Can You Do Paleo and Keto Together? The Definitive Guide to the 'Pegan' Diet

November 26, 2025 •

3 min read

According to a 2024 survey, restrictive diets like paleo and keto continue to gain popularity for their potential health benefits, which has led many to question if combining them is possible. Yes, you can do paleo and keto together, creating a stricter but potentially more nutrient-dense, low-carb regimen that eliminates processed foods from both plans.

Quick Summary

The paleo-keto diet fuses the whole-food focus of paleo with the low-carb macro ratios of keto. It emphasizes high-quality fats and proteins, along with non-starchy vegetables, to achieve ketosis while avoiding grains, legumes, and most dairy. This hybrid approach offers a cleaner, more nutrient-dense path to metabolic and weight-loss goals.

Key Points

Combine the Rules: Adhere to the strictest rules of both diets simultaneously, eliminating all grains, legumes, processed foods, and dairy while maintaining keto's low-carb, high-fat macro ratios.
Emphasize Food Quality: Prioritize high-quality, whole food sources like grass-fed meat, wild-caught fish, and organic produce, a core tenet of the paleo diet.
Track Your Macronutrients: Unlike standard paleo, you must track your daily carbohydrate intake, typically limiting it to 20-50 grams of net carbs to achieve and maintain ketosis.
Manage Potential Downsides: Be prepared for the restrictive nature of the diet, which can be challenging to sustain long-term and may require careful planning to avoid nutrient deficiencies.
Consult a Professional: Due to the diet's rigidity, it is wise to consult with a healthcare provider or registered dietitian to ensure it is safe and appropriate for your individual health needs.
Reap Combined Benefits: Experience the synergistic effects of both diets, including potentially improved metabolic health, stable blood sugar, weight loss, and reduced inflammation.

Understanding the Paleo and Keto Foundations

Combining the paleo and ketogenic diets requires understanding their individual principles. Paleo focuses on ancestral eating patterns, prioritizing foods available to hunter-gatherers, while keto aims for ketosis through specific macronutrient ratios. Both eliminate processed foods, grains, and added sugars, but differ in other food groups.

The Paleo Diet: A Whole-Foods Philosophy

The paleo diet emphasizes foods like lean meats, fish, eggs, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and healthy fats such as olive and avocado oil. It avoids grains, legumes, dairy, processed foods, and refined sugars, aiming for overall wellness rather than specific carb limits.

The Keto Diet: A Low-Carb Metabolic Shift

The keto diet is a high-fat, low-carb, moderate-protein plan designed to induce ketosis by limiting carbs to 20–50 grams per day. Macronutrients are typically around 70-80% fats, 10-20% protein, and 5-10% carbohydrates. Keto includes meat, fish, eggs, healthy fats, high-fat dairy, and non-starchy vegetables. Unlike paleo, its focus is ketosis, allowing dairy if it fits the macro goals.

Creating the Paleo-Keto Hybrid Diet

This hybrid diet combines the restrictions of both paleo and keto, resulting in a cleaner, stricter low-carb approach. It removes non-paleo foods from the keto plan while maintaining strict low-carb macros.

What a Paleo-Keto Diet Looks Like

A paleo-keto diet follows these principles:

Prioritize high-quality animal products, pasture-raised eggs, and organic produce.
Eliminate all grains and legumes.
Remove all dairy, except possibly grass-fed ghee or butter.
Restrict high-carb fruits and starchy vegetables to maintain ketosis.
Increase intake of paleo-approved fats like avocado and olive oil to meet keto's high-fat targets.

How to Transition to Paleo-Keto

Transitioning involves several steps:

Eliminate grains, legumes, and processed foods first.
Gradually remove dairy products.
Calculate your specific macronutrient targets using a keto calculator.
Ensure fats primarily come from whole-food sources.
Monitor ketones to confirm ketosis and adjust if needed.

Paleo-Keto Diet Comparison


Feature	Paleo Diet	Keto Diet	Paleo-Keto Hybrid
Core Philosophy	Ancestral eating; whole, unprocessed foods.	Macronutrient ratios; inducing ketosis for fat burning.	Combines whole-foods emphasis with strict keto macro goals.
Carb Intake	More flexible, can be high if from fruits/veg.	Very low (20-50g net carbs/day).	Very low, similar to keto, but from paleo sources.
Dairy	Excluded (except possibly ghee).	Allowed (high-fat, low-carb options like cheese, cream).	Excluded, adhering to paleo principles.
Legumes	Excluded.	Excluded due to carb content.	Excluded, adhering to both.
Processed Food	Excluded strictly.	Allows some processed low-carb options.	Excluded strictly, adhering to paleo.
Sustainability	Generally more flexible and sustainable long-term.	Can be challenging to sustain due to strictness.	Very restrictive, challenging for long-term adherence.

Benefits of the Combined Approach

Combining paleo and keto offers potential benefits by focusing on nutrient density and leveraging ketosis. Advantages reported include:

Enhanced Nutrient Density: Prioritizing whole foods increases vitamin and mineral intake.
Effective Weight Loss: Utilizes ketosis for fat burning and whole foods for satiety.
Improved Metabolic Health: Eliminating refined carbs and processed foods can stabilize blood sugar and improve insulin sensitivity.
Reduced Inflammation: Both diets' anti-inflammatory properties are maximized by removing inflammatory foods.
Better Digestion: Whole foods and fewer processed items can improve gut health.

Potential Drawbacks and Considerations

This diet is highly restrictive and has potential challenges:

High Level of Restriction: Can be socially isolating and difficult to maintain long-term.
Nutrient Deficiencies: Eliminating dairy and legumes requires careful planning for adequate calcium and fiber.
Environmental Concerns: Emphasis on high-quality animal products can be environmentally taxing and expensive.
Risk of Imbalanced Fats: An over-reliance on nuts and seeds without balancing omega-3 and omega-6 could create an imbalance.
Transition Side Effects: 'Keto flu' symptoms like headaches and fatigue may occur while the body adapts.

Conclusion

Combining paleo and keto is possible and can create a nutrient-dense, low-carb approach for weight loss and metabolic health. This hybrid, or paleo-keto, model merges paleo's whole-food focus with keto's strict macros. By eating high-quality animal products, non-starchy vegetables, and healthy fats while eliminating grains, legumes, dairy, and processed foods, individuals can achieve ketosis with an emphasis on food quality. Though restrictive, potential benefits include improved blood sugar, reduced inflammation, and weight management. Consulting a healthcare professional before starting is advised.

Optional Resource

For more guidance on a dairy-free keto lifestyle that aligns with paleo principles, a dairy-free keto guide can provide valuable food choices.

Frequently Asked Questions

The main difference is the emphasis on food quality and the elimination of dairy. Paleo-keto adheres to the whole-food, unprocessed guidelines of paleo while following the strict low-carb macros of keto, whereas standard keto allows high-fat dairy and some processed low-carb options.

Weight loss on a paleo-keto diet can be effective, leveraging the fat-burning state of ketosis. The added focus on nutrient-dense, unprocessed foods may also lead to greater satiety, which can help with portion control and weight management.

Due to its restrictive nature, the long-term health effects of a paleo-keto diet are debated. While it promotes whole foods, the strict limitations can be challenging to sustain and may risk certain nutrient deficiencies without careful planning. Consultation with a healthcare provider is recommended.

Besides the typical 'keto flu' symptoms during the transition period (fatigue, headaches), the restrictive nature may lead to potential nutrient deficiencies, especially if not well-planned. A higher consumption of animal products, if not balanced with healthy fats and vegetables, can also be a concern.

A paleo-keto diet restricts grains, legumes, dairy products (except possibly ghee), processed foods, refined sugars, and high-carb fruits and vegetables.

Focus on high-fiber, low-carb vegetables and nuts. Options include leafy greens (spinach, kale), broccoli, avocado, chia seeds, and ground flaxseed.

The paleo-keto diet can be expensive, particularly because it emphasizes high-quality, organic, grass-fed, and wild-caught ingredients. The elimination of cost-effective staples like grains and legumes contributes to the higher price point.