THE CARNIVORE DIET BENEFITS
The carnivore diet vs keto - they’re VERY similar. But also quite different. Our goal today is to leave you feeling totally confident in which of these different diets is right for you.
Because while both cut carbs out and help you burn fat, they’re entirely distinct in what you’re allowed to eat, when you eat, and the other benefits they bring to the table. Learn more below and see which makes the most sense for you!
Key Takeaways
- Keto is a high-fat, low-carb diet. You can still eat veggies, nuts, seeds, and certain fruits.
- Carnivore only lets you eat animal-based foods. No fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, or grains. Carbs are naturally eliminated as a result.
- You’ll end up in ketosis with either diet (a state where the body turns to fat as fuel).
- Both diets can support weight management. Other potential benefits include mental clarity and smooth energy.
- The ketovore diet is a blend between the two if you want the best of both worlds.
- Our meat chips are a perfect match for either diet because they’re packed with protein and healthy fats, carb-free, and only made from two ingredients - meat and salt.
All About the Carnivore Diet
It helps to understand each diet on its own terms before comparing keto vs carnivore. So what exactly is the carnivore diet? It’s exactly what it sounds like. A nutritional regimen where you only eat meat and other animal-based products. That means no:
- Fruits
- Vegetables
- Nuts/seeds
- Grains
- Legumes
- Any processed junk
You can eat all the beef, chicken, pork, fish, and even eggs you want. Some people even include dairy in the diet, since it’s technically animal-based. It eliminates a huge chunk of foods you may be used to eating, and that’s by design.
What’s the Appeal?
There are countless reasons people initially turn to carnivore. For one, the simplicity. You don’t have to stress about what you’re going to eat every single day. The carnivore diet food list is pretty short - so meal planning becomes a lot more effortless.
But perhaps the biggest reason we see people interested in the whole carnivore diet vs keto thing is weight loss. A 2021 survey of 2,029 carnivore dieters published in Current Developments in Nutrition found that 95% reported improvements in overall health, with median BMI dropping from 27.2 to 24.3 over a median of 14 months.1
The rationale behind feeling better on carnivore can be traced back to elimination. You’re cutting out a lot of the foods that cause more harm than good - gluten, soy, sugar, FODMAPs, excess fiber, lectins, oxalates - the list goes on and on.
Removing these “anti-nutrients” gives the body room to breathe. It can lower inflammation and help ease autoimmune symptoms, digestive discomfort, and more. You may not deal with as many energy crashes, either, since your body runs on fat more efficiently than it does glucose.
While there are definitely carnivore diet side effects, a lot of people find that the benefits outweigh the downsides. Especially since the side effects are almost always short-lived (AKA the carnivore flu).
Different Ways You Can Follow the Diet
The strict carnivore diet regimen is simple - literally meat and nothing else. But that’s not very practical or enjoyable, so a modified carnivore diet is more likely what you’ll end up following.
Some people follow the carnivore diet with fruit, for example. This allows you to still get some carbs and natural sugars, along with all sorts of helpful nutrients like antioxidants, vitamin C, etc.
Others decide that dairy has a place in their regimen, which allows them to enjoy Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, hard cheeses, perhaps even milk. As long as there are no harmful additives included in the dairy.
The point is, you can mold carnivore into whatever you see fit. It’s a flexible template ready to be made your own. In the meantime, let’s look at the other half of our carnivore diet vs keto comparison.
What is Keto, Exactly?
Keto doesn’t limit what you eat as far as actual food groups go. Rather, it limits the macronutrients you consume. You just don’t consume carbs on keto. Only fat and protein. In this sense, keto vs carnivore are actually the same thing at the end of the day - right? Not at all.
Sure, you end up in ketosis either way. But you can still eat a lot of plant-based foods while on keto. Avocados, nuts, seeds, leafy greens, berries, cheese, cream, coconut oil, dark chocolate. All of this stuff is fair game. Really, you just have to keep your daily net carbs under 20-50g. This is how you get into “ketosis,” where your body runs on fat instead of glucose. As a result, you’ll push your fat intake to 70-75% of total daily calories and let protein make up the rest.
You can see why some people think starting with keto is less daunting than carnivore. You have more food options to pull from, so it feels less restrictive. However, it’s more restrictive in the sense that you have to actually track your macronutrients and daily calories. You have to scrutinize every label and stay precise in what you need to remain in ketosis.
You could still end up dealing with a lot of the digestive discomfort and systemic inflammation that the carnivore diet ends up eliminating, too. Let’s take a closer look at keto vs carnivore below.
What’s the Difference Between Keto and Carnivore Diet?
So, what is the difference between keto and carnivore diet? We’ll compare and contrast the carnivore diet vs keto based on the things that matter most:
- What you can eat
- What you stand to gain
- What you’ll have to prepare for
This will make it a lot easier to figure out what approach best suits your goals and preferences.
Comparing the Foods You Can Eat on Each Diet
This is where the other differences between keto vs carnivore come from - what you can and cannot eat. There’s a little bit of overlap between the two, but they’re more different here than they are alike:
- Keto includes: Meat, fish, eggs, cheese, butter, cream, nuts, seeds, avocados, coconut oil, olive oil, leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables, berries in moderation, dark chocolate, and low-carb condiments.
- Carnivore includes: Meat, fish, eggs, and sometimes butter, cheese, and heavy cream.
You can see how many fewer options you have to choose from while on carnivore. It’s literally only foods that come from an animal and aren’t heavily processed at any point. Thus, the carnivore diet meal plan is WAY simpler than the keto meal plan.
Whether this is a benefit or a limitation is up for your own interpretation. A lot of people prefer how much more straightforward eating on carnivore is than keto. There’s just less thinking involved.
Potential Benefits of Each Diet
Again, there’s overlap in looking at the benefits shared between the carnivore diet vs keto. Both can support a healthier inflammatory response, encourage easier weight management, stabilize your blood sugar, and eliminate processed food. But that’s where the similarities end and the difference between keto and carnivore diet becomes clear.
Carnivore’s elimination effect can help you uncover the root cause of your digestive woes. You may not even realize just how much trouble certain fruits, vegetables, or nuts cause you until you completely eliminate them and try to add them back in. In comparison, you could be on keto and still eat problematic foods without knowing it.
This is all about inflammation. Lowering systemic inflammation by removing anti-nutrients (gluten, sugar, soy, etc.) can help ease the symptoms associated with autoimmune disorders. It can help keep physical discomfort at bay.
Now, credit where it’s due - the keto diet does deliver much more diverse nutrition. You still get the good stuff from fruits, veggies, and nuts/seeds. That includes antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, omega-3 fatty acids, etc. You just have to accept some of the bad stuff that comes with them.
People who swear by carnivore would argue that you can avoid any sort of nutrient deficiency by filling in the gaps in your meal plan with organ meats (liver, heart, brain, spleen, etc.). So, do with that information what you will.
Possible Side Effects and Considerations For Each
Expect an adaptation phase with either side of the carnivore diet vs keto comparison. It can be quite uncomfortable. Your body is used to running on glucose for fuel, and now, it must resort to fat. That leads to side effects (temporary, mind you) like:
- Headaches
- Fatigue
- Digestive discomfort
- Irritability
- Brain fog
Most of this can be alleviated by slowly cutting out carbs over time rather than going cold turkey. You can also smooth the process out by staying hydrated and getting plenty of electrolytes in your body while you adapt.
The difference between keto and carnivore side effects becomes more defined in the long run. Keto dieters deal with something known as “macro creep.” This is basically where you gradually eat more and more carbs without noticing, and eventually, you slip out of ketosis. Then you wonder why you hit a wall in your progress.
On the other hand, the big consideration with carnivore is how monotonous it can get. You eat the same foods over and over, and your carnivore diet results are entirely contingent on staying consistent with the diet.
This can be mitigated by keeping the best snacks on carnivore diet on hand. They’ll help you satisfy your cravings without cheating on the diet. This is where our carnivore chips can save the day. They’re just two ingredients: regeneratively raised meat and Redmond Real Salt. That’s it. They’re often called “meat pastries” because they start out with a delightful crisp before melting in the mouth, giving way to tantalizing flavors. They’re a must-have for either side of the carnivore diet vs keto comparison, honestly.
In general, variety is your best friend. Experiment with different prep methods and try rotating in more unique cuts of meat like wild game. Check out our 30-day carnivore diet meal plan for inspiration!
Carnivore Diet vs Keto: Which is Better for YOU?
There’s no “winner” in the whole keto vs carnivore debate. It all depends on your personal preferences and your specific goals. Either way, you’re going to end up in ketosis. The question is how you get there, and which regimen you can really stick with for the long haul.
- Try carnivore if you’re dealing with autoimmune or inflammatory symptoms and want the most thorough elimination protocol in the world. This is also a better fit if you despise tracking macros and want something simpler and more intuitive. It doesn’t feel like you’re dieting.
- Try keto if you want the benefits of being in ketosis but still want to enjoy plant-based foods like vegetables, some fruits, nuts, seeds, etc. This is the better diet if you’re the type who needs as much variety in their life as possible.
Nobody is saying you have to pick one side of the carnivore diet vs keto diet and stick with it for life, either. A lot of people try keto first, and eventually, end up migrating to carnivore because it’s a seamless transition.
But what if we told you that you could enjoy the best of both worlds with “ketovore?”
The Ketovore Diet: A Happy Medium?
You came here for help choosing between the keto vs carnivore diet regimens. However, ketovore is a good middle ground. Meat is still the center of every meal. There’s just a little more room for high-fat, low-carb additions like butter, hard cheeses, avocado, and heavy cream.
You stay in ketosis and eat mostly animal products. But you’re not locked into only animal foods. And you don’t have to count every gram across a dozen different food categories. It’s worth trying this hybrid diet if you feel as if keto is too complicated, and carnivore is too exclusionary.
Again, though, you need the right snacks on hand no matter the diet you decide on. This one thing will help you stay on track when cravings strike - and believe us, they will strike! Look no further than Carnivore Snax.
From savory pork chips to melt-in-your-mouth ribeye chips, succulent steak chips, indulgent Brisket chips, and much, much more - there’s something for everyone. All crafted to the same exacting standards. Try them all and find your new favorite guilt-free snacks today!
Wrapping Up Our Keto vs Carnivore Diet Comparison
We hope our carnivore diet vs keto comparison has left you feeling clear in which of these best suits you. Either way, you’re making a radical shift from the traditional American diet - and it’s for the better. Best of luck!
Frequently asked questions
What is the carnivore diet?
Super simple - you eat only animal products and nothing else. Meat, fish, eggs, potentially dairy if it doesn’t mess with your digestive system. No plant-based foods whatsoever.
Is the carnivore diet keto?
Technically yes, in the sense that most people who follow the carnivore diet end up in ketosis as a result. But the core principle is eliminating plant-based foods, not carbohydrates specifically. It just so happens that most animal-based foods are carb-free, too.
Which diet lets me eat vegetables and fruits?
You can still eat veggies and fruits on keto. You cannot eat them on carnivore - unless, of course, you’re following a more carnivore-adjacent diet than a strict carnivore regimen.
Which diet is better for weight loss, carnivore or keto?
They’re pretty close! The carnivore diet vs keto weight loss comparison is more or less a wash. You end up in ketosis either way.
What is the ketovore diet?
It’s mostly animal-based eating with keto-friendly additions like butter, hard cheese, avocado, and cream. It's the middle ground in the keto vs carnivore spectrum.
Why do people quit these types of elimination diets?
Boredom, social pressure, and the adaptation phase are the three reasons we see most people “fail” with keto or carnivore. The first two weeks can be rough if you’re coming from a standard American diet with lots of carbs and processed foods. But there are coping strategies you can try, and you’ll be glad you stuck with it when you see it through!
References
- Lennerz BS, et al. Behavioral characteristics and self-reported health status among 2,029 adults consuming a "carnivore diet." Current Developments in Nutrition. 2021;5(12):nzab133. PubMed
