Keto diet VS Mediterranean diet

When looking for ways to lose weight there are many diets to follow and try out to see which one fits you and your lifestyle. The keto diet is one to quickly lose a lot of weight but requires quite a dedication to it, on the other hand the mediterranean diet is easier to maintain but weightloss is not that much compared to the keto diet. Let’s find out all the differences!

To start off we have to understand what both diets are and where they come from. The mediterranean diet comes from mediterranean countries like Greek, Spain and Italy, consisting of enjoying meals with others and having an occasional glass of red wine while being active during the day. The ketogenic diet on the other hand was a therapeutic diet developed in 1930 as a way to help manage childhood epeleptic seizures.
The mediterranean diet only allows many low-carb foods in moderation like meat, dairy, eggs and oils. These lowcarb and high-fat ingredients act as the backbone for a ketogenic diet. There is also a huge difference in macronutrients on both diets:

Calorie intake on keto diet:
– 75% from fat
– 15% from protein
– 10% from carbohydrates

Calorie intake on Mediterranean diet:
– 25% from fat
– 15% from protein
– 60% from carbs

To visualize these macro’s on a daily base we have to take a look at both menu’s:

Meals on a keto diet:
Breakfast: Eggs and bacon
Lunch: Tuna lettuce wraps
Dinner: Steak salad

Meals on a mediterranean diet:
Breakfast: Baked eggs in tomato sauce
Lunch: Greek-style meatball bowl
Snack: English muffins
Dinner: Salmon rice bowl & red wine
Dessert: Strawberry Chocolate greek yoghurt bowl

Longterm a keto diet is harder to maintain because this diet is way more limiting then a mediterranean diet, it’s also very important to keep track of your nutrient deficiencies on keto and supplement with the missing ones. This is important on every diet, vegan, low-carb or when you are not even following a diet, keeping track of what you eat and what your body is missing out on is very important. Supplementing can be easy by take a multivitamin each day or supplement directly with the ones you don’t get through your diet. There have been some mentions of the keto diet increasing your risk of heart disease but this hasn’t been concluded yet as some other research led to finding out that a lowcarb diet reduces levels of LDL (bad cholesterol). Both diets stabilize blood sugar and help support insulin sensitivity.
The mediterranean diet isn’t structured, encourages red wine and may be quite expensive and time consuming. The keto diet is restrictive, has side effects when not supplemented right but supports weightloss better and more efficient.

Sources:
http://www.health.com
http://www.eatingwell.com

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