Episode Details

Episode 92: Paleo vs Keto vs Mediterranean. 

Sapna and Danish explain the main differences between three meal plans: Paleo, Keto, and Mediterranean. Intro about fad diets.

Introduction: Fad diets.  
By Hector Arreaza, MD.  

It is estimated that 2/3 of Americans are overweight or have obesity (73% of men and 63% of women), but only 19% of people claim to “be on a diet”, and 77% of people are trying to “eat healthier”[1]. It seems like many of us are on the weight-loss wagon together, hoping for a cure for this disease.

These days it is commonplace to hear about fad diets. Fad diets are short-lived eating patterns that make unrealistic claims about weight loss and improving health, with little to no effort on your part. “The Super-Duper diet will make you lose 100 pounds, eliminate your cellulite, erase stretch marks, remove your wrinkles, and give you extra energy to fly to the moon and back, buy the super-duper diet now!” We surely have a lot of products that make senseless promises, claim many victims, and leave people with empty pockets.   

Today is May 6, 2022. Sapna and Danish will enlighten us again with more nutrition discussions. When you go around your grocery store, have you wondered what “keto-friendly” really means? We hope after today, you get a better idea about it. Today we are presenting a brief discussion to compare three common dietary approaches for weight loss: Keto, Paleo, and Mediterranean. I’m sure you have heard some things about these diets, but we want to add to your fund of knowledge. Whether they are fad diets or not, we’ll let you decide. Enjoy it!  

This is Rio Bravo qWeek Podcast, your weekly dose of knowledge brought to you by the Rio Bravo Family Medicine Residency Program from Bakersfield, California. Our program is affiliated with UCLA, and it’s sponsored by Clinica Sierra Vista, Let Us Be Your Healthcare Home. This podcast was created for educational purposes only. Visit your primary care physician for additional medical advice.

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Paleo vs Keto vs Mediterranean. 
Prepared by Sapna Patel, MS4, and Danish Khalid, MS4, Ross University School of Medicine. Comments by Hector Arreaza, MD.

Welcome back to our Nutrition series!

D: In our previous episode, we talked about calorie balance and macronutrients. The basics of nutrition. So, if you haven’t already listened to that, pause this, and go listen to that first. As we will only continue to build on that knowledge. Now, let’s begin…

S: Whether your goals are to lose fat or gain muscle. Nowadays, we’ve got so many ways to achieve our nutritional goals. It can be difficult and overwhelming to know which one is best for you. So today,  we will talk about some of the main “diets'' that are well known to all.

Comment: People hate the word “Diet”, should we call them meal plans or Nutrition plans?

S: The Paleo meal plan. The Ketogenic meal plan. The Mediterranean meal plan. And as we go through each of them, we will compare them and discuss which fit certain nutritional goals.

Comment: These meal plans are very trendy right now, some people call them fad diets, but only time can tell if these diets really work long term or not.  

D: Let’s start with the Paleo meal plan. What is it? Also known as the Paleolithic diet, Caveman diet, or Stone-Age diet, this meal plan revisits the way humans ate almost 2.5 million years ago—The hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Overall, the meal plan is high in protein, moderate in fat (mainly unsaturated fats), low-moderate in carbohydrates (restricting high-glycemic carbohydrates), high in fiber, and low in sodium and refined sugars. It includes mainly lean meats, fish, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds.

Comment: It is low in carbs because carbs were so rare and uncommon in nature before agriculture was introduced to humanity. Animals (inclu