science

N=me experiment: 4 weeks of *ONLY* Keto Chow – 1st week tests back
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N=me experiment: 4 weeks of *ONLY* Keto Chow – 1st week tests back

Keto Chow, Weight Loss, Ketogenic Diet

N=me experiment: 4 weeks of ONLY Keto Chow – 1st week tests back

This entry is part 124 of 131 in the series Ketogenic Diet

Way TL;DR: eating only Keto Chow & drinking only water for a week and a half has brought down my fasting insulin to 3.7 μIU/mL and raised my ketones to 3.2 mmol/L. I’ve also lost 9.2lbs but that’s not on the graphs below.

On October 22nd, 2017 (3 years and 2 days after I started Keto) I began an experiment: I was going to ONLY eat Keto Chow for 4 weeks and see what it did to some blood tests. Today I received my first blood test after starting the experiment. I took a baseline test before starting to establish a control to compare against. Leading up to “test 0” I was very much eating keto (and consuming Keto Chow 1-2 times a day) but I was not actively tracking my carb intake. Most (including me) would likely call it “lazy keto” – I know from my own experience that if I do strict keto and write down everything I eat BEFORE I eat it, I’ll invariably get on track and lose weight. But with this experiment, I wanted to go for the nuclear option: absolutely no food except Keto Chow. No drinks except water. No treats. No snacks. No confounding variables.

This would also serve another purpose in allowing me to do a validation test on the upcoming Keto Chow 2.1. I like to have absolute confidence in my product and this is a great way to do it. For the most part, the recipe for 2.1 is the same with some notable differences:

Switching from whey protein isolate to milk protein isolate [see footnote 1]
Switching the form of Selenium, this change removes a weird smell that goes away after a few minutes. Functionally it’s the same but I like the way it smells and tastes better.
One flavor (Natural Strawberry) will be available sweetened with Monk Fruit instead of Sucralose [see footnote 2], another flavor (Savory Chicken Soup)… well it’s savory and doesn’t need a sweetener.
A bunch of new flavors are coming, though that doesn’t affect the nutrition.
If I can pull it off: we’ll be switching all the magnesium from citrate over to malate.
We’re officially recommending using avocado oil as an alternative if you don’t want to use heavy cream (I still primarily use heavy cream).

In the same spirit of open data that Dave Feldman uses in his experiments – I’m publishing the complete blood test results from my experiment. You can view the blood results on this online spreadsheet. Currently, there are only two entries – more will come, there’s a 5-6 day lag between the test and me getting it. I’m also going to be posting my complete Cron-O-Meter logs so you can see exactly what the input variables were. Here are the first 11 days so far. I also did a test on my second day where I tested postprandial glucose while drinking Keto Chow.

So, how’s it coming along so far? The most obvious change I’m seeing is my blood ketone level which has gone from 0.4 to 3.2 mmol/L (I measure each night just after I brush my teeth – measuring in the morning is a bad idea). That rise makes sense since I’m getting exactly 10.54g of non-fiber carbohydrates per day. My fasting insulin has also gone down from 6.7 to 3.7 μIU/mL. I asked Dave Feldman about the results so far, he said: “The insulin change actually looks even more interesting in the context of everything else being practically the same (including lipids!)” – I’m going to try to get Dave to do a written analysis of all this at the end of the experiment, he’ll probably do one anyway because he LOVES DATA! My small LDL-P has gone down by half, which is also interesting. Personally, I’m not concerned at all about my lipid panel because I do not believe that high cholesterol (or more properly: Elevated Lipoprotein) is something bad. Dave uses a really great analogy about lifeboats on cruise ships… hang on, I’ll just let Dave explain:

OK, that’s the blood part of my experiment. How has the experience been so far?

Before I started this, I was doing Keto Chow for at least 2 of my meals on most days, you’d think that going 100% wouldn’t be a big change but it seems to be. Maybe it’s all the ancillary things I also eliminated like sugar-free gum, diet soda, and anything else that wasn’t Keto Chow and water. Warning, poop talk ahead. First thing I noticed was Bristol type 7 stool, don’t worry though I took a probiotic and it went over to a 4. After a few days, as all traces of other food left my system it’s settled on a 5. I think this is due to everything getting digested and metabolized except for the acacia gum – and that gets metabolized by my gut bacteria into short-chain fatty acids (bonus fat!). The volume has gone down significantly. I’m still regular, there just isn’t that much there. OK, done with poop talk.

Not chewing anything anymore has also been very interesting. I think I need to drink more water – I keep getting a sort of film on my teeth. A quick swish of water in my mouth removes the film but it eventually comes back. I don’t think this would be a problem if I was chewing gum – but I wanted to eliminate ALL variables, including other non-nutritive sweeteners. Maybe I could find some unflavored and unsweetened gum…

Another interesting thing is the “no thanks, I’m just drinking this for now” aspect in social situations. I used to think politely declining carbage was an issue doing Keto. Man – that’s NOTHING compared to trying not to have to explain why I’m not eating bacon right now. For Halloween, we have a yearly neighborhood potluck. I mentioned to my kids a month ago that I could just wheel down the griddle and cook bacon (not thinking that it was SMACK in the middle of my experiment). They ultimately convinced me to do it – I cooked 10lbs of bacon, it was all eaten. Just not by me. Dinner with the family is also kinda weird. I’m cooking food that I’m not going to eat all the time.

Next week will be especially interesting as I’ll be at a tech conference in San Francisco without refrigeration. I have a solid game plan to cope but it’ll be a lot of work.

So. There you go. I have test #2 tomorrow, we’ll see what further changes come! (Test #4 will be a comprehensive test just like #0 instead of the subset I’m doing for 1-3)

[Footnote 1] So what’s the deal with Milk Protein Isolate (hereafter “MPI”) compared to Whey Protein Isolate (hereafter “WPI”)? MPI has a bunch of advantages over WPI and overall is simply a better product to use. I actually tried to get MPI back when I first started doing Keto Chow but nobody would take me seriously – they do now =). Advantages: first and foremost, MPI is the protein from milk, isolated out – this means the protein is in the same ratio as milk: 80% casein 20% whey. Casein is slower digesting, for bodybuilders that just finished a big workout that may not be optimal – but for people on a ketogenic diet, it means you will likely have a much smaller insulin response. WPI is a byproduct of the cheese making process, the supply goes up and down with the demand for cheese. MPI is a primary product, so the supply is consistent and reliable. It’s also coming from Idaho which makes for awesome lead times getting to Utah. MPI also contains a significant amount of calcium and phosphorus in extremely bioavailable forms, this allowed me to kill Calcium Phosphate from the ingredients. Overall, MPI is a slam dunk!

[Footnote 2] Monk Fruit and “natural” sweeteners. For some people, the sucralose we use in most of the flavors of Keto Chow is the end of the world… ok not really =) but many people do want to avoid sucralose completely. Some rat studies (note: humans are not rodents – it’s true, look it up) have indicated sucralose may cause changes to gut bacteria composition. We will be using 80mg of pure sucralose per meal in Keto Chow 2.1 (20% less than 2.0, that’s 0.08g – or 62.5 meals worth is the weight of a US nickel) with the exception of 2 flavors: Savory Chicken Soup and Natural Strawberry – the savory flavor won’t have any sweetener and the Strawberry will be using Monk Fruit extract. I tested Stevia instead of Monk Fruit and the taste wasn’t very good. I also tested Erythritol and blends of Stevia, Monk Fruit, and Erythritol – problem with those was the mass. To get the right sweetness we needed to use 43g of erythritol. That change would nearly double the weight of Keto Chow. No way man! I was toying with making all the flavors of Keto Chow with Monk Fruit but taste tests with people that aren’t me, along with surveys of our customers indicated that wasn’t a good idea (especially since Monk Fruit + Chocolate tasted REALLY weird). I still wanted to have a non-sucralose option available for those that wanted the option. Monk Fruit lends its self well to fruity flavors so we decided to have an additional “Natural Strawberry” flavor.

By Chris|2017-11-02T13:39:17-06:00November 2nd, 2017|Categories: Keto Chow, Weight Loss, Ketogenic Diet|Tags: Keto Chow, science, saturated fat, cholesterol, User Experiences, ketochow2.0, Weight loss, blood test|4 Comments

Eating Keto to Save the Planet (I’m serious)
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Eating Keto to Save the Planet (I’m serious)

Weight Loss, Ketogenic Diet

Eating Keto to Save the Planet (I’m serious)

A lot of people have concerns when they start keto that “well sure, it’s healthy for me but what would happen if everybody started eating like this? Wouldn’t it destroy the environment?” There is a simple thing you can do to stop desertification, lower atmospheric CO2, improve soil health, AND your own health: increase your consumption of ruminant agriculture products. Wait, isn’t that the opposite of what everyone says? Don’t cows destroy the planet, lick your dog, and emit greenhouse gases that will destroy the world? (seriously, you gotta watch that clip!)

Not even close, quite the opposite, and it turns out you’ve been taught that way because John Harvey Kellogg and others pushed a vegetarian agenda way back in the 1800s.

Look, they were wrong about fat being bad for you, carbs being good for you, cholesterol causing heart disease and much more. Why would they be right about this? What if it’s ALL been a lie? OK, so this is going to be a bit of a dive down a rabbit hole, I’ll take you through it in the order I ran across the pieces, I recommend you visit each link and come back here for the next one.

On the first stop of our journey, we have this audio recording of a presentation by Dr. Peter Ballerstedt, given at the 2016 Low Carb USA conference.
I listened to that recording on my drive to work one morning, it was thought-provoking enough that when I got to work I tried to search for stuff I had heard and ended up on this page.
Dr. Peter Ballerstedt also did a variation of his talk at the Low Carb Breckenridge 2017 conference – it’s a video so you can see his slides.
Then the 2 Keto Dudes interviewed Dr. Ballerstedt on their podcast.
He was also interviewed by KetoGeek, it was long enough it had to be broken into 2 parts: Part 1 & Part 2.
Now comes a really fun one: 2 Keto Dudes also interviewed Dr. Gary Fettke who had just given this presentation regarding the ACTUAL history of the US dietary guidelines. The podcast was interesting enough to keep me wide awake driving to Idaho at 3 am to see the solar eclipse.

If you go through all of that you’ll discover some interesting info about some of the “narratives” (as Dr. Ballerstedt likes to call them), the history behind them and the truth. Is grass-fed beef better for you? Sure but not by much, likely not enough to justify the expense. Indeed, grass-fed beef does have MOAR omega 3, but the difference is so little that 1 ounce of salmon gives you more than 3lbs of grass fed beef. If your concern is over omega 3:6 ratios then you should never eat poultry or pork and if you get some soybean oil in your mayo then you’ve likely negated a LOT of grass-fed beef eating.

Then you get into the amazing effects of ruminant agriculture on soil health and how effectively it can sequester carbon, stop desertification and completely change the climate (for the better). I now have a burning desire to save the planet by eating more beef and using more milk products. Happily, the macronutrient sources in Keto Chow come from ruminant agriculture (whey/milk proteins and heavy cream FTW!).

Specifically, I think Dr. Ballerstedt does an amazing job at articulating his points and his “discussion” topics. He’s very deliberate in what he says and how he says it. That first link was so good that I made my kids listen to it one day while we were driving for a few hours. You should check out his Facebook page.

By Chris|2017-09-22T06:04:50-06:00September 15th, 2017|Categories: Weight Loss, Ketogenic Diet|Tags: science, saturated fat, nutrition, cholesterol|2 Comments

Dave Feldman – Cholesterol research reality check
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Dave Feldman – Cholesterol research reality check

Ketogenic Diet, Keto Chow

Dave Feldman – Cholesterol research reality check

This entry is part 105 of 131 in the series Ketogenic Diet

In case you aren’t familiar with Dave Feldman, you may want to check out:

At KetoCon he unveiled the results of his new experiment. He hasn’t done the full-write up on the experiment and results yet, though if you purchased the KetoCon presentation video download, they just posted all of the presentation videos late last night and you can watch the presentation. I’m not going to spoil Dave’s big reveal so you may have to wait for him to do an update.

So what does all this have to do with Keto Chow? Way back in October 2015, Dave ordered a week’s worth of Keto Chow. In April 2017 he tried doing an experiment using keto meal replacement shakes to reduce variables and picked Ketolent instead of Keto Chow but said he would try Keto Chow later, which he did (Dave actually got the very first shipment of Chocolate 2.0) I made sure that there was absolutely no expectation of favoritism or quid-pro-quo – more than that I saw it as an excellent opportunity to get some detailed feedback on how Keto Chow affected insulin levels. Dave reported back that he didn’t see a spike in insulin in his preliminary testing, SCORE! We got to meet up with Dave at KetoFest and talk about his experiments, which is always fun.

In Dave’s Keto Con presentation he thanked PTS Diagnostics, Ketolent, and Keto Chow for helping out with his experiment:

And on his experiment diary slide, well you can see what he was eating:

Straight up ketogenic meal replacement shakes. It allowed him to hit exactly 3000 calories a day including the days that he was adding in the “mystery ingredient” he used to drive down his cholesterol – it was still 3000 calories a day just with a different macronutrient mix. It’s pretty cool to be helping out with some really cool science and making Dave’s experiments easier and more accurate!

By Chris|2017-09-08T10:16:16-06:00September 8th, 2017|Categories: Ketogenic Diet, Keto Chow|Tags: blood test, Keto Chow, science, nutrition, cholesterol, User Experiences, KetoCon|0 Comments

Awesome new study: more carbs = more likely to die, higher fat = less likely to die, history of dietary guidelines
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Awesome new study: more carbs = more likely to die, higher fat = less likely to die, history of dietary guidelines

Ketogenic Diet

Awesome new study: more carbs = more likely to die, higher fat = less likely to die, history of dietary guidelines

This entry is part 102 of 131 in the series Ketogenic Diet

We’re in Austin getting ready for #ketocon2017 (you can stream the presentations). Naturally, we went to get some Texas Barbecue last night. The waiter asked if we wanted the leaner cut of the brisket… “no we want the fattiest portion you can get!” because we want to live longer. Isn’t that the opposite of what everyone says? Yes, it is. Fortunately there a new study published in The Lancet showing that eating more fat correlates to longer life and that “Total fat and saturated and unsaturated fats were not significantly associated with risk of myocardial infarction or cardiovascular disease mortality.” Not to get all confirmation bias but it is good to see another study showing the conventional wisdom is messed up.

High carbohydrate intake was associated with higher risk of total mortality, whereas total fat and individual types of fat were related to lower total mortality. Total fat and types of fat were not associated with cardiovascular disease, myocardial infarction, or cardiovascular disease mortality, whereas saturated fat had an inverse association with stroke. Global dietary guidelines should be reconsidered in light of these findings.

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(17)32252-3/abstract

The great thing about this study is the media coverage of it. People are flabbergasted that what they’ve been taught for so long is completely bogus. Which brings me to: there was a really interesting presentation by Gary Fettke regarding the ACTUAL origin of the US Dietary guidelines and their foundation in vegetarian evangelism. This is the one Gary discussed on the 2keto dudes podcast (this was the episode I listened to while driving at 3AM to Idaho to watch the eclipse – fascinating stuff, interesting enough to make me wide awake!).

By Chris|2017-08-31T08:50:04-06:00August 31st, 2017|Categories: Ketogenic Diet|Tags: nutrition, science, saturated fat|0 Comments

Go get a Coronary Calcium Scan #CAC
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Go get a Coronary Calcium Scan #CAC

Ketogenic Diet

Go get a Coronary Calcium Scan #CAC

Last month, my wife and I went to KetoFest in Connecticut. On Saturday, we watched “The Widowmaker” – it’s a documentary about the Coronary Artery Calcium Scan and its effectiveness at directly predicting the likelihood of coronary heart disease because it’s measuring the actual disease as it’s happening – direct observation. If you happen to have a Netflix subscription, you can watch the full documentary here. On the way out of the theater, I was walking behind Ivor Cummins – who helped with the movie and has been helping David Bobbett (the guy who paid for it to be made). Ivor and a bunch of other big names in the keto world proceeded to have a rousing discussion that really should have been recorded for posterity. One big discussion point was that the movie leaves out the “extraordinary” measures taken by David – he went on a ketogenic diet. Apparently, the film makers decided to leave that part out =).

There is some criticism of the movie – how things were presented and the need for clearly defined “good” and “bad” guys. The movie makes two important points: coronary stents don’t prevent heart attacks and coronary scans can identify advanced coronary artery disease before heart attacks happen. Regardless of the presentation, and how the film makers decided to edit things (like leaving out Keto!), finding out your calcium score is important.

Anyhow, I determined to get a CAC – and so I did. Turns out you can get them where I live for around $70. Unless you live in Texas, insurance won’t pay for it to be done – which is odd since it’s required for all astronauts and US Presidents – I suppose they’d rather pay thousands for heart surgery instead of less than $100. Anyway, out-of-pocket was simple and easy. Took longer to fill out the papers than getting the actual scan. Now I have the results of my blood tests AND I have a Coronary Artery Calcium Scan as well. Turns out that living mostly on fat (and mostly SATURATED fat, specifically), I’m doing just dandy – thanks for asking =)

The patient has a total Calcium Score of 0.

This places the patient into the 0th percentile in comparison to a group of patients asymptomatic for coronary artery disease with the same age and gender. This means that 0% of males aged 40-44 have calcium scores lower than the patient.

Coronary artery calcification is a specific marker for coronary atherosclerosis. The amount of calcification correlates with the severity of coronary atherosclerosis. A score of 0 implies a low likelihood of coronary obstruction, but cannot totally exclude the presence of atherosclerosis. A high score indicates a significant plaque burden and relative risk for future cardiovascular events. It should be understood that calcification is not site specific for stenosis but rather indicates the extent of atherosclerosis in the coronary arteries overall.

There was no identifiable plaque detected. Patient is advised to adhere to general guidelines on diet and exercise.

I’ll ignore the “general guidelines on diet” part, thank you very much =) If you’re curious and would like to see the full content of my CAC report, you can check that out here.

By Chris|2017-08-09T07:46:08-06:00August 9th, 2017|Categories: Ketogenic Diet|Tags: blood test, ketogenic, science, saturated fat, User Experiences|4 Comments

Fun Videos – Coconut Oil will (not) kill you & Low Fat food will make you fat

First we have JP telling us how the American Heart Association has to be right about Coconut Oil killing you

And then we have Adam ruining low fat food

Weird thing is: Adam uses a lot of references from Taubes and Teicholz about sugar being bad but fails to follow through on what you should eat. If you watch the entire episode the clip above comes from the nutrition advice they do give is more of the same “eat less, move more” – guess they decided telling people fat is good was a bit too much.

By Chris|2017-07-28T09:34:09-06:00July 28th, 2017|Categories: Weight Loss, Ketogenic Diet|Tags: video, Oil, Coconut Oil, science, saturated fat, nutrition, cholesterol|0 Comments

Ketofest was a blast
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Ketofest was a blast

On Tour, Ketogenic Diet, Keto Chow

Ketofest was a blast

This entry is part 98 of 131 in the series Ketogenic Diet

We returned from Ketofest yesterday morning, very early yesterday morning, from Connecticut by way of New York City. There were the usual multiple hour delays, both coming and going – at least my traveling companion was enjoyable to be with =). We attended Ketofest just as regular people, rather than trying to be a vendor – which was a good thing as it let us learn from others. That said, it was impossible to miss us: the Keto Chow t-shirts were a bit obvious

The “Keto Food Pyramid” was something I put together a few months ago, planning to put it on the back of a shirt – but the project kinda died with all the problems we had with Keto Chow 2.0 production. Last week I decided it would be a good idea to have them for Ketofest, so I ordered 6 (3 for each of us) from Vistaprint and had them before the end of the week; though at $18 each (delivered) they’re not really viable for selling – we are working on having a couple hundred made with on a dark gray shirt instead of white. We got a lot of compliments on the pyramid and the shirts, it was a good conversation starter though I’m not sure how many people noticed that the base of the pyramid was Keto Chow =)

We did bring a bunch of chocolate Keto Chow samples – they were handy to have when we talked to people about what we do: “here’s my business card, and here’s a sample of Keto Chow – you mix it with heavy cream and it makes a complete meal.”

Anyhow – Ketofest. Friday we flew from Salt Lake to JFK (2 hour delay) and then drove to New London, CT. New London was right in the middle between New York and Boston, there were more flight at better times at JFK so we went with that. Fun fact about New London: even on a Friday night, EVERYTHING shuts down at 10 PM – this was a problem because we planned on grabbing some heavy cream on the way. Turns out there was a 24 hour Super Walmart just outside New London but we didn’t find that until Saturday morning. I mixed up some Keto Chow with water, stuck it in the fridge and we went to sleep. Next morning we grabbed some heavy cream, added it to the previously mixed Keto Chow and headed off to Ketofest.

[vrview img=”https://old.ketochow.xyz/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/R0011049_20170715093518.jpg” width=”100%” ]

There were some issues with the registration bags (they were sorted by first name – oops!) but we got to meet a bunch of great people and it was surreal having everyone around already know what keto is!

[vrview img=”https://old.ketochow.xyz/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/R0011047_20170715082804.jpg” width=”100%” ]

Ketofest consisted of 2 days: “Social Saturday” and “Science Sunday”. The majority of Saturday was cooking classes, eating fatty meat (a 250lb pig brought in and roasted by a local pig farm – I can imagine Carl calling the place: “yeah we want the fattest pig you have and when it’s cut up we want ALL the fat left on it, can you bring extra fat?”), and hanging out.

The cooking classes were in a “Maker Space” where you have a commercial kitchen, a wood shop, 3d printers, laser cutters and more (I would have LIVED in a place like that as a kid), it was REALLY hot in there until I plugged in the big fan and got a cross-breeze going. Richard was helping Brenda make her famous pork rind waffles:

[vrview img=”https://old.ketochow.xyz/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/R0011056_20170715103004.jpg” width=”100%” ]

We hadn’t signed up to taste the waffles and it was standing room only, but I’ve made them myself so no big loss. They did have left over Smoked Salmon Asparagus Frittata that we got to try (my wife made more last night for dinner!). Fiorella’s Polenta Poppers were good enough that my wife made those last night for dinner too. We left before Richard started his “Pulled Beef 6-ways” where he was doing a speed-run of 6 different uses of frozen pulled beef:

[vrview img=”https://old.ketochow.xyz/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/R0011061_20170715105624.jpg” width=”100%” ]

We headed off to the plaza to eat some roast pig

[vrview img=”https://old.ketochow.xyz/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/R0011064_20170715111014.jpg” width=”100%” ]

While there we bought some keto bagels and then it was back to the cooking classes, they had some left over beef that was really good, and then we watched how to make some lemon cake (which was fantastic):

[vrview img=”https://old.ketochow.xyz/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/R0011065_20170715124900.jpg” width=”100%” ]

Following that, we went on a Segway tour of New London, ate at Hot Rod’s (Cajun dry rub wings for me, prime rib for my wife and a pint jar of bacon for an appetizer). Then it was time for the movie at the Garde Theater:

[vrview img=”https://old.ketochow.xyz/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/R0011091_20170715192708.jpg” width=”100%” ]

Ivor Cummings had secured permission for us to watch “The Widowmaker” – he’s been helping David Bobbett (the guy who funded the movie) get the word out. Powerful movie. After the movie I was walking behind a bunch of people who were talking about the science behind the coronary calcification test, they joined up with a bunch of people in the lobby talking science. I saw Dave Feldman so I went to say “Hi” but I didn’t want to interrupt the conversation. I’m glad I didn’t, I was standing in a circle comprised of a veritable cornucopia of doctors, scientists, and nutrition geeks – some of the biggest names in LCHF: Ivor Cummings, Jeffry Gerber, Dave Feldman, and some others that I don’t have the face matched up to the name =)

[vrview img=”https://old.ketochow.xyz/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/R0011092_20170715211048.jpg” width=”100%” ]

I’m actually a bit sad that I didn’t record the conversation. It’s the sort of thing that should have been a panel discussion with everyone on stage.

The next morning we headed back to the Garde to bask in science. We got to talk to Dave Feldman again, he even posed for a “Keto Chow Group Shot” with his own blender bottle of Keto Chow =)

[vrview img=”https://old.ketochow.xyz/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/R0011093_20170716083910.jpg” width=”100%” ]

The speakers were awesome, my wife got to meet Megan Ramos and I got to talk to her husband Angel (who was standing off to the side, eclipsed by the notoriety of Megan, but he’s doing some cool stuff in nutrition too!). There was some excellent food to be had and I would have loved to stay and see all the presentations but we had to drive back to New York and Google was saying it was a 2-3.5 hour drive (that’s a pretty large window!) ended up being about 2.75 – but don’t worry: the plane sat at the gate for an extra hour waiting for a fuel form!

I had 2 samples of Keto Chow left in my cargo pockets. The driver of the parking shuttle saw our Keto Chow shirts and asked us what that was about, said he was always having a hard time finding keto food he could eat that was easy and portable (ha, seriously?!). He got those last two samples =)

By Chris|2017-07-18T21:47:17-06:00July 18th, 2017|Categories: On Tour, Ketogenic Diet, Keto Chow|Tags: ketofest, on location, Keto Chow, science|2 Comments

One is the cause and one is the effect, conventional wisdom has them switched
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One is the cause and one is the effect, conventional wisdom has them switched

Ketogenic Diet, Weight Loss

One is the cause and one is the effect, conventional wisdom has them switched

So I was listening to the 2 Keto Dudes podcast and something Richard Morris said struck me as extremely important. There’s a lot of heated debate in fitness and nutrition about “Calories In = Calories Out” – also known by the shorthand CICO. The basic premise is that: You lose weight if you eat fewer calories than you need, including calories from exercise. This thinking also assumes that people who are fat got that way because they eat too many calories (it’s a character flaw they should be deeply ashamed of) and they stay that way because they are too lazy to just exercise (again, it’s a character flaw they should be ashamed of). People who are fat got that way and stay that way because they indulge in “sinful” behavior and as a society we condemn them, mock them and denigrate them openly. It’s pretty much the only socially acceptable prejudice nowadays.

I think that line of thinking is stupid and reprehensible, among other things.

Here’s what I got from Richard’s comments. Conventional wisdom says that:

(Calories Consumed) – (Calories Burned) = (Calories Stored as fat)

Everything I’ve seen (with decent science behind it, and the fundamentals of how insulin works) say that instead:

(Calories Consumed) – (Calories Stored as fat) = (Calories Burned)

It’s a slight change in the order – which one is the cause and which one is an effect, but let’s look at what this means: If we take the standard CICO model and I eat 2000 calories a day, my BMR burns off 2500 calories (it was actually 2218 last time I had it measured but let’s keep the math simple) and I do absolutely no other exercise during the day I would have a negative energy balance of 500 calories. The standard model says each pound of fat is 3500 calories, so my 500 calorie deficit would have me losing 1 lb a week. Isn’t that a nice simple story? Guess what, our bodies aren’t that simple, especially considering the active metabolic management we have going on. If you cut intake by 500 calories a day, your body isn’t going to simply continue on at 2500 BMR, it will adapt down to fit the energy it’s given… unless you are able to mobilize the stored energy you have it your fat cells.

There’s a problem with that: if you have high levels of insulin in your blood, your body WILL NOT allow you to access energy stored as fat. From an energy balance standpoint, if your insulin is too high, you have the same energy stores as a theoretical person who has 0% body fat. Neither of you will have access to stored energy in fat and both will run out of energy when your blood glucose drops. “Carb Coma” anyone?

So let’s look at that second equation, it may not be a perfect model for the human metabolism but it’s far closer to explaining the observable data. So I eat 2000 calories in a day. If I eat mostly bread, fruits, and other carbohydrates; my body will dump insulin into my blood in an effort to deal with the potentially toxic levels of glucose running around. My cells (particularly my fat cells) will key off the insulin and dutifully pull the glucose out of the blood. I’ll be able to burn some of that 2000 calories in my muscles but much of it is going to go straight to fat storage. Let’s say that 500 calories (a number I’m making up out of thin air, again: easy math) gets stored – that means I only get to use 1500 calories for “keeping the lights on”… except I need 2500 today. My body will figure out a way to keep things going, either by breaking down non-essential muscle cells or other means, but you can be certain I won’t feel like running up the stairs, going for a walk… or anything. I’ll just want to lay down and find some food so my cells can get some energy (except the same insulin issue will arise). Eventually, my cells will get used to reduced calorie availability and my base metabolic rate will go down to fit what is available. Nature abhors a vacuum.

On the other hand, let’s assume I eat 2000 calories in a day, but most of that is in the form of calories that do not create an insulin response: a moderate amount of protein (so I don’t have to cannibalize muscles to rebuild cells), the smallest amount of carbohydrates possible, and the remainder of those calories as fat. This page about “Intermittent Fasting” does an astounding job of explaining how the different macronutrients affect insulin (and debunks the “you should eat many small meals” myth), but the short version is: fats have little discernable insulin response, protein has a slight-to-moderate response and carbohydrates cause a massive insulin response. Don’t believe me? ask a type 1 diabetic about dosing insulin for 500 calories of rice vs. 500 calories of cheese. So back to the thought problem: I have 2000 calories but my blood sugar didn’t spike and my insulin didn’t spike either. For argument’s sake let’s say 100 calories get stored away somewhere (probably as glycogen in my liver or muscles) so I still have 1900 calories to work with. I need 2500, so I need 600 more from somewhere… well my insulin is low… so I can mobilize energy stored in fat cells! Holy cow, I have all the energy I need! (usually 100,000 calories or MORE).

The funny thing is: this all still works if you decide you’d like to fast for several days. Your insulin is low and you have all the energy stored you could possibly want. Many people report massive energy after 36+ hours of fasting (you still drink water and get electrolytes). Anyhow, that’s the rant for today. If CICO is true then if you are overweight it’s because you suck as a human being, stop eating so much and should just get up and move more – is that really so hard? If the alternative is true (and I believe it is), then you are overweight because the foods you’ve been told are “healthy” (“low fat” cookies? “whole wheat” bread?) have messed up your insulin response to the degree that you are storing much of the energy you consume. So get rid of the rice, the pasta, the bread, THE SUGAR and go for the foods that will make you healthy. A ketogenic diet is essentially taking this a bit to the extreme, it’s a major intervention for people whose metabolism and insulin response are broken because of years of too much junk. Many people appear to be just fine living mainly off carbohydrates, that’s fine for them – I’m not one of those people.

I tell people I don’t eat sugar because I’m allergic to it, “how do you know you’re allergic to sugar?” they say. Simple: it makes me fat.

By Chris|2017-06-21T10:24:19-06:00June 21st, 2017|Categories: Ketogenic Diet, Weight Loss|Tags: fasting, science, nutrition, Weight loss, ketogenic|3 Comments

Some thoughts on MLMs and poor “meal replacements” that are just snacks
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Some thoughts on MLMs and poor “meal replacements” that are just snacks

Ketogenic Diet

Some thoughts on MLMs and poor “meal replacements” that are just snacks

This entry is part 79 of 131 in the series Ketogenic Diet

In case you hadn’t noticed, Keto Chow is not distributed via multi-level marketing. There aren’t any “memberships” or other tomfoolery and you don’t have to trick family and friends into hearing a sales promotion to get a discount. I can very happily say that I have never once bought into a MLM and there’s no way I’d ever allow this company to engage in something as disingenuous. I think John Oliver did a fairly good job of summing up everything that’s wrong with Multi-Level Marketing.

What spurred this rant? This morning I was kicking around /r/keto and saw a promoted post for Soylent. Thought that was weird so I checked the “promoted posts” for the subreddit to see if I was getting that ad based on my reddit behavior or if Soylent were actually targeting /r/keto – it’s the former. But I did see an ad for “Wakaya BulaFIT KetoFUEL” – looked it over to see what it was (gotta check out the “competitors”). Much like the junk Pruvit KETO//OS product, this is another MLM backed quick-fix “Keto” for the masses. Finding the actual nutrition information was extraordinarily difficult – it’s nowhere on the main page or in the shopping cart where you can buy 30 servings for US$115! Ultimately I found it in their marketing flyer they give to the “Independent Ambassadors” who can buy it for $85 if they get “preferred” status.

So what do you get for that $115? 30 servings of a 250 calorie “protein” drink with some powdered MCT oil. The ingredients aren’t even remotely ketogenic. #1 ingredient? Dehydrated Sweet Cream, which I know from my own analysis is borderline keto at best. The label says 0g of carbs per 4g serving but it’s actually 0.48g. Anyhow… then you have some egg powder, some whey protein concentrate and then comes the MCT oil powder. I looked into adding MCT oil powder to Keto Chow but decided the economics didn’t make sense. It’s cheaper for everyone if you just buy Quest MCT oil powder off Amazon. Now here’s the funny thing: in the BulaFIT KetoFUEL they didn’t even bother to use soluble corn fiber to “powder” the oil, instead, they used maltodextrin. Maltodextrin is starch, it’s glucose molecules joined in chains to form a polymer and your body rapidly turns it straight into glucose, spiking your blood sugar and hindering ketosis. Oddly, they also used some acacia gum but show 0g of fiber on the panel.

250 calories for $3.83. Barely any electrolytes, 5g of carbs, only 12g of protein. Could you drink one as a “meal”? I guess – 250 calories isn’t going to keep you full for very long. Honestly, you’d do better to Intermittent Fast and then eat a proper meal. Could you replace all your meals with this product? Absolutely not (and 1800 calories of this stuff would cost you $27 and be 36g of carbs). It’s not designed as a true “replacement” for a meal, it’s more of a snack and if that’s what you’re looking for then go grab some string cheese ($11.09 for 60 at Costco). You’ll get 240 calories if you eat 3. You’ll end up with around 1g of net carbs, more protein, similar fat, AND it’ll only cost you $0.55! And it’s cheese… time to get me some more cheese.

By Chris|2017-03-16T07:32:34-06:00March 16th, 2017|Categories: Ketogenic Diet|Tags: ketogenic, Coconut Oil, science, MLM, Pruvit, BulaFit, Oil, recipe|0 Comments

Check Out “Carb Loaded” – available free on YouTube
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Check Out “Carb Loaded” – available free on YouTube

Ketogenic Diet

Check Out “Carb Loaded” – available free on YouTube

Excellent documentary about a super skinny guy that was diagnosed with type-2 diabetes. Does a great job at simply explaining many of the key points of a high fat, low carb diet. Here’s their “press release” description from their website:

It’s a classic image. An athlete bingeing on massive amounts of carbs before a race. It is believed that by consuming carbohydrates beforehand, an athlete is more likely to complete endurance events. Many people dress and talk like their sports heroes. They also EAT like them. While dressing and talking like your favorite athlete might not hurt you, many experts say carb-loading without the intent of strenuous physical activity can be destructive. This is just one aspect of our food culture to be addressed by Lathe Poland in his upcoming documentary, Carb-Loaded: A Culture Dying To Eat. Lathe, a slim build man in his mid 30’s, was diagnosed with Type2 diabetes in late 2010. “I wasn’t overweight. In fact I weigh the same now as I did back then. To be honest, I was completely blown away when my doctor gave me the diagnosis. Why would a seemingly healthy 30 something man like myself get a disease like this? My misconception like most people was that there were two scenarios where you get diabetes…Either it’s hereditary and it’s not your fault, or you eat junk food like it’s going out of style and end up diabetic.”

Lathe’s general practitioner wanted to start him on three different prescription medications, IMMEDIATELY. He recalls, “I guess what alarmed me was the ‘matter of fact’ rubber stamp approach. Is this the way it was for everyone? Feeling very discouraged, I resigned myself to the fact that I would be taking medication the rest of my life.” Not long after that, Lathe heard an NPR news segment about cases of diabetes and pre-diabetes skyrocketing. “I remember that was the tipping point for me,” he continues “for my own sanity, I needed to piece this puzzle together.” That journey began when Lathe spoke with his business partner, Eric Carlsen. Since 2004 the long time friends have run their own video production company. Lathe was interested in making a documentary, uncovering the reasons behind the shocking rise in diabetes over the last two decades. Eric though was a bit skeptical at first. “We have been producing video together for over eight years, so I have a lot of confidence in Lathe’s individual talent and our ability as a team. But the scope of what he was talking about was a bit overwhelming to say the least.” Buoyed by his friend’s enthusiasm, Eric finally agreed they could do it. The next obstacle that needed to be addressed was how to finance the film. “I had heard about filmmakers using crowd funding sites as an alternative to seeking financing from studios or private investors,” Lathe relates, “and I wondered if we could do the same.” Lathe and Eric decided they would use KickStarter.com to host their crowd funding project. However, as they continued their research they realized yet another challenge had to be met. Eric continues, “Crowd funding sites are a phenomenal tool, but they’re only effective if you attract a crowd. We knew we would have to build awareness and create an audience prior to launching our KickStarter campaign.”

As it turns out that audience would come from a multi-pronged approach. The two friends designed a website and set out to get experts to contribute content to the site. They also decided to make use of social media, including Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. As content on the site grew, so did their fan base on Twitter and Facebook. At least once a month Eric and Lathe create an update video and post it to YouTube and their website, informing interested people how the pre-production work is progressing. The pair decided they would include their outtakes for each update at the end of the segment. Lathe explains, “We wanted people to be able to relate to us right away. By letting them have a behind the scenes peek at what we were doing, it seems to attract a lot of interest in the project. We get great feedback when we post our video updates.” The duo plans to launch their KickStarter campaign in March of 2013, with the goal of beginning full scale production by late this spring. If all goes well they hope to complete filming toward the end of 2013. “It’s a way to take a negative (having diabetes), and turn it into a positive,” Lathe observes. “The idea is not to just scare people, but to help them realize that they have a measure of control over their health and the health of their kids. It requires education, and we get to play a small role in that process…what’s not to like about that?”

By Chris|2017-01-26T14:35:05-07:00January 26th, 2017|Categories: Ketogenic Diet|Tags: experience, Weight loss, video, ketogenic, science|0 Comments