Greetings,
I’d like to recommend a place to talk about the ever-expanding range of HFLC/keto shakes and meal replacements. I’ve seen threads on Assielent and Keto Chow and we’ve talked about Soylent in the past on FB. With a section for everything else, this is the only one that doesn’t really fit anywhere except the “Food” generic header. It would be nice to consolidate them into one area.
Thanks for your consideration!
Not sure whether I’d consider such things as “food” at all. Might they not better fit under “Supplements”?
Surely I can understand the regular use of meal replacement for athletes, sick people or frequent travellers. I get a bit skeptical when I see regular use of meal replacement for regular folk. In fact, it concerns me. One of the reasons we are in this diabetic obesity Alzheimer’s nightmare situation is because we lost touch with real food…look at the proportion of food in grocery stores that would be completely unrecognizable to our ancestors 5 generations back.
Having a category for meal replacement is a good idea…as long as it does not promote it for regular use.
Why wouldn’t they be food? If they are replacing meals, that’s more “food” than " supplements" to me. Besides, when people hear “supplements”, they think things like calcium or biotin or whatever.
I personally have been using a meal replacement shake for at least one meal a day, if not all three meals sometimes. I’ve been doing this nearly every day for almost a year and a half now. I have lost about 40lbs, am no longer pre-diabetic, I finally sleep well, don’t wheeze when I climb stairs and a host of other benefits we all tout from our keto way of life.
I haven’t “lost touch with real food.” I eat real food just like everyone else, but if it weren’t for the keto shakes, I wouldn’t have been able to start and stick with this way of life and I wouldn’t be here today. As an IT guy, I was always on the run and travelling when I started and shakes were the way to go for me. I could count calories easily, always knew exactly what’s in them, no mystery ingredients and I could eat it and go. It worked for me and it’s still working to this day.
I really don’t want to be made to feel like a second-class citizen because I use shakes for meals.
It better be “food” - I’ve only had 5 meals in 2017 that weren’t Keto Chow. So it’s food or I’m dead already
Try not to take it personally that someone feels differently than you do about meal replacements. I think it’s reasonable to express concerns about the use of meal replacements, without that necessarily being meant as a judgment of those who use them.
First of all, well done on recovering your health, and having both the stamina and intelligence to do it. Bravo!
In no way do I consider you, or your eating choices, as second class. I have great respect for how you cleverly hacked your body. And, this world has various perspectives and people, we all need to accept and embrace, and more importantly, learn from each other.
I sincerely apologize if you thought my words were offensive…as that was completely not the objective of my message. All I wanted to convey was that I believe our modern society lost touch with where our food comes from, and hopefully we should be mindful of this. It’s my humble perspective, that’s all.
As I mentioned in my last post, I still your idea is a good one. If we have a category, people can chime in and discuss experiences and science behind the various ingredients.
Nutritional Ketosis (aka “Keto” or “Ketogenic Diet”) can be highly effective but it’s daunting, especially for beginners. Keto is the only thing I have ever tried that has had any lasting effect on my health and my weight. I consider it like the “Konami Code“: a cheat or hack, because of how effective it has been in turning around my life (and the lives of family, friends, and former strangers =). I’m committed to helping others get into the Keto lifestyle and Keto Chow makes doing Keto easier; not only for beginners that are just starting out, but also for grizzled veterans who have been doing keto for years.
My first introduction to the ketogenic diet was when our oldest son started having seizures. After trying most of the common anticonvulsants (with no success) the neurologist sent my wife home with some information on a dietary treatment to control the seizures. He told her that if they didn’t have success with a medication soon then we would need to try a ketogenic diet. Glancing through the information he provided, my initial reaction was “holy crap, that sounds impossible!” all of the dietary restrictions and rules were more than we could handle. We would be like this family. The next medication worked and I all but forgot about the ketogenic diet. Years later it came up again when I decided I needed to lose weight.
When you first start doing Keto, there is a lot of information to be learned. There’s new vocabulary, new science, new lists of things you should or shouldn’t eat. It can actually be a bit dangerous if you don’t do sufficient research and don’t know that insufficient electrolytes will make you feel terrible (it’s called “Keto Flu” and it isn’t any fun) – that was one of the mistakes I made when I started Keto. I also started keto using a meal replacement shake that was loaded with coconut flour, chia seeds and other gritty stuff.
My goals in making Keto Chow were:
Here’s the honest truth: I completely and entirely believe in this product and the Ketogenic diet. It’s not the end-all, be-all answer to everything in the world and I don’t eat it all day, every day for every meal (because: bacon and cheese). But I do have it for most meals.
I made Keto Chow for myself, it just happens to be the sort of thing that other people like too. It’s easy to prepare meals and I don’t have to worry about missing out on weird vitamins or minerals. I hit my macronutrient goals. I’m getting my electrolytes and it’s REALLY good tasting – like I’m always sad when my Chocolate Peanut Butter is empty. I mix up a couple days worth at a time and am able to just grab containers out of the fridge on my way out the door.
Chris,
I appreciate your perspective and disclosing experience of The product you created and are currently marketing. I just will say this…a red flag has been raised at the back of my mind…as the post comes off as advertisement. Not sure this forum should be used for advertising products. I may be wrong. I welcome perspectives from others.
You can probably understand my frustration at being told what I eat every day isn’t food and that I am somehow part and parcel to “this diabetic obesity Alzheimer’s nightmare situation” because I’ve “lost touch with real food” because I choose shakes over hard food. You can see how that might be considered finger-wagging, if not outright browbeating. It’s hard not to take that kind of thing personally. As is often said around here (which I absolutely love about this place), there is no rule book. What works for one may not work for another, but as long as you’re keto and you’re trying, you’re all good. I’m trying the way that works best for me and I’ve seen I’m not alone in it which is why I suggested a new subforum in the first place.
If you don’t want to create one, that’s OK. It’s up to you guys what you add or don’t add, but I certainly didn’t expect to the response I got, that’s all.
It’s all good.
Here’s the recipe: https://www.ketochow.xyz/keto-chow-recipe/ Sure I sell the completely mixed stuff but I’m absolutely happy with people taking the recipe and making their own for free. It’s terrible marketing but I don’t really care =)
I invited Chris to these forums because I have used his product for 1.5 years and he’s done a great thing for the keto community in creating what he has and even making the recipe open-source. You don’t have buy his product to use it. I don’t. I mix my own based around his recipe, which is free.
He’s not here to sell anything and I don’t think I’ve seen him do so yet. In fact, in the few threads about shakes or meal replacement, he’s consistently mentioned competitors’ products along with his own, and never unsolicited.
Wow…I didn’t know this. Well, I certainly have respect for what @Chris_Bair is doing then. Well done…and thank you for contributing to the forum!
No, honestly, I don’t see why you are assuming finger-wagging on my part, or on the part of others who have responded. I posted precisely two sentences, neither of which were intended to be judgmental, nor express an opinion on your specific choices in diet and nutrition.
This forum (in my personal opinion) should be a place where we all are able to express our opinions, and that means that occasionally we’ll end up in a different place than others on one or another issue. To do that, we need to be careful to extend to others the best possible interpretation of what they’ve said, as well as to do our best to say things in a way that isn’t likely to be received as criticism. To the extent that I’ve failed in the latter part, I’m happy to offer my apologies.
The question of whether or not to create a new category, or where that category belongs, is not a value judgment on your choices in how you keto. Sorry if that wasn’t clear from how I responded.
