Ketogenic Diet

Keto Chow at the Low Carb Breckenridge 2018 Conference

This entry is part 111 of 131 in the series Ketogenic Diet

We returned yesterday from the Low Carb Breckenridge. It was really an awesome time. We met a lot of great people, hung out at the “cool kids” party house, ate some yummy fat (along with a little protein =) – I consider it a rousing success and I still haven’t even gone through the stack of annotated business cards to follow up with people yet! Photo Gallery:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/tvZBAtxJoqfjR8qH3

I had a chance to do a “5 Minutes of Fame” quick presentation about my most recent experiment – ended up at 2:47 which left extra time for Siobhan Huggins to go 6:57 =)

Keto Chow 2.1 update

This entry is part 112 of 131 in the series Ketogenic Diet

OK, it’s about time to do an update on how things are looking for Keto Chow 2.1. We just had lunch at Bam Bam’s BBQ with our co-packer (not quite as good as Black’s BBQ in Austin but MUCH closer!) – we’re not their only client doing keto stuff, though most of the other ones are all about exogenous ketones so we got to school him on topics related to those =). Anyhow, I got some great info – here’s what’s going on:

  • The packaging for the large bags ran into an issue late last week, one of the rolls got damaged before it went to the “poucher” and they had to reprint it… but before that, they had to wait for more of the media to print it on. The reprinted roll should be done today (March 7) and delivered to the finisher tomorrow. From there it’ll take a few days to make into pouches and be delivered to our co-packer.
  • Priority #1 is getting Chocolate (and Chocolate Peanut Butter by extension) completed. There are a few ingredients they’re waiting on:
    • The first of several nearly full truckloads of protein powder is supposed to arrive early next week.
    • Choline-L bitartrate has been difficult to find because everyone keeps wanting to ship the DL version instead of the L. With some compounds that wouldn’t be a problem but:
      1. DL smells gross
      2. DL contains both the D and L isomers but only the L can be used by life on earth – that makes it only 50% effective – the problem is DL has also been shown to cause kidney damage which L does not.
    • The flavor supplier is expediting a batch of the “Chocolate Milkshake” flavor that is used along with cocoa powder to make the Chocolate (and Peanut Butter). This one is a bit of an unknown since we haven’t actually confirmed when it’ll be done.
  • Once those two are going, Priority #2 is mixing up sample batches for the other 16 flavors. The plan is to get that over to packaging and done so we can have the “Sample the NEW things” for the 10 new flavors (plus the 2.1 samples of the old flavors) already available as the remaining large “week” bags are completed.
  • Priority #3 is Strawberry and Cookies & Cream – this one is interesting. The place we were getting the Strawberry, Banana, and Cookies & Cream flavors got weird about some compositional changes we wanted to the flavoring. Ultimately it was easier to get a different flavor place to replicate the flavors – I tested those 3 last week and I’m fiddling a little with how strong they are, that should be complete before the choline shows up.
  • The Remaining flavors will come in over a month or so, several hundred units of each flavor at a time.

A quick note about the lack of pre-order ability. We don’t do backorders or pre-orders. That’s somewhat for our own sanity but also to keep our payment processors happy. If we go longer than 30 days after taking money without shipping a product, they get rather upset. Do I think we’ll go longer than 30 days? No, but you never know with a new product line like this (see above =).

Besides that, pre-orders would be necessary only if we were getting in a limited quantity and you had to worry about not getting some. Going off past experience, when we get Chocolate, Peanut Butter, the Samples, and the rest of the flavors; we’ll be getting a massive quantity of each. Like 3-4 pallets worth of each. So there will be enough that pre-orders won’t be necessary.

If you’d like to know more about the upcoming version 2.1, check out the Keto Chow 2.1 information nexus where I’m posting updates and additional information.

By |2018-03-07T15:30:57-07:00March 7th, 2018|Categories: Keto Chow|Tags: , , |2 Comments

Local Utah Ketonians: Come taste Keto Chow 2.1 tomorrow@10 am!

This entry is part 113 of 131 in the series Ketogenic Diet

This is a bit of short notice but: Tomorrow, March 13, we’re going to do a taste test of the final samples of Keto Chow 2.1. I got a sample of each flavor for final testing before production and wanted to get some public feedback. I already tested the ones for Cookies & Cream, Strawberry, and Banana – sorry =( If you happen to be near our warehouse (114th and Redwood in South Jordan, UT) and are available around 10:00 AM, please come by!

Location:
11279 S Redwood Rd, Suite B
South Jordan UT 84095

10:00 AM

By |2018-03-12T19:59:01-06:00March 12th, 2018|Categories: Keto Chow|Tags: , |0 Comments

Results of 2.1 Taste Testing Extravaganza

This entry is part 114 of 131 in the series Ketogenic Diet

I put out a call for people nearby to come taste test Keto Chow 2.1 – SnowMason on Reddit asked what the results were so I thought I put together an update. There were a few things that needed fixing but most turned out fantastic.

  • Eggnog – nailed it.
  • Rootbeer float – nailed it.
  • Pumpkin Spice Caramel – Nailed it though one person thought it had too much pumpkin spice and not enough pumpkin.
  • Orange Cream – nailed it.
  • Salted Caramel – they used the rootbeer flavor by accident. It was pretty funny. I got another tester and that one was great.
  • Savory Chicken Soup – the riboflavin being used to color it yellow added a weird flavor. It’s now gone. Unfortunately, this means that drinking the savory chicken soup will no longer give you neon yellow urine =)
  • Snickerdoodle – nailed it.
  • Strawberry – tastes great but needs to be more pink, we’re adding more beet juice extract but the color fades after refrigerating overnight. We could add artificial color to keep it red but with the whole “Natural Strawberry” version using monk fruit that’s a no-go.
  • Raspberry Cheesecake – tasted good, there was a disagreement over whether the raspberry was overpowering the cheesecake or the other way, seems people have different tastes. Also uses the same coloring as the strawberry so it starts looking raspberry-ish but fades to a purple-gray. Still working on that.
  • Banana – tastes fantastic, more like a banana cream pie and actual bananas and less like banana laffy taffy
  • Cookies and cream – has more of a chocolate flavor, the 2.0 C&C (to me) tasted more like vanilla wafers.
  • Vanilla – has a more distinct vanilla, which is weird since it’s the same flavoring.
  • Chocolate Toffee – this was REALLY good, probably my favorite of the batch.
  • Chocolate Mint – needs more mint. We’ll see what we can get done before it’s time to roll into production.
  • Chocolate – needed a little more chocolate flavor to match 2.0, I should be driving down to grab another test batch either today or tomorrow morning to verify that it’s dialed in.
  • Chocolate Peanut Butter – see above.
  • Mocha – they actually forgot to send a sample of this one for the testing, I’m suspecting it’ll need to have the chocolate component tweaked as well. I think coffee smells like burnt popcorn so I wouldn’t have tasted it anyway. I also think cucumbers and cantaloupe smell like ammonia.

I took them down to our manufacturing place when I got the salted caramel that wasn’t root beer and the other tweaked ones so they could try them too. For most, it was their first time trying the actual finished product. It’s always funny for me to see people try Keto Chow for the first time – “wow, that’s actually REALLY good!” is pretty much the universal response. It’s like they think I’m going to give them stuff that tastes bad =)

There was a little (like 1/8 a meal) of Rootbeer, Snickerdoodle, Orange, Eggnog, and Pumpkin left over so that’s what I just had for lunch today =)

So, there you have it. The protein for the Chocolate and Choc PB batch is enroute right now. The packaging should be done any day. The big order of chocolate flavoring is supposed to be arriving in about a week. Things are looking pretty good for Chocolate and Chocolate Peanut Butter 2.1.0 arriving before April.

By |2018-03-15T14:04:39-06:00March 15th, 2018|Categories: Keto Chow|Tags: , , |11 Comments

Chris on the FanPress podcast – the history of Keto Chow, nutrition, and more

This entry is part 115 of 131 in the series Ketogenic Diet

This podcast was recorded a while ago (January 28, 2018 to be specific), took Steve a while to get it posted – probably because it went kinda REALLY long. I have to say: this is by far one of my favorite podcast interviews so far. Steve let me (over) indulge myself and give a rather complete history of Keto Chow and my journey thus far. It was also nice to be talking to someone who really likes what I’m doing. I just checked my email and I have one from him way back from May 2015! This one will be tough to beat. It goes on rather long at nearly an hour and a half but if you’re up for it, I recommend checking it out!

http://fanpress.co/show3/

Keto Chow 2.1 Update: Chocolate should be arriving March 30

This entry is part 116 of 131 in the series Ketogenic Diet

OK, so this is all very early and subject to change and all that so don’t mortgage your house or anything, but… We are scheduled to be getting the week bags of Chocolate Keto Chow 2.1 on Friday, March 30 – also known as “Good Friday” =).

Right now we’re waiting on one final ingredient for Chocolate and Chocolate Peanut Butter: the flavoring. Chocolate has actual cocoa powder but it also has a chocolate flavoring that gives it the “I let a Wendy’s frosty melt and I will now drink it omnomnomnomnom” flavor. It’s scheduled to ship on March 22nd with Chocolate (and by extension, Chocolate Peanut Butter which is just Chocolate + delicious peanut flour) going straight into production on March 27th and finished product delivered to us by the 30th. Ideally, we may have stuff arriving a bit earlier than that and it’s entirely possible I may assemble a troop of elite infiltrators to sneak down there and grab boxes a bit early but March 30th is the promised date. If all goes well, I should have the product up and ready for sale on the site later that evening for shipping craziness on Monday, April 2nd.

Let’s look at the handy “Shipping speeds via USPS Priority Mail” map…

Looks like much of the US could be getting Chocolate Keto Chow 2.1 by Wednesday, April 4.

 

 

By |2018-03-19T15:43:17-06:00March 19th, 2018|Categories: Keto Chow|Tags: , |6 Comments

We have a couple hundred Chocolate Keto Chow 2.0 in stock

This entry is part 117 of 131 in the series Ketogenic Diet

We’re getting closer to Keto Chow 2.1 being available… until then, our inventory of Keto Chow 2.0 is getting alarmingly low. Fortunately, we got a bit of a reprieve today: our manufacturer was able to put together one last, final, run of Keto Chow 2.0 with the remaining ingredients so we had them do Chocolate. Ended up with a couple hundred and they just passed our Quality Assurance tests. For realsies: when our current stock runs out, there won’t be any more of the 2.0 until 2.1 comes out. So if you want some Chocolate 2.0, head over to the “Week” page and order some before it’s gone.

By |2018-03-22T12:57:28-06:00March 22nd, 2018|Categories: Ketogenic Diet, Keto Chow|Tags: , , |0 Comments

Keto Chow 2.1 Update March 26: flavorings arrived, Chocolate and PB on track for Friday

This entry is part 118 of 131 in the series Ketogenic Diet

Just got a call: all of the flavorings for Keto Chow 2.1 just arrived and are headed into QA right now! That actually puts us a day ahead of schedule (don’t worry, something typically will happen that delays production by a day =) and the likelihood of having Chocolate and Chocolate Peanut Butter 2.1 available by Friday, March 30 is looking really good right now. In case you’re wondering, here is the order we’re planning on for 2.1 production:

  1. Chocolate
  2. Chocolate Peanut Butter
  3. Cookies and Cream
  4. Strawberry (Sucralose)
  5. Salted Caramel
  6. Mocha
  7. Vanilla
  8. Banana
  9. Savory Chicken Soup
  10. Natural Strawberry (monk fruit)
  11. Rootbeer Float
  12. Orange Cream
  13. Eggnog
  14. Raspberry Cheesecake
  15. Snickerdoodle
  16. Pumpkin Spice Caramel
  17. Chocolate Toffee
  18. Chocolate Mint

Base Powder is going to be squeezed in there somewhere as space opens up. Samples for the 18 flavors are supposed mixed after Peanut Butter and packaged on a different line concurrent with the rest of the packaging. Dunno when that will arrive but it should be around the time we get Mocha or Banana. More information about 2.1, what has changed from 2.0 and more can be found on the 2.1 Information Nexus page.

For a historical perspective: April 24, 2017, we received the initial shipment of Chocolate Keto Chow 2.0.0 – took 4 months longer than was expected, about the same as 2.1 =)

 

By |2018-03-26T13:54:57-06:00March 26th, 2018|Categories: Keto Chow|Tags: , |4 Comments

Keto Chow 2.1 Cookies and Cream now available

This entry is part 119 of 131 in the series Ketogenic Diet

Just got back with a load of Cookies and Cream, tested it and it’s available for purchase in the week size bags right now. Come and get it!

Maker:0x4c,Date:2017-10-7,Ver:4,Lens:Kan03,Act:Lar01,E-Y

By |2018-04-17T13:48:49-06:00April 17th, 2018|Categories: Keto Chow|Tags: , , |0 Comments

5 days, 3 podcast appearances

This entry is part 120 of 131 in the series Ketogenic Diet

It’s been a bit of a fun week. On Sunday, Keto Connect posted their Keto For Normies episode interviewing Chris and Miriam. On Tuesday, Jimmy Moore posted a Livin La Vida Low Carb podcast with Chris. On Thursday, Daisy Brackenhall posted a Keto Woman Podcast episode with Miriam. Some of the podcasts were recorded several weeks ago, it was just a big coincidence that they all went live at (almost) the same time. For those wondering: we don’t have any new appearances scheduled but we’re happy to come on your podcast if you’d like =)

All I can say: I’m so glad we already had Keto Chow 2.1 in stock before the episodes went up! =)

By |2018-04-20T09:06:56-06:00April 20th, 2018|Categories: Keto Chow|Tags: , , |0 Comments