This is a false dichotomy (and an inaccurate/unfair characterization), I assume based on some bad blogging and/or marketing.

The way I eat is very much a philosophy. I start with the premise that something is systemically wrong with the way we eat and work backward from there.

Another premise is that there have been 3 major step-changes in longevity: sanitation, major infant/birthing-mother mortality improvement and germ theory.

Nutrition and (relatedly, metabolism, genetics and epigenetics) are due to be the fourth step-change.

Studying metabolism and looking to history for clues on the diseases our diets may be contributing to or even causing, and then applying the scientific method to study those clues through biochemistry etc, forms the basis of my philosophy, along with analyzing WHY we've gotten it so wrong lately (combination of desperation, ignorance, greed, corruption, etc).

I also self-experiment. The results are undeniable, and I've done these tests under vegan, raw, SAD, and "clean" diets. I think a strict Paleo and my basic keto diet would render about the same results re: a lot of metrics.

But whatever way of eating I follow, I want to have the benefits of running off of beta-hydroxybuterate without having to readapt. So that's how my philosophy of eating is tuned.

Also, staying fat adapted and even remaining in nutritional ketosis is not difficult unless you want to eat out the majority of the time. It would get very tedious under those circumstances.

But, if you work in regular exercise and maybe intermittent fasting and try at least lazily to stick with the basic macros (which I haven't counted or calculated in ages--i now just do occasional blood ketone tests under various circumstances to tweak how I eat), then there is a lot of leeway in diet.

My wife, other family, and friends have also compiled a pretty badass collection of recipes and grocery lists that have really removed any nostalgia for the carb days.

Beer is my only real weakness, for which there is no substitute (although if you call Miller Lite "beer" then it's fairly low carb per ABV)--I prefer the occasional Bell's Two Hearted 6-pack and just work it off.

Example of my "diet": I'm about to break my 16-hr fast with a low-carb pancake (almond/flax/coconut flour based + eggs and various fats) w fiber syrup loaded with grass-fed butter, uncured bacon, avocado smothered in olive oil, more coffee (i prefer it black, but I have been doing a chai sort of thing for fat and cinnamon intake: 1/2 teaspoon of Ceylon (important) cinnamon, Milkadamia, coffee and cacao + MCT if I'm going to be super active), and eggs (maybe a veggie and cheese omelette).

I make the pancake batter in about 5 mins on a weekend day and save as a treat for week. This is not a staple but a great substitute, and tastes better than flour pancakes to me.

I also eat more veggies than I did under other "diets." They are great good-fat delivery devices (usually my way of loading up on olive oil).

Getting enough fat and properly limiting protein (to mimic peoples like the Inuits) takes some finesse in our SAD environment, but it isn't any more a "diet" than any other way of eating. It's a lifestyle choice. And the benefits so exponentially outweigh the costs that I can't even imagine going back to high carbs.

And, just wait until the research on beta-hydroxybuterate really gets kicking.