ketochow2.1

Keto Chow 2.1 update: Chocolate bags are filling right now, should go up on sale this evening

OK, I finally got some info on what’s going on today. They’re filling the Keto Chow 2.1 Chocolate bags right now. The idea is they’ll work on that and have product ready for me to pick up before the end of day today. In about 4 hours I’ll drive down there with the Keto Chow F-350 and we’ll load it up with however much they have completed at that point. I’ll bring it back to the warehouse, test the mix to make sure everything was done correctly (I’m not going to repeat the issue we had with the first batch of 2.0 vanilla). Then I’ll enter inventory for what was received.

So… what does that mean as far as ordering goes? In about 5-6 hours from now (I’m guessing 6 pm Mountain time), you’ll see a new post here, on Reddit, on Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram, and I’ll send an email to the people who are subscribed to the newsletter telling everyone to come get Chocolate 2.1. I don’t have a way of knowing how many we’ll get today but we’ll continue to get more, and then we’ll start getting the Chocolate Peanut Butter followed by the rest of the flavors over the next weeks or months.

In the meantime, I’ll be working on other fun stuff and playing with the Freestyle Libre glucose monitor I convinced my doctor to prescribe for me.

By |2018-04-09T15:38:21-06:00April 9th, 2018|Categories: Keto Chow|Tags: |2 Comments

Keto Chow 2.1 Update March 29: apparently still waiting on Acacia Gum, delayed a week

The place doing the manufacturing and packaging for Keto Chow 2.1 ordered all of the ingredients over a month ago and the last ingredient (the flavor) arrived earlier this week… or so we though =( Turns out the Acacia Gum had not even shipped yet and wouldn’t be in stock until April 6, add 4-5 days for transit from New Jersey and the earliest it would be in production is April 10 or 11, which sucks.

We happen to have a guy that drinks Keto Chow who works for one of the largest (if not THE largest) acacia gum distributors in the world. We contacted him and he has an exact match for the stuff that’s out of stock from the other place, a few hours earlier and it might have even shipped today but their cut off time for today’s shipments had already passed. It would have shipped tomorrow but their warehouse is closed for Good Friday. So it’s shipping on Monday, April 2. It’s going to take somewhere between 3-4 days in transit plus a few days for the testing, mixing, and packaging when it arrives. We may see stuff as early as Friday, April 6 but more likely is the following Monday: April 9.

So we’re delayed a week. It’s not the end of the world but it most certainly stinks and will leave a bunch of people disappointed. I was personally counting on 2.1 chocolate for breakfast tomorrow =( I guess that’s life, but I don’t have to like it.

By |2018-03-29T14:46:46-06:00March 29th, 2018|Categories: Keto Chow|Tags: , |2 Comments

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

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/

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

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

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

Keto Chow 2.1 update – packaging is printing right now!

This entry is part 109 of 131 in the series Ketogenic Diet

Like literally this very moment. One of the guys sent me a photo of the “Sample all the NEW things” bags that are on the press right now. There was a huge storm this weekend here and the media was delayed, a bunch of their production team came in today (Saturday) to get it rolling out in time. The way they’re rocking it we might have the finished bags by the end of this next week.

So, what does that mean for Keto Chow 2.1? The protein was ordered and should be coming soon. The flavorings are supposed to be on the way as well. Ostensibly everything should be coming together for a relatively quick production cycle but I haven’t been able to get definitive schedules for the filling and such. They are supposed to be doing Chocolate, Peanut Butter, and Cookies & Cream first but as with anything of this sort, it could get delayed for random reasons (like snow storms!)

By |2018-02-24T12:38:17-07:00February 24th, 2018|Categories: Keto Chow|Tags: , |1 Comment

42 Days of Keto Chow – Day 39, new flavors

This entry is part 39 of 44 in the series 42 days of Keto Chow Experiment

I’m down to my final few days of sugar and REALLY looking forward to getting back into keto. I decided that I’m going to make brisket and ribs for the Salt Lake and Utah Counties Keto meetup this Saturday, should be epic. My mouth isn’t hurting nearly as bad as it was and my gut is feeling better. I wonder if I messed it up so bad doing coconut oil that the carbs were a relief =)

I have the finished artwork done for Keto Chow 2.1. The packaging for the sample packages is being proofed right now and I should have the proofs for the week bags sometime tomorrow. I actually had requests in with 3 different printing places and ended up going with the one that’s a bit more expensive because they’re wicked fast compared to the other places. I announced the new flavors of Keto Chow 2.1 in the live stream I did on Friday but in case you missed it…

By |2018-02-12T14:50:23-07:00February 12th, 2018|Categories: 42 days of Keto Chow Experiment|Tags: , , |7 Comments

42 Days of Keto Chow – Day 33 – finalized plans for “carb week”

This entry is part 33 of 44 in the series 42 days of Keto Chow Experiment

Based on the way I’ve been feeling the last few days I think I was “lucky” enough to have a run-in with the stomach flu at the same time I started the liquid coconut oil. Anyhow, I am feeling better today, likely in no small part from me doing the Savory Chicken Soup flavor of Keto Chow for breakfast and lunch.

I mixed up the 191g of dextrose I was planning on using for each meal next week… yeah, it was a LOT, so much that it wouldn’t even dissolve in the water and it was WAY too sweet. So I’m going to take a page out of Dave Feldman’s book and use some candy. I spent a bunch of time at the 7-11 across the street and ultimately decided that I’m going to use skittles, sprite, unsweetened almond milk, and a daily bag of M&Ms. It’s funny to me that using dextrose straight is unpalatable but put it in soda and candy and it’s just fine.

  • Why candy and Sprite? Same reason I’m using dextrose: pure carbs with no other nutrients. My other nutrition is covered by Keto Chow, I’m just looking for calories (in this case from carbs).
  • Why the Almond Milk? to make the Keto Chow taste better in the absence of heavy cream.
  • Why the M&Ms? to break things up a bit but mostly to add some fat, otherwise my fat intake is excessively low and I might start to get weird effects. I’ll be hitting 16% fat which is about right per the AHA and ADA recommendations.

Here’s what each day should look like: