There are many kinds of keto diets, or many version of it. The basic principle is obviously to eat enough fat and to reduce carbs such that you're in ketosis. As you can imagine that can happen in all sorts of ways. You can do an Atkins style diet, which Ken mentioned, and which doesn't distinguish between fats and what is actually healthy and nutritious as a whole. For example, bacon has nitrates and is very poor in the best fatty acids and the relevant ratios; in fact, pork is just not a good meet and chicken is not the best either. I eat them once a month, pork even less often. You can buy supermarket meat that is grain fed and full of antibiotics, or you can just consume lots of seed and veggy oils, none of which is good for you. If you look at the fatty acid makeup of animals that are not fed their correct diets according to evolutionary principles, they don't even compare to animals that are, forget about the other chemicals, contaminants and antibiotics in the feed.

So the reason I say paleo ketogenic is because I use the healthy and natural principles of paleo in the foods that I choose, so the protein, the fats, and so on and so forth. You can eat all the processed food you like and still call it keto, but believe me it will ruin your health in a short amount of time. So I started paleo, then cut out the fruits and high carb veggies and found myself in ketosis. I have various principles, reason why I don't eat this and that, so it is definitely my own diet, formulated over several months, so to speak. As a rule of thumb, if you start with nutrient dense, natural foods on a paleo diet, and then cut out the carbs, you'll have a healthy keto diet.

What's interesting about ketosis is that our bodies are built such that you can slip in and out very easily, with no strain and without even feeling it. When I first showed ketones on my urine test, my GP though it was because I was fasting for the glucose and cholesterol test, but I then explained my diet. So it's that easy and you can slip into ketosis even in a day, if you fast long enough. Everyone is different but I've never heard of it taking more than a few days. We're built such that we can go from one food source, carbs, to the other, fat, and vise versa.

Pinky, that's a classic line. Take what is natural and healthy and turn it into a pharma product so that big pharma can benefit from it. That sounds much more appetizing than coconut oil...

Stillhoping, I understand. I used to be a vegetarian for many years earlier in my life, and it was for ethical reasons. Actually, for a short time, about a year, I even went vegan. As things stand, I hate to say it but I think that the increased amount of grains and general carbs (say from starchy pulses) that I ate then was one thing that led to my gut dysbiosis). Human beings are omnivores, who until very recently didn't consume nearly as much agriculturally produced foods as we now do. Ethically I think all the evidence is on the vegan side, or more so for sure, but health wise I would say the overwhelming evidence is with the paleo and in cases of illness with a paleo keto diet. But I won't lie: I can't justify my diet ethically, not at all, and that troubles me.

I posted this on another thread, but I thought I might as well post it here too, if anyone is interested:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1282589/

I'm not quite sure how to get access to this piece (in full): http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16523530. Would someone please help? I'm particularly interested in "(v) adverse effects" of the ketogenic diet. Thank you in advance.

I don’t know which nutrition is healthier in the long run, the one that you chose or mine. Maybe it is the reduction of processed food, refined carbs, sugar etc. in both of the methods.
I know many people that their health was improved when they based their nutrition on veggies, legumes, fruits, nuts etc. and these are also the recommendations of the AICR (American Institute for Cancer Research).

I can access it and will send you the paper

I think that's right, reducing refined carbs and processed foods, etc. is a huge start, and bound to result in great improvement. So that's part of it. But animal sources of food have certain beneficial micronutrients that are lacking in plant food, and that's what would worry me most, aside from the fact that grains and legumes (and even seeds and nuts in high quantities) have high levels of antinutrients (e.g., phytic acid) and are not the best sources for the nutrients that they do offer (veggies being much better). But if people are seeing improvement and better health from such diets, then by all means. The human body and nutrition itself are quite complex, and there's much we don't know.

And thanks so much for sending the paper.

I was raised on a farm, I raised cattle and chickens and hogs as an adult. I learned shoot, skin, slice, you get the picture. In my belief system, God gave man dominion over the animals. I can certainly respect anyone that wants to be different than me. If you believe there were cave men,(clovis people) you know that killing for meat was happening at least since the taming of fire. Just as veggie diets may leave one short on B-12, I am sure that no carb or veggie will result in a similar shortfall. We all were at one time opportunistic eaters like the bears. Omnivores. I will say that if you are killing hogs and it's cold and you have been at it for hours, cutting the tips from the tenderloin and shoving a stick through them and sticking the tips into the fire and eating straight off the stick is a primal thing and it's GOOD. Thanks Ken in Texas.

Ken, thanks for this. When growing up, in my teens, I had a chance for a while to work with animals, lambs and chicken, and there was something primal about slaughtering the animal with your own hands and at times even barbecuing it up right there, knowing what it had eaten and how it had lived. Our animals would roam and graze freely, and ate what they were meant to eat, so no GMO corn or soy, no antibiotics in their feed, and all that junk. It was a small family run operation. We also used to eat mountain greens in the same area, saute them, even though they probably looked like weeds to most people.

I would never recommend a diet with no veggies and carbs, that would be impossible but also terrible health wise. My diet is very high in a diversity of veggies, just low in carbs. In fact, eat meal consists of larger portions of veggies than anything else. Just as we've always hunted, we've always foraged. We are definitely opportunistic and omnivorous creatures.