by Keith Carandang of When in Manila
May 16, 2019
Meal prep is a tedious task, especially for somebody working a 9-5 job. Because of this, most people just choose from the variety of fast food chains available around their office. Sure, you get to try new food everyday and sure, it feels like a mini reward after a day’s work; but there’s only so much food you can try until it starts getting repetitive and boring. Plus, doing this everyday can get pricey and super unhealthy.
As much as we’d want to go back to our elementary school days when we’d get a hearty breakfast to start the day with, and our baon for both recess and lunch inside our cute little cartoon lunch boxes, we’re working adults now with barely any energy to spare at the end of the day.
If you’re one of those high functioning people who can work eight hours a day, still have the time and energy to workout AND prepare meals for the next day, then GO YOU! You’re every bit the adult I aspire to be. Unfortunately, I’m part of the work-commute-crash-repeat zombie community and don’t have any idea how to break the cycle of fast food chain meals everyday. Enter Ketos of Manila, the perfect solution to both the “Where are we eating for lunch?” dilemma and my seemingly endless quest towards weight loss.
Ketos of Manila is a meal delivery service with meals specially made to fit a ketogenic diet. They pride themselves on the guarantee of their meals being High Fat, Low Carb, and Full Flavor. I’ve always avoided diets that I know would make me hangry faster than I can say “Food!”, and I had a good feeling the keto diet wasn’t going to be like that.
As such, I went on the Ketos of Manila’s 21-day-challenge! The deal was that we’d only eat the three meals and one snack delivered every night from Monday to Thursday. Easier said than done, I eventually found out.
I’m going to admit that I did not fully commit to the keto diet for the whole 21 days, but I definitely learned a lot about my mind and body in the process. I’ll call the first week “the honeymoon stage.” This was when I stuck to the diet faithfully. I ate nothing but the keto meals, and drank nothing but water.
Every day had a theme of its own. My favorites were the Japanese-themed meals. Thursday’s Buta-kani pizza was such a treat, it almost made me forget I was on a diet! So far so good, I thought, as I tried to ignore the inevitable call of sugar.
The second week was much more of a challenge. I started drinking coffee again, and consuming sugar seemed to only make me crave sugar even more. So yes, I’m human and I’m weak. I cheated and had some sweets. The constant reminder I gave myself of the summer body I was yearning for no longer worked.
The meals tasted good, but the thought of knowing exactly what I would be eating for the whole day made me less eager to have them. I tried not looking at the day’s menu, and it seemed to work; but again, I started eating other foods outside of the diet while still having the keto meals.
By this point, I accepted I wasn’t going to be magically thin after three weeks, and I guess that was what made it better. I stopped thinking of the meals as my diet and ticket to weight loss and just thought of them as regular meals. It worked and I stopped cheating on my meals.
Every meal is a different experience each time and it is definitely more convenient than having to go through the hassle of having to think about what to eat everyday. The menu list it comes with is also very helpful since it shows your average daily macros, which includes how many good fats, carbs, and protein you will be consuming each day. This would be perfect for fitness-minded people (unlike me)!
The verdict? Ketos of Manila is a great choice for both people looking for a meal delivery service with healthy meals, and people looking to test out the keto diet. It comes with complete breakfast-lunch-and-dinner meals, and usually one snack to chase away the sugar withdrawal.
You can also get rewards like their bullet brewed coffee, which really helps people who can’t live without caffeine like me. You also get keto strips every Wednesday, which you can use to observe what level of ketosis you’re on. It really is a well thought out package; you’ll ask for nothing more. Good and healthy meals prepared for the whole day? What more could a busybody ask for?
