On Tour

Random Photos and Fun (plus an update on KC2.0)

This entry is part 137 of 139 in the series Ketogenic Soylent

We went camping over the weekend. As usual, we ate a lot of bacon, sausage, and eggs (with hash browns for the kids, who aren’t doing keto). We were at Willard Bay, a freshwater reservoir that was built adjacent to the Great Salt Lake by erecting a dike – essentially a dam around the entire area. The water is relatively warm and it’s not very busy. The main thing is: it’s close to us and since we were taking a camp trailer PLUS wave runners (super awesome 1996 Polaris ones I got for cheap on Craig’s list – hey, they work) I didn’t want to go very far. I had Keto Chow for lunch at the water (which was far more tasty than the sandwiches the kids were eating), as did my wife (see photo above).
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Last night my wife pointed out a box one of my kids has drawn on. Apparently, he thinks we need to introduce a new flavor. I especially like the logo and the QR code.

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This morning my “daily movie quote” calendar was full of awesome. Soylent Green is people; Keto Chow is ground-up low-carb hippies.

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Finally an update on Keto Chow 2.0: Yesterday I went to visit the co-packing place to pick up a new batch of flavor tests. Overall they’re excellent. Vanilla, Strawberry, and Chocolate are awesome (strawberry needs some more pink color which is unrelated to taste but whatever). The Cookie and Cream flavor was buttery tasting with not enough “oreo” aspect, maybe needs some chocolate? It’s still good though, more like a butter cookie. The Chocolate Peanut Butter is interesting.

The Chocolate Peanut Butter is interesting. The facility has an employee that’s allergic to peanuts. This means that using actual peanut flour at that location isn’t an option. The first solution is to have a different facility do the packaging of the Chocolate Peanut Butter, we’re looking at that. The second solution is to use a peanut butter flavor that doesn’t contain any of the problematic proteins. We tried some of that and there was a slight hint of peanut taste but nothing like what we currently get with the chocolate peanut butter flavor using real peanut flour. With this being my #1 favorite flavor you can be assured that I will not compromise on anything less than “this is yummy enough to drink for a month straight, I want MOAR!”. He also gave me a mocha (I think coffee anything smells like burnt toast so I got a guy testing it for me). The Snickerdoodle flavor wasn’t ready yet, I’m thinking about adding a Salted Carmel and maybe a Banana flavor – dunno. In all, it’s a definitive step in the right direction!

By |2016-10-13T07:27:32-06:00August 16th, 2016|Site or Store Stuff, Keto Chow, On Tour|1 Comment
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Staying keto at Disneyland

This entry is part 135 of 139 in the series Ketogenic Soylent

Phineas and Ferb taught me to be careful about what I post online (they carved it into a meteor or something so it was really important) so I usually don’t post anything about going on vacation until after I get back. I’m back.

We finally took our kids to Disneyland. Some of the stuff was too immature for the older kids and some was too intense for the youngest. That didn’t deter us at all though. I also wasn’t deterred about staying keto while I was in Disneyland, also known as land of carbs.

I didn’t have very high hopes of finding foods I could eat there so I bought a few extra insulated flasks and brought along enough Keto Chow for myself and my wife. I was also prepared to do intermittent fasting (eat at night, drink during the day), ended up never doing it though. Following my previously established pattern from the last time I did Keto Chow in a hotel I brought:

  • Two bags of Chocolate Peanut Butter
  • a carton of heavy whipping cream
  • 4 blender bottles for mixing and chilling
  • MCT oil
  • Fish oil pills
  • Scale
  • Measuring cup
  • Bottle brush
  • Soap
  • Vacuum insulated flasks

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Happily it all fit into an Amazon box for easy packing:

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The Vacuum flasks do an excellent job of keeping Keto Chow cold all day in a backpack- provided it’s cold when you put it in there. Hence the need for the blender bottles. I would mix up enough to replace the ones used that day, stick them in the fridge overnight and in the morning pour the Keto Chow into the HydroFlasks. Wash out the now empty blender bottles (with soap and the brush) and leave them to dry. While we were there I had a GoPro strapped to my chest that took a photo every 30 seconds. I ended up with a bunch of fun photos of me eating keto chow (and other keto friendly foods):

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Should be noted that if you’re willing to pay the $37/plate at Ariel’s Grotto for breakfast they will do a surprisingly good job adapting the meal for a low-carb diet. The server was fine removing the hash browns and toast and adding more bacon, then she asked if I wanted more sausage and some avocado slices. I also ate 3 of the smoked turkey legs – Allegedly they’re soaked in a brine solution with no carbs, I can’t find reliable information though.

On a side note, on our way to California we stopped in Mesquite Nevada for a night, we caught the buffet and I was surprised at the crab legs, I kinda ate a lot of them (did 3 plates like this):

2016-07-09 18.22.18

 

By |2016-10-13T07:27:36-06:00July 18th, 2016|Keto Chow, On Tour|Comments Off on Staying keto at Disneyland
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A Keto Vacation

Got back yesterday from vacation at Bear lake (because we’re the BAIR’s! get it?! …sorry, “dad” joke) My parents came along which made meals interesting – 4 adults eating (mostly) keto and 6 kids eating regular food. We only cooked 5lbs of the bacon we brought but we did power through an awful lot of rotisserie chicken, mayo and boiled eggs for chicken salad. It was a fun time. My wife said:

You should make a post with the big bacon pictures in Minnetonka Cave. Then you can geekily talk about the minerals and stuff

Well, I’m not going to geek out about minerals and stuff – our guide did that enough for everyone. =) The “Cave Bacon” was pretty cool though, here’s another picture of the surrounding area

Cave Bacon Large

I did set up a time lapse both times we went down to the “beach” (which consisted of tiny shells that got into your shoes and was the equivalent of walking barefoot across a floor of legos) – the kids still had fun.

 

By |2016-10-13T07:27:37-06:00June 24th, 2016|On Tour, Ketogenic, Keto Chow|Comments Off on A Keto Vacation
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User Experience: 3 months and going strong!

This entry is part 117 of 139 in the series Ketogenic Soylent

My dad is on keto and drinking Keto Chow for it, He passed me another update on his progress to publish on the blog:

Keto Chow has been part of my daily diet for 3 months now.  It tastes great, is easily carried (even on airplanes,) and is very convenient.  My recent trip to Hawaii worked very well with Chow as my main food everyday (2 out of 3 meals a day) for 12 days straight.
Some people think a low-carb diet means low strength and fatigue.  I’ve had no problems keeping up my energy with Chow. I recently wanted to capture the beauty of the rugged Na Pali coast on the island of Kauai and found the only route was a treacherous hike into the jungle and over volcanic boulders.  I have never seen so many muddy adults on the trail —most were 20 and 30-something!  Many were falling down left and right, but I managed the 800 ft elevation gain (in 1/2 mile) and captured this incredible sunset image. The salt spray from the ocean waves, crashing on the shores below, was so heavy even at this elevation that I had to wipe my glasses twice to see my way!
By |2016-10-13T07:27:54-06:00February 8th, 2016|Keto Chow, Ketogenic, On Tour|Comments Off on User Experience: 3 months and going strong!
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Keto Chow in paradise

This entry is part 116 of 139 in the series Ketogenic Soylent

 

My parents visited Hawaii and my dad sent me some info on his experience. Bright, sunny Hawaii is a radical departure from his recent photographic work (photos of nightscapes – check out http://intothenightphoto.blogspot.com/ in several of his shots I’m the guy turning on the light to paint the scenes). He seems to really like measuring out 50g into bags ahead of time to make measuring easier:

Keto Chow and traveling is an easy combination. I wondered if airport security would question the plastic bags of powder ,  but no one has seemed concerned. I pack 50 grams of Keto Chow per small snack bag.  I even went to Arizona in December with no security problems. The insulated bottles keep my Chow the perfect temperature, even in Kauai.  Winter here is only a few degrees cooler than the Summer months but my favorite time to escape the snowy mountains of home in January.

A local snack of dry roasted macadamia nuts has been a unique and readily available treat.  Serving size, 1/4 cup.  Total carbs, 4 grams.  Dietary fiber, 2 grams.  Net carbs 2 grams, same as almonds.  Total fat, 21 grams to balance protein intake.

I forgot a measuring cup but that was a simple purchase.  Extra cream can serve as a substitute for the MCT oil for a few days,

[to simplify] ingredients.  I like to bring a variety of flavors but my favorites are:  chocolate peanut butter, rich chocolate and strawberry blast.  The wonderful smell of fresh pineapple has not even been able to convince me to break my diet.  Keto Chow is a big part of my successful quest to lose weight.

Stats
  • Male
  • Age 67
  •  Time on Keto Chow: 3 months on Feb 2nd.
  •  Complications: none.
  •  Lost about 12 lbs, average 4 lbs a month.

By |2016-10-13T07:27:55-06:00January 25th, 2016|Keto Chow, Ketogenic, On Tour, Soylent, Weight Loss|Comments Off on Keto Chow in paradise
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Pro tip: close the lid

This entry is part 96 of 139 in the series Ketogenic Soylent

At a training, all the is to eat is pastries and fruit. I guess I could eat the butter but that’s a bit excessive. Luckily I brought along keto chow (I planned on this happening and didn’t want to go into carb coma during class), unluckily I apparently did not securely close the little spout. Had to spend 15 minutes in the bathroom cleaning up my backpack. I guess I should be happy it only spilled a little bit.

By |2015-09-13T08:41:45-06:00September 13th, 2015|Keto Chow, On Tour|Comments Off on Pro tip: close the lid
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Making Keto Chow in a Hotel

This entry is part 95 of 139 in the series Ketogenic Soylent

Doing something like Keto Chow in a hotel room presents some interesting issues. I’ve done another “soylent” in hotels before and I’ve done Keto Chow while camping. I’m using a couple tools to make this all work in my hotel room.

  1. A refrigerator. Doesn’t come standard in the room though a quick call to the front desk and it’s happily chilling out.
  2. Shelf stable cream, specifically the Trader Joe’s brand. While it’s not the same fat content as the Heavy Cream I normally use, this travels well and you don’t have to worry about it. It comes in smallish 8 ounce containers and plugging the nutrition information from the package into the Recipe Editor on diy.soylent.me it says that I need to use all 236ml per day to get 1400 calories. This works out to 78ml per meal. So I open a box, split it 3 ways and I’m done with that box.
  3. I brought along two of the 18oz Hydro Flask insulated containers. These should keep lunch nicely chilled all day.
  4. I brought along a bottle brush and dish soap. You have to scrub out the hydro flasks (and blender bottles).
  5. I have 3 blender bottles. I’m going to mix in these and transfer 1 or 2 meals into the hydro flasks as needed.
  6. I stopped and grabbed a bottle of liquid coconut oil since my containers of MCT oil are the massive 64 ounce ones.
  7. Scale, measuring cups, a bowl to measure into and some fish oil pills.

Anyhow, should be interesting to see how it all works out. I have classes tomorrow and the included breakfast is bagels and pastries. No way am I eating that junk. Going to bring along my Keto Chow and if I’m lucky there will be a cheese tray during lunch.

By |2016-10-13T07:28:03-06:00September 12th, 2015|Soylent, Uncategorized, On Tour, Keto Chow, Ketogenic, Preparation|1 Comment
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Back from Dreamforce, added Bitcoin payment

This entry is part 36 of 39 in the series DIY Soylent

While I was gone I got a question about adding Bitcoin as a payment option. It turned out to be fairly straightforward, so that’s now an option along with Paypal.

I’m back from the Dreamforce conference! It was a week of soylent fueled learning stuff (there might have also been a few concerts and parties that I may or may not have gone to). I packed my People Chow in the GNC containers I have everywhere at my house now. I figured the TSA would be more affable if it was in a labeled container that (somewhat) represented what was inside. I didn’t have a problem at all though.

soylent at the airport

soylent at the airport

Dreamforce was great though and I added an additional certification, so now in addition to being a Certified SalesForce Administrator I’m also now a Certified SalesForce Cloud Consultant. I guess the next step is getting my Advanced Admin.

SFDC Admin SFDC SCC

Yeah, I’ve had most of these conversations. Apparently I do… computers.

 

Sketch

Sketch from a vendor booth

By |2016-10-13T07:28:30-06:00October 22nd, 2014|On Tour, Soylent|2 Comments
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Vacationing for a week (mostly) on DIY soylent

This entry is part 35 of 39 in the series DIY Soylent

This week I’m down in Arches National Park helping my dad do a nighttime photography workshop. Mostly my job consists of running around and setting up lights and carrying stuff (though I did press the shutter for him a few times when he was light painting, I joke that I’m going to claim copyright on those ones).

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A week of DIYWe’re living out of a hotel room which has made for some interesting logistical issues. I brought a week worth of People Chow and a bunch of blender bottles but I still need to wash the containers. Before I left, my wife told me to bring along a small container of dish soap and I wish I would have done that along with a scrub brush. Instead I’ve had to use washcloths and whatever soap I can source. Soap is absolutely necessary because of the oil. Hot water will get much of the residue but you need something to get the oil off and only soap will do it.

As expected, eating soylent has been (except for needing to wash the containers) exceptionally convenient. It’s also forced my dad to stick to his diet since I’m not eating fast food with him (though I did make an exception and had biscuits and gravy with the workshop group this morning =). I’ve found that the kind of hiking we’ve been doing works fine with soylent, I’ve been mixing up enough containers to last me however long we’re going to be out and either mix it with a bunch of ice or refrigerate it for a few hours to get it cold enough to last. Tonight we’re going to be going up to Delicate Arch just before sunset and staying until around midnight so I’ll drink a blender bottle of people chow around 4:00pm and bring one up with me to drink while waiting for the sky to get dark enough.

This experience has been good for an additional reason: next month I’m going to be going to San Francisco for 7 days for the DreamForce conference. I’m planning to pack about 8 days worth (just in case), a little in a carry-on and the rest in a checked bag. I’m also going to bring a little soap and a brush =)

By |2016-10-13T07:28:30-06:00September 17th, 2014|Preparation, On Tour, Soylent|Comments Off on Vacationing for a week (mostly) on DIY soylent
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On location – at the mixing station and at work

This entry is part 30 of 39 in the series DIY Soylent

I’ve said it before but this stuff is really handy when you’re busy. Like at work

soylent at work

and when you’re busy mixing up…. more People Chow?

people chow - at the mxing station

By |2016-10-13T07:28:30-06:00August 5th, 2014|On Tour, Soylent|Comments Off on On location – at the mixing station and at work
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