Low-Carb vs. Keto: What’s the Difference for Older Adults?
Low-Carb Diet Overview
A low-carb diet is one of the most popular diet plans. There are many variations on this diet type, but the primary goal is to cut intake of carbohydrates. Your body depends on three major macronutrients to survive: carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. You also need micronutrients like vitamins and minerals. Tracking macronutrients provides an easy way to determine whether you are meeting your diet target.
The goal of a low-carb diet is to reduce your carbohydrate intake, meaning that you end up having a healthy balance of fat and protein in your diet instead. The exact definition of a low-carb diet depends on what nutritionist you ask. In general, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends that you get 45 to 65% of your total daily calorie intake from carbohydrates. For someone on a 2,000-calorie per day diet, that means 225 to 325 grams of carbohydrates per day. For reference, a cup of pasta contains 43 grams of carbohydrates, while a cup of broccoli contains 6 grams of carbohydrates.
In contrast, a low-carb diet typically recommends that no more than 20% of your total daily calories come from carbohydrates. That means reducing your carbohydrate intake to no more than 100 grams per day. Some people restrict their carbohydrate intake even further, aiming for fewer than 50 to 60 grams of carbs per day.
How the Low-Carb Diet Works
The goal behind a low-carb diet is to convince your body to switch from burning carbs to using other types of fuel for energy. Carbohydrates consist of chains of glucose molecules strung together. When you eat carbs, your stomach breaks them down into glucose. This glucose is absorbed into the blood, where it becomes available for your cells. The hormone insulin also flows through your blood, helping to traffic glucose into cells. Once inside the cell, it is used to power cellular activities. You may need more energy when exercising or at certain times of day. If you don’t use all of the glucose that is available after a carbohydrate-heavy meal, your body stores the extra in the liver.
When you cut back on carbs, your body no longer produces as much insulin. This causes your blood sugar levels to become more stable, rather than swinging up and down during the day. Without glucose as an easy source of energy, your body starts to burn fat instead. The result is steady weight loss that targets stored body fat.
What to Eat on a Low-Carb Diet
Starting a low-carb diet for the first time can feel a little intimidating. You may struggle to think of low carb recipes or track food choices. Having access to a low-carb diet and health app for 50 and beyond can make sure you stay on track. To get started, get in the habit of checking nutrition labels for everything you eat. A standard nutrition label has a line item for carbohydrates. For fruits, vegetables, or other foods without nutrition labels, use an online tool to look up the number of carbohydrates per serving.
The most common carbohydrate-rich foods are grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, milk, and legumes like beans, lentils, and peas. Following a low-carb diet may mean cutting back on certain foods or swapping one ingredient for another. For example, grains, pastas and breads typically contain a large number of carbohydrates.
Be sure to be vigilant about “sneaky” carbohydrates that make their way into processed foods. Condiments such as ketchup, barbeque sauce, or dipping sauces often contain unexpectedly large amounts of carbs. White bread, pasta, cake, candy, cookies, and soda or juice are other major culprits.
With a low-carb diet, the goal isn’t to reduce carbohydrate intake to absolute zero. Your body depends on some carbohydrates to function properly. Plus, completely eliminating carbs can be unrealistic as they are present in so many foods. Rather, you should be mindful of the types of carbohydrates you do choose to eat, such as those found in whole grains, are broken down more slowly than simple carbohydrates (sugar). When you do eat foods with carbohydrates, prioritizing complex carbs can help to keep your blood sugar stable and prevent hunger. While on a low-carb diet, you can load up on more vegetables which are healthy and rich in vitamins.
Health Benefits of a Low-Carb Diet
A low-carb diet brings significant health benefits, especially for older adults. Healthy aging brings a lot of bodily changes. For anyone over 50 bloating, fatigue, low energy, dull skin, sluggishness, and poor concentration can feel inevitable. Losing weight with a low-carb diet can help to reverse many of those problems. Some of the biggest health benefits of a low-carb diet include:
Weight loss. Low-carb diets are popular for weight loss for a reason: they actually work. Reducing carbohydrates helps you burn more fat and shed extra pounds.
Heart health. When looking for a heart-healthy diet, you can’t do much better than a low-carb diet. Excessive carbohydrate intake has been associated with heart problems. Eating a high-carb diet could contribute to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and risk for heart attack or stroke. A recent study found that following a low-carb diet for 6 months resulted in lower triglyceride levels, lower cholesterol, weight loss, and lower blood pressure. All of those factors have been linked to lower risk for serious heart problems.
Better glycemic control. Glycemic control refers to your body’s ability to keep glucose levels within an optimal range. Rather than having wild blood sugar swings and crashes, a low-carb diet promotes steady blood sugar levels. This reduces your risk for diabetes and other chronic diseases.
More energy. People who follow low-carb diets often report that they have better energy and less fatigue. The base of a low-carb diet consists of vegetables, nuts, and seeds which help boost your energy as they are a great source of fibers, vitamins, and minerals.
A Low-Carb Diet is Great For:
Nearly everyone could benefit from a low-carb diet plan. Do you fit into any of the following categories of people who would do well on a low-carb weight loss plan?
Anyone searching for an easy diet solution. Counting carbohydrates is easy. Once you figure out the best target number, it’s easy to track food choices. Just stick within your carb total for the day, and you can eat whatever else you want.
Anyone with chronic health conditions that commonly affect people over 50. If you have diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or other chronic health problems, a low-carb diet can be the natural solution you’ve been looking for. This diet plan is great for managing chronic medical conditions.
Anyone ready to make an overall lifestyle change. A low-carb diet is not a crash diet or temporary weight loss fix. It is perfect for anyone ready to commit to a healthier lifestyle. Unlike fad diets that are not sustainable, a low-carb diet can be maintained for years with excellent results.
Anyone looking for a heart healthy diet. A low-carb diet has been shown to improve heart health and lower risk of cardiovascular disease.
Anyone over 50 struggling with stubborn body fat. Your metabolism naturally slows as you get older. A low-carb diet is the perfect solution to promote healthy aging. It may also reduce inflammation, which can improve heart and brain health.
Ketogenic Diet Overview
A ketogenic, or “keto” diet, is a type of low-carb diet. The keto diet began as a treatment for epilepsy in the 1920s and 1930s. For centuries, people had followed fasting and other restrictive diets as epilepsy treatments. Doctors suggested that epileptic seizures occurred when toxins built up in the body to dangerous levels. A Mayo Clinic doctor named Russel Wilder described the “ketogenic diet” in 1921 as a way to induce the liver to produce chemicals called ketone bodies. The ketogenic diet worked as an epilepsy treatment, but it fell out of favor when anti-epileptic drugs became more widely available. Now, the keto diet has returned as a weight loss solution.
How the Keto Diet Works
The keto diet is a very, very low-carb diet. The overall goal of the keto diet is to maintain a metabolic state called ketosis. Under a normal diet, your body primarily uses glucose (sugar) as its main fuel source. This sugar comes from carbohydrates in your diet. Your liver stores excess sugar and releases it when you need an energy boost. When those liver stores of glucose become depleted, your body can rely on alternative sources of energy. If glucose is not available, your liver starts to turn fat into ketone bodies. There are three ketone bodies: beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB), acetone, and acetoacetate.
Ketosis is a normal metabolic state. In fact, even people following a normal diet enter ketosis on a regular basis. This typically happens during sleep but can also occur when glucose stores are low. When ketone bodies build up to a certain state, your body is said to be in nutritional ketosis. That means that you are now burning ketone bodies and fat for energy, not glucose. When you reach optimal ketosis levels, ketones supply 50% of your overall energy and 70% of your brain’s energy needs. When carbohydrates are not available through your diet, your liver will produce the carbs you need through a process called gluconeogenesis.
There are several signs that your body has entered ketosis. People who carefully follow a keto diet may test their blood for BHB. BHB levels between 0.5 and 3 mmol/L are a sign that you are in ketosis. Because blood tests can be expensive, breathalyzer tests for acetone are another alternative. In fact, bad breath is a hallmark sign that your body has reached ketosis. Some people describe this bad breath as sweet or fruity.
Obviously, the best way to know if you’ve entered ketosis is to take a test to show your ketone levels. But how do you get to ketosis? The answer is severely restricting carbohydrate levels. Most keto diet plans limit you to no more than 50 grams of carbs per day, though it is often recommended that you start with even fewer, perhaps 35 grams or less. This will throw your body into ketosis in a matter of one to four weeks.
The remaining calories in your diet come from protein or fats. In many keto diet plans, eating too much protein is viewed as potentially problematic. Thus, keto diet plans often prioritize getting plenty of fat. That means you should aim for 65 to 80% of your calories to come from fats. This definitely represents a dietary shift for many people, so plan accordingly. Fatty meats, fatty fish, butter, and other dairy products are primary sources of fat. Eating plenty of fat-rich foods promotes satiety, meaning you won’t feel hungry as quickly. This is part of what makes the keto diet a successful weight loss tool.
Is The Keto Diet Healthy?
There is growing evidence that the keto diet is an effective way to lose weight and shed extra body fat. Most scientific studies of the keto diet focus on its effectiveness over several weeks to a year. There is not as much information about the effects of being on a keto diet for years. Because the diet is so strict, it requires careful meal planning. Adherents to a keto diet must make sure that they do not develop nutritional deficiencies.
People who follow a strict keto diet may develop some health issues or problematic side effects. These typically go away after several weeks or months, but some may be longer lasting. Some of the most common keto side effects include:
Bad breath. Bad breath persists for as long as your body is in ketosis. Committed keto dieters often carry breath mints or gum to mask their bad breath.
Fatigue. Particularly in the early days and weeks of the keto diet, you may feel worn down or fatigued. Staying hydrated and getting plenty of electrolytes can help you manage this transition.
Decreased exercise performance. Do not start a keto diet immediately before a race or other physical activity event. As your body adjusts to ketosis, you may notice that your endurance and physical performance drops. Most people find that their energy and exercise performance abilities return after a few weeks.
Digestive problems. Anytime you drastically switch your diet, you may experience gastrointestinal distress. The keto diet is notorious for causing constipation and diarrhea, particularly in the early days. Eating plenty of low-carb vegetables can help ease this transition and keep you regular.
Insomnia. The keto diet can also keep you awake at night. Many people say that they sleep more poorly for the first few weeks after switching to a keto diet. After that transition period, however, you may find yourself sleeping even better than before.
Keto Is Great For:
Keto can be transformative, and those who adhere to it often rave about its effects. However, it’s not for everybody. The keto diet is best for:
Anyone with a lot of self-control and willpower. Restricting carbohydrates to 50 grams or even fewer per day can be a major challenge.
Anyone who wants to reduce inflammation levels. Ketone bodies seem to have anti-inflammatory properties, making them a good choice for anyone concerned about the effects of chronic inflammation on health.
Anyone who can carefully track micronutrients, too. With the keto diet, getting enough variety in your diet is a legitimate concern. With few fruits and vegetables on the table due to carb restriction, it’s important to make sure you get enough vitamins and minerals. Check with a nutritionist to make sure you’re following a healthy keto diet.
What’s the Difference between the Keto Diet and Low-Carb Diet?
The keto diet is a special type of low-carb diet. Basically, all keto diets are low-carb, but not all low-carb diets are keto. A keto diet is specifically one that sends your body into ketosis, regardless of the total number of carbohydrates you eat. For some people, that might mean 50 grams of carbs per day. For someone else, it could be 30 grams. If you’re not in ketosis, it’s not considered keto.
By contrast, a low-carb diet might lead to periods of ketosis, but this is not necessary. As long as you track macronutrients and keep your carbohydrates below 20% of your overall calories, your diet is considered low-carb.
Is a Low-Carb or Keto Diet Better for Most People?
Nutrition experts agree that the best diet for weight loss is the one you’ll stick to! Whether that is a low-carb diet or keto or something else, it’s important to view this as a long-term lifestyle transformation.
For most people, a low-carb diet is more flexible and less restrictive than keto. Because a low-carb diet is easier to sustain, it’s generally the better approach. By limiting carbs, you get the weight loss benefits of a keto diet without the severe restrictions. Plus, there is no evidence about the effects of maintaining ketosis over a long period of time. In theory, the keto diet may lose its effectiveness or cause harm in the long run. In contrast, many people successfully maintain low-carb diets for years with great effects on overall health.
If you’re still not sure where to begin, we can help. Mighty Health is a leading health app for 50 and older. We’ll help you track food, find low carb recipes, and create a customized weight loss plan that works for you.