of net carbs per day will get them into ketosis. Some people can eat more carbs (e.g., athletes), others may need less.
Obviously, if you’ve been on Paleo for a while, you’ll know that Paleo is also considered a low carb diet (especially if you skip the banana smoothies and Paleo desserts laden with honey and dates).
So, is there anything really different between Paleo and Keto?
5 Differences Between Keto and Paleo
1. Focus
The most obvious difference between Paleo and Keto is that Keto focuses on getting your body into ketosis while Paleo focuses more on food quality and nutrient-density.
And this goes back to the origins of each diet.
Paleo originates from research done by Melvin Konner and Boyd Eaton who studied the diets of Paleolithic humans. The concepts behind Paleo has since been updated and modified of course, but looking at what we ate from a historical perspective still influences how Paleo dieters think about what they eat.
Keto, on the other hand, originates from doctors who found that a low carb high fat diet mimicked the metabolism of fasting, which meant it was a more effective method for treating symptoms of epilepsy. And that’s one of the reasons why Keto dieters focus more on getting into ketosis.
2. Food Quality
As I mentioned above, most Keto dieters want to get into ketosis by limiting their carbohydrate intake.
Technically, this means they can eat highly-processed low-carb foods like sugar-free chocolates and drink diet sodas and still get into ketosis…
I personally believe that Keto foods should be thought of as more than just macros and that food quality is hugely important, but the basis of the diet doesn’t require it.
Conversely, food quality plays a huge part in Paleo as modern food processing methods have only been introduced to our diets over the past century.
3. Carbohydrate Intake
While Keto and Paleo are both lower in carbs than the Standard American Diet (SAD), Keto is usually lower in carbs than Paleo.
As I mentioned above, most people on Keto stay under 25 g net carbs per day in order to stay in ketosis whereas Paleo dieters don’t count carbs (since the goal isn’t ketosis).
In particular, there’s lots of emphasis in Paleo on eating clean starches especially since studies indicate that many of our hunter-gatherer ancestors ate tubers and wild fruits.
That’s why most folks on Paleo eat foods like sweet potatoes, pumpkin, and bananas that Keto dieters avoid because they’re too high in carbs.
4. Fat Intake
Keto and Paleo both encourage the consumption of healthy fats:
Adding an avocado to a salad, drizzling olive oil over roasted vegetables, and cooking with lots of coconut oil.
But the Keto diet is often much higher in fat than Paleo.
Here’s why that is:
Both carbs and protein can make it harder to get into and stay in ketosis, so fats are used on Keto instead as the main energy source.
5. Lifestyle Changes
The Keto diet doesn’t explicitly state that you should add exercise into your weekly routine or that you should consider finding ways to destress.
On the other hand, lifestyle changes are often more emphasized in Paleo. After all, our ancestors slept with the sun, lifted heavy things, lived in small communities, and often walked a lot more than we do now.
Which Diet is Better – Paleo or Keto?
A lot of people ask me this question as I fully support both diets.
And I think the fallacy in this question is that it assumes the two diets have to be different.
A lower carb Paleo diet (cutting out the sweet potatoes, bananas, and Paleo desserts laden with honey) will be Keto. Check out the Keto recipes on my website, and you’ll find that they look remarkably like the Paleo recipes you already eat and love.
Cutting out those additional carbs from a Paleo diet can help people lose weight more easily, get rid of brain fog, and regain energy while enjoying a nutrient-dense diet that our bodies have adapted to over millions of years.
So, live the Paleo lifestyle, and when you want to lose extra weight, cut out the tubers and fruits for a few weeks and go into ketosis.
There’s nothing wrong with clean sources of carbs like sweet potatoes, but cutting them out for a while can also help people lean out and boost their mental performance.