Ketogenic vs Paleo

My consult with the new Surgeon is next week, so meanwhile I am reading and learning all that I can. I have seen quite a few articles on both the Paleo and ketogenic diets and am wondering how these would compare to a post WLS eating plan. I am sure I could Google this but I would like to know your experiences. Not trying to start any kind of debate just looking for further details on how successful either of these might be. I am not planning on necessarily following any particular diet (done enough of that) just looking for places to draw inspiration and maybe recipes from. Thanks for any info!

In general, the idea behind both is clean eating. Eat real food, skip processed crap, unrefined carbs kind of thing- that is spot on. Both might have you eating more carbs than what many of us do here, but it is entirely possible to use either and also manage the carbs. I see many post about Paleo here, so I think that is a bit more popular. I did look into ketogenic to help manage inflammation, but never implemented (because I am lazy like that). Not much help, but a great question! Hopefully smarter people than me will chime in!

Thanks for replying!

I've been in ketosis for the past 6 weeks. I can honestly say that my joints and muscle soreness have been severely reduced. There are some adverse reactions to this diet, though; gout, renal stones and constipation being a few. I do believe that optimum weight loss can be achieved with this. Good luck and happy researching. 

I don't really find that any diet is useful in its entirety, but I find that the basis of paleo and keto are very compatible with post-WLS ways of eating.  :)

I get a LOT of recipes from paleo and keto blogs and cookbooks - they're very sleeve friendly!  

Post VSG eating plan is more closely aligned with ketogenic but ketogenic is much higher fat and lower protein. Paleo is about clean eating and eliminating certain things.

Post WLS is about getting into ketosis and staying there which is what ketogenic is all about. The challenges I have had with ketogenic is keeping the carbs low enough and the fat high enough.

There are several versions of the ketogenic diet (cyclical, modified, traditional), which all work to varying degrees.

thank you all for the info!

The gist of post-op eating is high-protein, as few carbs as possible.

Paleo is heavy on animal protein, low on carbs, and few to no added sugars. These are very applicable to us! However, paleo recommends staying away from dairy, which is just fine for us-- milk and yogurt are great sources of protein! Paleo will also often include starchy vegetables, which most WLSers stay away from.

(Plus, the very concept of "eat what cavemen did" is total bunk, but that's not important right now, LOL!)

Keto is fairly similar, though it seems to focus more on fat than on protein. The guidelines are roughly 75% fat, 20% protein, 5% carb. When we're taking in ~800 calories per day, that's definitely not enough to reach the recommended 60+g of protein in a day. If you look at a sample menu, it seems like folks will take a meal with lots of protein, and then add lots of (mostly) healthy fat to it. Shrimp covered in olive oil, chicken stuffed with cream cheese, etc. While there's no need to go low-fat after WLS, there's no good reason to go high-fat either.

Post-op, your food guidelines will be 600 - 800 calories per day, 60 - 80+g protein, >25g (some say >40g) carbs. During the weight loss phase, you can basically eat nothing but meat, eggs, and dairy and be good. Lunch meat, steak, scrambled egg, Greek yogurt, chicken breast, all sorts of stuff!

Bottom line is that you can sometimes find good recipes from paleo and keto cookbooks or under pinterest, but they aren't a perfect fit for WLS. They do, however, make great excuses when somebody being nosy asks you what the hell kind of diet you're on! ;)

I did both, and I lost several hundred pounds on keto pre-op.  Paleo I think has more variety.  Also, it can be much higher carb, especially if you bake.  Lots of paleo foods are higher in carbs (sweet potatoes, honey, etc).  Keto has a lot of benefits, though.  Ketones are the preferred fuel for the brain and heart .  Yes, the brain uses glucose but prefers fat.  Most psych drugs are actually lipophilic for this reason!

Keto has a lot of benefits, though.  Ketones are the preferred fuel for the brain and heart .  Yes, the brain uses glucose but prefers fat.  Most psych drugs are actually lipophilic for this reason!  There's a blog called Evolutionary Psychiatry which talks about the positive effect of a ketogenic diet on mental health.

Both diets also reduce inflammation.  Serum insulin (the amount in your blood) is known for causing systemic inflammation.  My Celiac and Hashimoto's autoimmune diseases are a ton better on keto.  I've eaten poorly the past month, not over calories but definitely not keto, and I can tell.  Keto is fat heavy, so it can be difficult to get all the protein in under 700 calories.  I do a modified keto, where my protein and fat macros were much closer to 45%/45% rather than the normal variation.

Like others have mentioned, it's more about clean eating.  I just basically don't eat grains or starches so that's my "keto."  I also skip fruit because it gets dangerous quick for me.  

y'all are better than Google lol!! thanks again!