Eat Clean vs. Keto? Which One Would You Choose?

When it comes to dieting, people take many different approaches to achieve their goals. Two popular diets are “eating clean” and the ketogenic (keto) diet. While both diets can be effective for weight loss and improving overall health, they have some critical differences in their approaches and benefits.

What is Eating Clean?

“Eating clean” is a dietary approach focusing on consuming whole, unprocessed foods and avoiding highly processed or refined foods. This diet emphasizes consuming fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats. It also recommends limiting or avoiding processed foods, refined sugars, and saturated fats.

Eating clean means consuming whole, nutrient-dense foods that can improve overall health, reduce your risk of chronic diseases, and help you achieve a healthy weight. Eating clean is not necessarily a strict diet with specific rules but a general approach to healthy eating.

Benefits of Eating Clean

Eating clean has numerous health benefits, including:

1. Weight loss: Eating clean can help you lose weight by reducing your calorie intake and promoting healthy eating habits.
2. Improved digestion: By consuming whole, unprocessed foods, you can improve your digestion and reduce digestive issues such as bloating and constipation.
3. Increased energy: Eating clean can give your body the nutrients it needs to function optimally, leading to increased energy and better overall health.
4. Reduced risk of chronic diseases: Eating clean can help reduce your risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer by providing your body with the nutrients it needs to function correctly.

What is the Ketogenic Diet?

The ketogenic diet is a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet that has become popular recently. The goal of the ketogenic diet is to put your body into a state of ketosis, where it burns fat for fuel instead of carbohydrates. This is achieved by consuming a diet high in healthy fats, moderate in protein, and very low in carbohydrates.

The ketogenic diet typically recommends consuming less than 50 grams of carbohydrates daily, significantly lower than most recommended daily carb intake. This means that foods such as bread, pasta, and sugary snacks are off-limits, while high-fat foods such as meat, cheese, and avocado are encouraged.

Benefits of the Ketogenic Diet

The ketogenic diet has numerous health benefits, including:

1. Weight loss: By putting your body into a state of ketosis, the ketogenic diet can help you lose weight by burning fat for fuel.
2. Reduced appetite: The ketogenic diet has been shown to reduce hunger and cravings, making it easier to stick to a calorie-restricted diet.
3. Improved blood sugar control: The ketogenic diet has been shown to improve blood sugar control in people with type 2 diabetes, making it a promising option for managing this condition.
4. Possibly helps reduce risk of chronic diseases: The ketogenic diet may help reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease by reducing inflammation and improving metabolic function.

Eat Clean vs. Keto: Key Differences

While both diets can be effective for weight loss and improving overall health, there are some key differences between eating clean and the ketogenic diet:

1. Macronutrient ratios: Eating clean does not focus on specific macronutrient ratios but on consuming whole, nutrient-dense foods. On the other hand, the ketogenic diet requires a particular percentage of high fat, moderate protein, and deficient carbohydrate intake.
2. Carbohydrate intake: Eating clean allows for a moderate amount of carbohydrates from whole, unprocessed sources such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. The ketogenic diet, on the other hand, limits carbohydrate intake to less than 50 grams per day.
3. Fat: Keto is typically heavy in fat and can be deficient in fiber, vitamins, and minerals, mainly if you don’t consume enough low-carb veggies. Meanwhile, eating clean will encourage you to drink more whole foods such as fruits, vegetables, lean protein, whole grains, and healthy fats while limiting fast foods, processed foods, sweets, and other packaged foods.

Wrapping Up

Keto is restrictive and may not be appropriate for long-term usage. However, reasonable weight management requires you to monitor your eating habits for a week or a month and the foreseeable future. That is why clean eating is undoubtedly an approachable way, not just for weight reduction but also to avoid undoing all your hard work. Clean eating is not a diet but an intelligent approach to nutrition that includes consuming foods high in nutrients. Those nutrients are precisely what keep you healthy.