Is the Carnivore Diet the Same as the Keto Diet? We Explain the Difference

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April 14, 2020

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The keto diet and the carnivore diet are very different diets. The carnivore diet, as crazy as it sounds, consists of only eating meat products. The ketogenic diet allows for non-animal product-based food but limits your carbohydrate intake.

Both diets come with their own set of pros and cons and in this article we lay them out so you may be able to make a decision on which to pursue or to help educate those that are still confused.

We structured this article by introducing the basics of both diets and then a follow-up section which compares them. Basically the pros and cons!

Carnivore Diet Basics

The carnivore diet is simple. Eat meat products, add salt, and drink water. That’s the strictest version!

What about dairy?

Some people can handle dairy and include it in their diet. However for other dairy can be a health sucking culprit and increase inflammation, mess of their gut or cause pain.

Lactose intolerance and genetics can have something to do with it. If you are curious about dairy and how it relates to diet then check out:

Carnivore Diet History

According to some of the best anthropologists our brains, (homo-sapiens), began to increase in size about 2 million years. That’s right about when we started using weapons to hunt.

Because of the superiority of meat vs. plants our ancestors thrived and brain function increased. They were super carnivores.

Then about 40,000 years ago we added plants back in. Things went downhill from there and brain size began to decrease.

Fast forward to present time and still it can be seen that plant foods, sugars, seed oils and what have you are destroying the health of our populations.

Elimination Factor

These days people that go carnivore are experiencing awesome results. Not just better weight management but increases in energy, better sleep, and even the reduction of certain diseases.

For inspiring testimonials check out MeatRX. Real people with real results.

Why such good results? Most likely because they are eliminating harmful plant foods.

The carnivore diet is the ultimate elimination diet.

Carnivore Fuel

The carnivore diet allows your body to use fat for fuel rather than carbohydrates and sugar. What this means is energy levels are able to increase and most people are able to reduce their fat stores as a result.

It’s also possible to achieve a state of ketosis, which we go into more detail below.

Ketosis is where your body creates ketones for energy which are more efficient and potentially allows your brain to thrive.

What do Carnivores Eat? Nose-to-tail?

As stated above the carnivore diet is as simple as it gets. Meat, water, and salt.

However you are probably wondering how much and what type of meat?

Generally speaking most carnivores stick to eating a lot of beef due to price and the abundance of nutrients and minerals found within. We are talking about lots of steaks, ground beef, and even organs.

Which brings us to nose-to-tail.

Nose-to-tail is the concept of eating just like our ancient ancestors. They ate as much of the animal as possible and that’s what nose-to-tail tries to accomplish.

In other words don’t be afraid of the organ meats like liver, brain, kidney, and even testicles…(Rocky Mountain Oysters!)

Plus get that bone marrow when you can…it’s delicious and we wrote a whole article dedicated to it:

Bone Marrow on the Carnivore Diet|Pros and Cons

My Typical Rotation Carnivore Delights

Beef
Bison
Pork
Chicken
Turkey
Seafood
Eggs

When Do Carnivores Eat?

The cool thing about the carnivore diet is you eat whenever you are hungry and you most likely won’t need to supplement with protein drinks which have their own set of side effects. and you most likely won’t need to supplement with protein drinks which have their own set of side effects..

Yet I do suggest trying to eat 2-3 hours before bedtime as you may find it helps you fall asleep faster and have better sleep.

How much meat do you eat?

Generally speaking, males eat about 2 pounds of meat per day and women eat about 1.5 pounds. You eat until satiated! No weighing portions or counting calories and carbs.

Snacks on Carnivore?

You eat when hungry and sometimes you are too busy to cook up a steak so we provided a list of what we like to snack on while on a carnivore diet:

16 Perfect Snacks for People on a Carnivore Diet & Meat Lovers

Carnivore Diet Drinks?

For some, the the drinking part of the carnivore diet can be challenging.

If you are trying to shoot for the true carnivore style you will not be drinking alcohol, coffee, tea, sports drinks, or anything with additives.

We dove deeper on the drinking subject with a few highly regarded articles:

Carnivore Diet Books

If having books loaded with studies and pertinent information related to the carnivore diet is important to you then check out these books. They taught me most of what I know about being a carnivore.

Dr. Ken Berry provides a brief introduction of the ketogenic diet.

Ketogenic Diet Basics

The ketogenic diet is one in which you drastically limit your carbohydrate intake but increase fat.

Ketogenic diets are similar to that of the carnivore as your body will begin to switch from using sugars and carbs for energy to fat. As a result the liver will also produce ketones, a super potent form of fuel that the brain is able to use for fuel.

Researchers say ketones are the fuel of choice and come with many benefits to the brain and body.

Carb and Fat Ratios

The ketogenic diet is a little more tricky that the carnivore diet in that you need to keep track of your carbohydrate, protein, and fat ratios.

For instance a fairly standard ketogenic diet has these ratios:

75% fat, 20% protein, 5% carbs

And a heavier protein diet can have:

60% fat, 35% protein and 5% carbs.

What to Eat on Ketogenic Diet?

The ketogenic diet allows for foods coming from the plant kingdom but those foods are generally less starchy and carbohydrate intensive.

These leaves a higher variety of foods that are fair game. Here is a fairly standard list of acceptable keto foods:

Meats: Beef, Bison, Seafood (Salmon, Tuna, Sardines, Mackerel), Poultry, Pork
Eggs
Dairy: Butter, Dairy, Creams, Cheese
Nuts and Seeds: Almonds, Walnuts, Flax, Chia, (some people discourage peanuts)
Vegetables: Usually allows for most greens like spinach, chard, and kale.
Fruits: Usually only low carb/low sugars like berries (blueberries, raspberries)
Tubers: Sweet potatoes (low-carb tubers only in small quantities)
Avocados (avocados are a major staple for keto)
Seasoning: Salt, Peppers, Spices
Cooking Oils: Olive, Avocado, and Coconut. (Never use Canola, Seed Oils, Vegetable Oil, etc. as they are potentially super toxic!)

The “No-no” Foods

When on the ketogenic diet there are plenty of foods to avoid. Usually the ones that are high in carbs and sugars. Also stay away from anything processed.

Fruits: all the high sugar kinds like apples, oranges, kiwis, etc.
Bread: anything with grains and starch. Bread=high carbs!
Beans: legumes and beans like peas and lentils.
Tubers: Potatoes, carrots, parsnips
Condiments: Get rid of the sugary ones like ketchup
Oils: No more Canola, Vegetable, Safflower, etc.
Drinks: Soda, diet soda, alcohol, sports drinks

Some Potential Benefits of Keto

Dr. Ken Berry, ketogenic diet doctor extraordinaire, provides what he believes are some of the top benefits of the keto diet. I’ve paraphrased his YouTube video, “11 Ways the Ketogenic Diet Can Change Your Life.”

Potentially lowers blood pressure. He uses his patients as examples and it slowly allows them to get off meds.
Potentially slows down aging. When you stop eating and drinking crap your body lets off the aging peddle.
Weight loss. Keto helps get rid of dangerous fats in the stomach area, liver, and pancreas. (Plenty of Keto weight loss studies below.)
Keto can help with joint pain and inflammation.
Potentially prevent autoimmune and chronic diseases. It also helps reduce flare-ups of chronic disease.
Keto can help with the optimization of hormones as well as improve mood. He mentions that he has patients that see improvements with depression and anxiety.
Going keto can help with appetite control as you stay satiated from eating an abundance of fats. Plus if you want to add intermittent fasting to your regiment it’s easier as the hunger pangs are less severe.
Keto can mitigate acne problems. Patients report improved skin conditions. (For me I have to remove dairy to see best results.)

Important Ketogenic Studies on Weight Loss

A Randomized Trial of a Low-Carbohydrate Diet for Obesity
- This study took 63 obese adults and split them between a low carb diet and a low-fat diet. After 6 weeks the low carb group lost 7% body fat whereas the low fat only lost 3%
A Low-Carbohydrate as Compared with a Low-Fat Diet in Severe Obesity
- Working with severely obese subjects (132) the researchers divided this group in half. One group was put on a low fat calorie-restricted diet and the other group a low carb diet.
- Over 6 months the low carb group lost on average 12.8 pounds and the low calorie low fat group lost 4.2 pounds.

A low-carbohydrate diet is more effective in reducing body weight than healthy eating in both diabetic and non-diabetic subjects
- This study took 23 people, half with diabetes and the other without.
- Half of the randomized groupings with given a low carb diet and the other a “healthy eating” diet.
- After 3 months the low carb group lost on average 15.2 pounds. e other “healthy eating” group only lost 4.6 pounds on average.

Carnivore and Ketogenic Diet Similarities

As you can see there are some similarities in the benefits of what the carnivore and keto diet can potentially do.

They are both based on an ancestral way of eating! With the limiting or complete removal of carbs, sugars, grain, seed oils, and other unnatural foods humans are more in line with being able to achieve superior health.

Carnivore and Ketogenic Diet Differences

I have tried both the ketogenic diet and the carnivore diet. (Now I am a carnivore 97.5% of the time.)

Counting Carbs

The keto diet comes with its own set of challenges. Some of my main gripes are that you actually have to count carbohydrates. You will find yourself spending extra time seeing if certain fruits and veggies are under your carbohydrate threshold.

It’s a pain.

The carnivore diet doesn’t have carb counting, it allows you to eat until fully satisfied. Generally speaking most carnivores eat 2-3 large meals per day.

Palatability

Also when I was on a keto diet I found myself buying keto-friendly snack- like bars and cookies. These bars are processed foods and taste too good to be true.

This is bad because it can lead to the eating of more carbs. It’s really hard to just eat one of anything that tastes so good. It’s almost cruel.

I’m sure this is even way harder with people that have self-control issues and overeaters.

With the carnivore diet, after the adaptation period, you are essentially only eating meat products and you lose the cravings for snacks or ultra palatable products.

Plant Food

With the keto diet you are still allowed to eat plant-based foods. For some people that are trying to alleviate chronic disease and symptoms associated with plants this will be a problem.

Doctors say one of the potential key therapeutic principles of the carnivore diet is that with the elimination of certain plants patients are able to see improvements in inflammation, chronic symptoms, and mental health.

For our dramatic take on the dangers of plant foods check out:

Mental Health

Both diets have been recommended by certain doctors to help combat mental health issues. We are talking about depression, ADD, PTSD, anxiety and Alzheimer’s, and dementia.

One of the leading fighters in the war on carbs and their relation to mental health is Dr. Georgia Ede.

She has written numerous articles and given highly informative talks on the matter.

In her own practice she has seen dramatic improvements with her patients that follow either a ketogenic diet or carnivore diet.

Here are some of Dr. Ede’s articles on the matter.

Cost and Finances of a Healthy Diet

A lot of times people will give the excuse that they simply can’t afford to eat an all-meat or ketogenic diet. However I have found that if one is willing to search, cut out other necessary expenses then this diet can become affordable.

The keto diet has turned into a money grab with so-called keto-friendly products. These food products are not necessary and in fact one will probably do better without them by sticking to wholesome meats and veggies.

Those $4 dollars or more keto bars and snacks are a waste of money!

With both the keto and carnivore diet…deals are to be had. Figure out when your butcher or grocery stores put the meat and veggies on sale. They often go bad but before they do the stores will offer steep discounts.

Also factor in the amount of money you save by not going to Starbucks and ordering that sugar-loaded Frapaccino! (That’s the same price as a pound of ground beef.)

Also if keeping money in your pocket is important we wrote these incredibly useful articles:

Final Thoughts

I believe both the keto and carnivore diets to be the most beneficial ways of eating and it is fairly easy to transition between them and it is fairly easy to transition between them . However the more I learn about the carnivore diet the more I believe it to be superior.

On the carnivore diet it’s easier to eat without having to research carb content and with the almost complete elimination of carbohydrates it’s possible for your body to recover from inflammation-related challenges.

Remember if you go carnivore and eat dairy that it has a fair amount of carbohydrates…just a warning.

The cool thing is that there isn’t any dogma attached to carnivore. The general vibe is to do what’s good for you. For instance I still drink coffee and have an occasional sweet potato fry binge.

When it comes to Keto vs. Carnivore I think you need to do your research and see what works for you. Hopefully this article opens your mind and points you in the right direction.

Before we go I would like to recommend two great books on the carnivore diet written by two awesome doctors.

Also if you are looking for online support and community then check out the Facebook group World Carnivore Tribe!

And if you nee to see some amazing testimonials check out MeatRX.

Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: I’m not a doctor. Consult with and ask your doctor about any diet or medical-related questions. No information on this site should be used to diagnose, treat, prevent, or cure any disease or condition.