Keto Chow – DietShakeReviews Keto Chow – DietShakeReviews
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310 Shake
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Our Rating:
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Keto chow makes shake mixes specifically for getting into ketosis.

Nutrition Per Serving1

123

Calories

.8g

Sugar

12mg

Cholesterol

.5g

Fat

6.7g

Carbs

5.9g

Dietary Fiber

26g

Protein

$3.33

Price Per Serving1


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Our Review

To help you to make a more informed decision.

WRITTEN BY
Kathy Shattler - RDN, M.S. in Nutrition

Kathy is devoted to the health sciences and writes extensively about nutrition and chronic disease. Academically, she holds a Master of Science degree in Human Nutrition and has done post-graduate work in the Nutrition Sciences. Read More

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Calories 110 124 160 220 123
Soy Free Protein
Sugars 0g 0g 1g 1g .8g
No Artifical Sweeteners
Superfoods
Probiotics
Price Per Serving $2.43 $2.00 $3.50 $3.12 $3.33
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310 Shake is a healthy meal replacement formula made with some of the finest natural ingredients in the world.

Keto Chow Summary

This shake is a meal replacement made of ultra-low carbohydrates designed to put the body into nutritional ketosis. It is a high protein supplement that is gluten-free for those following a keto diet. It is intended for meals on the go, not to replace family meals with real food. By design, a serving of Keto Chow provides 1/3 of your daily needs for electrolytes, vitamins, protein, and more. The company states that replacing all three meals with Keto Chow would provide your nutritional needs for the day, but most people consume 1-2 shakes per day.  It comes in tasty flavors that will thrill any palate, according to customer reviews. Combine the powder with any of the recipes on the website and get 800-2200 calories from a shake. The base powder option does not have sweeteners or flavor enhancers for those who want to avoid artificial products in their meal replacements. Keto Chow scales in calories depending on what you combine it with, so it is highly flexible for individuals with different calorie goals. Recipes are provided on the website for use with the shakes. The vanilla powder was reviewed for this paper.

What is a Keto Diet?

A keto diet is designed to lose weight:

  • through the restriction of carbohydrates, a moderate protein intake, and a high-fat consumption. 
  • The basic premise is your body is perfectly capable of functioning without carbohydrates, and the liver can synthesize the little glucose that it absolutely needs. The rest of the energy is made from fat into the ketone bodies you require. 
  •  When you restrict carbohydrates, your body can lay-off the insulin, and usually, you’ll lose weight!
  •  It might be mentioned that the foods consumed in a keto diet can often be bad for the heart, such as heavy whipping cream, due to the amount of saturated fat. 
  • The best keto diet is based on the Mediterranean Diet concepts, where the fats consumed are full of monounsaturated fats from olive oil, olives, nuts, and salmon. Carbohydrates can be kept low from eating vegetables and lettuce, and other greens.
  •  A true keto diet is difficult to follow without added fats and strict adherence to the low carbohydrate intake of 20-50 grams/day. Fat intake is typically 65-90% of calories, and protein is 5-25% of daily calories.
  • Fasting and ketogenic diets have been used to treat epilepsy and other health conditions since the 1920s.
  • Ketogenic diets, commonly referred to in the popular media as “keto,” have been promulgated for a range of conditions, including as a weight loss intervention, a cognitive and memory enhancer, a treatment for type II diabetes, adjuvant therapy in cancer, neurological disorders including migraine, and psychiatric disorders.

Now that we know the basics of a keto diet let’s look a little closer at the Keto Chow shake’s nutritional ingredients and content.

Keto Chow Nutritional Ingredients

Ingredients: Milk Protein Isolate, Acacia Gum, Potassium Citrate, Salt, Xanthan Gum, Choline L-Bitartrate, Magnesium Malate, Potassium Chloride, Flavors, Vitamin Blend (Ascorbic Acid [C], Vitamin A Palmitate, Cholecalciferol [D3], D-Alpha Tocopherol Acetate [E], Niacinamide [B3], Zinc Gluconate, D-Calcium Pantothenate [B5], Ferrous Gluconate [Iron], Manganese Amino Acid Chelate, Copper Gluconate, Pyridoxal 5 phosphate [B6], Riboflavin [B2], Thiamine [B1], Potassium Iodide, 5-Methyltetrahydrofolate [Folate/B9], Lutein, Lycopene, D-Biotin, Chromium Picolinate, Selenium Amino Acid Chelate, Menaquinonem [K2], Molybdenum Amino Acid Chelate, Vanadium Amino Acid Chelate, Methylcobalamin [B12]), Sucralose, Sunflower lecithin

Ingredients in Detail

Milk protein isolate: The source of protein in Keto Chow is a high-quality milk-based protein that contains all of the essential amino acids that your body cannot make.

  • It is a “slow-protein,” unlike whey, which is a fast protein. Milk protein has a slower, more sustained release into the tissues.
  •  Milk protein isolate starts with the milk which is filtered to remove the lactose to make it almost lactose-free, leaving 80-90 percent casein and 10-20 percent whey.
  •  Casein is the main protein found in milk and is highly absorbable. 

Acacia Gum: A well-tolerated water-soluble fiber source that has been shown to increase satiety and to lower elevated blood glucose levels in healthy individuals has been included in this product. When Acacia gum is broken down in the intestines, it turns into acetate, propionate, and butyrate (fatty acids), which are broken down in the intestines for energy.  Still, unlike sugar, you don’t need insulin to burn it. 

Potassium Citrate

  • Potassium in many keto products is potassium citrate, not because it’s the best form of potassium to use, but because it is the least expensive. 
  • The problem with using the citrate form of potassium is that it prevents many keto dieters from entering ketosis.
  •  Potassium is an electrolyte like sodium, and both tend to run low on a ketogenic diet.
  •  Potassium is also essential in preventing the “keto-flu.”
  •  Since most people are potassium deficient, this becomes an added concern in the keto diet.

Salt: Salt is frequently low in the keto diet. Thus, the need for added salt in meal replacement products. Salt is sodium chloride, both electrolytes the keto dieter needs to remain in balance.

Xanthan Gum: This is a thickening and stabilizing agent. It is responsible for making your shakes “thick” and “fluffy.” It is also a form of fiber, technically.

Choline L-Bitartrate: The higher the fat intake, the higher the choline requirements are. This is one reason choline is substituted in a formula designed for keto diets. Choline L-Bitartrate is the salt form of choline. It helps the body stabilize choline for synthesizing acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter important in learning and memory, and lecithin, a fat essential to the body.

Magnesium Malate: Magnesium is vital to keto dieters because it is frequently low and responsible, in part, for the “keto-flu.”  The “keto-flu” is a syndrome of:

  • Fatigue
  •  Malaise
  •  Headaches
  •  Poor mental energy
  •  Muscle cramps
  •  Nausea,
  •  Constipation
  • Increased hunger

In the first few weeks on a keto diet, a lot of glycogen is metabolized, which is three parts water and one part glycogen. With the water excretion through the kidneys, magnesium is lost since the kidneys control magnesium levels. 

Potassium Chloride: Further down on the ingredient list, it means it is present in lower amounts than the ingredients previous to it. It is the preferred source of potassium replacement in a keto diet. 

Flavors: There are twenty-three flavors for the Keto Chow. Flavors are both natural and artificial. 

Vitamin Blend: A mixture of 24 essential vitamins and minerals to complete 1/3 of the daily value for 2,000 calories is part of the formulary.

Sweetener: When used, sucralose is the sugar substitute of choice. Sucralose is known to cause glucose intolerance when combined with carbohydrates, but this side-effect should not be of concern since this is a low carbohydrate diet. It has also been associated with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). 

Sunflower Lecithin: This is an excellent source of lecithin, an essential fat for the body. It contains linoleic acid, which helps to break down fats in the body.

The label lists ingredients in order of weight, with the ingredient in the highest concentration listed first followed by the rest of the ingredients in order of concentration by weight. It is questionable why potassium citrate is listed before potassium chloride since the chloride salt is the preferred salt for ketosis. There are ample electrolytes listed in Keto Chow to cope with the common “keto-flu” depending on the total daily intake. Flavors are both natural and artificial, but states have to approve food additives after passing a wide range of toxicology tests. While anecdotal reports of adverse reactions to food additives abound, it is still a matter of scientific inquiry. The sweetener used in many flavors is not ideal, but considering we are dealing with a low carbohydrate diet, many of the side-effects of sucralose on sugar metabolism will not be seen.

Keto Chow Nutritional Ingredients

Let’s take a look at the nutritional ingredients in this shake to see how it measures up as a meal replacement.

Keto Chow Nutrition Label

Calories: 123 calories per meal packet. The calorie amount is flexible and depends on what you combine it with. The calories listed here are for the powder only. It is expected to mix this powder with heavy whipping cream or oil. 

Fat: .45 grams or 1% of the Daily Value (DV) The total fat from this shake will come from the ingredients combined with it.

Saturated Fat: 0.2 grams in a serving.  Ingredients combined with this shake are typically high in saturated or polyunsaturated fats. Saturated fats are not suitable for the circulatory system, so care should be taken in providing an adequate medium for blending.

Cholesterol: 12 mg or 4% of the DV. Our body can synthesize cholesterol from saturated fat, so a low level in the diet is not problematic.

Sodium: 847 mg. This is 37% of the DV and is problematic for some individuals. But, remember, low sodium is common in keto diets and contributes to symptoms of the “keto-flu.”

Total Carbohydrates: 6.67 grams or 2% of the DV. Remember, this is a low carbohydrate plan. Most of these carbohydrates come from fiber sources.

Fiber: For some reason, under dietary fiber, the label lists 0.19 grams or 21 % of the DV, and then below the Facts list, it states that there is 5.67 g of water-soluble fiber in the form of Acacia and Xanthan fiber. That information belongs under the dietary fiber section since dietary fiber includes water-soluble and water-insoluble fibers, and Acacia and xanthan are both water-soluble. Three shakes per day would only meet 17.1 grams of fiber. The current recommendations from the Institutes of Medicine are between 25-38 grams of fiber per day, depending on your sex.

Total Sugars is low at 0.75 grams. This is a desirable quality in a keto powder.

Net Carbs are 0 .677 grams. Net carbs only include carbs that can turn into glucose. 

Total Sugars is only .75 grams. Again, the sweetness comes from natural and artificial flavors and sweeteners.

Protein: 26.67 grams per serving of milk isolate-based protein, a highly absorbable protein with all the essential amino acids. It is casein-based and is almost lactose-free.

Vitamin D: 20.1 mcg, which is 100% of the DV in one serving. The upper limit of vitamin D is 100 mcg/day. So, three servings of this meal replacement would still have vitamin D is a safe range.

Calcium: 733.33 mg in one serving is 56% of the DV. The upper limit for calcium is 2,000 mg per day, so three shakes per day might exceed this. Hypercalcemia may develop from prolonged excessive calcium intake, particularly with a high vitamin D, which this product has.

Iron: 2.24 mg, which is 12% of the DV. Prolonged intake of these shakes without iron supplementation may cause iron deficiency anemia, especially in women of childbearing age. The DV for iron is 18 mg/day.

Potassium: 1539 mg, which is 33% of the DV. The potassium lost in the ketotic process needs to be replaced, and this is a good level for body maintenance. However, since some of this potassium is in the form of potassium citrate, adequate repletion and avoidance of the “keto-flu” may be problematic.

Vitamin Blend- A list of vitamins and minerals in this blend can be found in the ingredient list.  A design of 24 essential nutrients to round out the meal replacement qualities inherent in this type of shake. A novel approach to their vitamin regimen is the addition of 5-Methyltetrahydrofolate [Folate/B9], a form of folate that has significant advantages over synthetic folic acid. It is well absorbed even when gastric pH is altered. It reduces the potential for masking vitamin B12 deficiencies and overcomes genetic defects in biotransformation.

Keto Chow Flavors

There are 23 flavors to the shake powders. They are:

  • Apple Pie
  • Banana
  • Chocolate Keto Chow
  • Chocolate Mint Keto Chow
  • Chocolate Peanut Butter Keto Chow
  • Chocolate Toffee Keto Chow
  • Cookies and Cream Keto Chow
  • Eggnog Keto Chow
  • Lemon Meringue Keto Chow
  • Mocha Keto Chow
  • Natural Strawberry Keto Chow
  • Orange Cream Keto Chow
  • Peaches and Cream
  • Pistachios Keto Chow
  • Pumpkin Spice Keto Chow
  • Raspberry Cheesecake Keto Chow
  • Root beer Float Keto Chow
  • S’Mores Keto Chow
  • Salted Carmel Keto Chow
  • Snickerdoodle Keto Chow
  • Strawberry Keto Chow
  • Valentine’s Day Event
  • Vanilla

Keto Chow Taste

Rave reviews from customers about the taste abound on websites. One customer commented, “Love the banana keto chow! Definitely one of my favorites! All the flavors are yummy!
I just got back on keto chow after a couple of years! No other shakes compare!” Complaints were more related to texture than taste. Complaints of “lumpiness” were found, which the manufacturer says can be taken care of with a blender and making the shakes the night before. 

Who’s Behind the Keto Chow Shakes?

Keto Chow had its inception at the end of 2014, with Chris Bair trying to feed his keto-based family on the run. An original recipe was created that remains on the website blog, and it advanced from there. By April 2015, they made batches of their Keto brew from their kitchen and shipping around the nation. When January 2016 rolled around, the company opened its doors and hired its first employees. Keto Chow remains true to its beginnings, focused on family, healing, and superior nutrition. 

 Keto Chow Nutrition Shake Cost

A frequent complaint is that the meals are too pricey. And at a single packet of powder costing $4.75, it does seem on the expensive side. If you buy the 21 serving container, the price drops to $3.33 per meal, a significant saving. The more meals you buy, the deeper the discount.

Keto Chow Conclusions

The shakes are flavorful, and the nutritional breakdown is consistent with a good-quality keto shake. The recommendation that three shakes a day can provide all the nutrients a person would need for a keto diet is socially disturbing. It takes away from the pleasures of eating food socially with our family. For some, perhaps this may be a short-term solution.

 The outcome of the keto diet will be on adequate measuring and combining ingredients with the shake powder. The nutritional breakdown shows that it may be too high in sodium for some and not high enough in potassium for others. It is low in iron. One of the reasons it may not have more iron is adverse taste. For women, especially, there is not enough iron in the meal replacement to support an adequate blood supply. Given these stated considerations, it seems like a good meal replacement for someone following a keto plan. 

Ketogenic diets result in weight loss for those who successfully restrict their carbohydrates. However, low carbohydrate diets have been linked to increased mortality. Also, many who start on the keto plan experience the keto-flu during the first few weeks of diet therapy. Due to the significant water shifts during the first two weeks of diet treatment, medications may need to be adjusted. It is advised that you consult with a physician before starting a keto plan to see if this may be an issue.  Keto Chow is recommended to be used more for people on the go than for a steady diet.

1Nutritional information from https://shop.ketochow.xyz/collections/keto-chow-meals-sweet-flavors/products/keto-chow-vanilla. Price per serving calculated from a package price of $70.00 for vanilla with 21 servings per package. Accessed 10/14/20.