Why Keto Paleo?
Long gone are the days of low-fat-phobic diets. Eating fat to burn fat may sound like an oxymoron but it’s far from it. Study after study (after study – and yes, there’s more) is proving to us that a lower carb, higher fat diet is good for us. Saturated fat is not linked to heart disease, red meat does not lead to cancer and yes, you can eat your eggs and remain healthy too.
Eating Keto Paleo isn’t just another fad diet. It’s a holistic lifestyle that focuses on nutrient-dense foods, backed by years of research and science. Many of our ancestors ate along the lines of a low carb diet that was high in fats. Compare this to our modern, highly processed carbohydrate-driven diet which has contirbuted to an epidemic of lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, obesity and metabolic syndrome.
There are many different reasons why you might want to embark on a ketogenic lifestyle: to lose weight, control seizures, combat cancer, reduce inflammation, minimize body fat, enhance athletic performance.
A Keto Paleo diet is a therapeutic diet, and, depending on your personal situation, may be just what you need to bring you the most health benefits.
Let’s see why:
- Inflammation is the main cause for insulin resistance, autoimmune disorders, cancer, and even cognitive disorders (dementia, Alzheimers etc). Reducing inflammation is critical to successful weight loss, stabilizing blood sugar levels, and alleviating the symptoms of many conditions.
- A Keto Paleo diet reduces inflammation in the body by reducing toxin assimilation. When you quit processed foods and start eating real foods you drastically reduce the amount of toxins you ingest.
- A Keto Paleo diet makes it easier to lower blood sugar levels, by removing allergens and hormone disruptors. (Soy, GMO foods, Preservatives)
- A Keto Paleo diet basically makes it easier or just plain possible to achieve your health and weight loss goals.”
Here’s How You Can Benefit From A Keto Paleo Diet
- Improved insulin sensitivity
- Reduces systematic inflammation
- Lose weight and reduce body fat
- Better fuel delivery to the brain
- Decreases the side effects of menopause
- Better fertility/pregnancy
- Eliminates acid reflux
- Eliminates migraines
- Effective treatment for Candida
- Controls epileptic seizures
- Protein sparing = muscle sparing
- You can use fat to fuel your workouts while still allowing your body the choice to burn glucose if needed (it can’t do this in reverse)
You can figure out your own individual macros using this great
Keto Macro Calculator!
FOODS TO EAT ON KETO PALEO
- Pastured or organic meats (fatty cuts are recommended!)
- Wild caught small fish (sardines, anchovies, mackerel)
- Leafy green vegetables
- Bitter greens (Dandelion, Radicchio, Chicory, Endive etc.)
- Lacto-Fermented vegetables
- Raw nuts and seeds
- Avocados
- Good fats (MUFA, Omega 3s, Saturated animal fats)
e.g. coconut oil, olive oil, tallow, lard, ghee - Stevia
- Plenty of fresh clean water
Depending on your personal carb tolerance you can add small amounts of fresh berries to the diet.
MORE INFORMATION ON WHAT TO EAT:
GRAIN SUBSTITUTES FOR KETO
HEALTHY KETO FATS
SUPPLEMENTS
THE RIGHT FIBER FOR A KETO DIET
FOODS TO AVOID ON KETO PALEO
- Processed Foods
- Low carb and sugar-free packaged foods
- Artificial Sweeteners
- Unhealthy fats (GMO, processed, rancid or hydrogenated)
- Additives, colorings preservatives
- Diet Sports drinks
- Diet sodas
A NOTE ON DAIRY
Dairy can be a very convenient and delicious food on a ketogenic diet.
If you are not intolerant to dairy you can follow a Keto Primal diet instead of Keto Paleo, and include some dairy.
First you should find out if you have such an intolerance or not.
Here are few reasons why I like to refrain from eating dairy, at least when starting to eat a ketogenic diet:
- At least 60% of all adults worldwide have some form of dairy intolerance
- You can be intolerant either to lactose or to casein, making the problem more complex
- A dairy intolerance alters your calcium/phosphorus ration, creating many negative effects, like long term osteoporosis, kidney stones, compromised immunity etc.
- A casein intolerance can lead to leaky gut, then imbalanced gut flora. The result is nutritional deficiencies, digestive disorders and autoimmune conditions
- The hormones naturally occurring in cow dairy can interfere with the normal functioning of a woman’s delicate hormonal balance, making it very difficult to lose weight
KETO RECIPE INSPIRATION
Here are some examples of what eating on a Keto Paleo Diet looks like (click the link):
THE EFFECTS OF A HIGH CARBOHYDRATE DIET
- When we eat a high carbohydrate diet, we keep releasing more and more glucose into the blood stream, never giving our liver the chance to release glucagon and burn all the stored glycogen.
- When we eat a high carbohydrate diet, Insulin is constantly being released, making the receptor cells less and less sensitive and leading eventually to Insulin Resistance.
- Another effect of a high carb diet is that blood glucose levels remain elevated longer, as Insulin can not keep up with storing it at an efficient rate into desensitized cells. This high glucose levels bind with proteins to form damaging AGE (advanced glycation end-products) and cause inflammation.
- High levels of glucose also means Triglycerides levels go up, increasing the risk of coronary heart disease.
THE SECOND TYPE OF CELLULAR ENERGY SOURCE COMES FROM FATTY ACID METABOLISM
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- When blood glucose goes below a certain level, and all glycogen stores are depleted, the body calls for a different type of metabolism: Fatty Acids (both dietary and stored in fat cells) are broken down in the liver though a process of Beta Oxidation, into water-soluble bio-chemicals called Ketone Bodies or Ketones, then they are transported to the mitochondria to be used as fuel.
- The process of creating Ketones is called ketogenesis, and the metabolic state which uses ketones as the primary energy source is called Ketosis.
- The three endogenous ketone bodies are acetone, acetoacetic acid and beta-hydroxybutyric acid. Two of the three are used as a source of energy in the cells while the third (acetone) is a degradation breakdown product of acetoacetic acid. (1)
- Nutritional Ketosis (very different form Ketoacidosis see next paragraph) is a genetically correct metabolic state as our genetic profile is still designed on the model of the hunter-gatherer. The influence of agriculture (10k years VS 2 million year old genus) has had only minor influence in our genes. (2)
Nutritional KETOSIS vs KETOACIDOSIS
When a type 1 diabetic suffers a stressful event or fails to administer enough insulin they may suffer the pathological condition ketoacidosis. Liver cells increase metabolism of fatty acids into ketones in an attempt to supply energy to peripheral cells, which are unable to transport glucose in the absence of insulin. The resulting very high levels of blood glucose and ketone bodies lower the pH of the blood and trigger the kidneys to attempt to excrete the glucose and ketones. Osmotic diuresis of glucose will cause further removal of water and electrolytes from the blood resulting in potentially fatal dehydration, tachycardia and hypotension. (3)
SOURCES
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- 1 and 3 – Wikipedia: Ketone Bodies
- 2 – Internet Scientific Publications: http://ispub.com/IJNW/4/2/8738
