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Quick and Painless 2018 Diet Guide

The internet is full of articles about paleo, keto and plant-based diets. If you’re just getting started with any of these super-popular diets, you might be confused about the basics and what exactly you can eat. We did some research, and here’s what we found. (Remember: this is just a starting point. We recommend that you do your own research if you’re interested in drastically changing your eating habits, and please consult with a doctor before making any large-scale diet changes.) Here is your quick and painless 2018 diet guide:

Plant-Based Diet

How It Works

A plant-based diet is a general term for a diet that relies on plant-based foods more than animal-based foods. It can be fully vegetarian or not, as long as plants are the main focus of every meal and animal-based products are generally avoided.

What Do I Eat?

Vegetables, whole grains, fruit, nuts, seeds and beans.

What Do I Avoid?

Animals and animal-based products.

What Do Plant-Based Meals Look Like?

Vegetables, grains and healthy fats and oils make up the bulk of plant-based meals. Complexity can range from eggplant lasagna with veggie cheese to a big old salad with quinoa and roasted vegetables on top to a bowl of vegetable soup, there’s really no wrong way.

Snack Ideas

A piece of fruit, a handful of nuts or seeds, veggies and hummus. Salsa is another great flavorful add-on, try it on a veggie wrap or with tortilla chips.

Keto Diet

How It Works

The ketogenic diet aims to intake so few carbohydrates that the body will run on fat instead of glucose as its primary energy source. In order to do this, the keto diet is strictly low-carb, moderate protein and high fat. It can take a week to 10 days for the body to switch over, during which time many people will have flu-like symptoms due to lack of electrolytes (this can be combated by drinking beef or chicken broth, or salt water). Once the body has entered a state of ketosis, you will burn fat instead of carbohydrates for fuel and since you’re not consuming carbohydrates, you won’t store excess carbs as fat.

What Do I Eat?

Mostly healthy fats, like those found in nuts, avocados and seeds. You can also eat protein from all sources, and some vegetables like leafy greens and above ground vegetables. High fat dairy is also on the menu, like high fat cream, butter and hard cheeses.

What Do I Avoid?

The short answer is “carbohydrates.” During the beginning phase of the ketogenic diet, most people are recommended to reduce their carbohydrate intake to less than 20 grams until they achieve ketosis—some people have to reduce to less than 20 grams to enter ketosis, but 20 grams is a good general starting point.

Avoid all added sugar and check the carbohydrates in everything you eat. Just because it doesn’t have a nutrition label doesn’t mean there’s no calories/carbohydrates/nutrients: it all adds up.

What Do Keto Meals Look Like?

Similar to paleo meals, keto meals are usually focused on some kind of protein and vegetables, but with more fat than you generally find in paleo, and dairy and processed foods are allowed, as long as they stay within carb limits.

Snack Ideas

The high-fat nature of the keto diet means you usually won’t be hungry between meals, but if you are you can snack on seeds, cheese, hummus, vegetables or protein. Just watch the carbs.

 

Paleo Diet

How It Works

The paleo diet, also called “the caveman diet,” is premised on eating the foods our ancestors ate prior to developing agriculture. The idea is that we evolved to eat a certain way and modern humans have strayed from that way of eating, which has caused a lot of health problems. By going back to the way we used to eat, we can feed our bodies the way they’ve become used to processing foods for thousands of years.

What Do I Eat?

Meat, fish, eggs, seasonal vegetables and fruits, nuts, seeds, herbs and spices, healthy fats and oils.

What Do I Avoid?

Processed foods, including anything with added sugar, grains, diary products, artificial sweeteners.

What Do Paleo Meals Look Like?

Mostly protein like eggs, meat, and fish, with seasonal vegetables and healthy fats like avocadoes, olives, or fatty meats.

Snack Ideas

If you get hungry between meals on the paleo diet, try a handful of nuts, or a piece of fresh fruit, or beef jerky. If you want something more “snack-y,” pork rinds are paleo-approved and have the crispy crunch and salty goodness you used to get from chips.

Is there anything about these diets that we missed? Do you have a link to a resource that helped you get started? What’s your favorite recipe for a paleo, keto, or plant-based snack? Please share in the comments below!

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