Amount | Ingredient | $ / day | Source | |
---|---|---|---|---|
101 | g | Whey Protein Isolate (Unflavored) | $2.46 | Amazon (S) |
30 | g | Bob's Red Mill Chia Seeds | $0.41 | Amazon (S) |
20 | g | Psyllium Husk Powder | $0.23 | Amazon (S) |
8 | g | Bob's Red Mill Soy Lecithin Granules | $0.15 | Amazon (S) |
6 | g | Potassium Citrate | $0.17 | Amazon |
4 | g | Sea Salt | $0.01 | Amazon (S) |
2 | g | Organic Ceylon Cinnamon Powder | $0.12 | Amazon |
1 | g | Choline Bitartrate | $0.04 | Amazon |
1 | pill | Kirkland Signature Daily Multi | $0.03 | Amazon |
1 | pill | Now Foods Vitamin D-3 & K-2 | $0.05 | Amazon (S) |
20 | g | Navitas Naturals Organic Raw Cacao | $0.54 | Amazon (S) |
25 | ml | Extra Virgin Olive Oil | $0.30 | Amazon |
100 | g | Peanut Oil | $1.19 | Amazon |
0 | g | Oil, coconut | $0.00 | |
0 | ml | MCT Oil | $0.00 | Amazon |
2000 | ml | Water | $0.00 | |
Amounts for: Total Daily Cost: | $5.73 | Add Ingredients to Amazon Cart |
This is a version of QuidNYC's Ketofood (https://www.completefoods.co/diy/recipes/quidnycs-ketofood-for-induction-phase-ketosis) that I tweaked to contain cocoa for taste while still having a carbohydrate level well under 20 g/day. I have experimented with using various combinations of peanut oil and coconut oil instead of MCT oil; more info below. Adding a bit more psyllium also makes it thicker while softening your stool.
I think this tastes great, really thick/creamy, very filling. Over 2 months on this, I stayed in ketosis as determined by urine reagent strips and other indicators and lost about 6 lbs (this does not include initial ketosis water weight loss, since I was already well into ketosis using normal foods when I moved to the mixture). I was aiming for about 2000 kcal/day using this plus a few eggs etc., though I probably overshot many times, which may be why my loss was slower than I'd hoped.
I tried to minimize MCT oil because it seemed to give me gastric problems. Peanut oil tastes great in this mixture, but it does not supply much for saturated fats, if that's important to you. I left the various unused oil options set at 0 g to make it easier to play with different options and see the results.
Blend this mix (and QuidNYC's) well(with a blender)! If it is not thoroughly blended, it can separate; the fats will rise higher up, and you'll end up drinking like 80 g of oil in your first 16 oz glass of it in the morning. Not recommended.
I like to add water till I get a total of 2500 ml of mixture and then have 5 x 500 ml glasses at 3-hour intervals. Note that if you blend aggressively, you will get a lovely froth, which has a great mouthfeel but will slightly throw off your volume computations, since the froth settles after a time. So if I make this at night and fill to the 2500 ml line, in the morning I have to add at least a half inch of water to the pitcher to bring it up back up to 2500 ml due to de-frothing.
If you want to add less water from the outset, the mixture will be even thicker and creameir if the total volume is say 2000 ml.
I have not really been using all of QuidNYC's expensive ingredients: I use generic conventional store-bought cinnamon, unsweetened cocoa, non-virgin coconut oil, etc. Since I don't think anyone should be staying on this recipe for endless periods of time, it does not make any sense to invest a lot of time in researching and sourcing these expensive minor variants. (The olive oil should really be EVOO though -- normal OO makes the consistency all weird).
No major problems with energy levels, constipation, etc. Upping the potassium citrate to about 6 g (really just measuring out 1 tsp; my scale is not super accurate at these small weights) eliminated leg cramps. My main problem, which is why I'm now stopping, is a lot of acid reflux, which I don't usually suffer from. I had to be especially carefully not to lie down, bend over, ride a bike, etc., for a while after consuming this. This does not seem to be a common complaint for ketogenic diets, so you hopefully will not have this problem.