Primal vs Keto- which suited you better?

msnucerity

Hi All,

Happy New Year!!

So I'm wondering (for those of you who have eaten primal and keto at point) which did you like better? Which made more sense to you? Why? Was it the high fat? The fruit? The dairy? The science/theory behind it?

Just curious- I'm having a mild existential food-crisis in finding the balance of what works best for me macros-wise and am interested to hear what others have found.

(Just to clarify I've been eating something between keto and primal for a bit; I am NOT trying to do a 180 on eating because it's New Years day)

Thanks and all the best in 2014!!

Akimajuktuq

Why pick only one? They work perfectly together. It's my opinion based on personal experience, anthropological research and observation of the Inuit, that I am designed to eat a high fat meat, egg, and veggie based diet. High carb foods, even the healthy ones, have to be carefully limited or I am forever struggling.

Since August, I have been leaning more Paleo, but still ketogenic.

Besides, Mark Sisson's carb "sweet spot" is ketogenic for some, but I choose to go a bit lower for my own health requirements. So it's not a new idea to combine the best of both.

PS, I've been on holidays and not logging and I changed my goals shortly before so my diary is looking very screwed. Will be back to normal (5-10% carbs) very soon.

fruttibiscotti

For me, primal makes more sense. I don't understand the issue paleoistas have with saturated fats. If one is not eating saturated fats (eggs, lard, drippings, skin on chicken, fatty cuts of meat, etc) then it no longer seems like an eating plan linked to our ancestral foods.

ceestahr

I've found that keto diets typically make me very sluggish and foggy - so Primal works much better for me

Akimajuktuq

Paleo does not exclude saturated fats. That misunderstanding occurred after Dr. Cordain's "The Paleo Diet" but it is not the accepted norm of a Paleo lifestyle, and I believe he has changed his recommendation on saturated fats. He should have differentiated between CAFO meat and grass fed meat in his book, but didn't. Obviously, saturated fats are healthy for our body and biologically appropriate. Paleo and Primal are only different when it comes to dairy. All recent Paleo info that I have seen promotes saturated fats from healthy sources so….

Keto can make people feel sluggish/foggy in the beginning (sugar withdrawal) and some people don't choose to push past it to experience the wonderful effects later on. However, I'm sure being ketogenic isn't for everyone, but Paleo/Primal is.

fruttibiscotti

Paleo does not exclude saturated fats. That misunderstanding occurred after Dr. Cordain's "The Paleo Diet" but it is not the accepted norm of a Paleo lifestyle, and I believe he has changed his recommendation on saturated fats. He should have differentiated between CAFO meat and grass fed meat in his book, but didn't. Obviously, saturated fats are healthy for our body and biologically appropriate. Paleo and Primal are only different when it comes to dairy. All recent Paleo info that I have seen promotes saturated fats from healthy sources so….

Keto can make people feel sluggish/foggy in the beginning (sugar withdrawal) and some people don't choose to push past it to experience the wonderful effects later on. However, I'm sure being ketogenic isn't for everyone, but Paleo/Primal is.

Thanks for that explanation, glad to know sat fat is in!

SteamClutch

Okay now this may be silly of me because I am totally new to this regime but what is Ketogenic, it sound like Ketosis to me but my background is from Akins so maybe I am assuming too much. Can I get a brief explanation?

tatiianag13

Primal worked better for me. Why?
1. I didn't lose any more weight or lose it any faster on Keto.
2. Primal has some give in it--I like being about to eat a potato occasionally when I'm a guest at someone's house, for example.
3. I felt better on Primal.
4. I like to eat fruit more than occasionally. I was relying on splenda on Keto until I looked myself in the mirror and said: is something made in a factory really better than something that grows up to be naturally delicious? Eat splenda if you must (and sometimes, I still chose too.) But berries, and the occasional tropical fruit feel like better choices, and they help keep me sane.

I think different things work for different people. I think you figure out which one works for you. Keto was a good place for me to start--probably because I needed *less* give in the beginning. (Primal can let you talk yourself into more than the occasional sweet potato or rice. Given that I am not an endurance athlete, I lost *nada* being too liberal. For me, it does seem to matter where the carbs come from.). But ultimately, it didn't feel like keto was something i could sustain for longer than a couple of weeks. Other people have a different experience.

fruttibiscotti

Keto, ketosis, ketogenic. All referring to the same thing....metabolic process of ketosis, which primarily burns fat. It is opposite to glycolysis, which burns glucose (usually sourced from sugar, carbs, starches, etc). If you google "nutritional ketosis", you will find a bevy if information.

SteamClutch

Thanks, I will

ShannonKirton

I was keto at one point and found that my body worked well on it, but I needed to revert to paleo/primal for my own peace of mind. I found I was stressing WAY too much about my food and always worrying about carbs. I was also obsessively logging just to make sure I was under my allowance, and if I was offered something I would sneak away with my iPad, enter the food in question and then decide whether or not I would allow it or if I had room for it. This was way too much trouble. Many people also told me I was getting too thin and started to look hard so I decided against going any further.

These days I enjoy my carbs in the form of sweet potatoes, bananas, cassava etc. I am at a healthy weight (157 or so for my 5'9.5" frame) and no one has told me in months that I'm too skinny. The only problem that I have encountered is that I find myself a bit more tired on paleo/primal than on keto. Might just be the extra carbs, but it could be the fact as well that I never get as much sleep as I probably need. shame on me

Dragonwolf

Why pick only one? They work perfectly together. It's my opinion based on personal experience, anthropological research and observation of the Inuit, that I am designed to eat a high fat meat, egg, and veggie based diet. High carb foods, even the healthy ones, have to be carefully limited or I am forever struggling.

Since August, I have been leaning more Paleo, but still ketogenic.

Besides, Mark Sisson's carb "sweet spot" is ketogenic for some, but I choose to go a bit lower for my own health requirements. So it's not a new idea to combine the best of both.

PS, I've been on holidays and not logging and I changed my goals shortly before so my diary is looking very screwed. Will be back to normal (5-10% carbs) very soon.

This. Reading the original post had me a little confused on why it was being treated as mutually exclusive things. You can do Paleo/Primal and ketogenic, and the Primal Blueprint is nearly ketogenic. Granted, it doesn't have to be, but they're not mutually exclusive, either. It depends largely on where your body starts making ketones.