Gathering 2 of the most successful diets known recently will give you the benefits you want doubled, yes, we are talking about the Paleolithic ketogenic diet, the diet resulting from mixing keto and Paleo.
Keto diet has gained a lot of attention these days, as it has been a game-changer for many of us through the battle of weight loss. Also, studies revealed that the keto diet’s benefits are amazing, making people like it more.
As known, the keto diet is consuming food rich in fat, protein, and nearly zero carbs. As an essential part of our diet, fats have the highest amount of calories per gram as 1 gram of fat contains 9 calories compared to 4 calories for each gram of both carbohydrates and proteins.
Although their suggestion is right to some extent, especially for trans and unsaturated fats other fats turned out to be a crucial building block in our health and body functions; hence, its role is not limited to energy supply.
In this article, we will discuss what the paleolithic keto diet benefits:
What is the Paleolithic ketogenic diet?
At least 70% of the food on the paleolithic ketogenic diet is animal-based, with a protein-to-fat ratio of roughly 2:1. (in grams). Lean foods were favored over fatty red meats.
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Health Benefits Of Paleolithic Keto Diet
Essential for hormonal balance
Polyunsaturated fatty acids (omega-3,6) intake increases the docosapentaenoic acid level in addition to the progesterone level.
Therefore, the keto diet is associated with a lower risk of anovulation as the probability of consuming omega 3 and 6 is higher than in a regular diet.
On the other hand, other studies have proven that consuming healthy fats can increase the release of hormones responsible for appetite suppression.
This thing makes you feel satisfied all day when going on a Paleolithic ketogenic diet.
Anti-Inflammatory effect
Generally, fat consumption as saturated and trans fats are inflammatory food that triggers inflammation.
But polyunsaturated fatty acids, especially (omega-3,6) have strong effects on the immune system.
First, omega-6 increases cytokines that raise an immune response against infections, while omega-3 antagonizes omega 6 effect and suppresses inflammatory mediators.
For that reason, omega-3 possesses a strong anti-inflammatory effect which is beneficial for several autoimmune diseases.
So, studies found that diets high in monounsaturated fatty acids reduce inflammation in patients with metabolic syndrome.
This explains why following the Mediterranean diet and keto diet significantly lower inflammatory markers in their blood.
Increase physical performance
If you are an athletic person, the paleolithic keto diet is just the best for you. Fats play an important role, especially in athletes’ health and performance. As we mentioned before, it is the densest source of calories compared to carbs and proteins.
In athletes, studies found that fat or glycogen depletion causes fatigue. Besides, fat stores are important in association with glycogen for protein resynthesis to avoid the loss of muscle mass, which has a huge impact on an athlete’s performance. (2)
Improves body Metabolism
Since carbs and glucose have a high glycemic index, their ingestion causes the metabolism to slow down.
Otherwise, healthy fats on the keto diet have a low glycemic index. These foods cause subjects on high-fat diets to have a faster metabolism and therefore burn extra calories.
Decrease appetite
High-fat intake in the keto diet can decrease appetite significantly.
Many studies have proved that specific fat types MCT and LCT increase Cholecystokinin (CCK) secretion (satiety hormone) and decrease gastric emptying and therefore shut brain hunger centers.(3)
Lower cholesterol level
Eating healthy fats like omega-3 may not lower LDL. Instead, they raise HDL levels that lower atherosclerosis levels and heart attack risk.
Other healthy fats as monounsaturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids improve blood cholesterol levels. Nevertheless, stay away from trans and saturated fats as they hold the highest risk of raising cholesterol blood levels.
Help vitamins absorption
On a paleolithic keto diet?? Cheer up.. Because later you may not need all the vitamin supplements you take.
Fat consumption is crucial for absorbing fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K).
Furthermore, fats also act as stores for these vitamins in the liver and fat cells and release vitamins slowly when needed. (6)
Improve insulin sensitivity
Normally, insulin acts as a vehicle to deliver sugar inside the cell so that it can use it as an energy source, in type 2 diabetes the cell sensitivity to insulin is low.
Check out a diabetic diet for type 2.
Therefore, cellular sugar uptake decreases leaving blood sugar high in a case called insulin resistance.
Several studies have shown that inflammation is the root cause of insulin resistance, other studies suggest that diets with high unsaturated fatty acid content (keto diet) increase insulin sensitivity as it fights inflammation.
Improves brain health
Many paleolithic ketogenic diet followers reported their minds became sharper after 1 week of starting the diet.
Not a surprise, as reducing sugar and carbs intake makes inflammation levels in the body drop, allowing your mind to become clearer and focus easily.
Paleolithic ketogenic diet for cancer
For several years, we believed that diets rich in fats increase the risk of certain types of cancer.
Yet, recent studies suggested that diets rich in MUFAs monounsaturated fatty acids suppress carcinogenic effects. (8)
Conclusion
Fats like any other nutrients, have their benefits and risks.
Nevertheless, the benefits of the keto diet for weight loss are guaranteed while having all the benefits we mentioned above, watch out for the fats you are having in your meals and try as much as you can to include healthy fats instead of saturated ones present in junk foods.