Coconut Cream with Keto Chow: possible, but I didn’t like it

This entry is part 76 of 139 in the series Ketogenic Soylent

So I tried using Coconut Cream in my Keto Chow instead of Heavy Cream. It works but it wasn’t very pleasant. Since many people do Keto Chow at a higher calorie amount (2000 calories a day instead of 1300) I decided I would try using enough coconut cream to hit 2358 calories/day to see if it’s something that a rational person would try. I’ve done keto chow at the same calories before, it was more creamy but otherwise wasn’t very different from the 1300 cal version.

So I ended up using 250ml of coconut cream in one blender bottle, it filled more than half of the bottle by its self. It mixed up OK but after letting it chill out for a few hours I tried it. It was thick, like crazy thick, like nacho cheese sauce thick. After I drank about 1/4 of the bottle I added more water to dilute it a bit. The coconut flavor came through pretty strong (I used vanilla Keto Chow) and wasn’t very pleasant. I finished the bottle but it’s not something I want to ever do again. So while it’s possible to replace heavy cream with coconut cream, unless you really like the taste of coconut and only want 1100-1300 calories a day I would recommend against it. It also costs quite a bit; the 250ml I used works out to be $5.65 (for just the coconut cream alone!).

By chris|2016-10-13T07:28:06-06:00June 27th, 2015|Keto Chow, Ketogenic, Soylent|Comments Off

The smaller blender bottles work fine for Keto Chow
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The smaller blender bottles work fine for Keto Chow

Keto Chow, Ketogenic, Soylent

The smaller blender bottles work fine for Keto Chow

This entry is part 74 of 139 in the series Ketogenic Soylent

For kicks last night I mixed up some Keto Chow in one of the smaller blender bottles that I got a loooong time ago. Turns out they work just fine for Keto Chow with the only “issue” that you end up with a noticeably thicker mixture, which isn’t really a bad thing. I’m going to start using the two small ones I have on a regular basis, especially for when I’m going somewhere and need to bring keto chow in a cooler.

By chris|2015-06-24T11:18:32-06:00June 24th, 2015|Keto Chow, Ketogenic, Soylent|Comments Off

Coconut Cream as a possible substitute for heavy cream in Keto Chow

This entry is part 72 of 139 in the series Ketogenic Soylent

A comment on another post asked about the feasibility of using coconut cream for Keto Chow.

It just might work.

I looked into “Trader Joe’s Coconut Cream”:

coconut-cream-facts

I calculated for 250ml of this Coconut Cream for a target kCal/day of 1300 (same as 50ml of heavy cream. It ups the NET carbs from 12g to 20g/day which isn’t optimal but should work fine. It is significantly more expensive though, the 250ml costs around $3.50 a day, compared to $0.75 for the same amount of calories from heavy cream. I also don’t have figures for the Omega 3 and 6 content so those end up red on the recipe editor.

Still, I’m going to grab some and give it a try, see how it goes. For those that can’t handle heavy cream, this might be a viable option. Update: here are the results.

By chris|2016-10-13T07:28:08-06:00June 19th, 2015|Soylent, Preparation, Keto Chow, Ketogenic|2 Comments

Feedback wanted: Individual Days of Keto Chow?

This entry is part 63 of 139 in the series Ketogenic Soylent

I often get questions about if I can provide multiple flavors in one week. The way I used to mix this simply wasn’t a possibility since I would measure out each week individually and dump the mixture into a bag. My response has been “if you can afford it, get multiple flavors and pull from all of them at the same time” which represents a large capital outlay. In the last month or so I picked up some mixing equipment that allows me to mix an entire 10lb bag of protein powder (5.8 weeks worth) at a time along with all the required minerals and whatnot. Among other things this allows for far greater precision in what people get in each bag: you’re getting exactly 1050 grams of powder now whereas before it could vary a few grams.

Anyhow, It occurred to me tonight that if people want multiple flavors, well I could actually accommodate that given my new methodology. It would require smaller 1-day, 1-flavor bags. There would be MOAR work involved in packaging and labeling so it would cost more to buy 7 individual days compared to a week. Probably $12 or $15 per day, depending on the flavor. It might also affect shipping costs since seven 1-day packages will likely be a bit larger in volume than a 1 week package.

I was looking at these white pouches or these brown pouches and I think they would fit a days worth. So Internets, what do you think? Would yous all be interested in the 1-day pouches or should I just stick with week packs and 1-meal samples?

If you have a couple moments, please fill out this anonymous survey (link removed).

By chris|2015-07-28T08:35:04-06:00May 22nd, 2015|Keto Chow, Ketogenic, Soylent|2 Comments

Preparing a week of Keto Chow powder – video

This entry is part 50 of 139 in the series Ketogenic Soylent

Time to post a video of mixing up a week of Keto Chow. It’s very similar to my earlier videos for People Chow and Ketofood. You can find the recipe for Keto Chow here. There’s also a video showing what to do with the powder, mixing up 3 meals here.

I mix all 7 days at the same time and do not have a problem with it separating or consistency in the mixture. It’s pretty tiring when people want to argue the merits of mixing this way so I’m not going to argue with them anymore =) I’ve been mixing this way for going on 8 months, never had a problem. You don’t like it? don’t use it! Go ahead and mix every day individually; but this works far better for me than mixing individual days ever did.

By chris|2016-10-13T07:28:15-06:00March 27th, 2015|Ketogenic, Keto Chow, Preparation, Soylent|10 Comments

Mixing 3 meals of Keto Chow

This entry is part 48 of 139 in the series Ketogenic Soylent

Finally got the time to make a better video showing how to mix up 3 meals of Keto Chow for a day:

We refinished the counter about a month ago, it’s less yellow-green now.

By chris|2015-03-22T10:10:06-06:00March 22nd, 2015|Keto Chow, Ketogenic, Preparation, Soylent|3 Comments

Peanut butter, labels and bags

This entry is part 47 of 139 in the series Ketogenic Soylent

As I planned to do yesterday, I tried mixing the PB2 powdered peanut butter into my Keto Chow powder all at once while I was mixing a week instead of adding 12g into each individual meal. Worked out great! It simplified making the meals (only had to weigh once, instead of twice) and when mixed up fully there were less clumps (almost none) of peanut butter, comes out pretty smooth in fact. I like it.

I’ve thought about offering it as an option for the Rich Chocolate (it was also good in the Strawberry but I’m weird) but I’m still trying to work out the implications of adding it and the feasibility and costs. This is further complicated by the next bit of news:

Getting rid of the Ghetto

I’ve always been super open (regarding making powdered foods/soylent) about who I am, what I’m offering and all the information I can throw out there. I have been using standard gallon size freezer bags to package People Chow and then Keto Chow. They were inexpensive, sturdy, easy to get more of if I ran out but the biggest feature that kept me using them was: efficiency of space. Because the bags are pliable and compact, I can fit 4 weeks of Keto Chow into a single USPS Medium Flat Rate box, two in a Regional Rate A and one in a flat rate padded envelope. It means I can ship stuff at a far lower cost to the customer and I consider that a huge win. But I’ll see criticism about the presentation often enough that I’m going to do something about it. Last night I bought a label printer and a bunch of 4×8 stock and whipped up a label for Keto Chow:

Hey hey, that’s much better already! From here on out, all packages I’m shipping will have these labels on them. But I’m going to take it a bit further: also last night I used the five foil bags I bought last week and packaged up some Keto Chow in it:

I didn’t have a heat sealer yet so this first group got ironed shut =). The sealed part is tear-off and there’s a zipper closure as well. They’re 5 mil thick (really beefy) and look real nice. My wife thinks I should put the label vertical but I think folding over the top half wouldn’t work as well. Incidentally, anybody have a source for a 2 quart or 3 quart bag? These hold a gallon and are 40% too large, hence the folded over top part. These bags to look MOAR better-er but present some logistical problems: first and foremost they take up more room. I was barely able to squeeze three into a medium flat rate box (that holds 4 of the other packages), couldn’t even fit one in a Regional A box and barely fit one into a padded flat rate envelope. This morning I noticed that I might have better luck with the “tall and skinny” versions of these boxes so I ordered a bunch (though the USPS is terribly slow getting me boxes) and I’ll try them out. I also ordered more of the foil bags and grabbed a heat sealer. Hopefully sometime next week I’ll be doing another round of tests. Ideally I’ll be able to keep the shipping costs the same but I’m not going to hold my breath, doubly so if I decide to do a peanut butter flavor which adds another 15% to the volume of the powder.

By chris|2016-10-13T07:28:16-06:00March 19th, 2015|Keto Chow, Ketogenic, Soylent|4 Comments

Discovered a superpower

This entry is part 39 of 139 in the series Ketogenic Soylent

Yesterday for kicks I did a little experiment and didn’t eat anything from 21:00 the night before until 18:00, so 21 hours without eating just to see what would happen. I had read that doing a ketogenic diet my body would cope with fasting extremely well, and it did. I still drank water and some zero calorie flavored things, but I didn’t get hungry at all for the entire day. Then I chowed down on some Keto chow, a bunch of cheese and some beef jerky. I’m trying it again today and so far it’s worked extremely well. The next 3 days I’m working at a trade show/conference all day and I’m not going to have ready access to refrigeration for bringing keto chow. In the past I’ve just brought an insulated lunch bag with a cold pack which has worked very well but frankly I don’t want to be bothered with transporting food and all that. Anyhow, my plan is for the next 3 days (bringing the total to 5 days): I’m going to eat when I get home and fast the rest of the day. On Saturday that will probably take me beyond 24 hours since that’s the pack-it-up day. It feels a little weird having not eaten for so long, especially since I’m still not hungry. I didn’t have any problem at all doing the elliptical this morning either. Anyhow, it’ll be an interesting experiment.

For my own reference, I started the day yesterday at 224.7 and this morning I was 222.8.

By chris|2015-02-11T14:41:02-07:00February 11th, 2015|Soylent, Weight Loss, Keto Chow, Ketogenic|4 Comments

Had a bit of a flavor party last night
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Had a bit of a flavor party last night

Site or Store Stuff, Keto Chow, Ketogenic, Soylent

Had a bit of a flavor party last night

This entry is part 38 of 139 in the series Ketogenic Soylent

I ordered a bunch of 2 lb tubs of the various flavors and mixed them up into Keto Chow last night: Chocolate Fudge, Pina Colada, Smooth Banana, Cookies and Cream and the staple Chocolate Mint, Strawberry and Vanilla.

Not pictured is “Rich Chocolate” – I got the 10 lb bag of that one. I then mixed Rich Chocolate, Pina Colada and Smooth Banana up in blender bottles for today’s food. I did a quick taste test this morning. The Rich Chocolate is significantly more chocolaty than the mint chocolate (like really, really chocolate). The Pina Colada tastes like what it is: Pineapple and Coconut. The Smooth Banana is a bit odd: It mixed up really thin, almost like there’s no xanthan gum in it. It doesn’t look like I messed up on mixing the powder but I’m going to try doing a smaller 1-day batch tonight to double check. It could be it’s got some enzyme or something in it that prevents the xanthan gum from thickening it up. It still tastes good.

EDIT: So I planned to drink the rich chocolate for breakfast and somehow grabbed the banana instead. Drank it. Yes it’s still not quite as thick as the other flavors but it’s not as thin as I thought it was, I don’t think it’s going to be an issue.

By chris|2016-10-13T07:28:18-06:00February 4th, 2015|Site or Store Stuff, Keto Chow, Ketogenic, Soylent|5 Comments

Customizing the calories in Keto Chow to your requirements

This entry is part 32 of 139 in the series Ketogenic Soylent

On the Keto Chow page I have this:

This recipe has the added benefit of being customizable for people with different caloric requirements. Without any oil or cream it’s right around 500 calories/day and still hits all the right nutrients except protein, and the different fatty acids. Following the directions you’ll get 1269 calories/day (woohoo, deficit!) but you can raise that up to whatever level you want by increasing the heavy cream and/or the oil. It’s super flexible.

So how exactly do you do this?

First you’re going to need a nutrient profile. Head over to the DIY profile calculator page: http://diy.soylent.me/nutrient-profiles/calculator
If you don’t have an account on the DIY site you’ll need to make one; either log in or create an account, then co back to the calculator page if necessary.
Enter in all your information. You’re going to need to set the sliders to 5% 20% and 75% (maybe a bit more protein if you lift weights a lot). I use “chris.bair’s Keto New” as the DRI profile, I found it last time by typing “chr” three times in the dropdown menu but women might want to check out another profile. There’s a full list at http://diy.soylent.me/nutrient-profiles. Here’s what I put in last time I made one:
You can play around with the requirements a bit if you like.
Go to the Keto Chow recipe page http://diy.soylent.me/recipes/keto-chow-10-2
Click on the “Copy” button.
Type in a name and such, make sure you select your nutrient profile that you made earlier. It should be at the very top of the list.
Once you have that saved you can start customizing. You’ll need to switch over to the “Recipe Editor” tab
At the bottom it will show you the percentages you’re hitting. You may get red flags on Sodium, Potassium and a few other minerals depending on the profile you selected. Ketogenic diets need more electrolytes than normal so I’ve edited my own DRI profile to require the higher amounts. I’ve also taken out the maximum values on saturated fat and several others since the lipid hypothesis is false (watch Fat Head).
To edit a nutrient just click on the quantity in the recipe and then change the values in the pop-up.
You can hit the + and – just look at the percentages as they change. Once you get them where you’d like hit the “Save Changes” button.
Bug: the bottom numbers don’t recalculate until you refresh the entire page.
For the most part you should really only need to modify the Heavy Cream and/or the MCT oil on the Keto Chow recipe (unless you’re a nursing mother or pregnant, then your vitamin needs might be wildly different)