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.

The end of an era and anniversaries – all the 1.9 is mixed

This entry is part 89 of 131 in the series Ketogenic Diet

I’ve been mixing Keto Chow (and People Chow before that) since January 2015. Yesterday, 29 months later, we mixed up the final batch of Keto Chow 1.9. All the Dymatize protein is used up and the front room and “dining room” of my house are no longer storage rooms for supplies and equipment. I’m not going to lie: I was pretty gleeful going around with a vacuum cleaning up all the powder that has defined a large part of our lives for the last 2 1/2 (almost) years. It tends to settle on every surface in the house, even upstairs. I even took the computer our and blew it out with the air compressor (I think there was 50g in there!). The ironic thing is we’ve been waiting for the end of mixing to start a remodel on part of the house, specifically the aforementioned front room and dining room. Drywall work starts Monday. Guess everything will be dusty again! =)

Early next week we should start getting the remaining flavors of 2.0. They’re all mixed (and I’ve tested them to make sure we won’t repeat the problem with Vanilla) And hopefully, we’ll get the samples soon after that.

Fun story: 17 years ago I married my amazing wife. I proposed 2 1/2 weeks after we met because I waited a week, concerns about the ring and all – turns out you can propose without a ring and let her pick one later (crazy, right?). The night before we got married, my wife’s bridesmaids did a sleep-over at the apartment we were going to be living in (I was still living in my parent’s basement) and the morning of our wedding, May 6 2000, they were frantically getting ready. In the midst of all the commotion, the bacon that was cooking for their breakfast was forgotten and started to burn. There was a lot of smoke. When I saw my soon-to-be wife and embraced her for the first time on our wedding day, I said the 4 words that have come to symbolize so much in our relationship:

“You smell like bacon…”

I’ll never live that down =) Makes for a great story though, the kids think it’s funny and so does she – she just likes to rib me a bit, especially when I cook bacon and it smells like our wedding day all over again. Holy cow we looked like little kids! I do weigh less now than I did back then though =)

By |2017-05-06T07:09:57-06:00May 6th, 2017|Categories: Keto Chow|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments

Problem with Vanilla 2.0 viscosity

This entry is part 88 of 131 in the series Ketogenic Diet

TL;DR: we’ve pulled Vanilla 2.0 and it’s going to be re-mixed, it’ll be a few weeks before we have Vanilla in stock. The other flavors coming next week appear to be just fine.

I was super happy to have Vanilla Keto Chow 2.0 in stock and available. I regularly do quality control on the product so I grabbed a bag of Vanilla 2.0 and mixed up 6, I could tell immediately that there was a problem – the viscosity (thickness) was all wrong. Instead of being thick like a milk shake it was thin like milk or a protein shake. I let it sit overnight and it was still thin in the morning. It tastes the same, and nutritionally it’s not a problem – all the xanthan gum does is increase viscosity.

So, I spent the day driving back and forth to the manufacturer figuring stuff out. They definitely added xanthan gum to the mix – each batch goes through a pretty meticulous quality control procedure:

  • The formula is multiplied out into the size batch they need and the total mass required in kilograms for each ingredient is put onto a tracking sheet
  • As each ingredient is weighed out, the technician notes the reading on the scale, initials the reading and a second technician initials that it was correctly done
  • the total batch weight is compared to the target weight
  • they routinely verify their inventory based on what they brought in minus what was supposed to be used.

The batch for Vanilla should have used around 9 Kg of xanthan gum – that’s roughly 20lbs. The final weight was within 0.01kg of the target.

So we’re not sure what is going on with Vanilla – the only difference between it and most other flavors is color (or lack thereof) and the flavor mix. The end result is we yanked Vanilla from the site and zeroed out the inventory. All this got me spooked that the other flavors might have similar problems, Chocolate is fine but Cookies & Cream along with Salted Caramel are going into bagging early next week. So that was my first trip down there. I brought two blender bottles with the right amount of water and heavy cream and mixed them up right there. Viscosity is perfect on Cookies & Cream as well as Salted Caramel. We discussed several options and ultimately it was decided that they are going to re-do the batch. So I drove back down, this time with all of the remaining Vanilla 2.0. We’re going to have to get new bags printed which may slow things down some. I expect the earliest we’ll see Vanilla 2.0 will be 3-4 weeks from now (early to late June 2017).

Anybody who was shipped Vanilla 2.0 should have gotten an email from me earlier today with options for what they want to do. One thing I forgot in the email was that if they choose to keep the Vanilla and happen to have xanthan gum on hand (or if they want to order some using the refunds) it just needs 1.3g of xanthan gum in 44.1g of vanilla and you have the right viscosity – I tested it myself =) If you happened to have ordered Vanilla 2.0 and didn’t see an email from me, I’ll be following up with those that haven’t responded yet.

By |2017-05-05T16:43:25-06:00May 5th, 2017|Categories: Keto Chow|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

Keto Chow 2.0 Vanilla now in stock and ready for ordering

This entry is part 87 of 131 in the series Ketogenic Diet

You can now order Keto Chow 2.0 Vanilla, along with the Chocolate we previously got. They have Cookies & Cream and Salted Caramel mixed and will be bagging those soon, might have them early next week.

 

Update: we’ve pulled Vanilla 2.0 and it’s going to be re-mixed, it’ll be a few weeks before we have Vanilla in stock. The other flavors coming next week appear to be just fine.

By |2017-05-05T16:47:08-06:00May 3rd, 2017|Categories: Keto Chow|Tags: , , |2 Comments

State of the Keto Chow – the transition to 2.0, and you

This entry is part 86 of 131 in the series Ketogenic Diet

Updated

It’s time to talk about the status of switching to Keto Chow 2.0, what to expect from 1.9 and such. About 2 months ago we did “one great last” purchase of protein powder for 1.9 – it was essentially how much of each flavor we had used over the previous 2 months – except Rich Chocolate, we ordered 3 months worth of that. The idea was to get everything finalized as far as mixing went and hopefully be running out a bit after 2.0 became available.

As you know: 2.0 was delayed, and delayed, we finally got Chocolate 2.0 in the large bags. The progress manufacturing the bags has been somewhat slow and steady – I actually did a good/bad thing in having them do chocolate first – which had nearly 2x as many packages as any other flavor – it’s good that we have a lot of Chocolate but it took a while to work through the production of it, at the expense of having other flavors quicker. Anyway, here is the order they are making the flavors in:

  1. Chocolate – delivered
  2. Cookies & Cream – delivered
  3. Salted Caramel – delivered
  4. Strawberry – delivered
  5. Banana – delivered
  6. Peanut Butter – delivered
  7. Mocha – delivered
  8. Vanilla – delivered

So here’s a quick rundown on 1.9 availability for the week packs:

  • Gourmet Vanilla – out of stock.
  • Cookies & Cream – out of stock.
  • Chocolate Peanut Butter – out of stock.
  • Snickerdoodle – out of stock.
  • Rich Chocolate – out of stock.
  • Chocolate Fudge – out of stock.
  • Strawberry Blast – out of stock.

The question came up yesterday: What about the people that like v 1.9 better than the 2.0? I haven’t had anybody try 2.0 and like 1.9 better. I’m sure there will be a few though, if you happen to fit into that category: I’m truly sorry for the disruption. A potential fix would be to get the Base Powder and use the same Dymatize Elite protein that I have been using for 1.9. You could also mix up the recipe for Keto Chow 1.5.

What about the 2.0 samples? That’s a fun one: the “stick pack” roll film we’re using has been breaking in the machine every 20 or so samples. I’m trying to get the place that made the stuff over to help dial in the settings so they can get it running. It’s very likely that the packaging I had printed (7000 of each flavor) will need to be re-done with a different medium.

By |2017-07-28T08:40:27-06:00May 2nd, 2017|Categories: Keto Chow|Tags: , , , |2 Comments

Keto Chow at KetoCon (September 1-3, 2017)

Keto Chow will be at KetoCon coming up September 1-3, 2017 in Austin, Texas. We’ll have a booth and everything – planning on having samples to taste. I’ll have the booth number later, but you’ll be able to come by and talk to Chris and Miriam in person! Remember that fist bumps are less likely to communicate disease compared to hand shakes =)

Here’s a list of the people who will be talking at KetoCon, and here’s the announcement video from the crowdfunding campaign that was originally used to launch it:

https://vimeo.com/176885616

and the KetoVangelist podcast where it was announced. So hey, if you were thinking about going to KetoCon, be sure to stop by and say “Hi”. If you didn’t know about KetoCon: surprise!

We’re also going to be at KetoFest in July but just as regular Keto people, not vendors.

By |2017-05-01T12:36:26-06:00May 1st, 2017|Categories: Ketogenic Diet|Tags: , , |0 Comments

Flavor of the Week May 1-May 7: 15% off sale on all sizes of Chocolate Peanut Butter 1.9*

With 2.0 arriving (Vanilla is supposed to be coming this week) we’ve been winding down production of 1.9 and are using up the remainder of the Dymatize protein powder we bought. We’re also using up the remaining peanut flour we have on hand, last week our C. O. O. (my awesome wife!)  had all the remaining peanut flour made up into Chocolate Peanut Butter Keto Chow – she also decided that it should be the next flavor of the week. We have a rather substantial inventory of Chocolate Peanut Butter v1.9 weeks but I do have to warn you:

*While Supplies Last

We aren’t planning on mixing additional peanut butter in v1.9. We’re going to keep a close watch on the inventory level and keep it updated on the site, if you can still order the flavor, then it’s still on sale!

For anybody that hasn’t tried Chocolate Peanut Butter: it’s, by far, my favorite flavor. I drink it more than half of the time. I do have some people that don’t like it but they’re the outliers =)

By |2017-05-01T04:41:45-06:00May 1st, 2017|Categories: Keto Chow|Tags: , , |0 Comments

Keto Chow 2.0 Base Powder – some info

I figured I should put together a post with some details and info about 2.0 Base Powder. First, let’s talk about what the Base Powder is:

  • The Base Powder is all of the “esoteric” ingredients in Keto Chow, everything except for protein, flavor, and sweetener. Often these ingredients can be difficult or impossible to locate, especially outside the United States.
  • You take 14g of the Base Powder and add your choice of protein to make Keto Chow.

Ok, so why would you use the Base Powder instead of getting the full mix?

  • The #1 ingredient in Keto Chow is the protein powder. It takes up more volume and weighs more than any other ingredient. Eliminate the protein and suddenly you can fit 5x as many “weeks” in the same shipping package. For international shipping, this is a huge deal. You’d find some protein locally and not have to pay shipping for that.
  • If you don’t like one of the components of the sweetener, protein, or flavor in the full mix; the Base Powder allows you to use whichever protein powder with whatever sweetener you like. Want unflavored protein? Less sweetener? No Sweetener? Just Stevia? Something besides whey protein? The Base Powder is a likely solution for you.
  • Going back to the previous point, I get a lot of varied requests for customized Keto Chow – almost all of them can be covered with the Base Powder. It’s super flexible and allows me to keep my product line simple.

Now, with Keto Chow 1.9 I had two different sizes of Base Powder:

  • 21 meals in the same size bag we use for the 3 meal “day” package, the “Week” size.
  • 122 meals in a far larger bag, the “for 10lbs” size. It’s enough to mix with 10lbs of Dymatize Elite to make 5.82051 weeks of Keto Chow – this is the size we use when doing the mixing of Keto Chow 1.9

With Keto Chow 2.0 being made on an industrial scale, having the larger size wasn’t a good idea – it would add one more product I would need to order and keep in stock and they cost a lot, a single damaged package was insanely expensive to replace, eliminating the larger size was a no-brainer. The problem with that is I didn’t want to eliminate the discount people were getting by going with the larger package. The larger package was effectively $42.95 per 21 meals, so I priced the Keto Chow 2.0 Base Powder’s 21 meals at $42.00. Yes, the bigger bag is gone but the new small bag is less expensive.

Now, the Base Powder isn’t for everyone – if you use it you should be prepared to do a fair amount of math to determine how much protein powder you should use since most protein powders vary on their nutrient profiles. If in doubt, use Cron-o-meter. The Base Powder is in the Cron-o-meter database already, then you’d just add your protein powder to a “recipe” (along with how much heavy cream you’re using) and you’re good to go. The regular full mix is easier to use, especially for new users, but if you have the desire to customize a bit, you can check out the Base Powder

A note about the 2.0 vs. 1.9 Base Powder, and I’m surprised nobody asked about this yet: The Base Powder for 1.9 and 2.0 are nearly identical, I’m even using the same UPC barcode! So, if you have some 1.9 Base Powder, don’t get worked up that you don’t have the “latest” version. Now the question arises: why did I keep 2.0 Base Powder nearly identical? With 1.9 I was adding off-the-shelf protein powder that usually comes with additional thickening agents, flavor, and other ingredients. With the full mix of 2.0, I’m using my own flavorings, protein, and sucralose so I needed some additional “stuff” (potassium and xanthan gum to be specific). For people using the Base Powder with their own protein powder, the experience is going to be identical to 1.9 so I kept the formulation the same. If I used the real base powder from 2.0, it would mix up too thick with most protein powders.

You can buy 2.0 Base Powder here.

By |2020-02-10T11:06:41-07:00April 26th, 2017|Categories: Keto Chow|Tags: , , , |11 Comments

Chocolate Keto Chow 2.0 now available! 2.0 Base Powder also available.

This entry is part 85 of 131 in the series Ketogenic Diet

OK, it’s on! We got 1 pallet of Chocolate today and 3 more are coming tomorrow, that should last quite a while =) We took pictures and tested out how they fit into our existing boxes, we were quite happy to find that they fit the same as 1.9 so we don’t have to do crazy junk with the shipping methods and costs.

So, if you want to grab a bag of Chocolate 2.0 – it’s available for order!

By |2017-04-25T18:52:59-06:00April 24th, 2017|Categories: Keto Chow|Tags: |0 Comments

“How to Prepare Keto Chow” instructions updated for 2.0

It looks like it’s really going to happen. In another hour or two I should be getting the Chocolate Keto Chow 2.0! I’ve been meaning to update the preparation instructions page for quite some time but haven’t had the time to do it. Well, right now I’m sitting around waiting for a truck so I thought I’d get that done. The “How to Prepare Keto Chow” page now has 2 options: 2.0 and 1.5/1.9. The 1.9 instructions are a copy of the old preparation instructions page, the 2.0 instructions are similar but differ slightly:

  • Has a different Calorie Calculator – this one if for 2.0 and reflects the lower net carbs.
  • Use of a scale is still recommended for accuracy but 2.0 comes with a scoop you can use instead.
  • I cleaned up some other formatting and added a table with the serving sizes as each flavor is slightly different.

I’m also adding the labeling for 2.0 to various pages on the site.

By |2017-04-25T18:53:17-06:00April 24th, 2017|Categories: Keto Chow|Tags: , |4 Comments