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I’ve seen this topic up for discussion several times as well as people who are very confused, thinking they’re doing one thing and learning it’s actually something different. Or thinking they’re doing everything ‘right’ and finding out, they were going about things differently than they thought. So what is the actual difference between low carb, LCHF and keto? The short answer, is not that much.
There are two main schools of thought on this and I’m going to give you the one that I and most seasoned low carbers I know follow and go by. That is the premise that there is no real difference between low carb, LCHF and keto, except that keto is when you stick to 20g or less of carbs a day while LCHF and low carb can be as high as 100g a day, particularly for people in maintenance. When it comes to the food that you eat, what is compliant and what is not, the foods are the same. We don’t include grains, sugars and starches in our diets, we try to eat whole, unprocessed, real food and we stay away from seed oils and foods that cause inflammation.
There are several different lists that have been written to help guide people on compliant and non-compliant foods. The Banting lists and/or the green, orange and red lists are the ones I hear spoken about most often. I personally prefer the Low Carb Creed Lists which are much more detailed and updated. But whichever list you use they are based on the same guidelines and have more or less the same type of foods on them. These lists have been put together based on research, science and clinical practice done by the leading low carb doctors in the world.
Now we will look at the second school of thought, which is one that is becoming much more prevalent it seems and more widely accepted. That is, that keto is a very, very strict form of low carb and that LCHF and especially just the term ‘low carb’ are much more relaxed. When I say this I don’t just mean the amount of carbs being consumed, but WHICH carbs are being consumed. A lot of people, more and more it seems, are adopting the ‘if it fits your macros’ or IIFYM approach. This is the approach that you can eat pretty much ANYTHING you like as long as it fits your daily macros, mainly if it falls into your carb count for the day.
Now, I really take some issue with this approach and it’s not for the reasons that I or others have been accused of or that people that do IIFYM might think. I am not a member of the ‘carb police’ or ‘keto police’, I don’t think everyone has to eat a certain way and I don’t think everyone should eat the way I do. Everyone can eat whatever and however they choose, even when doing low carb.
Examples of foods that seem popular with IIFYM are popcorn, a go to low calorie snack that is used a lot on low calorie diets and so has a ‘healthy’ aspect attached to it. Corn is one of the exact foods we’re trying to avoid, so popcorn is definitely not considered a low carb item. Another is ice cream that is ‘sugar free’ or labelled low carb or high protein. These are even worse because besides being full of additives and nasties, they are often not even sugar free. If you read the nutrition panel and ingredients, many still contain sugar and almost all still contain grains or starches. BUT, if people are aware of these facts and choose to allow room for these foods in their diet anyway, that is completely fine, even if their diet is low carb. What I take issue with is people telling those just starting on the path, that they can also eat whatever they want as long as it fits their macros.
For a lot of people, LCHF is not just about losing weight, it is about the amazing health benefits. That is where the true power in low carb lies. But eating non low carb foods will not allow people to reach these desired health benefits. There are also people that have to be more careful with what they eat and foods that may be okay for some but aren’t actually compliant, often don’t don’t work for those people. So we have ‘newbies’ being taught they can eat what they like, are doing it and then wondering why they don’t feel any better, why their health isn’t going anywhere and especially why they aren’t losing weight. This is where the problem lies.
I accept the IIFYM group is becoming stronger and we have to make room for them and I’m completely fine with that. We are all on different paths. But if we could just arm people with all the information and let them make an informed decision based on that, rather than just saying ‘eat what you like’, it sets up a better framework where we don’t have so many people confused, failing and even giving up completely. If you’re a person that does IIFYM, again that’s fine. But instead of telling people you can eat what you like, why not say, ‘this is what I eat and it’s not considered a low carb item, but it fits my macros, it works for me and so that’s what I include’. Or something like, ‘if you are just trying to lose weight and keep carbs low, but not actually focusing on health (which a lot are), then this food would be fine if you want to include it’.
Now if you’re a person that does IIFYM, you might be thinking I’m being quite harsh here. But that is not at all my intention. I am technically keto because I eat less than 20g of carbs a day, but I don’t always eat 100% compliantly. Every now and then I will include some vegetables like beetroot/beet or swede/rutabaga which are orange list vegetables. Also, very occasionally I will include peanuts which are a legume, inflammatory and technically red list. I sometimes drink AO brand pre mixed flavoured almond milk, which is pretty good for a store bought product but still contains a few nasties and isn’t strictly compliant. I buy sausages that are high percentage meat but still contain some fillers and I don’t buy everything organic, pasture fed etc. I have also indulged in those sugar free/low carb ice creams that I mentioned before, on 2 or 3 occasions that I can think of.
In short, I’m not always super strict with what I eat. I have non-compliant foods sometimes too, but I don’t tell people they are low carb and that there is no consequence to eating them. I point out or agree they aren’t compliant, but that I include them on the rare occasion and usually also explain my reasons why. Having said that, there are more and more people considering the word keto to mean very strict eating. So as a result I have resorted to labelling my diet as LCHF, because it sounds like a compliant diet but one that isn’t 100% super strict, which is basically what I do. But technically the way I eat would be keto.
Now what in the world is the point of all this? Why take the time to compare, debate and go over different schools of thought? For me, there are two major reasons and both boil down to the same basic issue. That is the fact that many people, especially those starting out, don’t fully know or understand the power of low carb and truly how it even works. We have so much misinformation going around and we are fighting against decades of dogma, as well as big pharmaceutical and food companies that will continue to push against low carb diets. We are gaining more and more ground, but there is still plenty more to cover. And the number one way we will do this is by getting our message out.
The more people we educate, the more people that learn about this way of eating and what it can do, the stronger the low carb movement grows. Knowledge truly is power and if the knowledge we spread isn’t factual, then we will end up falling behind on the amazing progress we’ve already made. I’ve already seen more and more people following IIFYM not because they are informed and choose that path, but because they have been taught and truly believe that it is the way to go to regain health and lose weight. I have seen people struggling simply to share knowledge and inform within the low carb community and ending up being labelled as dictators trying to control people’s diets, which is not at all the intention.
The bottom line is whatever form of low carb you choose to follow, we still are all on this path together and it is together that we will succeed. By informing each other, arming each other with information, while at the same time accepting each other’s individual way of doing things, we take the battle to spread the low carb message away from amongst ourselves where I so often see it and take it out into the rest of the world where it needs to be.
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