chris

chris.bair

About Chris

Chris Bair is a technology and computer geek. He became involved in the nutritionally complete "future foods" movement in January 2014, originally with a conventional recipe and later switching to a high fat, low carb "ketogenic" variant on October 2014. In January 2015 he created the recipe for Keto Chow and released it without restriction for anyone to use, at the same time he began mixing the recipe up for people that wanted a finished product and has seen steady growth in the business every month since.

Facebook Live recording from March 5, 2019

It’s our weekly Facebook LIVE video. Each week we answer questions, talk about stuff that’s going on, and more! Here’s what we talked about:

  • Natural Strawberry is on sale
  • I’m on day 63 of my experiment: 100 days of eating nothing but Keto Chow
  • Where to find the recipes on the Keto Chow site
  • Results of the 3rd Party Blind Taste Test were published today
  • Carrie wants to know how to do keto (Chow) on a cruise
  • Should you just use the calories from the back of the sample packs or what? How do you calculate calories for Keto Chow.
  • What is “HWC” and “MCT” – when to use which
  • Where in Arkansas can you buy Keto Chow?
  • Powdered Cream – does it work for Keto and Keto Chow?
  • When to count fiber, when not. Can you pour bran on icecream and make it low carb?
  • Why is there no MCT Oil in Keto Chow?
  • Dan is breaking the rules and mixing strawberry and chocolate together =)
  • Chad wondered is his Cookies and Cream was bad because of the smell, he tasted it and it was just fine.
  • What kind of fat should you use? Short version: saturated fat is best.
  • Anybody know someone that’s experienced publishing cookbooks?

Here is the high-quality UHD4K recording straight from the camera:

Here is the original Facebook live recording, complete with the user comments

https://www.facebook.com/ketochow/videos/2675158852510998/

By |2019-03-06T20:19:10-07:00March 6th, 2019|Categories: Keto Chow|Tags: , , |2 Comments

Results of the Keto Chow 3rd party blind taste test

I’ve had these results for some time but needed to get them into a usable format for public consumption. We did the taste test in early January for use in an upcoming video promotion we shot in February. I needed to strip out the references to the names of the competing products since I’m not going to promote nor disparage the other products. I’ve met (often on multiple occasions) the creators of all of the products we tested against, and I don’t want to be “that guy” (also if they want to do a taste test, they’ll have to pay for it themselves =). I prefer to treat others the way I expect to be treated and I wouldn’t like Keto Chow called out in that way. Besides, I genuinely think there is enough room in the space for all of us. Our biggest hurdle isn’t competitors, it’s getting people past their terrible experience with “diet weight loss shakes” in their past and giving us a try.

The big takeaways from the test:

  • In a 3rd party blind taste test, participants were asked to try 5 of the leading Keto Shakes.
  • Keto Chow outperformed all of the competitors in appearance, flavor, texture, and overall impression.
  • More participants ranked Keto Chow #1 than any other tested brand.
  • In fact, participants were significantly more likely to recommend Keto Chow to friends or family than all other tested brands.

The other cool thing they confirmed was that Keto Chow with sucralose tastes “more natural” than products using Stevia, Erythritol, Monk Fruit, or a combination. Which is why we use Sucralose for most of our flavors. You can read the full results of the taste tests, including the verbatim responses of each person as to WHY they rated each drink the way they did over on this page.

By |2019-03-05T13:41:57-07:00March 5th, 2019|Categories: Keto Chow|0 Comments

100 Days of Keto (Chow) Day 63

This entry is part 69 of 107 in the series 100 Days of Keto Chow

I still ended up eating dinner late last night but I didn’t feel crazy super full all day like Sunday. Looks like I’m down 31.0 lbs as of today. I did take new measurements on Sunday, those are on the Zozo Suit sheet of my blood test results spreadsheet. I expect I’ll be getting my most recent results either Wednesday or Thursday, I don’t know if I’ll be able to update them into the spreadsheet until we get back from Denver though.

https://youtu.be/_QbZy89k2KA

I got my teeth cleaned yesterday, I’ve been doing really well at flossing but I also haven’t chewed food hardly at all since my last appointment. They did think I’m a little crazy, but a surprising number of the hygienists and the receptionist there at my dentist office are using Keto Chow, some daily. Anyhow, I had less plaque buildup than normal and my gums were doing much better with very little inflammation at all. I do need to get a crown put onto a tooth that has a filling that’s starting to split.

Tomorrow’s update (and the ones until next Tuesday) may be weird. We’ll be driving to Denver tomorrow, at the Low Carb Denver show Thursday-Sunday, and driving back next Monday. So I won’t have my usual suite of tools and equipment.

100 Days of Keto (Chow) Day 62

This entry is part 68 of 107 in the series 100 Days of Keto Chow

It’s rather funny: I usually mention in many of these updates how much weight I’ve lost so far, though that’s not the only thing I’m reporting on each time. Still, anytime I fail to mention how much I’m down, invariably someone posts an almost frantic comment asking how much I’ve lost. Everyone is going to lose, or not lose, at their own pace and according to their personal metabolic state so my results will not foretell how you or anyone else will react.

https://youtu.be/OYY2haXBIpc

All that said: welcome to day 62 of my 100 days of only consuming Keto Chow for all my meals. As of this morning, I am down 30.4 lbs – averaging very close to half a pound of weight loss per day. Let’s do a breakdown of how it’s going so far:

  • Saturday my blood ketones were at 3.5 mmol/L, my average for the last 30 days is 2.6mmol/L.
  • My Ketone/Glucose index average for the last 30 days is 1.7. A ratio of 1 means there is exactly the same mmol/L concentration of glucose and ketones in my blood, you want that number below 1 for treating cancer, epilepsy, and other therapeutic treatments. More info about the glucose:ketone index here.
  • I’m down 30.4lbs since the beginning of the experiment, 11.5lbs in the last 30 days.
  • I did NOT get enough sleep last night. I woke up early on Saturday and Sunday, based on how bad I’m dragging this morning I think I would have slept until 9 instead of when the alarm went off at 5:20. Looks like I’m averaging 6.48 hours of sleep per night over the last 90 days.
  • I finished the day yesterday with 1.8g of net carbs, today I’ll end up with 1.7g.

Speaking of yesterday, I didn’t drink my first bottle of Keto Chow until nearly 3 pm. On a typical nonscience experiment day I probably would have stopped there and not eaten anymore for the rest of the day but I’m tightly controlling variables right now and drank two more, the final one at around 7:45 pm. I REALLY do not like eating that late, and that might have something to do with how tired I am this morning.

Oh, and by the way, “Keto Crotch” is not a thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB5idKKh34g

Flavor of the week: Get 10% off the Natural Strawberry 21 meal packs between Mar 4 – Mar 10

For the next week, you can get 10% off the 21 meal “week” size of Natural Strawberry 2.1. We introduced the Natural Strawberry as a way to test out using monk fruit as a sweetener instead of sucralose. Occasionally we’ll get someone that likes the concept of Keto Chow but personally is avoiding certain sweeteners – this gives them the option of doing so. Monk Fruit does not taste the same as sucralose though; it’s far better than stevia in the taste testing we did, but it does only work with certain flavors and strawberry was a good fit. Check out the flavor reviews of 2.1 Natural Strawberry!

Speaking of reviews, you should check out our store reviews on Google, and the reviews of Keto Chow. Here’s a “taste”:

I called in because I had questions about my order. My customer service rep was so nice and had great helpful tips. I could tell he loves the product and was super helpful!

Here’s another review, it should be noted that I publish all of the reviews that come in – bad or good – as they are, typos intact. The only ones I remove are spam posts from people wanting you to buy pills to “enhance performance” and such.

I love the yummy flavors of Keto Chow. I have not tried one that I haven’t liked. I am so excited that the sample meals of the new flavors are back in stock. I love the thickness and texture of the shakes.

By |2019-03-04T06:31:34-07:00March 4th, 2019|Categories: Keto Chow|Tags: , |0 Comments

100 Days of Keto (Chow) Day 61

This entry is part 67 of 107 in the series 100 Days of Keto Chow

Huh, avocado oil. I’ve done Keto Chow with only Avocado Oil in the past, and it tends to fill me with apprehension and a little dread… until I start doing it and then it’s not such a big deal. Yesterday (Saturday, March 2) was my first day using only Avocado Oil for all my fat during this experiment. I actually had a few meals of Keto Chow already mixed up with heavy cream that still needed to get eaten, my kids were happy to take care of those =). I mixed up two Chocolate and one Chocolate Mint with 60ml each of Avocado Oil, took one for breakfast as we drove the 40 minutes to Salt Lake. Honestly, it really was just fine – I was all worried for nothing. It’s not Chocolate with Heavy Cream, but it was still quite tasty with a much stronger chocolate flavor. When we got home I grabbed out the Chocolate Mint, set it on the counter, and proceeded to not drink it for about 30 minutes. It was a combination of several factors: I wasn’t terribly hungry from drinking one at 9 am, and I was a little bit not wanting to drink it (again, not heavy cream and amazingly delicious beyond reason). I did finally drink it and the Chocolate Mint was indeed quite tasty, finished it with no problem.

Miriam suggested we go to dinner with my parents on Saturday night. As is my thing to do during the 100-day experiment, my plan was to get something to drink and enjoy the conversation. That wasn’t an issue at all because, once again, I was not remotely hungry. Dinner was fine, Miriam got steak and shrimp with “loaded broccoli” (broccoli with cheese, bacon, sour cream, and butter – it’s a loaded baked potato without the potato), I got Coke Zero with lemon and lime. The “Keto Police” will get all crazy about the Coke Zero and aspartame but frankly, I don’t care about the keto police and I’ve demonstrated with a continuous glucose monitor and blood ketone meter in the past that my physiology has absolutely no problem whatsoever with Aspartame, AceK, Sucralose, Erythritol, Allulose, or Sorbitol. So the Keto Police can stick it up their ears =P

Anyhow, got home and I warmed up my Chocolate Keto Chow with Avocado Oil in the microwave in a giant mug that can hold about 14 ounces (I do half, then the other half). Wow, that’s really good! Like almost as good as warm Chocolate Keto Chow with Heavy Cream. And again, I’m seriously full.

The big take away is that on Friday with 3 meals of Keto Chow using 100ml each of Heavy Cream I ended up with 1612 calories and 10.0g of net carbs (31.4 total carbs for the Keto Police).

On Saturday with two Chocolate and one Chocolate Mint (the cocoa powder adds more carbs compared to many of the non-chocolate flavors), I ended up with 1892 calories for the day and 4.0 net carbs (25.0 total for the keto police).

Today I’m doing Orange Cream, Raspberry Cheesecake, and Chocolate Toffee; all with 60ml of avocado oil in each meal. According to Cron-o-meter, I will finish the day with 1874 calories and, get this: 1.7g of net carbohydrates for the entire day (23.1g of total carbs for the keto police). That be crazy!

100 Days of Keto (Chow) Day 60

This entry is part 66 of 107 in the series 100 Days of Keto Chow

Here we are, 3/5 of the way done. 60%. I’m down to 40 days left of eating only Keto Chow for all my meals. I did get the final results from the Riverton city weight loss challenge, ultimate I ended up losing 12.40% of my starting weight and ranked 6th place. Not bad for no calorie restriction, no running/biking/serious working out (we did do P90 but that’s not overly strenuous).

Today marks switching from Keto Chow with Heavy Cream to Keto Chow with Avocado Oil. I was actually supposed to switch yesterday but forgot and had a bunch already mixed up in the fridge with heavy cream.

100 Days of Keto (Chow) Day 59

This entry is part 65 of 107 in the series 100 Days of Keto Chow

The 100 days is still going fine. Last night we had some neighbors over for ice cream, that meant stopping by a local grocery store called “Harmons” – they have the distinction of being one of the very few grocery stores that carry Rebel Creamery keto ice cream, it was even on sale for $5 a pint. I had Chocolate Mint Keto Chow whilst everyone else was eating ice cream.

I’m going to be heading to LabCorp this morning for blood test #3. After that, I get to swing by the sign place and pick up the new graphic for the front door. Along with the new logo we needed the hours changed on the front door since we are now open until 5 pm on weekdays.

100 Days of Keto (Chow) Day 58

This entry is part 64 of 107 in the series 100 Days of Keto Chow

Well, I’m nearly 3/5 of the way done with my 100 days of eating only Keto Chow for all my meals. Yesterday I received my second blood test, it records what’s going on after a week of using ONLY heavy cream for all my fat calories. You can view the results on this spreadsheet. In my expert analysis, I conclude that I am still alive! What a relief =)

https://youtu.be/ae-jiaS_AGs

We had an outage with our shopping cart yesterday. That sucked. Depending on your internet service provider it was either up or down for nearly 6 hours. I believe I have the infrastructure changed enough that it won’t be a problem in the future… maybe. I did get more shirt designs up on Amazon Merch – including some that have the Keto Chow logo on the front and the keto food pyramid on the back. They are $5 more expensive because of the additional printing, I still have them priced as low as possible without us losing money on each sale.

By |2019-02-28T09:29:30-07:00February 28th, 2019|Categories: Weight Loss, 100 Days of Keto Chow|Tags: , , , , , |0 Comments

Facebook Live recording from Feb 26, 2019

This week we had a special guest: Amanda of @amandaeatsketo fame as well as many of the recipes that use Keto Chow. In addition to making amazing recipes, she has been working as a medical assistant at Ogden Medical Weight Loss Clinic with Dr. Rohn Rigby where they use ketogenic diets (among other interventions) to help their patients with a wide range is ailments but chiefly to successfully lose weight and regain their health. Here is the high-quality UHD4K recording from the camera:

We also discussed some other stuff:

  • Root Beer Float is on sale this week, 10% off
  • Day 56 of my experiment: 100 days of eating nothing but Keto Chow
  • Where to find the recipes on the Keto Chow site
  • Stephanie wants to know: Can you use almond milk instead of heavy cream for keto chow?
  • Katie asked: Can someone explain keto chow to me. What is it? How do you do it? The benefits?
  • If you have pets or are around people with pets, don’t buy xylitol. If a recipe calls for xylitol and you have pets, use something else.  Erythritol has less of a glycemic effect than xylitol and is not toxic.
  • What to do if Keto Chow is WAY too filling – takes hours to drink.
  • MCT Oil and MCT Oil powder, what are they useful for?
  • DeeAnn ads TrueOrange to the Orange Cream Keto Chow. Anna uses TrueLemon in Vanilla
  • Carrie wants to know How does everyone store their Keto Chow?
  • Beth asks about Keto Chow in carb manager – scans as 4 carbs.

Here is the original Facebook live recording, complete with the user comments

https://www.facebook.com/ketochow/videos/2323633814593079/

By |2019-03-06T20:18:47-07:00February 27th, 2019|Categories: Keto Chow|Tags: , , |0 Comments