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.

Flavor of the Week Oct 15-Oct 21: 10% off sale on Cookies & Cream 2.1 week packs

I just checked, the last time we had Cookies and Cream on sale was September… 2017! This is the first time the new 2.1 version of Cookies and Cream has been on sale. For the next week, you can get 10% off the 21 meal “week” size of Cookies and Cream 2.1. Check out the flavor reviews of 2.1 Cookies and Cream!

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

I was sceptical in ordering this. Im not a shake person. They taste amazing. I have purchased large bags of cookies and cream, chocolate peanut butter, and vanilla. I like that you can purchase samples first to see if you like them. They taste really yummy and don’t trigger my sugar dragon. The shake keeps me full and I highly recommend them.

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. This review actually comes from the Keto Chow Facebook Page:

I love this stuff. I’ve replaced 2 meals a day with it & I fill in the gaps with shredded chicken, hard boiled eggs, quest cookies & veggies. I’ve lost 20lbs so far and the weight keeps falling off ? I love it. It tastes like an actual milkshake, not a nasty fake protein shake. I love the chocolate & the salted caramel & I ordered a bunch of other flavored trial packages to see if I want to expand my range ? excellent product for people trying to lose weight on the go, especially when you’re self employed & there’s no time for complicated food! Loyal customer over here ❤

By |2018-10-16T11:46:20-06:00October 15th, 2018|Categories: Keto Chow|Tags: , |0 Comments

Weekly Facebook Live recording from Oct 9, 2018

We did our weekly Facebook Live video last night – answered a bunch of questions – talked about random things, and more! We do it every Tuesday at 7:30 pm (mountain). Here’s the Facebook version of the video, complete with the comments and questions as they came in:

Or, if you prefer, here’s the recording we uploaded to YouTube:

By |2018-10-10T16:11:29-06:00October 10th, 2018|Categories: Ketogenic Diet|Tags: , |0 Comments

Flavor of the Week Oct 8-Oct 14: 10% off sale on Snickerdoodle 2.1 week packs

I just checked, the last time we had Snickerdoodle on sale was June… 2017! This is the first time the new 2.1 version of Snickerdoodle with its buttery cinnamony goodness has been on sale. For the next week, you can get 10% off the 21 meal “week” size of Snickerdoodle 2.1. Check out the flavor reviews of 2.1 Snickerdoodle!

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

I love the shakes! I haven’t had a flavor yet that I dislike. I have been placing my orders on Friday and I have received my package on Monday every time. You cannot go wrong ordering these shakes!

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. This review actually comes from the /r/ketochow subreddit:

I can’t believe there is no sugar in [snickerdoodle Keto Chow]. This tastes like cheating… It is a cookie. Chris really hit it out of the park. I think this is the first flavor I can get my wife hooked on. Of all the flavors I would do this if I went full keto chow every meal.

By |2018-10-08T06:12:33-06:00October 8th, 2018|Categories: Keto Chow|Tags: , |0 Comments

Comparison of Fitbit Charge and Oura Ring – activity and sleep tracking

I was intrigued talking to a friend about the first generation Ōura ring he had and decided I wanted to try it out for myself. I also had a Fitbit Charge HR and an Android Wear (not WearOS because they didn’t update it, I’m not bitter) watch that I was using. I figured a comparison is in order! All of the following data can be found on this Google Docs Spreadsheet.

One feature that Oura champions is heart rate tracking. Because the ring is snugly on your finger, they can do some cool stuff with tracking how variable your heart rate is, they also use the HR data for tracking sleep (just like Fitbit does). So here is how the Resting Heart Rate compares with the Oura and Fitbit:

It looks like the Fitbit is taking a longer average rate, while Oura is doing a shorter sample window but I’d say they’re both showing similar things.

Speaking of heart rate, let’s see how sleep tracking compares. In this graph, I’ve added the values from Sleep As Android, a sleep tracking program that I run on my phone as an alarm clock and tracks sleep. I actually have data going back to 2015 (I sleep more now since I quit my day job and stopped going to work at 5:30 am). Sleep As Android added support for using an Android Wear/Wear OS watch for tracking movement and heart rate to indicate sleep cycles, otherwise you stick your phone on your mattress and it measures the movement.

The plots for Fitbit and for Oura are REALLY close. Easily within a reasonable margin of error. SAA + the watch tracks at about the same, except it shows me sleeping about 0.5-1 hours longer on a given day. I suspect that the Fitbit or Oura data is more accurate since both are far more consistent with their heart rate data. SAA will often not show HR data at all.

OK, what about activity tracking? I’m right-handed and have Google Fit tracking on my left hand with Fitbit and Oura on my right. Fitbit has an option to select “handedness” – if you wear the tracker on your dominant wrist, it lowers the sensitivity to account for more non-step movement from that hand.

I’m guessing that having my Fitbit on the dominant hand with the lowered sensitivity accounts for the consistently lower numbers from Fitbit.

So what’s the take-away from this? It seems that the Oura ring is a very comparable sleep and activity tracker. The Fitbit has some other features that are lacking in the Oura (Social challenges against other users, differences in workout tracking, no way am I wearing the Oura while weight lifting) but I think I’m done wearing two watches – the Oura works good enough. If you happen to work in a profession where the ONLY allowed jewelry is a ring, the Oura would be phenomenal.

By |2018-10-03T11:48:27-06:00October 3rd, 2018|Categories: On Tour|Tags: , , , , |4 Comments

Official: October be nuts. We’re going to Low Carb KC *and* Low Carb Houston

This entry is part 123 of 131 in the series Ketogenic Diet

Alright, we just got everything lined up. We’re going to be going to Low Carb KC – October 19-20, and then the following week we will be going to Low Carb Houston – October 25-27. If you’re going to be near Kansas City or Houston, please come by our booths and say “hi!”.

Coming up next year we’ll be at:

By |2018-10-03T08:47:45-06:00October 3rd, 2018|Categories: On Tour, Ketogenic Diet|Tags: , |0 Comments

Flavor of the Week Oct 1-Oct 7: 10% off sale on Orange Cream 2.1 week packs

For the next week, you can get 10% off the 21 meal “week” size of Orange Cream 2.1. Don’t forget that we now offer free ground shipping to the contiguous 48 United States for orders over $200. Check out the flavor reviews of 2.1 Orange Cream!

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

I have nothing but good things to say!!! :product came quick, absolutely no delay in shipping :the product itself is DELICIOUS. I haven’t found a flavor I didn’t like.

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 purchased a weekly pack of the 2.1 in the mint chocolate flavour, and it was pretty good! The flavour is similar to the girl scout cookies thin mint – I like the green the chow mix + heavy cream + water becomes after mixing. The dry mix looks like an ebon/granite black-brown colour, so that was surprising, but great. To compare this with the past flavour I’ve tried (a 1.9 vanilla, I think), I enjoyed this, and felt well balanced throughout the day. I’ve had other protein mixes that the sugar alcohols leave you feeling jittery/strung out, and I have not experienced that with this keto chow mix. I’d say I’m a fan of the 2.1 formula!

By |2018-10-01T06:11:39-06:00October 1st, 2018|Categories: Keto Chow|Tags: , |0 Comments

Flavor of the Week Sept 24-Sept 30: 10% off sale on Savory Chicken Soup 2.1 week packs

For the next week, you can get 10% off the 21 meal “week” size of Savory Chicken Soup 2.1 – This is actually the first time the Savory Chicken Soup flavor has been on sale! You might be thinking “wait, it’s salty, not sweet?” Correct! You mix it up HOT and I’d recommend trying salted butter for the fat (mixing instructions). We’ve tried and seen some really cool ideas for making the Savory Chicken Soup:

And that’s just what I found the first 30 seconds of searching our subreddit. Now, it’s not all roses and rainbows: u/xelex4 didn’t like the Savory Chicken Soup plain and says they think added salt and pepper is a requirement. Check out the flavor reviews of 2.1 Savory Chicken Soup!

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

I started out by ordering three of the individual meal sample so that I could try the product out and also the flavors. I love these shakes. I follow a keto diet and have been using these as a meal replacement. I do intermittent fasting, and this has been my first meal of the day at around 11-noon. It keeps me satisfied until dinner. It kind of thick like a milkshake. I love how I can make it according to how many calories and fat I want. I don’t consume as much fat(I have enough to lose) so I use 1/4 c of heavy cream which brings the shake to about 325 calories. I have ordered 2 more times now since my first order a couple of weeks ago. You can not go wrong with this product!!

Here’s another, 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.

Finally a savory flavor! Chicken soup keto chow bested all of my high expectations and I cannot wait for more savory flavors to be released. KCKO!

By |2018-09-24T06:15:32-06:00September 24th, 2018|Categories: Keto Chow|Tags: , , |0 Comments

Invite to participate in the 2018 “Complete Food” Survey

Keto Chow was originally (and still is!) designed to be nutritionally complete, that’s one of the core fundamentals. I wanted something I could eat without having to worry about getting some weird vitamin or mineral deficiency so it’s set up to give you at least 1/3 of your daily nutrients in each meal. Do you have to eat 3 a day? Absolutely not, but you can if you are so inclined. There are other “Complete Foods” – most are in Europe and only a very small minority are designed for a ketogenic lifestyle (like Keto Chow).

About once a year, there’s a survey sent out to find out more about how people are using the complete foods/future foods – we’ve agreed to promote the survey that Queal is doing right now. So, if you want to head over and answer some questions about Keto Chow, please do!

More info about the survey and last year’s data can be found on https://completefoodsurvey.com/

By |2018-09-20T07:48:00-06:00September 19th, 2018|Categories: Future Foods|Tags: , , |0 Comments

Keto Chow 2.1 Chocolate Peanut Butter Samples – delayed again, no end in sight

We were expecting to get the Chocolate Peanut Butter samples on September 19. That’s not going to happen.

The facility doing the packaging had previously run into problems packaging the Chocolate Peanut Butter (the fat in the peanut flour kept it from flowing properly into the packages). The plan was to mix it and try again but we were shoved to the back of the line to wait our turn on the machine again. Surprisingly, they got us in before Sept. 19 and tried to run the Chocolate Peanut Butter. Unfortunately, they still had problems. So we’re going to mix it up again and try a third time… in a few weeks after we get back to the front of the line.

I hate to give an estimated date but everyone will insist on getting one, even if it’s meaningless and based on wild conjecture. So let’s say: The Peanut Butter Samples are expected on October 31 at 14:36 Mountain time.

Until then, you can approximate the Chocolate Peanut Butter by adding about a teaspoon of powdered peanut butter to the Chocolate Keto Chow.

 

By |2018-09-18T13:52:53-06:00September 18th, 2018|Categories: Keto Chow|Tags: , |0 Comments