Today we compare Ketovore vs. the Carnivore, the two big players in the low-carb diet game. We will look at what the difference is, so that you can make an informed choice.
Ketovore and Carnivore are similar in that they both are a low-carb way of eating, but each has an advantage over the other.
These advantages mean that one may work better to help you improve your health than the other, though both do are excellent for improving overall health.
Hello and welcome to Fearlessly Holistic.
My name is Irma and I want to share my journey to improved health by eating whole foods, moving my body and eliminating stress as much as possible.
It is my hope to inspire you to make daily changes. Why? Because eating fresh, seasonal food, getting some sunshine, and purging unhelpful thinking is the best way to increase longevity. But you do not want just a long life.
You want a quality long life.
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Ketovore and Carnivore Diet Terms
If you want to compare Ketovore vs Carnivore diets, it is best to find the similarities before looking at the differences.
Both Ketovore and Carnivore are considered low-carbohydrate diets. In the case of Carnivore, it is a very low carb diet, with less than 5% of calories coming from carbohydrate foods.
If you are new to this way of eating, here are a few key terms that are applied to most low-carb diet plans.
Fat
For our purposes today, this term refers to dietary fat such as butter or avocado.
These foods contain essential fatty acids necessary for cell growth and maintenance. Omega-3 and Omega-6 are fatty acids.
Foods with more Omega-6 than Omega-3 (i.e. vegetable oils) increase inflammation. For more information on healthy fats, see this post: 24 Healthy Fat Foods
Protein
This term refers to meat, eggs, dairy products like cheese, nuts and other foods that contain essential amino acids, which are the building blocks of protein.
There are twenty amino acids, but only nine are considered essential.
Foods with all nine are considered ‘complete’ proteins, and these work to improve health by building muscle tissue, improving the immune system and repairing tissue, among many other things.
Carbohydrates
This term refers to plant foods like fruit and vegetables, as well as any food that is converted to blood sugar in the body.
That includes wheat and grain products, sugar(s), corn and its products, rice and its products, oats and its products, as well as dried fruits.
Macronutrients, or macros
The macronutrients are fat, protein, and carbohydrates.
Ketosis
Also called Nutritional Ketosis, it is when your body burns your excess body fat for fuel.
Your body must burn off any carbohydrates before Ketosis can occur. For more information on the benefits of Ketosis read this post: Ketogenic Diet Plan
Blood Sugar
Glycaemia, also known as blood sugar, is the amount of sugar (glucose) in your blood. An average 70kg human has about 4 grams of glucose in their blood.
When your blood sugar gets too high, your pancreas will secrete insulin to bring blood sugar down to normal.
If this happens chronically, and over an extended period of time, your pancreas may stop functioning properly.
The pancreas cannot keep up with the needed insulin and you develop Type II Diabetes, and are at risk for heart disease and other illnesses.
Elimination Diet
This is a very restrictive diet designed to discover food allergies and intolerances.
- At its most basic, you start an elimination diet with one protein, one fat, and one carbohydrate food (usually a vegetable).
- You choose these foods based on what you think you can tolerate, and all foods should be plain (no coatings, sauces or additives).
- You job is to monitor how you feel and watch for signs of intolerance: bloating, digestive problems, skin rashes, flushing, sneezing etc.
Eat the same foods for several days in a row.
Then switch one food, and see if you get any symptoms. So swap out plain chicken for plain fish.
It is recommended to keep a food diary while doing an elimination diet, and write down any suspect foods to re-test later.
An elimination diet can tell you a lot about the foods you eat and the state of your health. Different elimination diets have different rules for how long you do it.
What is the Ketovore Diet?
In a nutshell, Ketovore is Keto diet with or without veggies. It allows for people to eat seasonally if they choose.
As well, it let’s you eat according to how they feel, without feeling like you are ‘cheating’ on your diet in some way. Or getting ragged out in a Reddit group for not doing Keto right.
Keto is short for Ketogenic and is useful for achieving Ketosis, as well as maintaining healthy blood sugar levels.
The ideal keto diet is the one you create that helps you achieve your health goals
This may be weight loss or eliminating health issues being borderline Type II diabetic or just reducing joint pain.
A Ketogenic diet has a macronutrient ratio of:
Fat: 60-75%
Protein 15%
Net Carbs: 10%
This is a general guide, which you need to adjust based on activity level and food preferences.
- It is recommended that you use a food tracking app, like Cronometer, to make sure that you get enough protein to maintain muscle mass.
- You also want a baseline number for how much fat to eat, so that your body will burn fat not store it.
- And the majority of your carbohydrates should come from vegetables, but there are trace amounts of carbs in dairy products, nuts, and other keto foods.
You can easily achieve Ketosis with a Keto or Ketovore diet, as long as you keep your carbohydrate consumption low enough for it to kick in.
All Ketogenic diets recommend:
- Clean protein,
- Good quality fats, and
- Carbohydrates come from vegetables and some berries
Keto diets are excellent for lowering blood sugar and maintaining that level.
This will improve many health markers on its own.
Many people, myself included, have found that the longer you are on Keto/Ketovore/Carnivore, the more benefit it is to your body.
While you may see weight loss slow down or stop for weeks at a time, that usually means that internal healing is happening.
What are the Carnivore Diet Benefits?
There are a few different schools of thought on how to properly do a carnivore diet.
- For some, it is meat only.
- Others will add butter and salt to their meat
- There are people who do carnivore diet and still eat dairy products, like cheese or heavy cream (this is more like very-low carb)
You may wonder why anyone would eat this way, but honestly most people do it because it is the ultimate elimination diet.
A limited menu means less foods you can be allergic or intolerant to
And if you are trying to self-diagnose, because nothing else has helped you, then carnivore is a simple solution to healing your body.
While we have been told for years that we must eat a variety of foods, every day 365 days a year.
This is not true from a health perspective, but it is a great way to sell food!
Our hunter/gatherer ancestors would go for days without food because it just was not available, either due to weather or their location.
If their diet required all the food that the government food guidelines recommend, humans would have died off thousands of years ago.
They were Keto-adapted so they burned their own body fat
This is the main benefit of ketosis.
Otherwise how would humans have survived when fires burned their crops or they were trapped in their cave during a snow storm.
People learned how to make foods like Pemmican, that could be stored over winter.
Our ancestors ate seasonal produce:
- In spring they found leafy greens, which contain tons of nutrients to feed your body and higher activity level
- Summer is whatever fresh fruit and veggies could be found in their area
- And in fall, you get sweeter tree fruits and veggies that help you gain weight for winter hibernation and limited activity.
- Winter means no fresh produce. You are now eating only the meat you hunt or fish you catch aka carnivore.
Carnivore diet helps you do intermittent fasting naturally
Meat is very satiating, so you can go for longer periods between meals.
This is another way that our ancestors survived and is why ketosis is so beneficial.
If you tweak your carnivore diet so that you get longer periods between meals – aka Intermittent Fasting – you can eventually go for days without eating and not be hungry at all.
I have done several 3 day fasts and a 5 day fast with zero issues and no hunger.
Which is better…Ketovore or Carnivore?
It depends on why you want to change your diet.
For me personally, I tried Atkins to lose weight and it worked great. But I had some food allergies I was not aware of, so my results were hit or miss. So I got a blood allergy test.
I was diagnosed with food allergies to beef, dairy, and egg whites
I could eat anything except my intolerant foods for 8 weeks. But I still had seasonal allergy symptoms. Sigh.
What I now know is that I did not do the diet for long enough.
In January 2020, my daughter and I started Ketovore diet. I thought Ketovore would be the way to go due to variety, but that did not last.
We both ended up switching to carnivore because it is so easy
Beef is highly nutritious, so that was my daughters go-to meat. Throw stew beef in the slow-cooker; when cooked portion it up with butter and bbq sauce. #easypeasy
My main meat product is lean pork, which I grill and top with butter, salt and pepper. Sometimes salsa for fun.
Periodically, we made keto cheesecake cups for a treat.
We have been Ketovore/Carnivore for 2 years now.
My daughter lost 45 pounds in six months.
I lost 25 pounds in six months, but also healed a lot of other health issues like candida, insomnia, and joint pain.
I also am starting a long list of other health issues that have cleared up, thanks to carnivore diet.
If weight loss is your goal, try Ketovore
You get more variety and you can always not eat veggies if that makes your life easier.
I advocate for local, seasonal produce because the nutrients are fresher and the product is tastier.
Hit your local farmer’s market and taste the difference.
Related Post: Ketovore for Better Health . Be sure to sign up for my weekly newsletter and get a free Keto food list.
If you have a lot of health issues to heal, try with mostly carnivore
I have found from personal experience that the less ingredients you eat every day, the faster your body heals.
This seems to be the consensus with many people who are on carnivore diets…they went “hard core” to fix multiple health issues at the same time.
Healthy issues like: joint pain, IBS and other digestive issues, insomnia, high blood pressure, arthritis, and infertility to name a few.
Most people who eat this way have also been able to get off their prescription medications.
A lot of foods now use processed ingredients that are not actually food, and they cause inflammation in your body.
When you stop eating them, the inflammation slows down or stops, allowing for healing.
If you eat seasonally, you would eat primarily meat in winter
Some veggies can last a few months in winter, like carrots and onions. This is why you see them in so many winter comfort foods, like soups and stews.
Related Post: The Benefits of A Carnivore Diet
Be sure to sign up for my newsletter to get your free Carnivore quick-start guide and printable shopping list.
Whichever way you choose to go, try to get the best quality food that you can afford.
Local grass fed or pastured meats and local, seasonal produce…you get the most nutrition for your food dollar.
And those nutrients are what heal your body and allow you to live a healthy life.
You get sick less often (if at all), and you do not age as fast, both signs of a healthy immune system.
Conclusion
I love eating low-carb and being in Ketosis; it has healed so many areas of my health. I have made the Keto diet to fit my life and the concepts that I am aligned with, which are clean, seasonal eating.
If you are serious about losing weight and improving overall health, you should get my free keto food list and quick start guide and set yourself up for success!
Holism targets overall wellness, and when we are well, we only get better with age.
Eat the best food that you can afford to give your body the building blocks it needs for optimal health, longevity, and looking good for as long as possible 😉
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Until next time, here’s to our health!
-Irma