preview

Paleo Vs Ketogenic

Decent Essays

There are countless diets out there that use many different tricks and medical theories to help you lose weight. Some are valid and some are not, but one of the biggest debates today seems to mainly revolve around low carbohydrate and low calorie/low fat diets.

Two popular buzzwords today in the world of dieting are “paleo” and “ketogenic.” These terms both refer to low carbohydrate concepts that force your body to switch to burning body fat for fuel instead of sugar. However, the traditional diet of less calories and less fat still remains popular today.

The mainstream low fat/low calorie diet

Just about everyone that has wanted to watch their weight has tried eating a diet with less fat and calories. Since the root cause of being overweight …show more content…

This is an easy diet to understand. Once you burn off the food calories that you have eaten in a day, any other energy needs for the day will need to come from your body’s fat stores. If you burn more calories than you eat, you lose weight.

It’s a simple and compelling concept, but it’s also very difficult to maintain a calorie deficit day after day. The longer you restrict calories, the hungrier you get, which leads many people to look for other ways to lose weight.

The expression, “fat makes you fat” seems to be intuitively correct when you first hear it, and there is definitely some truth to it. Fatty foods are much denser in calories, which makes it harder to prepare meals in portions that are satisfying while still maintaining a calorie deficit.

Low fat diet advocates, like Pritikin, recommend foods like fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, thereby allowing larger portions and good nutrition while eating less calories.

However, the idea that fatty foods like butter and bacon are to be avoided is coming under increased scrutiny. In fact, low carbohydrate advocates are beginning to tout the benefits of high fat foods when living a low carb lifestyle, and medical researchers are questioning whether fatty foods are indeed bad for …show more content…

In short, it is simply a process that occurs when your body burns the stored energy in its fat cells. This is sometimes confused with the term “ketoacidosis” which is usually relevant to people with type 1 diabetes. Ketoacidosis is a life-threatening condition, but ketosis is not.

Although low-carb diets have been very popular for years, some people tend to be skeptical. The diet is somewhat confusing, mainly because it allows people to eat as much low-carb, high-fat food as they want. This seems to violate the laws of physics; after all, you have to eat less than you burn to lose weight.

So how do people lose weight on this diet? There are different theories about this. One popular theory is that it all comes down to appetite. Many low carb dieters report that their appetite is decreased so much that they eat far less than they normally would, even though they only stop eating when their hunger is completely satiated. Another effect of low carb dieting is an increase in energy, to the point that some people actually have excess energy, whereas before they felt tired all the

Get Access