[Back to Keto]

Disclaimer: I'm not being paid for this, and I'm not promoting diet culture, especially the body-shaming aspects. My decision to return to the keto diet is my own decision based on the fact that I straight up felt better when I was on it, and frankly, I've been feeling like crap for months, though stress is definitely a factor. The fact that I'm carrying extra weight around due to my cortisol levels being nutso isn't helping matters either. 

So I've made a choice to go back to the keto diet recently. I'm not fully on it yet, as I've got some carbs in the house that need eating, and I needed something to simplify my meals because, not only am I working full time (thankfully from home until the pandemic is over, but there's been a lot of overtime, so even taking out commute time means I'm exhausted), I'm starting my MLIS degree this fall. I'm already prone to skipping meals because I can't be bothered when things are hectic at work, and when I do this, I end up sugar-crashing and absolutely miserable. And I'll probably adjust from last time by having a carb-friendly month after every three months or so to keep my body from over-adjusting (which happened last time with stressing my body too much with too much heavy exercise).

Enter Keto Chow. Have you seen the commercials? Cute, cheesy, and effective,

Since the claim is that they are true meal replacement shakes, and I can get at least some of the bulk bags on Amazon and use my points to cut down on how much they cost me out of pocket, I thought I'd give them a try, and it might actually cost me less than making all my meals from scratch if I handle the timing right.

I ordered the sample pack that comes with the shaker bottle (I really recommend it, by the way. It's more effective at shaking than my own bottles at home, as I tried first without one and had a mess to clean up and had powder stuck at the bottom) direct from the company. I also bought a bulk bag of salted caramel flavor from Amazon, since I figured it'd be a safe one to count on liking. 

So far, of the two flavors I've tried, they're two for two. Salted caramel is pretty good, maybe 3.5 or 4 out of 5 [Edit: I swapped out butter for cream on 7/7, and suddenly it was the nectar of the gods--exactly how I imagined butterbeer would taste!], and snickerdoodle? 5 out of 5, no debate! I wish I had more, but I'll have to wait a bit... I've got to watch my budget and finish my other big bag first. And they really do keep me full for several hours, no crashes, no drops in my electrolytes. I do kind of want something solid to eat with it, but that's habit. If all else fails, I can always heat up a sausage patty to eat at the same time. 

Since you make them up the night before (it really does make a difference in taste, so don't ignore that advice), all you have to do in the morning is grab the bottle and drink. Easy-peasy. It took me three minutes to measure out cream and water, and to dump the packet/scoop into the bottle, shake it up, and refrigerate it. 

The question now is, will this be replacing breakfast alone, or will I order another bottle and flavor to replace lunch, so all I have to worry about (and buy groceries for) is dinner? One bag makes 21 shakes, so that's three weeks' worth of breakfast. The bag sounds expensive, but when you calculate how much you spend on meals (or at least what I do), it's not much more, and you can get discounts for subscribing. For me, it's a win. I just need to work out what flavors to cycle through, so the next four days should help me decide which I like best among the 6 original flavors. I'll try others in future months so I don't get tired of the same few flavors.