How Organised Fits into Different Dietary Frameworks

The different dietary frameworks that have emerged over the past decade can look like they're in disagreement. But they're actually all built on one foundational principle: that modern industrial food is making us sicker, and that going backwards (to the way our ancestors ate, or to a simpler, whole-food approach) makes us better.

The universal principle underneath

Before there was carnivore or paleo or keto, there was just food. Real food. Meat from animals that were raised properly. Vegetables that were seasonal. Fruit when it was available. Fat, salt, water, and time to digest. No processing. No marketing. No ingredient lists with unpronounceable additives.

Every legitimate dietary framework alive today is a return to some version of that baseline. The arguments are about how much plant food versus animal food, how much fat versus carbohydrate, how much caloric restriction. But they're not arguments about the reality of real food being better than processed food. That's universal.

Organised is built on that foundation. Not on a prescription about what percentage of your diet should be meat, or whether you should eat fruit, or whether saturated fat is good or bad. On the principle that if you eat real food, your body will work better.

Different dietary approaches can disagree on the details. They all agree that real food is better than processed food. Start there.

Carnivore and animal-based frameworks

If you follow a carnivore or animal-based framework, Organised is almost obviously aligned with your approach. These frameworks prioritise animal foods: meat, organs, fat, sometimes dairy, sometimes eggs. They exclude or minimise plant foods.

Nose-to-tail eating is the beating heart of both of these approaches. You're not just eating muscle meat. You're eating the organs, the bone marrow, the collagen, the fat. Because that's where the nutrient density lives. An animal-based or carnivore diet done well is one of the most nutrient-dense ways to eat on the planet.

If you're following these frameworks, the principles are simple: source your meat well (grass-fed, pasture-raised, outdoor-raised ideally), include organ meats regularly, use the fat from your animals, use bone broth, and don't worry about the idea that eating mostly animal products is somehow deficient. It's not. Done properly, it's exceptionally complete.

Paleo and ancestral eating

Paleo and ancestral eating frameworks tend to be broader. They include meat, organs, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, herbs. They exclude grains, legumes, processed seed oils, and modern additives.² The principle is that we should eat foods our ancestors ate, before agriculture.

Organised sits perfectly inside this framework. Eat real meat, real vegetables, real fruit, real fat. Avoid processed food. That's paleo. That's ancestral. That's also Organised.

The debate within paleo communities about whether you should eat fruit, or nuts, or how much dairy is fine. Those are individual variations. But the core principle (real food, ancestral foods, nothing highly processed) is completely aligned with a whole food approach.

Paleo doesn't dictate the ratio. It just dictates real food. Everything else is personalisation.

Ketogenic approaches

Ketogenic eating focuses on high fat, adequate protein, minimal carbohydrate. The goal is to shift metabolism into ketosis, where the body runs on fat for fuel rather than glucose.¹

Organised works within a ketogenic framework if you approach it that way. You can absolutely eat carnivore (which is inherently ketogenic). You can eat paleo but with lower carbohydrate foods and higher fat. You can be flexitarian but keep your carbs from plants minimal and your fat intake high.

The key is that keto as a framework doesn't care whether you're getting your fat from butter or avocado oil or animal fat. It just cares about the macros and the quality. Real food, high fat, low carb. Organised principles fit inside that completely.

Some people find that their body feels better in ketosis. Others find that they need some carbohydrate (from fruit, or root vegetables, or both) to feel optimal. Both are valid. Keto is a framework. How you fill it in (with real food or processed food, with animal fat or plant fat) is where Organised principles apply.

Flexitarian and omnivorous eating

Flexitarian eating is largely plant-based but with occasional meat. Omnivorous eating just means you eat everything, without restriction. These are much broader frameworks, and they're also the most common way that real humans actually eat long-term.

Organised works perfectly here too. It doesn't prescribe how much meat you should eat. It just says eat real meat when you eat it. Eat real vegetables when you eat those. Eat real fruit when you eat fruit. Avoid processing. Use real fat. Use salt. Sit down to eat. That works for someone eating mostly plants with occasional meat. That works for someone eating mostly meat with regular vegetables. That works for someone in the middle.

The flexitarian or omnivorous framework might be the most practical for most people long-term, because it allows you to live in the real world. You're not at someone's house and refusing everything on the table because it doesn't fit a strict protocol. You're eating well most of the time, with flexibility when you need it. That's sustainable.

Mixing and matching without confusion

Here's where people get confused. They think that if they're not fully committed to one dietary framework, they're doing it wrong. But the truth is simpler.

You can be mostly carnivore with seasonal fruit. You can be paleo but also eat dairy. You can be ketogenic but also experiment with some carbohydrates to find your sweet spot. You can be flexitarian but prioritise meat and organs when you do eat them. You can combine elements from multiple frameworks without it being inconsistent.

What matters is the principle, not the label. The principle is that real food makes you feel better than processed food. The principle is that nutrient density matters. The principle is that paying attention to how your body responds to what you eat is more important than ideology.

Dietary frameworks are maps. Real food is the territory. Don't mistake the map for the destination.

You don't need to choose one framework and stay in it forever. You can experiment. You can find what makes your body feel best. You can borrow from carnivore (lots of organs), combine it with paleo (add some vegetables), keep it ketogenic (high fat, low carb), and you're not failing either approach. You're succeeding at paying attention to your own body.

The bottom line

Whether you follow carnivore, animal-based, paleo, ancestral, ketogenic, flexitarian, or something you've invented yourself that works for your life, the foundation is the same. Real food. Whole ingredients. Nothing processed. Nothing that came out of a factory with an ingredient list longer than a sentence.

That's the only framework that matters. How you fill it in is up to you. Different frameworks will guide you toward different ratios of protein to plant food, different fat percentages, different approaches to fasting or meal timing. But they're all built on the same bedrock: that your body works better when you feed it real food.

Pick the framework that feels most natural to your life and your body's response. Then eat real food inside that framework. You're not being inconsistent. You're being smart.

References

1. 1. Paoli A. Ketogenic diet for obesity: friend or foe? International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2014;11(2):2092-2107. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3945587/
2. 2. Eaton SB, Konner M. Paleolithic nutrition. A consideration of its nature and current implications. New England Journal of Medicine. 1985;312(5):283-289. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2981409/