Keto, Paleo, Whole 30... what?? A quick guide to understanding low-carb diets
It may be confusing navigating and choosing a diet when you see all those different names tossed around. What do they mean? What are the differences?
To help you out, I made a quick summary of them below. I've added the Standard American Diet (SAD) just for the sake of comparison.
|
Diet |
Tagline |
Main foods |
Main Exclusions |
Carbs |
Sweeteners |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Standard American Diet 1 |
High in calories, processed food and sugar, low in fruit, vegetables, grains and dairy |
Highly processed and sugary foods, meats |
Not excluded per se, but low in fresh produce |
300g+ a day |
Most common are table sugar and corn syrup (as added sugar) |
|
Paleo / Primal |
Eating more like our ancestors used to, before modern agricultural methods |
Fresh produce, meats, seafood, eggs, nuts, healthy oils, dairy (on primal) |
Processed food, grains, legumes, sugar. |
There is no carb counting. Can range from keto levels (20g or less) to 150g a day |
Natural, low processed sweeteners such as honey, maple syrup, molasse, coconut sugar |
|
Keto |
High fat, low carb, moderate protein to achieve ketosis and minimize blood insulin levels |
Natural fats, meats, seafood, eggs, cheese, vegetables (above ground, lower in carbs) |
Grains, sugar, most fruits, starchy vegetables. |
Typically, under 20g a day, some may consider 50g |
Zero net carb sweeteners such as Erythritol, Stevia, Xylitol |
|
Whole30 |
A 30-day challenge with only real food, no exceptions |
Meat, seafood, and eggs; vegetables and fruit; natural fats; nuts |
Sugars and sweeteners, grains, legumes, dairy, baked goods (even if made with approved ingredients) |
There is no carb count, but it is typically a lot lower than SAD as carbs are only coming from fruits, vegetables and nuts |
No sweetener is allowed |
What about the low-carb diet? Low-carb is a strategy that can be applied to all of the above diets by watching carb intake.
While there is no official carb consumption boundary to define a low-carb diet, anything under 100g of carbs per day can be considered low-carb. So Keto is a very low-carb diet, and Whole 30, Primal and Paleo can be low-carb. I for one follow a Paleo Low-Carb approach!
Hope this quick guide helped! Want to know more? Check the links below for further reading:
- The Paleo Diet - Dr. Loren Cordain's website; he coined the term "Paleo Diet".
- The Paleo Mom - Dr. Sarah's Ballantyne's website has tons of resources, with lots of practical information backed by science
- Mark's Daily Apple - Mark Sisson created the Primal diet as a spin-off of the Paleo diet. I particularly like the charts around carb intake and his views on the importance of exercise.
- Diet Doctor - Details on Keto / Low-carb diets, recipes, meal plans.
- Whole 30's official website
Sources: