Ketofood comes in a gallon size bag. There is enough powder for 21 meals of 81.7g (you can probably round up to 82 if your scale doesn’t do 1/10 grams). To that end there are a few vital bits of equipment that will make everything a lot easier.
- 28 Ounce Blender Bottles. I have lots of these, enough that if I forget to wash some it’s not the end of the world, for daily consumption you need a minimum of 3 (one for each meal). I also have a bunch of similar ones that I got from Supplementwarehouse.com
- A scale. I recommend one that can do 1/10g. Personally I use the American Weigh Scales 1000/0.1g scale.
- Oil. This is critical. If you just want low-carb you can skip the MCT oil and just get olive or canola oil; if you are going for ketosis, you HAVE to get MCT oil too. A 32 ounce bottle will give you 23 days worth. The best deal on MCT I’ve found so far is from NOW on Amazon. You also will need to get some canola, olive or other oil (most use canola). I recently found that you can get liquid Coconut Oil from Walmart or from Amazon. While MCT oil is better for weight loss, coconut oil comes awfully close to the same benefits and costs $0.997 a day compared to $1.373. You can even get crazy go nuts and use MCT & Coconut together instead of Canola.
- A way to measure the oil. I grabbed a clear plastic “Lotion Pump” from Wal-mart for $5. If you’re feeling fancy you could grab a glass and stainless steel one. The reason for using a pump is NO CLEANUP. Optionally you can just use measuring spoons.
- An Immersion blender. I grabbed one from Wal-Mart, the same one is on Amazon for less.
So, here’s how you prepare Ketofood: (video version here)
- Decide how many meals of Ketofood you’re going to eat tomorrow, grab that many blender bottles, take the ball out and stick it in the lid off to the side.
- Using a scale, weigh 85.0g of the mixed powder into each one, make sure you zero/tare the scale before adding the powder.
- Add 20ml of MCT oil and 20ml of your other oil for 40ml total. 20ml is equivalent to 4 US teaspoons.
- Fill each bottle 3/4 of the way with water, do not fill to the top, you need the space for blending.
- Use the immersion blender to blend the mixture for about 20-30 seconds. Do this to each bottle.
- Drop in the blender ball and screw on the lid, through the spout fill the bottles to 90% or so.
- Stick in your fridge, they need a few hours (overnight is best)
- I use an insulated lunch bag to take mine to work. As far as spoilage and storage go, treat mixed Ketofood like milk; bacteria would LOVE to get in there and start multiplying. Unmixed Ketofood should last 1-2 months at the minimum and maybe even a year, though the ground chia seeds might go rancid .
- It will settle pretty quickly so you need to shake it each time you drink.
Some things to consider:
- Drink it slowly. I found pretty quickly that if I chug it down, my intestines freak out and get mad. Take 30 minutes or so, same as a regular meal.
- If you embark into ketosis prepare to feel like you have a flu for 3-4 days. According to the /r/keto faq you can help mitigate this with more electrolytes (sodium and potassium). You’re also going to have impaired athletic abilities for about 4 weeks as your body adjusts.
- If you want to check your ketone levels, you can get a blood tester or do what I did and grab some cheap pee sticks that work just fine.
- Check out /r/keto – this place is awesome with success stories, encouragement and at the top bar is “Keto in a Nutshell” and the FAQ.