Clean Keto vs Dirty Keto – What’s Your Preference?
The keto diet has a great following for one simple reason: it works.The health benefits of the ketogenic diet goes beyond just weight loss. In this article we want to quickly look at clean keto vs dirty keto. And why it’s important to know the differences between them if you truly want to keto to a healthier you.
Your Takeaway:
As always, we value your time here. So if you want the answer quickly, here is the important takeaway when it comes to the clean keto vs dirty keto:
– Clean keto — get all your macros from whole, unprocessed food sources
– Dirty keto — the sources of your macros aren’t important.
Now let’s get into the details…
Dirty and Clean Keto Diets
When you follow dirty keto, you would be getting all your macros following the same keto mantra of high fat (75%), moderate protein (20%) and low carbs (5%). Clean keto dieters follow the same regimen too. The main difference? Dirty keto followers do not care the source of macros macronutrients
The ketogenic diet is a weight loss program that limits carbohydrates and includes plenty of healthy fats. The hard core keto dieters are strict with their food intake. They eat whole, unprocessed foods and monitor their fat, protein and carbohydrate ratios. Their aim is to force or keep their body in a state of ketosis.
If you follow the keto diet, your body burns fat instead of glucose for its energy needs. Those who strictly follow the diet attest to losing weight fast in just a few days of drastically reducing their carbohydrates.
However, as with any diet there are some rules that some follow and other people follow different rules. Even the keto diet has followers that do the ‘Clean Keto’ version, while others do the ‘Dirty Keto’ version.
What Is Clean Keto
The clean keto diet follows the principle of eating foods with low carbohydrate content, but those that keep you feeling fuller longer due to their high fiber content, such as green leafy vegetables
The clean keto diet is often referred to as the strict keto diet. You only eat healthy, whole foods. You do not eat any processed foods at all. Although the keto diet allows nuts and dairy, there are some advocates who avoid these foods as they believe they will not help them with fast weight loss.
If you are on the clean keto diet, then drinking alcohol is a definite no-no. It all boils down to eating a clean diet, without eating anything processed or even drinking an occasional glass of wine.
What Is Dirty Keto
If you decide you want to go keto, but don’t particularly want to follow the restrictions religiously, then your diet will no doubt be branded as being the ‘dirty keto diet’.
Following this diet means you can eat anything as long as your carb intake remains low and it’s still high in fat. This way of eating does not focus as stringently on where you source your food and nutrients, just as long as you follow the keto principle. In other words, this diet puts a premium on convenience, so you can eat whatever is available or on hand, provided you keep the carbo-fat percentage intact.
It is easy to understand why some people prefer to go for the dirty keto diet if they lead a busy lifestyle and can’t organize their meals in advance. It’s a lot easier to throw a ready-made frozen meal in the microwave than it is to chop and peel vegetables and find healthy cuts of meat.
If you enjoy being in the kitchen, then you won’t find cooking keto meals a chore at all. Weighing your foods, watching the portions, counting the ratios etc., may all be fun for one person, but not for all. Usually the one it’s not fun for is the dirty keto dieter, who may find the convenience of other foods better for them. They will look for foods that are as low in carb as possible, but the meat may be processed, and the vegetables may not be organically grown.
Let’s take a look at an example. A fast food chain may be selling a chicken burger, complete with salad. The clean dieter won’t eat it all, however, the dirty dieter will eat most of it, processed meat and all, but throw away the bun. At the end of the day their macros may not look too bad, however, the clean keto dieter’s nutrients will look a whole lot better!
Clean Keto vs Dirty Keto – Conclusion
Whether you go for clean or dirty keto is as much a personal preference as it is a matter of convenience. However, for a better long term health, I believe it’s better to lean towards more of clean keto dieter than the other. So what’s your take? Do you prefer dirty to clean keto diets? Let us know your thoughts and preferences and as usual if you have any comments, questions or suggestions on this clean keto vs dirty keto article please leave them in the section below.
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