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Paleo vs Carnivore: Which Diet is Best For You?

June 30, 2022 by Live Ancestral Team Leave a Comment

The carnivore diet and paleo diet are two of the most popular ways of healthy eating today. Both diets are inspired by the way our ancestors living ate, but there are major differences between paleo and carnivore.

On a carnivore diet, you are allowed to eat only meat, organ meats, and animal-based products. On the other hand, you can eat meat, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds on paleo. Processed foods, legumes, and whole grains are not allowed on either diet.

If you are overweight and want to lose weight, you should go with the carnivore diet since it is a low-carb, ketogenic diet. When you don’t eat carbs, less insulin is produced in the body, which is linked to easier and quicker weight loss.

If you are a healthy individual, who simply wants to eat healthily and cut out junk and processed food from your life, then you should go with the paleo diet.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  1. Carnivore vs Paleo: Similarities & Differences
  2. About the Paleo Diet
  3. About the Carnivore Diet
  4. Which Diet is Best for You?

Carnivore vs Paleo: Similarities & Differences

A paleo meal unsuitable for the carnivore diet

Similarities

Similar Philosophy

The carnivore diet and paleo diet have a similar philosophy — eating as close to nature as possible. Both diets suggest you eat nutrient-dense, natural foods and cut out highly processed, junk food.

Support Weight Loss

Since you are not consuming processed foods, your pancreas isn’t working overtime to produce insulin. Insulin is fat storage for your body. As a result of both the carnivore or paleo diet, your insulin levels will be decreased and you will lose weight quickly.

Help with Diabetes

Both the paleo and carnivore help diabetics. When you are not eating high-carb, processed foods, your glucose levels will be low. Reduced glucose levels lower the risk of diabetes. Your body is no longer producing high levels of insulin to transport all the glucose you are consuming from the blood to the cells.

Increase Nutrient Density

Most of us consume processed foods that have very low nutritional value. The paleo diet and carnivore diet replace the highly-processed foods with natural foods that are full of nutrients such as

  • Iron
  • Vitamin B12
  • Zinc
  • Vitamin A

Fixing the nutrient deficiencies will revive the systems in your body and will provide it with the necessary fuel to work efficiently. Essential nutrients have a multitude of benefits  — from boosting your immune system to aiding brain functioning.

Reduce Inflammation

The natural response of your body to any threat is inflammation. However, when you are constantly inflamed — known as chronic inflammation — it becomes a problem. When we consume processed foods, the human body assumes it is under attack and triggers inflammation in order to defend itself.

When you eat junk food all the time, your body stays in a constant state of inflammation that leads to diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Both the paleo and carnivore diets help your body reduce inflammation by increasing healthy foods in your diet, which are anti-inflammatory in nature.

Differences

Consumption of Different Food Groups

On the paleo diet, you can eat a variety of plant foods such as vegetables, fruits, herbs, and spices. You can also consume meat, animal-based products, and dairy. You only need to stay away from processed foods.

On the other hand, the carnivore diet works on one principle — consumption of meat and animal-based products only. You can’t consume fruits and vegetables as they are plant-based foods.

Treatment of Food Intolerances

Since the carnivore diet is an elimination diet, it is better at managing food allergies and intolerances. For instance, if you are allergic to nuts, the carnivore diet will be a safer bet for you than the paleo diet.

Dairy Products

On the carnivore diet, you are allowed to have dairy foods. Heavy cream, full-fat yogurt, and butter are a part of the carnivore diet. On the other hand, the paleo diet doesn’t allow you to have most of dairy. Only grass-fed butter is allowed and there are some disagreements about that as well.

About the Paleo Diet

Here’s everything you need to know about the paleo diet:

What is the Paleo Diet?

The paleo diet primarily focuses on foods that humans during the Paleolithic era would have eaten. This includes meat, vegetables, fish, and fruit. On the -aleo diet, you can’t eat grains, legumes, sweeteners, and processed foods.

How to Follow Paleo Diet

The Paleo diet is not restrictive. You can have a high-carb diet and limit your fat consumption, or you can have a high-fat diet with some veggies sprinkled in. There is no wrong way of doing the Paleo diet.

Foods to Eat on Paleo

Meat:

  • Pork
  • Turkey
  • Chicken
  • Lamb
  • Beef

Vegetables:

  • Peppers
  • Kale
  • Broccoli
  • Tomatoes
  • Carrots
  • Onions
  • Avocado

Fruits:

  • Apples
  • Bananas
  • Oranges
  • Pears
  • Avocados
  • Strawberries
  • Blueberries

Tubers:

  • Turnips
  • Yams
  • Potatoes
  • Sweet potatoes

Seeds and Nuts:

  • Sunflower Seeds
  • Pumpkin Seeds
  • Walnuts
  • Almonds

You can also have seafood and eggs on this diet. To get the most benefits, add paleo diet supplements to make sure you’re meeting you micronutrient needs, or paleo workout supplements to boost your gym performance.

Foods to Avoid

Here are the foods that you need to avoid while on Paleo Diet.

Sugary Foods:

  • Soft Drinks
  • Fruit Juices
  • Ice Cream
  • Pastries
  • Candy
  • Table Sugar

Grains:

  • Barley
  • Rye
  • Spelt
  • Wheat
  • Pasta

Legumes:

  • Lentils
  • Beans

Dairy:

  • Low-fat dairy
  • Vegetable oils
  • Safflower oil
  • Grapeseed oil
  • Corn oil
  • Cottonseed oil
  • Sunflower oil
  • Soybean oil

Artificial Sweeteners:

  • Aspartame
  • Acesulfame potassium
  • Saccharin
  • Cyclamates
  • Sucralose

All highly processed foods are not allowed.

Benefits of the Paleo Diet

Here are some scientifically proven benefits of being on the paleo diet.

  • Promotes healthy blood glucose levels
  • Improves insulin sensitivity
  • Lowers blood pressure
  • Improves cholesterol balance
  • Helps with inflammation
  • Helps with heart disease

About the Carnivore Diet

Here’s everything you need to know about the carnivore diet:

What is the Carnivore Diet?

The carnivore diet is an elimination diet in which you eat meat along with animal-based products. You do not get to eat any plant-based foods such as vegetables, fruits, and grains. It is a low-carb, high-protein diet.

How to Follow It

Strictly speaking, you can consume only meat and animal products on the carnivore diet. A nose-to-tail approach is followed by most carnivores in which you eat everything that comes from an animal — organ meats, skin, and meat.

You can also have things such as pure honey and coffee on a carnivore diet, if your body reacts well.

Foods to Eat on Carnivore Diet

Meat:

  • Goat
  • Lamb
  • Beef
  • Chicken
  • Turkey
  • Duck

Other things that you can eat on the carnivore diet are:

  • Dairy products
  • Eggs
  • Seafood
  • Water
  • Honey

Foods to Avoid on the Carnivore Diet

Here are the foods that you can’t consume while you are on the carnivore diet.

  • Fruits
  • Vegetables
  • Seed Oils
  • Vegetable Oils
  • Seeds
  • Nuts
  • Legumes
  • Grains

Benefits of the Carnivore Diet

Here are some of the benefits of the carnivore diet.

  • Eliminates harmful anti-nutrients and plant toxins
  • Helps with weight loss
  • Improved gut Health
  • Reduced inflammation

Most of these anti-nutrients are linked to bowel issues, inflammation, allergies, vitamin deficiencies, and fertility issues. Your body takes a long time to break down the calories that you get from fat and protein. This keeps you full for longer and reduces cravings.

Which Diet is Best for You?

Both the carnivore diet and paleo diet have their own benefits. If you are suffering from autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular diseases, inflammatory issues, and are suffering from food allergies, you should go for the carnivore diet.

If you simply want to start eating healthy and cut out all the junk and processed food from your diet, you should go for the paleo diet. You will reap plenty of benefits from eating healthy food on Paleo.

If you’re reading this because you have health issues, we suggest starting with the carnivore diet to “reset” your body. After a few weeks or months, try a carnivore diet with fruit and see how you body responds. Then you can move to an easier-to-follow paleo diet.

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Filed Under: Carnivore Diet, Paleo Diet

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