Keto vs. Plant-Based: Which is Better?
Is eating bacon and cheese really better for your health than eating plants? Yes, the picture is for giggles. ;)
Photo by Dainis Graveris on Unsplash
Keto vs. Plant-Based: Which diet is better?
A friend recently messaged me with this question:
“So, I have a question and I figured you’d know the answer. Why do carbs get such a bad reputation? I know bad carbs like cake and cookies and stuff aren’t good, and I get that, but potatoes and rice and such? I’m not a keto fan but how can a ton of cheese be better than carbs?”
What a fun question! I nerd out on this stuff!
Short answer: The version of keto where you eat a bunch of cheese, butter, bacon, and animal protein is not healthy. Period. This is a misconstrued version of keto created by people who simply don’t want to give up eating highly processed foods that taste great. It’s kinda like we want to lose weight and be healthy, but we’re like crying little babies because the reality of a truly healthy diet can be summed up in one word: vegetables.
It’s not that bacon, butter, and cheese can’t be a part of your diet, but they probably shouldn’t make up your entire diet! Duh!
Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash
The skeleton in the keto closet: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Large, long-term association studies conducted by medical establishments like Harvard and Tufts show that animal-based, low carb, high-fat, high-protein diets dramatically increase mortality.
Let me say that again in words that are easier to understand: if you eat a bunch of fat and animal protein and few whole-food plants, you are more likely to DIE.
Here’s what cardiologist Joel Kahn, MD, says of high-protein, high-fat keto diets: “Protein activates aging pathways…the high-protein, high-fat keto diet ages you faster than any diet on the planet. I cannot in good conscience recommend a high-protein, high-fat, low carb diet until the data showing higher mortality is sorted out.”
Keto vs. plant-based: original Keto is plant-based
Keto is touted as an “ancestral diet”. But, to my knowledge, our ancestors weren’t eating a ton of bacon, butter, and cheese. Just sayin’. They were likely eating mostly bark and greens and fibrous stuff, fruit when they had the chance, nuts and seeds, and minimal amounts of animal protein.
Guess what? Original keto – the kind that works for health and actually models a more ancestral pattern of eating – is likely far more plant-based than most people expect. There are a few populations that evolved in more extreme environments that seem to do well on high-fat and/or high-protein, low carb diets: the Eskimos of the northern latitudes and the plains Indians are examples. But the vast majority of healthy, long-lived populations lean toward plant-based, high-carb diets.
If you had asked me five years ago, I was sold on the low-carb, high-protein way of life. I wasn’t keto. But I knew that a high protein, higher fat, and lower carb diet made it pretty easy for me to suppress my weight. I also had extremely high cholesterol, low bone density, hormone dysfunction, and – after the initial period of high energy – I became very fatigued and suffered from adrenal insufficiency. Takeaway lesson: it’s very easy to “do” low carb the wrong way.
Chances are good that this is what true keto looks more like.
Photo credit: katie-smith-uQs1802D0CQ-unsplash
Cheese and bacon or carbs? The real question is: What is your main goal?
Americans are obsessed with weight loss. And, yes, high-protein, high-fat keto will help you lose weight. But at what expense? Are you willing to shave years off your life to be thin right now? No judgement. If that’s what you want, go eat bacon, butter, and cheese till your heart’s content…or till it stops.
Diets won’t be so f@cking confusing when we separate weight loss from health. The goal should be making the body healthy. When you make the body healthy, you will achieve a healthy weight. It’s your job to make your body healthy, and it’s your body’s job to release the weight…if that’s meant to be. If you’re a woman, you probably won’t have abs (not natural or healthy for a woman), but you’ll have energy, strong muscles and bones, and you’ll live a long time.
If your main goal is a long, happy, healthy life, you’re probably looking at a plant-based, moderate- or low- protein, moderate-fat diet. Keep reading…
Keto vs. plant-based: What’s the best diet?
Genetics and your ancestral background play a role in what diet is best for you. Thankfully the genetic science is getting better and better. You can now get data on your ancestral background (via services like 23 and Me), that can help you determine what type of diet might be best. But I will go out on a limb and say — unless you are an Eskimo or a plains Indian — the plant-based approach probably wins.
Some people do need to be careful about how many carbs they eat — even the healthy variety. If you are genetically predisposed to Type 2 diabetes, you probably need to eat fewer potatoes, less rice, and fewer of the starchier fruits like bananas. It is what it is. But even Type 2 diabetics who do keto the wrong way end up dying earlier of heart disease than if they would have stuck with a whole-foods plant-based diet that included those higher-starch foods!
Here are the things that almost every diet guru – no matter whether they espouse keto or plant-based – will agree on:
Highly processed foods are bad. This unfortunately includes foods like cheese, bacon, salami, hot dogs…all the things people love to eat on “distorted keto”.
Plant foods as found in nature are good for us. Run away from anyone who claims eating bacon and cheese is better for you than eating apples and carrots.
Moving our bodies is good for us. You cannot get around the necessity of exercise. The human body is built for near-constant movement. It is very difficult to maintain great health and a normal weight if you are sedentary.
Fasting is good for us. Full disclosure: I’m running intermittent fasting coaching groups for profit. But the science behind fasting, longevity, and weight control is excellent. Intermittent fasting seems to mimic our ancestral patterns of eating in such a way that it “turns on” parts of the genetic code that turn back the clock, and also positively affects hormones that make weight loss and maintenance easier.
If you need to know…the diet with the most research for long term health: the Mediterranean diet. It is a largely plant-based diet that is high in fibrous veggies, healthy vegetable fats and vegetable sources of protein, with occasional insertions of animal protein. The animal protein in the traditional Mediterranean diet comes mostly from fish and other seafood…very little beef, pork, or chicken.
Why don’t we hear more about this diet? Because it’s not sexy. There’s none of the drama of eliminating food groups. There’s no near-religious dietary cults for the Mediterranean diet…because it’s simple common sense. And common sense doesn’t sell.
The Mediterranean diet has the most research backing for promoting a long and healthy life.
Photo by Louis Hansel @shotsoflouis on Unsplash
Keto vs. plant-based: more resources
Books about healthy human diet and longevity:
Lifespan by David Sinclair
The Longevity Diet by Valter Longo
Food by Mark Hyman
The Complete Mediterranean Diet by Michael Ozner
Podcasts about plant-based diets, fasting, and growing younger:
Rich Roll: Keto vs. Plant-based with Cardiologist Joel Kahn, MD
BulletProof Podcast: Why you shouldn’t fear fasting with Dr. Jason Fung, MD
Ivy Masterclass: How to extend your lifespan with David Sinclair
Keto vs. plant-based: Worry less about what you eat, and more about timing
There is some research that shows even eating a healthy diet can be bad for your health if you eat at the wrong times. That’s why I’ve gotten so into biohacking in an effort to age in reverse. I’m looking for ways to live forever. I want to climb a mountain when I’m 100. I want my later years to happy and joyous and fulfilling. And, yeah, I’m a little vain…I want to look good while I’m doing it.
Enter intermittent fasting. The reason I love it: rather than eliminating all the foods I love (which causes me to binge on those foods), and focusing on what to eat, intermittent fasting places the emphasis on when to eat. For a more detailed discussion, you can view my last blog post about 8 science-backed benefits of IF here.
And IF (pun intended) you are ready to give intermittent fasting a go…join my 4-week FastTrack to Intermittent Fasting coaching group! The next one starts on May 4th! Join today by heading over to my courses page.
My key to glowing skin, healthy body, and weight maintenance: veggies and intermittent fasting!
Blog Author: Kelly Bailey, IIN certified holistic nutrition coach, and NPTI certified personal trainer
Learn more about the author here.