FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

KETO CHOW PREPARATION

If you are mixing up Keto Chow with cold water, we recommend letting it chill for at least 20-30 minutes (preferably overnight) for best taste. This allows the flavors to develop and for the ingredients to properly dissolve (and also makes it a bit sweeter and less salty!) You won’t lose health benefits from drinking it immediately—you just may find you prefer the taste after it’s had some time to chill.

If you are preparing your Keto Chow with warm or hot water, you can drink it immediately as the ingredients will dissolve faster. You can find more information on preparing Keto Chow here.

Most people start by using Heavy Cream or Heavy Whipping Cream. Once you’ve gotten a feel for mixing Keto Chow you may want to try other fats. Here are many of the ones people have used:

  • Heavy (Whipping) Cream
  • Melted Butter (mix with warm water using a blender)
  • Ghee/Clarified Butter (mix with warm water using a blender)
  • Coconut Oil (mix with warm water using a blender)
  • Wagyu Beef Tallow (mix with warm water using a blender)
  • Avocado Oil
  • Peanut Butter (limited use, has to be mixed with a blender)
  • Egg Yolks
  • Cream Cheese (mix with warm water using a blender)
  • Whipping Cream (has a little more carbs compared to heavy cream)

Fats that you can use but we typically do not recommend:

  • Olive Oil (the flavor is REALLY strong, most people do not like this)
  • MCT Oil (limit of 1 tablespoon for most people and it can cause problems with high triglycerides and low HDL)
  • Canola Oil
  • Soybean/Vegetable Oil
  • Macadamia Nut Oil (the flavor is REALLY strong, most people do not like this)
  • Coconut Cream (this is kinda high in carbs)
  • Filtered bacon grease (strong flavor and it gets hard/clumps)
  • Milk (Whole/Skim/2%) – this has really a lot of sugar, please don’t use it
  • Half-and-Half

You can use powdered fats but their packaging rounds down the carb content, giving you inaccurate information. These will have 3-15x more carbs per calorie than their liquid counterparts:

  • Powdered Butter
  • Powdered Heavy Cream/Powdered Sweet Cream
  • Powdered Cream Cheese
  • Powdered MCT Oil

We have a video that explains what fats you can use.

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Chris did a 100-day experiment where I didn’t eat anything BUT Keto Chow and different kinds of fats. The short version is: butter is the best, then heavy cream. You can also use avocado oil, a little MCT oil, or even coconut oil if you mix it the same as butter.

So, based on all that, it’s entirely up to you!

We often drink Keto Chow warm, and also frequently use it in cooking and baking. Even the Savory Soups are meant to be consumed hot/warm.

Please note that once Keto Chow reaches 120 degrees Fahrenheit or more, some of the nutrients may start to deteriorate. Even when it reaches that temperature, you will still receive excellent nutritional value, but you would not want it to be your sole source of nutrition if you consistently heat it above 120 degrees.

Your Keto Chow should be good if kept chilled in the fridge for either six days, or until the fat source expires—whichever comes first. For example, if you use cream that expires in three days, you should consume that shake within three days. But if you use butter that expires in four weeks, you should consume that shake within six days.

Nope! Keto Chow was designed to provide complete nutrition so that you could live on three a day if you wanted to, but there’s no reason you have to. Many users do 1-2 Keto Chow meals a day, with keto-friendly meal(s) to provide the rest of their daily calories. You can also use it just occasionally on especially busy days—whatever works best for you.

We have some great preparation and mixing resources on our website. There are many ways to use Keto Chow:

  • Mix it up one meal at a time in a BlenderBottle®.
  • Prepare a couple of meals in a blender. (Try adding ice!)
  • Make multiple meals at a time in a gallon-size pitcher with an immersion blender.
  • Use it in a recipe
  • Turn it up a notch using our awesome flavor hacks!

Keto Chow is the tastiest low-carb meal replacement shake mix on the market and is designed to support nutritional ketosis. Combine it with a fat source of your choice (like heavy cream, butter, or oil) and water. One shake provides 1/3 of your daily vitamins, minerals, fiber, protein, electrolytes, and more.

SPECIFIC DIETARY NEEDS

Ingredients are available on each product’s page. A list of some common allergens are below. Please note, we cannot guarantee that this list reflects all flavors or allergens. If you have concerns about any allergen, please contact us at 385-645-5386 or hello@ketochow.xyz and we will speak to our suppliers to ensure we have the most accurate information possible.

Common Allergens

Gluten and wheat

  • All flavors of Keto Chow are gluten-free and wheat-free.

Soy

  • All flavors of Keto Chow are soy-free.

Peanuts

PLEASE NOTE: All Keto Chow is manufactured at the same facility. However, after processing flavors that do contain peanuts, the facility is cleaned according to FDA guidelines to prevent cross-contamination.

  • Chocolate Peanut Butter
  • Peanut Butter

Tree Nuts

(almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, brazil nuts, cashews, pecans, pistachios and macadamia nuts, etc…)

Nutmeg

  • Apple Pie
  • Chai Latte
  • Eggnog
  • Pumpkin Spice Caramel

Aside from nutmeg, all flavors of Keto Chow are tree nut-free (including the pistachio which does not have pistachios in it). Pecan Sticky Bun does not contain tree nuts.

Dairy

  • Dairy-free options are available. Keto Chow Core, Base Powder, Creamy Tomato Basil, Spicy Taco Soup Base, and Beef Soup Base.

Eggs

  • Eggnog
  • Egg White Protein

Other Allergens

Cinnamon

  • Snickerdoodle
  • Pumpkin Spice Caramel
  • Apple Pie
  • Pecan Sticky Bun
  • Gingerbread

Tomatoes

  • Creamy Tomato Basil
  • Spicy Taco Soup Base

Fish

  • All flavors of Keto Chow are fish-free.

Lupin

  • All flavors of Keto Chow are lupin-free.

Shellfish and Mollusks

  • All flavors of Keto Chow are shellfish-free.

Sesame

  • All flavors of Keto Chow are sesame-free.

Pineapple extracts

  • Pina Colada

Allspice

  • Apple Pie
  • Chai Latte
  • Gingerbread
  • Pumpkin Spice Caramel

Coffee

  • Caramel Macchiato
  • Irish Cream
  • Mocha

Cardamom:

  • Apple Pie
  • Chai Latte

Ginger:

  • Gingerbread
  • Pumpkin Spice Caramel

Cloves:

  • Gingerbread

Basil:

  • Creamy Tomato Basil

The short answer is no. But here’s why:

The primary goal of Keto Chow is very simple: simply and easily get the best nutrients for humans and make eating a ketogenic diet more enjoyable and sustainable. All of the decisions we make, including which ingredients we use, derive from that goal. We are more interested in using the best, most nutritious ingredients than using ingredients that would qualify to be certified organic. It would be a disservice to our customers that rely upon us for the highest quality nutrition possible to show more concern for the label than for the actual effect those ingredients will have.

We understand that products that are certified “organic” or “GMO-Free” is important to many people. Caring about your health is a great thing! Our research directs us to put actionable data and science above philosophy. This, unfortunately, means that if you only purchase “organic” products, this isn’t the best option for you.

Yes! Check out the Keto Chow Core line for dairy-free options.

Yep! At its core, Keto Chow is a low-carb meal replacement shake. It also just happens to be 1/3 of everything you need in a day…and also super convenient.

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Legally speaking, we cannot recommend Keto Chow for children, pregnant, or breastfeeding women, as it has not been evaluated for those specific groups by the FDA. We do have employees, friends, and customers who have used it in these circumstances, but if you have any reservations at all, it is best to show the nutrition and ingredients to your healthcare provider and discuss it with them.

Many people who have problems with lactose are able to handle the relatively small amounts in Keto Chow without problems, or by using a lactase enzyme supplement. See this post for details.

In terms of what fat to add to your shake, heavy cream is relatively low in lactose per calorie, but you can also add butter, clarified butter, coconut oil, coconut cream, or avocado oil. You may also choose to add a small amount of MCT oil to another fat source, but we don’t recommend having it as your only fat source in your shake.

Yes, Keto Chow is certified as gluten-free.

Keto Chow is not certified as kosher or halal.

NUTRITION / INGREDIENTS

In short: No. We do not use “Natural Flavors” or “Artificial Flavors” to hide ingredients in our products, We strongly believe in being honest and open about what is in our products and wish all companies would take it as seriously as we do.

Also in short: food manufacturers may not know the specific aromatics that make a flavor, but they absolutely know what is used to make the liquid aromatics into a powder and that is usually maltodextrin, though we use acacia gum fiber instead.

What even ARE “Natural” Flavors?

First things first, we need to clear up what appears to be a common misunderstanding: what EXACTLY is meant by “natural” or “artificial” flavors when talking about food ingredients?

  • If an aromatic compound in a flavor or essence is extracted from a source that occurs in nature (even if it is significantly modified before its final form) that is called “Natural.”
  • Conversely, if a compound is created in a lab or process using synthetic components to create a completely new compound, that would be termed “Artificial.”

Another way to think about it would be that you can take water from the ocean and distill it to make desalinated water, that is “natural.” If you take a fuel and burn it, creating carbon dioxide and water vapor, technically that water was created by a chemical process (burning) and you have “artificial” H2O. The distinction between the two is how they originate, although both typically go through a considerable amount of changes to get to their final form.

OK, so what’s the problem with “natural flavors” in foods?

Partly because you can’t copyright or patent a recipe, The USDA, FDA, and FTC allow food manufacturers in the United States to… well… hide small ingredients under the umbrella of “natural flavor” and also under “artificial flavor.” It’s legal, rather common, and it’s a jerk thing to do to your customers. The practice is prevalent enough that many people with a platform will tell those who listen to completely avoid anything with the ingredient “natural flavor(s).” You may have seen lists on the Internet of “names of sugar” with Natural Flavor as one of them. The interesting thing is that “artificial flavor(s)” has the same potential for abuse – it isn’t any better or worse. Ultimately it comes down to: how much do you trust the people making a product? Do they go so far as publishing their recipe? Have they tried actually using the product for 100 days and publishing all of the data including blood tests and more? We hope to prove ourselves worthy of your trust.

One of the things that is commonly hidden under natural or artificial flavor is maltodextrin.

Malto-what?

Maltodextrin is starch. It’s typically made from corn but can be made from tapioca or other starchy vegetables. Maltodextrin impacts different people in different ways. A healthy person may have no reaction at all to extremely large amounts of maltodextrin (body builders mix drinks that are JUST maltodextrin because it triggers insulin which can help bulk up muscles). People that are trying to manage their insulin will typically wish to avoid maltodextrin at all costs. There is also some anecdotal evidence that people with allergies to corn may react to maltodextrin from corn, other people react to maltodextrin from any source, GMO or otherwise. There is a scale that measures what foods do to a healthy person’s blood sugar, it’s called the glycemic index. Essentially you measure the reaction to pure glucose and then compare that to other foods with glucose being 100. Sucrose/sugar is around 63 because half of it is fructose which has to be processed by the liver, it takes a while. Maltodextrin is 105-110 meaning it raises blood sugar more than pure glucose. That’s understandable because maltodextrin turns into glucose when exposed to saliva. The FDA considers maltodextrin to NOT be a sugar and can be included on foods labeled as “sugar free.” Your body, however, can turn maltodextrin into sugar before you have even swallowed it.

Zero Maltodextrin in ALL of our products

We work exceptionally hard to make certain that none of our products have ANY maltodextrin – at all. This is extremely difficult to do because maltodextrin is commonly used as a binder and bulking agent so that liquid flavors can be made into a powder – the manufacturing industry loves the stuff, but we don’t want it in our products. Instead, we use Acacia Gum. It works nearly as well as maltodextrin but also lets fats mix with water (it’s an emulsifier) and even though acacia gum is a fiber that humans can’t digest, your gut bacteria turns it into butyrate and other short chain fats. It’s extremely cool stuff… but it is also more expensive, more difficult to use and to source than maltodextrin; which is why the foods industry doesn’t like to use it unless you stomp your feet and throw a fit like a petulant child.

Because using something OTHER than maltodextrin is such an “up-hill battle” – if a powdered/dry product is flavored and does not overtly proudly LOUDLY declare that they do not use maltodextrin, it is reasonable to assume that the product uses maltodextrin in the flavoring. It’s a big deal to the companies that care.

So what IS in the flavorings you use?

Finally, we arrive at “what EXACTLY is in the natural/artificial flavorings you use?” – We can easily tell you what IS NOT in it (no maltodextrin!), it’s far harder to say what is in them. Let us explain the issue.

The way all flavor manufacturer works is they will not divulge a list of the exact specific aromatic components in a flavor because they consider that a closely held trade secret and the same applies to both flavors made from ingredients that occur naturally and flavors made from ingredients that are synthesized in a lab. What we can do, especially for concerns regarding allergens, is check to see if a specific ingredient or compound is present in one of the flavors. Such is the case with our Pistachio flavor for Keto Chow – the question was raised “hey, I’m allergic to pistachio nuts – does this have actual compounds (proteins) from pistachios that would trigger an allergy?” At most, it takes a few days for us to get back an answer. In the case of Pistachio, the answer was that the “Natural” flavors do not contain any actual compounds from pistachio nuts and is therefore safe for people with pistachio allergies. Cool! Pina Colada, however, does contain actual Pineapple extracts.

Another issue regarding the specific aromatic compounds in a flavor is that knowing what they are isn’t especially helpful. Let’s look at what’s in an all-natural strawberry – like the fruit. Here’s the full list of flavors in a regular strawberry:

2,5-dimethyl-4-hydroxy-2h-furan-3-one, 2,5-dimethyl-4-methoxy-2h-furan-3-one, gamma decalactone, gamma-dodecalactone, 2-furfural, 5 hydroxy ethyl-furfural, ionene, inialool, (e)- nerolidol, e1510, hexanol, octanol, methyl butanoate ethyl butanoate, methyl hexanoate, ethyl hexanoate, hexyl ethanoate, ()-2-hexen-1-yl ethanoate, utyl ethanoate, methyl octanoate, ethyl octanoate, octyl-2-methyl butanoate, octyl hexanoate, decyl butanoate, decyl ethanoate, methanethiol, ethyl 3-methylbutanoate, geraniol, e210, farnesyl acetate, mesifurane, methyl anthranilate, gamma-decalactone, methional, dimethoxymethane, 1-butoxy-1-ethoxyethane

2,5-Dimethyl-4-methoxy-3(2H)-furanone sounds pretty weird right? That’s one of the distinctive aromatic compounds that strawberries make and is likely in all natural or artificial strawberry flavors. People often say “if you can’t pronounce it, don’t eat it” but this is the chemical name of what strawberries make – is eating a strawberry a big deal? It contains the CHEMICALS listed above. Eggs contain acetone and formaldehyde in their flavoring chemicals, un-modified cabbage naturally produces pesticides and known carcinogens.

To be clear: We aren’t saying that knowing what is in a product is NOT important (see maltodextrin above!) we are saying that knowing the exact list of the aromatics in a flavor is helpful for specific things:

  • If you have an allergy, knowing that allergen is NOT in a product is vital – we can totally help you with that!
  • A flavor manufacturer/chemist could use a list of the ingredients in a flavor to copy it and clone a product’s flavor
  • I can’t think of a 3rd thing – let us know if you can.

Now it’s time for the deep dive – could a product manufacturer NOT know they have maltodextrin?

With almost absolute certainty we say: No, they would absolutely be aware of maltodextrin, dextrose, or sugar content and quantity. We work with multiple flavor manufacturers, and all of them do provide some detailed information regarding the flavor carrier/drying agent (which is typically maltodextrin, we use acacia gum) along with a nutrition analysis. Really we have everything except for the aromatic compounds. All food manufacturers WILL have this information and it’s relatively easy for them to look at the “total carbohydrates” and compare to the “dietary fiber” line. Unless there is dietary fiber (like acacia gum) then all of the total carbohydrates in the nutrition analysis for the flavor will be maltodextrin or dextrose (sugar). Period. It’s really that simple.

These nutritional analysis documents are nearly always for 100g so the figures are a direct percentage. If a product contains 1000mg of flavoring and the flavoring is 85% total carbohydrates (with no fiber) then there are 850mg of maltodextrin. If they use 600mg of flavor then it would be 510mg of maltodextrin, etc…

Real world examples from our own flavorings

Let’s look at some of the information that we have from our flavor manufacturers, here are parts of the actual data sheets for 2 of our flavors plus a flavor that we DO NOT use!

Flavor 1 nutritional analysis (click to enlarge) all of the carbohydrates are fiber (acacia gum):
Flavor 2 Nutritional Analysis

And here is the ingredient list provided for flavor 1, you will note that the flavor carrier/drying agent is clearly listed (click to enlarge):

Flavor 2 Ingredient statement

Here is the nutritional analysis for flavor 2 (click to enlarge) all of the carbohydrates are fiber (acacia gum):

Flavor 1 Nutritional Analysis

And here is the ingredient disclosure (click to enlarge). You will note again that the flavor carrier is listed. In this case, Rosemary extract is used as an antioxidant to make the flavor store better, since this is a flavor that occurs naturally, it falls under the umbrella of “natural flavors”:

Flavor 1 Ingredient statement

Now let’s look at a “normal” flavor similar to what would be used by most product manufacturers. WE DO NOT use this flavor. We specifically require our flavors to be made with acacia gum and this one was sent to us before we told the flavor manufacturer that we can’t use maltodextrin or sugar:

Flavor 3 nutritional information

Well, THAT is different! Let’s look at the ingredient disclosure for the flavor:

Flavor 3 ingredient information

OK then, that’s a lot of dodgy ingredients! Here’s the issue that many people have with current labeling laws: all of the ingredients above could be put on the label of a product as “Natural and Artificial Flavors” – no mention of corn starch, corn syrup, etc… and THAT is the problem people see with “natural flavor” on ingredient lists.

If Maltodextrin sucks, why do companies use it?

The most likely reasons are:

  1. Maltodextrin is cheap and works better than acacia gum
  2. Acacia gum is more expensive and is harder to use
  3. They do not think that the market knows or cares about maltodextrin
  4. Some consider tapioca maltodextrin to be an alternative to corn maltodextrin (sorry, it’s still maltodextrin!) and that’s good enough
  5. Some companies just have an idea for a product and lack the expertise to specify ingredients, which leads us to…
  6. Most places that do the actual mixing and packaging have never used anything BUT flavors with maltodextrin and it won’t even occur to them to look for an alternative

Certificates of Analysis and lot variations

One other aspect to all this is that ALL of the ingredients being used to create food products have a similar “generic” nutritional analysis and each batch or “lot” of the ingredient comes with a Certificate Of Analysis that gives the exact values for that specific batch. That COA analysis will often come with 2 data points: the average figure and the figure for this batch. The FDA labeling guidelines allow using the average numbers because printing a completely new package for each change in ingredient lot/batch is unreasonable. The figures must be +/- 10% though, and many manufacturers require their suppliers to be even closer with only a 1-2% deviation allowed from the specification. These specification nutritional analysis documents allow us to see how much protein, sodium, potassium, and other nutrients are in an ingredient and with that information we can build a nutrition label with reasonable confidence.


<table id="tablepress-18" class="tablepress tablepress-id-18">
<thead>
<tr class="row-1">
	<th class="column-1"></th><th class="column-2">Ingredient</th><th class="column-3">mg/serving</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody class="row-hover">
<tr class="row-2">
	<td rowspan="5" class="column-1">Inland Sea AC Powdered Salt</td><td class="column-2">Chloride</td><td class="column-3">1,992.00</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-3">
	<td class="column-2">Sodium</td><td class="column-3">968.00</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-4">
	<td class="column-2">Magnesium</td><td class="column-3">177.60</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-5">
	<td class="column-2">Sulfate</td><td class="column-3">162.00</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-6">
	<td class="column-2">Potassium</td><td class="column-3">94.00</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-7">
	<td rowspan="2" class="column-1">Potassium Chloride</td><td class="column-2">Potassium</td><td class="column-3">314.29</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-8">
	<td class="column-2">Chloride</td><td class="column-3">285.71</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-9">
	<td class="column-1">Malic Acid</td><td class="column-2">Malic Acid</td><td class="column-3">1,300.00</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-10">
	<td class="column-1">Stevia Extract</td><td class="column-2">RebD+RebM</td><td class="column-3">400.00</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-11">
	<td rowspan="4" class="column-1">Flavoring</td><td class="column-2">Acacia Fiber</td><td class="column-3">182.48</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-12">
	<td class="column-2">Flavor</td><td class="column-3">9.83</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-13">
	<td class="column-2">Calcium</td><td class="column-3">1.88</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-14">
	<td class="column-2">Potassium</td><td class="column-3">1.22</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
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Above are the 5 ingredients in our SALTT Electrolyte Drink Mix using the nutritional analysis breakdown for each individual ingredient adjusted for the amount in a single serving. You’ll notice potassium and others are on there multiple times. This might also help you understand that: of the 4g of powdered salt, not all of it is sodium (most is chloride!) and the 600mg of potassium chloride yields 314mg of potassium. If we were using maltodextrin in our flavorings, the 182mg of acacia gum would be 182mg of maltodextrin. You may notice that the numbers don’t all add up to the full serving size, that’s because some of the mass is water/humidity and some is what’s classified as “ash” or a sort of, “this is the stuff that’s left over that isn’t water.” Here is the above table as a graph (click to enlarge):

SALTT nutrition as a bar graph

If you have additional questions about flavors or our products, please do ask us. We’re super passionate about giving people the information we can to help them make informed decisions about their health.

For our screen reader people, here’s a text version of the table above:

Ingredientmg/serving
Inland Sea AC Powdered SaltChloride1,992.00
Sodium968.00
Magnesium177.60
Sulfate162.00
Potassium94.00
Potassium ChloridePotassium314.29
Chloride285.71
Malic AcidMalic Acid1,300.00
Stevia ExtractRebD+RebM400.00
FlavoringAcacia Fiber182.48
Flavor9.83
Calcium1.88
Potassium1.22

Our SALTT electrolytes are manufactured using salt water that is taken from Utah’s Great Salt Lake and purified and refined. Some are made mostly with the naturally occurring Magnesium Chloride, while others are mostly there for the Socium Chloride (aka: “salt”) but the question comes up: how do we ensure that heavy metals and other potentially problematic compounds aren’t getting into our electrolytes?

Every batch is tested for heavy metal content to ensure it meets our standards. We also have the final finished product tested to ensure it does not require a California Proposition 65 warning. We are happy to report that all of the tests show that SALTT Electrolyte Drink Mix is below the “Safe Harbor” No Significant Risk Levels (NSRLs) and Maximum Allowable Dose Levels (MADLs), meaning it does not require a warning to California residents.

The Great Salt Lake itself makes sure that heavy metals settle to the bottom of the lake – it’s literally a giant settling pond, while the minerals that we want (potassium, sodium, and magnesium) stay dissolved and ready for use. Don’t forget: if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the precipitate #ScienceDadJoke

In the simplest terms, a “natural” ingredient means it is derived from something found in nature. However, “natural” does not mean “better” — it’s simply a way to designate the origin. An “artificial” ingredient means that it’s created by combining compounds together. Keto Chow uses both natural and artificial ingredients, but we always prioritize health and quality.

Keto Chow is designed to provide 1/3 of what your body needs in every serving—including sodium.

In fact, many people on keto, especially as they are first starting out, don’t get enough sodium. This can result in imbalanced or low electrolytes, causing flu-like symptoms. (This is sometimes called the keto flu.) 

Many find they feel their best by adding sodium above and beyond what Keto Chow has. You can check out our other keto supplements to get the extra electrolytes you need.

Despite being viewed by some as the “bad” macro, fat is essential for your body. Even aside from its necessity in biological processes, it also plays an important role in making sure you stay full—making it less likely that you will overeat and consume extra calories. It’s what makes low-carb eating sustainable. Without enough fat to keep you full, your body will not be able to maintain this way of eating. Especially in the transition to keto, consuming extra fat helps your body learn how to burn fat for fuel instead of the carbs that it’s used to. I suggest thinking of it like this: on keto, keep carbs low, make sure you reach your recommended protein goal each day, and then add fat to satiety.

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First things first: there is some confusion between “Splenda” (that you buy at the grocery store) and pure sucralose. Splenda uses bulking agents so that you can “measure it like sugar” – typically this will be 99.8% maltodextrin which is simply a carbohydrate and no good for a Ketogenic or low carb diet. The maltodextrin in store-bought Splenda will absolutely spike your blood sugar. Pure sucralose, on the other hand, will not. Even if it did have an effect on blood sugar, there is simply too little of it to have any effect. In Keto Chow, we use 0.08g per serving. To put that in perspective: that is 1/64 the weight of a US nickel. Even 0.08g of actual sugar will only raise your blood sugar by 0.32mg/dL – essentially no effect.

You may also find people snidely referencing sucralose as “chlorinated sugar” – assuming that any form of chlorine is bad for humans. This would be ignoring Sodium Chloride (salt) and other essential chemical compounds that contain chlorine.

OK, back to the question of why we use sucralose for many of the sweet flavors of Keto Chow. The short answer is: because stevia doesn’t taste very good to the overwhelming majority of our taste testers. Ultimately, stevia, monk fruit, erythritol, or any other “natural sweeteners” are not magical and cause the same reactions in humans as anything else that’s sweet so why not use the best tasting option? We actually paid a 3rd party to do a blind taste test and they confirmed that Keto Chow with sucralose tastes “more natural” than products using Stevia, Erythritol, or Monk Fruit.

  • Erythritol and Allulose would seem a good choice but they DOUBLE the weight and volume of Keto Chow, instead of 21 meals you’d get 10 for the same price and shipping. That sucks.
  • Keto Chow CORE is available with either NO sweetener (add your own!) or with Stevia
  • We do have the “Natural Strawberry” that does use monk fruit instead of sucralose. It costs more to produce and doesn’t taste as good (in my opinion).
  • We have the “Base Powder” version which you combine with your choice of flavored/sweetened protein powder – lets you use whatever you’d like. Want to use egg white protein with Stevia? Go for it! You’ll still get all of the vitamins and minerals you’d normally get with Keto Chow.
  • We have 4 savory soup flavors (you mix them hot!) that do not use any sweetener, because that would be gross.

Allow me to quote Julie from the Keto Villiage Facebook group – she illustrates why we use sucralose really well:

Holy what the hell. Go buy Keto Chow. It is NO joke. I am not a packaged foods kinda gal but needed something to get me back on the Keto track. I was thinking, honestly, “ok, I can choke this down for a couple weeks.” Um. NOT EVEN CLOSE. This shiz is delicious!!! And easy to make! Holy wow!
I bought both the peanut butter chocolate and the raspberry cheesecake. I blended 1/2 c heavy cream and 1/2 cup coconut milk with ice with a scoop of chow. Thick like a milkshake. No weird malt “slim fast” taste.

(Chris here) I personally use Keto Chow for at least 2 meals a day, often 3. Instead of something that I have to suffer through, I want something so delectable that I’m sad when I run out. It should taste so good that I swish it around in my mouth, enjoying the flavor; not plugging my nose and chugging it as fast as possible. And I won’t sell something that’s gross or barely tolerable. It’s gotta be delightful and that’s what you get with sucralose: the best flavor possible. A meal replacement that doesn’t taste AMAZING isn’t helpful in its intended use.

What about the rat studies showing changes in gut bacteria when exposed to sucralose? Humans are not rats. Those rats weren’t consuming acacia gum. Those rats weren’t on a ketogenic diet. Even more important, is the DOSE that the rats received. The dosage is usually expressed in mg/Kg or how many milligrams of sucralose were given per Kilogram of body weight. In the US, it was estimated (top of page 3) that most people consume 98mg of sucralose per day resulting in a dose of 1.6mg/Kg. In a recent study to determine the effects of sucralose, the rats were given an average of 80.4 mg/kg. Let’s see how that compares to what *you* would get by consuming Keto Chow: Let’s assume a 180lb person, they would need to consume 82 meals of Keto Chow *A DAY* in order to get the level of exposure in that rat study. If you measure in KG the math gets really easy, a 75kg person would need 75 meals.

The Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) level for sucralose was set at 5 mg/kg body weight per day (mg/kg/d) (page 10) in the US and 15 mg/kg/d in the EU. So you’d only be close to that using Keto Chow if you do it 3x a day and weigh 100lbs/45kg.

In a widely refuted study from 2016, researchers gave mice 62mg/kg of sucralose and claimed a connection to leukemia – the science on that paper was so poorly done, an entire paper was published taking it apart. If you ever see someone claim sucralose is implicated in cancer or leukemia, they are only reading the original sensational headlines and ignoring the later contrary published proof. A 180lb person would need 62 meals of Keto Chow a day to get the 62mg/kg dose from the study.

In a study published in May 2021, researchers exposed different bacteria to 3 artificial sweeteners (saccharin, sucralose, and aspartame) in Petri dishes (“in vitro”) and then measured their growth, how they formed colonies, and how effectively they can attack mammal intestinal cells. Of the 3 sweeteners tested, Keto Chow only uses pure sucralose. Saccharin modified bacterial growth and all 3 made it easier for the bacteria to form biofilms and to attack intestinal cells. Again, this was under laboratory conditions, not in living organisms – it also didn’t have the added benefits of acacia gum which are likely to erase all of the potential issues found.

One of the very interesting aspects of the study was the researchers also tested what would happen if a compound (zinc sulfate) that blocks sweet tastes was added. Adding this compound changed how the bacteria reacted, based on my reading of the study, that would indicate that it is sweetness causing many of the changes. If this is indeed the cause, that would likely indicate that ALL sweet substances would similarly affect the bacteria, including: stevia, monk fruit, sugar alcohols (like erythritol, allulose, xylitol, etc…), and regular plain sugar.

Unfortunately, the researchers stopped short of testing the logical next step which would be using “natural” sweeteners (including stevia, monk fruit, and actual sugar) as a control to contrast against, they only tested the 3 artificial sweeteners against no sweetener. Because there isn’t a legitimate control in the experiment, it’s currently not possible to derive any conclusions about whether artificial sweeteners cause substantially different results in humans compared to other sweet compounds. This is one of the reasons why it’s important that you not rely on the “news” version that’s been enhanced with incendiary headlines but actually read the full text of the published papers.

Similarly, there was a study in 2013 where researchers gave obese, insulin-sensitive individuals, who did not typically use sucralose, stevia, or monk-fruit either water or sucralose; then gave them 75g of glucose and measured their blood sugar response. The study notes that there are many non-nutritive sweeteners (sucralose, saccharin, aspartame, acesulfame potassium, neotame, stevia, and monk fruit) but they only tested sucralose. In fact, the study says “it has been demonstrated that the gastrointestinal tract (4,5) and the pancreas (6,7) can detect sugars through taste receptors and transduction mechanisms that are similar to those identified in taste cells in the mouth.” – that would indicate that monk fruit, stevia, allulose, etc… would be expected to have the same result as sucralose, since they are (plain and simple) sweet!

In 2023 a study was published where the researchers looked at a form of sucralose called “sucralose-6-acetate” which they found at typical concentrations of 0.5% in samples of pure sucralose. They performed a number of experiments where they tested sucralose-6-acetate in different concentrations and saw what it did to cells and DNA. They found that high concentrations caused changes in gene expression, intestinal barrier function (but only without typical intestinal bacteria), and breaks in DNA. The LOWEST concentration that problems were observed was at 353 micrograms per milliliter. Assuming their figure of 0.5% and taking a 0.08g dose of sucralose in a 600ml serving of Keto Chow, that would calculate to a theoretical 0.667 micrograms per milliliter in Keto Chow, that is 0.18% of the lowest experiment concentration that showed problems – or the experiment was 529.5 times higher than what is found in Keto Chow.

We do not recommend increasing the sweetener in Keto Chow by 529 times. That would be silly.

Depending on the flavor, Keto Chow uses either milk protein isolate or beef protein and beef bone broth. You can find the amino acid profiles for those on the Keto Chow nutrition page.

There are nine “essential” amino acids. Meaning, your body can’t synthesize them: phenylalanine, valine, threonine, tryptophan, methionine, leucine, isoleucine, lysine, and histidine. You can find all nine in both protein-types of Keto Chow.

Some plant-based spices, like cinnamon and cocoa powder, contain enough lead to trigger a “reproductive harm” proposition 65 warning (if you consume 1000 times the amount it can cause birth defects). The flavors of Keto Chow that contain these spices (along with any food product that contains these spices) are required to have a Prop 65 warning. You can get more details about Keto Chow and heavy metal levels on this page.

Yep! Check out our Keto Chow Core line and Base Powder.

ORDERING & SHIPPING

Short version:

The build-your-bundle myChow Kit starts at a 15% discount. Each time the subscription renews, an additional discount is added and eventually it adds to roughly 20% off the original price of the bundle. So long as the bundle subscription is not canceled, it will remain at the roughly 20% discount. I would recommend you stop reading there =)

OK, now for the long version, you have been warned:

When the bundle is created, a 15% discount is applied to the original amount. OK, that’s easy.

The first renewal, a 2% discount is added, but that discount amount is applied to the NEW subtotal, not the original amount. So it’s 15% off the original and 2% off the new subtotal. That makes 16.7% off the original amount. Because MATH.

The same 2% is added 2 more times but the new subtotal is smaller so the 2% represents a smaller discount (on the original amount). It’s still 2% off each time but compounding discounts are as fun as compounding interest, it adds up in weird ways.

So the discount goes from 15% > 16.7% > 18.366% > 19.9987% which is not exactly 20% off, but it’s the closest we can get. It should only be off by +/- $0.01. To make the math below easier to follow, I’ve started with a $100 bundle, be aware that the minimum for the bundle is actually $110

SequenceTotal OrdersDiscount AddedCumulative discountsSubtotalNew DiscountNew subtotalDiscount off Original
Original Order115%15$100.00$15.00$85.0015.00%
Renewal 122%15 + 2$85.00$1.70$83.3016.70%
Renewal 232%15 + 2 + 2$83.30$1.666$81.63418.366%
Renewal 342%15 + 2 + 2 + 2$81.634$1.6327$80.001319.9987%
Renewal 450%15 + 2 + 2 + 2$80.0013$0.00$80.001319.9987%
Renewal 560%15 + 2 + 2 + 2$80.0013$0.00$80.001319.9987%
Renewal 670%15 + 2 + 2 + 2$80.0013$0.00$80.001319.9987%
etc…8, 9, 10, etc…0%15 + 2 + 2 + 2$80.0013$0.00$80.001319.9987%

So why have this weird discount on discount on discount? it’s a limitation of the subscription engine and how it applies discounts. Ideally Discount A would be replaced by Discount B would be replaced by Discount C, etc… but the software does not allow that, it only allows stacking one on top of the other. Yes, it is confusing, but we warned you it would be =)

  • When you create a subscription, you will receive an email with subscription details, including a link to manage your subscription. This is also available in your customer account page.
  • Emails are sent if a subscription is paused, resumed, canceled, or skipped.
  • 3 days before an upcoming subscription order, you will receive an email reminder that the subscription is coming, along with a link to manage the subscription.
  • Emails are sent if there are any problems with the subscription renewal order:
    • If any products are out of stock and your subscription is “partially billed” – you will be notified which items were skipped and which items were processed.
    • If payment fails, you will be notified and we will retry the payment again the next day, for 5 days.
    • If your payment is close to expiring, emails will be sent out at 30, 15 and 3 days before card expiry date.

We charge sales tax in the areas that require us to collect sales tax, the amount they tell us to collect, on the goods they tell us we must collect sales tax for. Some items will be taxable at different rates than others and in different locales.

We use Avalara, which hooks directly into our shopping cart system. It looks at a few factors to determine what (if any) sales tax needs to be collected for a specific item or items in an order:

  1. The address of the person we will be shipping to so that the tax jurisdiction can be determined. Some states have 1 unified tax rate, others have different rates for different house numbers on the same street.
  2. Some customers have provided us with tax-exempt information – Permanently disabled veterans in Oklahoma, for example, come up fairly often. It looks to see if they are exempt
  3. Finally, the tax classification of each item in the order is individually analyzed to determine the tax rate. Some tax jurisdictions tax things like a plastic blender bottle at 7.65% while an unprepared food like a meal shake is 3%. The final tax amount is determined and shown to the customer at check out.
  4. On the back end of the tax service, it keeps track of the amount of tax collected for each tax jurisdiction and provides a report for filing monthly sales taxes in each one – that’s our job.

Each item on our site is classified with an Avalara Tax ID. Many are very specific and easy to decide “yep, that’s the one we should use” but others are harder to determine and we’ve even had instances where a tax authority came back and told us that they had decided our classification was incorrect and we needed to change it and pay back tax (that was never collected) plus fines. “Thank you sir, may I have another!” is the only allowed response. If you have been purchasing products from us for some time and we did not collect sales tax in the past, but you are seeing sales tax collected now, it is typically either:

  1. We passed the threshold of total orders or dollar amount of sales to a state and must now collect tax (see below)
  2. The item you are purchasing had a change to its tax classification usually as a result of an audit by a tax authority

A few years ago there was a Supreme Court decision (South Dakota vs. Wayfair) that allowed U.S. States to force retailers to collect sales tax, even if the retailer was outside their tax jurisdiction and did not have an actual presence (called a “nexus”). Most states have a specific number of orders per year or a dollar amount of orders that are sold to customers within their jurisdiction that must be reached before a retailer has to start collecting tax. In many states, if you buy something online and you aren’t charged sales tax, you are legally obligated to track that amount and pay sales tax along with your state tax return – many ignore this until their state tax commission audits their expenses and fines them, ask how we know =) A bunch of states joined the Streamlined Sales Tax group (SST) making it extremely easy for retailers to sign up and manage sales tax to those states, and We think this was a great move, the other states are sometimes easy to set up and others are exceptionally difficult with insane regulatory hoops – it’s like they don’t want money.

Our shipping team works hard to get your Chow to you as quickly as possible. It usually takes less than 2-3 business days to leave our warehouse, but may take less time or more time depending on staff capacity! When the label for your package is created, you will receive a tracking number so that you can. see the status of your shipment. Delivery times vary depending on the carrier and the shipping option you selected. Once the package is picked up by the carrier, delivery times are dependent on them. When your order is shipped, you will receive a tracking number in your email. You can use that tracking number to find an estimated delivery date provided by the carrier.

If there is a problem with your order or if you would like to return your Keto Chow for any reason, please contact us! We will take care of you and make things right. We stand by our product, but we understand that everyone has different needs and preferences.

Please note that purchases made for resale are not eligible for return or refunds, as they would fall under our wholesale agreement. For more information on wholesale, use the contact information below.

Please email orders@ketochow.xyz or call 385-645-5386 to speak to a member of our customer service team (a.k.a. a real life human being) based in our Draper, UT warehouse. Please contact us within 90 days of your purchase.

Likely, yes! Unfortunately, we can no longer ship to the UK due to VAT requirements. Other than that, we should be able to ship to any place the US Postal Service ships. Our shipping charges correspond directly to the USPS rate based on weight, country, and package size. Shipping is calculated at checkout based on the contents of the order.

If you are an international customer, you may want to consider Keto Chow Base Powder. It’s designed specifically to provide the vitamins and minerals in Keto Chow shakes, but without the heavy protein powder. This means it weighs less and therefore is cheaper for international consumers.