Low Carb And Keto: Differences And Similarities

Low-carb and ketogenic diets are the most common among today's crowded list of diets that involve limiting carbs intake.

Apart from limiting carbs, there are many other things that make them different

In this article, you will discover the differences between them, their advantages and disadvantages, as well as which one may be more suitable for you if you ever decide to try them.

What Is A Low-Carb Diet?

A low-carb diet limits carbohydrate content mostly present in grains, pasta, and bread, as well as sugary foods and beverages. Rather it's becoming popular to replace carbs with whole foods including natural proteins, healthy fats, and vegetables, which promotes fullness.

According to some studies, it is common to assume without any set rule, a 10 to 30% ratio of calories from carbs in a low-carb diet. This is equivalent to 50 to 150 grams of carbs for a healthy individual who consumes 2000 calories per day.

Definitely, by limiting carbs intake and consequently reducing overall calorie intake, many high-calorie foods are removed from your diet. This process ultimately results in considerable weight loss and several health benefits in individuals with diabetes, including improved blood sugar control and cardiovascular risk factor.

Although a low-carb diet may not be suitable for everyone, it can be a feasible weight loss option for most healthy people.

Advantages

• It aids in weight loss
• It can be sustained in the long run
• It is less strict and easy to follow than keto
• eliminates many processed high-carb foods
• adaptation phase less steep than keto

Disadvantages

• There are fewer food options
• There are limits to fruit intake
• It may affect your micronutrient intake
• You may experience constipation or weakness

What Is Ketogenic Diet?

The ketogenic diet, also known as the keto diet, is a very low-carb and high-fat diet regimen. Lately, it has become very popular.

The Keto diet has numerous health benefits such as drastically bringing down your blood sugar and insulin levels. Moreover, it aids in much greater weight loss, produces significant health benefits for people with type 2 diabetes, effectively reduces seizures in epileptic children, and greatly reduces the risk and growth of certain types of cancer.

Keto strongly scales down conventional carbohydrate consumption and substitutes with fats as the primary source of energy, making your body undergo a metabolic state called ketosis, which when maintained, will result in your body producing ketones from fat in your liver and utilizing fat as its main fuel source instead of carbs.

This is achieved by consuming fewer than 50 grams of carbs per day while keeping protein intake moderate and increasing fat intake drastically.

A standard keto diet has a lot of consumption restrictions that may not be suitable or viable for a long period for individuals whose goal is to lose weight and improve their health.

In addition, the diet is also found to be helpful in decreasing the “bad” LDL cholesterol, and triglyceride levels, and increasing the “good” HDL cholesterol levels.

Advantages

• It helps in losing weight
• It helps in improving insulin sensitivity, reducing the risk of diabetes
• It helps in treating epilepsy
• It helps in combating certain cancers
• It promotes heart health
• Your hunger lessens
• can improve cholesterol and triglyceride levels

Disadvantages

• Risk of keto flu may occur, including headache, brain fog, fatigue, lack of motivation, and irritability
• It may be hard to keep up and unsustainable in the long term
• Fruit intake is limited
• Constipation due to low fiber intake

Which Diet Is Most Suitable?

There are certain factors that come into consideration in choosing the better of low carb and keto diets.

Let’s first look at the carb intake limits, which is mainly what's different between these diets. On a low-carb diet, you typically eat 50–150 grams of carbs per day, while on the keto diet, daily carb consumption is strictly less than 50 grams.

Another key that sets them apart is the amount of protein that you are allowed to take on a daily basis. In a low-carb diet, you are allowed a high protein consumption while in keto, only moderate protein consumption of about 20% of total calories is allowed—for the simple reason that ketosis may get interrupted by the consumption of protein in excess.

High amounts of fats are consumed as a substitute for carbs and protein in a keto diet. Furthermore, its unwanted side effects coupled with several inherent restrictions may be unsuitable for many individuals to adhere to a regimen.

These aforementioned makes a low-carb diet a better choice for most people.

In any case, it’s advisable to consult your doctor or healthcare professional before starting any diet to avoid any complications.

Conclusion

Both the low-carb and ketogenic diets are promising and provide great health benefits.

Even though both methods cut carbs to certain limits, they are still significantly different because of the carb and fat intake required in each.

But no matter what you think, before you begin, it's very advisable to visit your doctor to help you assess the advantages and disadvantages of each diet.