People were switching to keto but still wanted their carby snacks, especially the sweet, chewy ones.  The problem with that is there is no real substitute for what sugar can do, or is there?  Enter the fiber game.

Below you will find a list of some of the popular fibers that you will find in keto processed foods.   We are not saying everything on list is bad, we’re simply giving you a list of fibers to look for.  The items with an asterisk are known to be at least partially digestible and may possibly elevate you blood glucose and/or insulin.   Be sure to test yourself using a blood glucose monitor or a CGM.  

• Isomaltooligosaccharides (IMO)*
• Prebotic fibers*
• Koji-oligosaccharides*
• Nigero-oligosaccharides*
• Tapioca fiber syrup*
• Prebiotic fiber syrup*
• VitaFiber*
• Liquid Vegetable Fiber*
• Cyclic IMO’S*
• Yacon*
• Yacon Syrup*
• Fiber Powder*
• Soluble Tapioca Fiber*
• Isomaltulose*
• Cellulose*
• Modified Food Starch*
• Modified Maltodextrin*
• Imo from tapioca starch*
• Soluble corn fiber*
• Tapioca fiber*
• Gum acacia, (acacia gum)
• Xanthan gum
• Guar Gum
• Chicory root fiber
• Inulin
• Resistant Dextrin
• Fructooligosaccharides
• Gluco-oligosaccharides
• Oat Fiber
• Psyllium Husk
• Glycerine (also a sugar alcohol)
• Potato Starch

I think if we said, “yes,” they’d be satisfied with that simple response. But, because our answer is, “no,” most people want us to expound on our thoughts.

The case for Keto Chow is an uphill battle. While other keto-friendly foods can stroll into the ketospace unquestioned, Keto Chow has to constantly justify its existence to the keto community. That’s because there are some formidable odds against it.

First of all, it’s not a snack. We allow a pretty wide birth for all keto-on-the-go items classified at snacks or desserts. Instead of scrutinizing cost or ingredients, we allow taste to govern acceptance in those categories. Even with lofty total carbs and a high price tag, if it tastes good and fits our macros, it’s unlikely to be bounced from the keto club. Many keto snacks aren’t even on the keto police BOLO (be on the lookout) radar, because by definition they are already classified as, “not for me.” But, Keto Chow has the audacity to exist as a keto meal replacement option. That puts a giant target on the product’s back by folks insistent on cleansing the keto landscape of anything processed.

We feel so betrayed by the food industry’s lab-created Franken-foods, a certain amount of skepticism is justified. Still, it’s important for us to understand what the term, processed, really means and understand every keto product that makes its way to your doorstep didn’t take the same route to get there.By definition the word, processed, means “a systematic series of mechanized or chemical operations that are performed in order to produce or manufacture something.” Ribeye steak is processed. The butter I cook my eggs in is processed. The heavy cream I purchase in the carton at Publix is processed. It’s just the trust we have for the integrity of those processing procedures is at a level where most people find it acceptable to purchase those items. Of course, some folks won’t trust an egg that doesn’t come from one of their own, farm-raised chickens. But, for the majority of consumers, a certain level of food processing is acceptable.

Once we’ve made peace with food processing, we can comfortably turn our attention to resourcing. We accept and expect a ribeye to cost more at an anniversary-worthy, fancy steakhouse than it does at an all-you-can eat, fast-dining kiosk. And, it’s not just because of the cook preparing it. The quality is different. Both establishments may have ribeye on the menu, but those two cows weren’t raised on the same farm. It’s the same for the vitamins and minerals in Keto Chow. Other keto-friendly meal replacement products may boast ingredients like calcium and potassium, but they weren’t resourced as responsibly. Keto Chow has curated the nutrients your body can actually utilize, not just a bunch of rocks your body can’t break down.

Keto Chow also bares the burden of marketing itself to a fat-fueled community without it’s own fat source. There are so many keto-approved meal replacement shakes on the market that are ready-to-drink. The fat source is already built-in, so the consumer only needs to pop the top or add water. But the very characteristic which makes Keto Chow seem lazy is actually what makes it optimal. Unlike other meal replacement options, Keto Chow isn’t binding a fat to questionable ingredients and they aren’t suggesting one-size-fits-all. Joe and I, for instance, have different fat macros based on our height, weight, age and gender. We also have different tastes. Keto Chow allows us to determine what fat we want to add as fuel and also gives us control of our personal levers.

Many people feel Keto Chow is expensive because they see the price tag of $70 per large bag or $4.75 cents for a sample bag and to be honest we felt the same way. When we were first introduced to Keto Chow we made a video and said we understood the need but the product wasn’t for us because we felt it was too expensive and the carbs were a little high. Now to be fair, when we did that review, we were unaware you can use butter as the fat source. Once we learned that, we decided to take another look. You see, we felt Keto Chow was expensive because the instructions said to use heavy whipping cream, which has a lot of carbs, or avocado oil, which is expensive. Butter on the other hand, is cheap and almost zero carb. In addition, we had a little sticker shock when we saw the price of the large bags.

While we consume our food one meal at a time, we purchase it one grocery trip at a time. If I said my food cost $155, it would probably raise a few eyebrows. But, if I told you my food costs $5 a meal, most people would find that reasonable

Add the fact that I can be certain of perfect macros and a proper electrolyte balance and suddenly $5 per meal seems like a bargain for the peace of mind alone. It cannot be overstated what a pain macro tracking can be when you’re trying to budget time for work and family. I don’t have mornings and evenings free every day to plan my meals, and even less time to plan them in perfect ratio.

Even if we have time to plan our meals, we don’t always have time to cook them and that can lead to some unhealthy choices.

One of the things we really like about Keto Chow is it’s a great grab and go option. Having a couple Keto Chow’s prepped in the fridge helps us to not run to the drive through or even worse, snack on things like nuts and deserts. Since many of us live busy lives we decided to compare Keto Chow with some fast food options as well as three different keto-approved meals, comprised of whole ingredients.

We started off by making 6 keto chows, which we make 3 at a time in a blender. That took us just under 7 minutes which included melting the butter and cleaning the blender. Yes, in just seven minutes, we had all ours meals for the day made.
Next, we decided to compare to three of the most popular keto fast food options.

First up was the Egg McMuffin from McDonald’s. Since we haven’t been through a drive though in over 2 years, we were shocked when the cashier said it was $8.32 for 2 Egg McMuffins with no english muffin. What was even more shocking was the size of the meal we got for that eight dollars.

Let’s face it, two eggs, 2 slices of Canadian bacon and 2 slices of American cheese isn’t going to fill most people up. Making matters even worse is two egg McMuffins with no muffin is only 350 calories so to equal the calories of one of our keto chow shakes, we would need to order a third one.

Next on the fast food comparison was the Wendy’s single baconator. Now to be fair, we never go to fast food places anymore so we didn’t even know you can get a single, double or triple baconator. In hindsight, we should have ordered the double, since that’s what the nutrition on the website shows, but that would have increased the price by $2.00.

It took eight minutes from the time we ordered our single baconator until we handed over the ridiculous amount of $5.99. For that six dollars we received 2 half strips of bacon on a 1/4 pound patty with a piece of cheese. There was no lettuce, no pickles and no taste. This meal was roughly 350 calories and we would have needed at least 3 to feel full.

Our final fast food comparison was Five Guys. Now I will say this. The Five Guys burger was a decent size, it tasted delicious and was comparable to Keto Chow in nutrition with 754 calories. With that being said, it took 16 minutes to get it and cost us $10.45

Ok, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking “of course eating fast food is expensive but I can cook at home for less than a Keto Chow.” And that may be true but remember, we use Keto Chow for the grab and go times so you also have to compare the time to shop for food, prepping, cooking and cleaning the pans.

We decided to time the preparation of three different keto-approved meals, comprised of whole ingredients. We spent about 30 minutes going to the grocery store to get all the ingredients we needed and then started cooking.

The first meal was a keto staple, bacon and eggs. Since we only eat pasture raised eggs and that’s what we recommend to people, we purchased some on sale. Even using pasture raised eggs and store bought bacon, the cost for 3 eggs and 4 strips of bacon was only $3.00. That price is about $1 cheaper than Keto Chow and roughly the same nutrition. Here’s the thing though, it took us 14 minutes to make the bacon and eggs and that doesn’t include the shopping trip or cleaning the pan.

Next on the home cooked front was something we always suggest people keep in the house, frozen hamburger patties. Frozen burgers are great for those times when you forgot to thaw something out or just want a quick meal. You can pull a couple out, through them in a pan frozen with some bacon grease or butter and you get a delicious meal.

Our favorite frozen burgers are the cheddar and bacon beef patties from Sams club. The cost about $1.33 a burger and when you top it with an egg, which is how we like to eat it, you get a 520 calorie meal for half the price of one Keto Chow shake. If you’re going by cost alone, this is definitely the best option but for us, one burger and egg isn’t very filling. In addition, it took 13 minutes to cook a burger we had in the freezer using a pan that was already hot from making the eggs.

Since many people use Keto Chow as a meal replacement for breakfast or lunch and then eat a regular keto meal for dinner, we decided to make our favorite recipe, Meat Layer Lasagna.

It took 1 hour to prepare and cook the most delicious keto meal you’ll every eat and at roughly 630 calories per slice, its very comparable to Keto Chow when it comes to nutrition. Although it cost $36 to make the dish, it’s also the closest to Keto Chow in price at just $4.50 a serving.

So is Keto Chow expensive? You can see, even frying up some bacon and eggs took more time and effort than making a Keto Chow. (Actually it took less time to make 6 Keto Chows, enough to feed both of us for the entire day.) When we tried to save cook time by purchasing our meals through fast food drive throughs or sit-down restaurants, we either sacrificed home-cooked taste, macros and quality, or faced a hefty price tag.

Whether we threw time, energy, price or nutrient balance at the meal replacement option, Keto Chow always emerged a good value. It’s not something we would use to replace every meal from now on simply because we enjoy a variety of foods like chicken wings, bacon, and brisket.

But, based on the facts that Keto Chow is perfectly balanced, ready with very little prep and able to be individually customized – all while being under $5 per meal – we were able to settle on an answer for ourselves to the question, “Is Keto Chow expensive?”

Our answer is no.

If you’re interested in purchasing Keto Chow, you can click on this link to receive 10% off your order.

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After judging an amateur figure skating competition at Kent State University, Jim Disbrow and Scott Lowery NEEDED wings. Sadly, (or maybe thankfully for us today), they couldn’t find a single restaurant with Buffalo-style chicken wings on the menu. Determined to change that, they opened their own wings place, Buffalo Wild Wings & Weck, (or BW3), in 1982. Of course, we just know the popular restaurant chain as Buffalo Wild Wings, or B-Dubs. The “& Weck,” was dropped when the “beef on weck” they once served was clearly no match for their popular wings.

Brilliantly, Disbrow and Lowery opened their first restaurant near Ohio State University. College kids + great wings + sports on 100 televisions = $. Yeah, they had a hit on their hands. With more than 1,200 locations all over the world, (including Saudi Arabia, India, Mexico, Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates), BDubs is still a hit.

Some things have changed. Disbrow passed away in 2002, and the restaurant chain/franchise is now owned by Inspire Brands, formerly Arby’s Restaurant Group.

But some things have not changed. For instance, these chicken wings are still NEEDED

There’s a lot to love about Buffalo Wild Wings. They have more than 20 different sauces and seasoning offerings for their non-breaded wings. When it comes to dry rubs, Joe is a huge fan of their “desert heat” seasoning, while I really love their “salt and vinegar” dry rub.

Of course, the carb count varies a lot when it comes to their sauces. We really like their “spicy garlic sauce,” but you’ll want to check the ingredients for yourself when it comes to flavoring the chicken wings and making sure they fit into your macros, based on how many you’re going to eat. I usually order 20 wings, finish 17 like a champ. (Then, I take another 45 minutes to finish those last 3 wings. Hey, I’m no quitter.) Joe, on the other hand, usually eats 10 or so in a sitting and saves the rest for a second meal, on another day.

Even more than what they’re tossed in, though, we love what these chicken wings are fried in: beef shortening, or tallow. This is such a rare and beautiful thing, because most places serving up Buffalo-style wings are frying them in vegetable or canola oil. Our dietary intake of omega fats should be about 3-to-1, Omega-6 to Omega-3. But, vegetable and canola oils are heavy on the inflammatory Omega-6 side. The more of these oils we eat, the harder it will be to rebalance our dietary Omega Ratio, even with omega-3 supplements, let alone dietary omega-3s.

It may not sound like a big deal, but what happens is these inflammatory oils disrupt our body’s ability to regulate the inflammatory process. When it does, inflammation can cascade out of control. Someone like Joe and I, with a history of things like arthritis and joint pain, can feel the effects of inflammatory oils within a few hours of consuming them. And, the pain and discomfort can last for days.

There have been times when we’ve given in to our eyes and wallets, urging us to settle for cheaper wings, (fried in canola oil), that are ready “right now.” Usually, we make that decision when we’re tired, after a long day of work, or with a daunting schedule ahead of us. But, we’ve ALWAYS regretted getting those “other wings.” We experience aches, pains, bloating, and just an overall feeling of “blah.” It’s so not worth it.

Buffalo Wild Wings does have a reward program to take the edge off future purchases from their full-priced menu. But, their best deal happens every Tuesday, when you get buy-one-get-one-free traditional wings. (They have another deal on Thursdays for their boneless wings. But, don’t get those. They’re basically just sauced and breaded chicken nuggets.) Most locations require you to dine-in. But, if you let your server know your hoping to finish the majority of these in your pajamas, (like Rachel), they’re usually pretty accommodating.

Buffalo Wild Wings is really great for fast, reasonably-priced casual dining everyone can enjoy, regardless of their way of eating. And, when you’re keto, finding a place like that is a necessity.

As far as the menu goes, your best bet if you’re following a ketogenic way of eat is going to be the wings but you have to be careful because not all of the sauces are a good option. Of the 24 dry rubs and sauces Buffalo Wild Wings offers, only a handful of them are safe to consume on keto.

The five dry rubs are the friendliest when it comes to macros coming in at about 5 calories and one to three carbs for entire order of wings. There’s one thing to be aware of though, they aren’t super clean since all five rubs contain maltodextrin. Then you have the sauces.

Buffalo Wild Wings offers 19 sauces but of those, four of them have great nutrition macros for keto, two of them are borderline and two more are questionable. The rest of them contain way too many carbs and sugars if you’re following keto.

Once again though, we have to state that although some of the sauces have keto friendly macros, they all contain soybean oil and sugar/corn syrup. With that being said, the best four to eat on keto are the mild, medium, hot and our personal favorite, spicy garlic. All of these sauces contain between 50 – 120 calories and 1 to 5 carbs (depending on the size wings you order)

If you really enjoy sauce on your wings but want to have to have the cleanest possible option at Bdubs, then definitely go with the medium sauce. The medium flavor has the fewest calories, ranging between 30 to 80 depending on how many wings you purchase, and only 1-3 carbs for an entire order of wings. It also has the lowest amount of fat.
Since the medium has the lowest calories, fat and carbs, it’s safe to assume it has the least amount of soybean oil and sugar.

There are two sauces that are borderline safe of keto. If you aren’t eating any other carbs for the say, day may want to consider the Wild and Nashville Hot. Both of these sauces range between 40 to 120 calories and 3 to 7 carbs (again, depending on how many wings you get). We choose to not get them because of the carb content and because Rachel doesn’t like her wings to burn her face off.

Finally, there are two other sauces which may seem keto friendly but we find to be questionable and personally avoid. Those are the Parmesan Garlic and Thai Curry. Both of these sauces add between 130 and 360 calories to your wing order. In addition, they have three times the fat of the other sauces coming in between 13 and 36 grams per wing order. That means that you are consuming a lot of soybean oil. Both sauces also contain a lot of sugar and corn syrup. So even though the carb content for these sauces isn’t horrible, you may want to steer clear for inflammatory reasons.

When it comes to the rest of the menu at Buffalo Wild Wings, there isn’t much that is keto friendly. You can order the hamburger patty which is only 290 calories or the grilled chicken breast which is just 90 calories and 1 carb, but make sure you order them protein style.

Something you definitely want to avoid if you’re on keto is the salads, unless you decide to order them with no dressing, no croutons and no bread.

The garden salad with white wine vinegrette has 600 calories, 52 total carbohydrates and 47 net carbs. The Chicken Caesar salad, (normally a good option) also has 600 calories, 51 total carbohydrates and 45 net carbs.

Two other things on the menu that you should avoid even though they may seem keto friendly is the Cole slaw, which contains 170 calories and 10 carbohydrates and the Cheese Curds with Ranch Appetizer. The cheese curds contain a whopping 1490 calories and 43 total carbs.

The bottom line is when you make the decision to go out to eat, chances are you aren’t going to get the cleanest ingredients. Many restaurants use fake butter, cook in processed oils and add sugar or msg. Hopefully this post will help you to make the best decision for you keto journey when it comes to going out to eat. We have put together a little chart containing all the macros for the wings at Bdubs that we consider to be keto friendly. Feel free to download and print it. If you found this post useful, please consider sharing it to your social media.

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The lady hosting the evening in her home would be putting out some non-keto appetizer food, so I ate ahead of time. I do that mostly to avoid making the other people at a party feel weird. I don’t really get tempted by non-keto desserts and appetizers any more. But, when people are at a party and they don’t see me picking up a plate, they are reminded I don’t eat things like cookies, cakes and breaded finger foods. That tends to make them feel guilty – either that there aren’t enough keto options on the table, or that they shouldn’t be eating so much of the party food themselves. Making people feel awkward, guilty, or uncomfortable is the absolute last thing I want to do, especially on what is suppose to be a fun, girls’ night. 

Still, I knew the other ladies would each be bringing something to contribute to the evening. What could I bring?

I was rearranging charcuterie trays in my mind when I walked into Walgreens. I needed to grab some mascara while it was on my mind. And, as I walked down the beauty aisle, an orange clearance tag grabbed my attention. (Clearance tags have that effect on me. Just ask Target. They’ve totally got me trained to spot red and yellow tags from 200 feet away.) There was a whole bin of beautiful nail strips on sale for just 89 cents per set. And, it got me thinking: “I want to bring something fun to this party. But does it have to be food?” I took a chance and bought sets for all the ladies, (7 of us), along with a container of individually-wrapped bath fizzes for the girls to take home.

Oh my goodness, did that gamble pay off! They were such a hit!  My hope was to contribute something to the evening we could gather around. Turns out, that something didn’t have to be frosted or breaded. The ladies had so much fun selecting different designs, talking about favorite forms of pampering, and even playing with the nail strips right at the party.

With the holidays coming, there will be lots of get togethers. I will want to bring something to each of them that reflects my thankfulness for the invitation, my fondness for the people in attendance, and my excitement for the event. We have lots of keto friendly recipes which can easily be doubled for a gathering. But, for some of these events, I plan on getting creative with non-food contributions.

I can bring all the components for a seasonal craft, purchase a new board game we could break out at the party, or even put together some small favor bags to share. 

One amazing side effect of the keto lifestyle is how it has caused me to think outside the box. Instead of feeling like an outsider, why not feel like a trendsetter? 

You may be the only person at the next potluck setting out themed kitchen towel take-homes for guests to enjoy. But trust me, nobody will be upset about that. And, there’s no clean-up.  

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You don’t need to take exogenous ketones to do keto and personally, we don’t use them. There are some benefits to taking them but only on a very limited basis. If you are living a low carb lifestyle, taking exogenous ketones will give you some extra ketones and you may experience some increased energy and focus. This “extra boost” doesn’t last long though, only around an hour.

There are 3 reasons you may want to consider occasionally taking them. The first is if you’re going to do an intense workout or a marathon. The second reason would be if you need to have intense mental clarity like before an exam or something. Finally the last reason would be to help with the keto flu. They won’t put you into nutritional ketosis faster but they will supply you with energy while your body starts producing its own ketones. They also help with the keto flu because they are bound to electrolytes. If you’re seeking higher ketones fore mental clarity, you can get similar results by consuming some c8 MCT oil. The MCT oil is much cheaper, adds to your healthy fat intake and the results last for several hours.

For the most part, you really don’t need exogenous ketones. They are very expensive , aren’t very tasty and in the end, very few of us will benefit from them. If you are going to purchase them, stay away from the Multi Level Marketing companies that sell them. The only company we would purchase them from is Perfect Keto.

The short answer is NO but one thing that’s nice about the keto diet is there is a way you can check to see if you’re doing it right. With that being said, if you keep your net carbohydrates under 20 grams and your total carbs under 50 grams, you will get yourself into ketosis.

Like most people, when we started keto we ran out and purchased ketone urine strips. It was so awesome around day 3 to see that little stick turn from white to dark purple. Then came week 4 and that little stick was hardly changing color. We were keeping our net carbs under 20 so what were we doing wrong? The answer is nothing. Urine ketone strips test for acetoacetate but not for Beta-hydroxybutyrate, which are the ketones that are the most active in the blood. When your body makes more ketones than it can use, it gets rid of them through the urine and thats what the pee strips are measuring. Once you get into ketosis and your body begins utilizing them, very few, if any, will appear in your urine. When we realized that, we purchased a blood ketone meter. The problem with blood meters is they are expensive to use. The cheapest one on the market is the Keto Coach and it costs 65 cents a test plus the initial cost of the meter. Even the blood tests can be inaccurate with your level of ketosis. The blood meters test for the Beta-hydroxybutyrate that is floating in your blood, not the ones in your body mass. Basically, the more body mass you have, the lower the ketones in your blood may be since you’re utilizing them. For example, Joe has more muscle and more mass than Rachel. He consistently keeps his carbs under 20 net carbs yet usually only registers between .5 and 1.0 on the blood meter. Rachel on the other hand, usually measures ketones around 1.0-1.8. The other thing to consider is that the longer you do keto, the better your body gets at utilizing the ketones. Just remember, blood meters are testing to see if you have ketones in your blood, not how effectively you’re using them. And keep in mind, high ketone numbers do not necessarily mean more weight loss.

The third way you can measure ketones is with a breath meter like the Ketonix. Breath meters are great for testing those low levels of ketosis but only if you do it properly. The breath meters measure acetone in your breath. When you body is burning fat and converting it to ketones, the by product is acetone in your breath, hence the term “Keto Breath”. While you can measure these ketones, you need a good meter and the better ones are between $150-$200. Because the breath meters are basically measuring gases, the pollutants in the air can effect the readings so you need one that calibrates itself. The other issue with breath meters is it takes a little practice to get accurate numbers. Acetone is at the bottom of the lungs so there is a special technique to get to them when you exhale into the meter. Also, eating or drinking prior to using a breath meter will affect the result.

There are times when you may want to measure ketones. If you have been doing keto for a while and not feeling optimum, you may want to test your blood. Testing your blood will at least give you an idea of whats going on. If you are seeing really low numbers, you want to consider a fast to reset your body or analyze your diet. You may be consuming too many hidden carbs. We like to use the Keto-mojo for experiments like what a fast does to our body or changing the amount of fat we consume. For the most part though, we don’t check our ketone levels.

In the end, you don’t really need to test for ketones. If you are strapped for cash and trying to do keto on a budget, the better thing to test is your blood glucose. You can pick up a blood glucose meter at Wal-Mart for about $8 and the test strips can be purchased for as little as 3 cents. Measuring your glucose level will give you an accurate idea of whats going on with your body. It’s also a great way to see if you should eat a particular food or steer away from it. Just test in the morning to see your fasting glucose level and then test about 1-2 hours after eating. The bigger the spike, the more that particular food is affecting your glucose.

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     When it comes to the keto diet, one of the most important things you need to do is keep your electrolytes in balance.  On the ketogenic diet, you’re severely reducing the amount of carbohydrates you consume, which means your body produces less insulin and empties your glycogen stores.  Glycogen is comprised of approximately 65% water.  So when your body begins to dump the glycogen, you excrete a lot of water.  In the beginning stages of your keto journey that’s awesome, because you lose a lot of water weight and it motivates you to keep going.  The problem is that along with getting rid of your glycogen and excess water, you’re losing essential vitamins and minerals known as electrolytes.  When your electrolytes get low, you run the risk of dehydration, abnormal heart rhythms, muscles weakness, spasms, cramps, fatigue, brain fog, headaches and more.  This is sometimes referred to as the Keto Flu.

There are 3 main electrolytes you need to pay attention to on the keto diet; Sodium, Potassium, and Magnesium.  

    Sodium is the most important electrolyte to stay on top of, but it’s also the easiest one to supplement.  On average you need to consume between 4,000-5,000 milligrams a day of sodium.  To make sure you’re getting enough,  all you need to do is use salt with all your meals.  Make sure, however, that you’re using a good quality mineral salt.  We prefer Redmond Real Salt since it’s full of minerals and it’s mined right here in the United States.  If you can’t get Redmond Real Salt, use a good quality Pink Himalayan salt, (and I don’t mean the bottles you pick up at the Dollar Tree.)  There are several mines in the Himalayas, so you want to make sure you’re getting better quality.  Get it from your local health food store like Whole Foods or you can pick up this one from Amazon.    

Some symptoms indicating you’re low on sodium include:

• Fatigue
• Headaches
• Weakness
• Difficulty concentrating

    Next up is Potassium.  Potassium is very important for your heart and blood pressure.  It also regulates muscles contractions and nerve signals.  If you’re experiencing muscle cramps and twitches, heart palpations or an increased awareness of your heart beat, you’re probably low on potassium.  You should be eating or supplementing approximately 4,500 mg a day of potassium.  There are several foods on the keto diet you can eat to help get your potassium in and they include:

• Kale
• Spinach
• Salmon
• Avocados
• Brussels Sprouts
• Artichokes
• Hemp Seeds
• Broccoli

    Magnesium has several functions in the body including aiding sleep, food metabolism, transmission of nerve signals, hormone regulation and the production of energy.  If you’re experiencing muscle cramps and twitches at night, you may be deficient in magnesium.  Most of the magnesium-rich foods are not conducive to a low carb lifestyle since they’re usually found in dairy products, whole grains, fruit and beans.  Magnesium is a little harder to supplement with food on the ketogenic diet.  You can get magnesium in leafy greens like kale and spinach, but you might want to consider supplementing your magnesium with a product like CALM.  Be careful though: high doses of magnesium can cause what Rachel likes to call, “bathroom pyrotechnics.”

Supplements    

    Like we said, although you can easily get your daily amount of sodium in by using Redmond Real Salt, it’s a little more difficult when it comes to the potassium and magnesium.  That’s where electrolyte supplements come into play.  Over the last two and a half years, we’ve tried a lot of supplements to try to get in our potassium and magnesium.  Some of them were great and some of them didn’t seem to help at all.  Since both Rachel and I can be a little nerdy, and we’re both very frugal, I decided to compare some of the most popular electrolyte supplements and see which ones have the most value and which ones we should avoid.

    I’m going to warn you now, this part is a little geeky but the results surprised me.  When we first got Tabitha, we wanted to make sure we were feeding her a good, healthy diet.  After all, we’re avoiding grains and fillers while trying to eat healthy, so shouldn’t we do the same for our pet?  I started to look at all the top brands of dog food on the market and quickly realized it’s going to be expensive to feed a dog that was going to be 100 pounds when fully grown.  After realizing that, I started to compare all the different foods, not just by cost but by ingredients, calories, amount that she’d need to eat per day, cost per meal and cost per day.  I was shocked when I figured out that it was not only healthier to feed her a dog food that cost $90 for a 26 pound bag, but it was also cheaper in the long run.  It was actually going to cost almost double the amount to feed her the Walmart brand of dog food that was only $15 a bag, than it was to use the Orijen brand we chose. Because with the cheap brands, she was going to need to eat 6-8 cups a day verses the 2-3 cups she needs with the better foods without fillers. Thats not even taking into account the fact that she won’t have to go to the vet as often.  Does this sound familiar?  It’s the same with our diet.  Though our foods may cost a little more, we need less to stay healthy and we’re not spending money on doctors and medication.  Anyway, that’s where I got the idea for this blog.  So let’s take a look at the different products we’re going to compare.  They are:

• Ultima Replenisher
• Keto Vitals
• Dr Bergs Electrolyte powder
• Zip Fizz
• Gatorade Zero
• Powerade Zero
• Keto Chow Electrolytes
• (and for fun,) Pedialyte and Gatorade with sugar

    I decided to focus on the factors that are important to me: how much of each electrolyte is in a serving, what it’s sweetened with, how many carbs are in a serving and how much does it cost per container & per serving.  My hope was that by breaking down each electrolyte supplement, I’d be able to make an educated decision on best product.  Below you will see the results.

After breaking down each supplement based on a serving, I was still confused.  At least with this chart I can see how much I’m spending on a serving and how much of each electrolyte I get, but it didn’t answer my overall question of which one has the best value.  By looking at the chart, you see that the Keto Chow electrolytes are only 18 cents a serving.  But a serving only has 130 milligrams of potassium.  When you compare that to Dr Berg’s electrolytes, one might think that Dr. Berg’s is the best value.  I decided to take my investigation one step further by figuring out how much of each supplement I would need to take to equal the potassium in Dr. Berg’s electrolytes or a Zip Fizz since they both provide a significant amount.  In the chart below you, will see how many servings of each supplement you need to take to get close to 1000 milligrams of potassium.  It also shows how much magnesium & sodium you end up with by consuming that amount of each product.  Finally, the chart shows how many carbs you would consume and how much you would pay to get 1000 mg of potassium.  The results shocked me.

Breaking down the different electrolyte products like this really helped me to make a decision as to what the best electrolyte supplement to take is based on cost and amount of electrolytes you get.  As you can see from the above table, although Dr. Berg’s electrolytes are the cheapest for 1000 mg of potassium, you are getting hardly any sodium and only about 25% to 30% of the magnesium you need in a day.  When you compare that to the Keto Chow drops, it ends up not being a great value.  Based on this breakdown, I was able to determine that the best value is the Keto Chow drops, followed by Keto Vitals.  Though the Keto Chow drops cost about 40 cents more than the Keto vitals, you’re getting significantly more sodium.  And in my opinion, it’s the most well-rounded supplement.  To top it off, there are no sweeteners or chemicals.  

    Even though the Keto Chow drops are the most well-rounded, I will still use zip fizz occasionally.  Lets face it, Zip Fizz tastes amazing and it gives you a little boost of energy due to all the Vitamin B in contains.  On the flip side I wouldn’t drink more than one a day because of the high amount of vitamin B and the carbs, and I certainly wouldn’t give it to children.  

    Speaking of children, take a look at the Gatorade and Powderade numbers.  To get close to 1000 mg of potassium, you need to drink over 2 gallons of it and you end up consuming 22 – 28 carbs.  We feed our kids these sports drinks because we think they’re helping,  But basically it’s just Koolaid with added salt.  After seeing those numbers, I thought it would be fun to take a look at some other ways people get electrolytes, both on keto and with the Standard American Diet.  Take a look:

    Looking at these other sources is kind of frightening.  When I’m on the sports field, I see a lot of parents, coaches and trainers pushing bananas and Gatorade on the kids.  But look how many carbs they’re consuming in the process.  The chart doesn’t show this, but 228 ounces of Gatorade contains approximately 364 grams of sugar.  Just one 32 ounce bottle has almost double the amount of sugar a child should consume in a day.  People say that we need to get our kids off Coca-Cola but there’s more sugar in the Gatorade. 

    Now the purpose of this blog was not to tell you that you’re taking the wrong supplements or that you need to switch to Keto Chow drops.  I started investigating this for my own knowedge after Keto Chow released their new single serve electrolytes and I wanted to see if it was a good value.  For me, it was kind of eye opening, especially when it comes to the sports drinks that so many of us consume.  Hopefully this was a help to you as well