Taste is what makes people keep going back to unhealthy food, even when logic tells them they're doing some self-harm. So there's no doubt that by adding flavour, it will make a new way of life more bearable, easier to adapt to and sustain.But is your flavour helping or hindering your progress towards health? 

After looking at chemical based artificial sweeteners and other harmful ingredients in flavours, we decided to manufacture a huge range of flavours that are uniquely built with Inulin.

Inulin is a prebiotic fibre that's found in 36,000 plant species. It regulates fat metabolism, and blood sugars and has links to helping with constipation and depression. And now in a double blind scientific study, it's been discovered that people with prediabetes who took inulin lost significantly more weight, and more fat from around the stomach area than those who took cellulose over 18 weeks. 

How Inulin works is by mixing with water to form a gel that slows down how quickly digested food leaves the stomach. This helps you to feel fuller for longer, stimulates the growth of beneficial bacteria improving your gut health.

Here's what happened in this scientific study They took 44 people, all diagnosed with prediabetes so they had elevated blood sugar levels but not quite high enough to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Half the group were given inulin, the other half cellulose. It is what is called a double blind test because the participants had no idea which group they were in.

During weeks 1-9 a dietician supported both groups, and the dietician had no idea what group the participants were in either. After 9 weeks both groups had lost 5% of total body weight. 

At the 9 week mark, full MRI body scans measured overall weight, fat accumulated around the body and organs. Metabolism glucose, insulin and GLP-1 levels were measured.

During weeks 10 - 18 the subjects continued to take the inulin and cellulose supplements as they headed into a maintenance phase with no further external support. When re-measuring the inulin group lost significantly more body weight (1.8% to 2.8%) versus (0.2% to 1%) on cellulose.

Not only was there a substantially higher overall weight loss, when the study repeated the MRI body scan at 18 weeks, they discovered that the inulin group had much lower fat specifically around the stomach area, consumed less food in meals due to already feeling satisfied, and their blood sugar levels remained stable.

Their findings concluded that Inulin may have a two-pronged effect on the risk of diabetes by 1) promoting weight loss 2) reducing body fat around organs and the stomach in people with prediabetes, independent of weight loss.

So Inulin does amazing things and how it works is quite similar to the effects that weight loss injections are trying to achieve with synthetics. 

We have 3 ways to assist you to incorporate inulin into your world:

• unflavoured, pure, zero carb Beneo brand available in jars and 1kg bags

• unsweetened natural flavours in 500g bags

• Flavour Its which are a huge range of Inulin based natural flavours, delicately sweetened by pure monk fruit range.  

With so many natural inulin flavours to choose from, you can dose everything and anything with them. Water, Protein Shakes, Cereals, Yoghurt, Coffees, Baking, Chocolates, Jams, Ice-cream. It's so versatile, that the list is endless.

However you choose to dose it in, inulin is super promising as a weight loss supplement that targets exactly those wobbly bits that many wish they could banish from their life.

IMO doesn’t only stand for In My Opinion. There’s an ingredient called Isomalto-oligosaccharide (pronounced as i_so_malt_o_og_le_o_sac_ha_ride) or IMO in a much easier to say short form.

IMO is a type of carbohydrate found naturally, typically in the form of Tapioca Starch made from Cassava root. You’ll see IMO show up in ingredients listings as fibre syrup, tapioca starch or just IMO. In products it is used for giving texture, flavour and fibre and keeping food naturally made, without artificial additives.

In Australia IMO is a novel (new) food and because the fibre testing method wasn’t approved, it has always been treated as a carbohydrate. However in the USA, IMO was being tested and classified as a dietary fibre, which was treated as having zero or lower carbs. 

Carbs get metabolised and converted into energy in the body. Fibre passes on through without getting metabolised, so there’s no conversion to energy from fibre.

How carbs and fibre are counted matters to those following a Keto way of life, because it can take a food item off the menu as being no longer even Low Carb.  
Total Carbs less Dietary Fibre = Net Carbs
If dietary fibre is too high, and carbs are too low, it misrepresents the way IMO is processed in the body. 

Due to testing methods being conducted in the USA, recent insights have been brought to light regarding how IMO is processed in the body. Where IMO was once considered a dietary fibre in the USA, it is now being deemed as a carb.

By following the USA approach, many sauces and products based on fibre syrups have been marketed as having zero / lower carbs. But due to the testing changes, now their carbs are understated on their nutritional panels.

Lollies like Funday which are made in Australia have already split out their carbs, with
• the majority as non-available (fibre that just passes on through un-metabolised)
• the minority as available carbs (gets converted into energy and counts in daily macros).
By distinguishing the types of carbs information, it’s a better representation of exactly how that product travels through your body, giving reassurance it’s accounted for correctly.

So be wary where you see fibre syrup IMO ingredients + high fibre values, without them being broken down into available and unavailable carbs! Due to the changing carb classification, they may have higher carbs than what you are seeing on the nutritional panel.  

Additionally with fibre syrups being a liquid, they reach the stomach much quicker than food does and their effect on the body happens faster. Whereas IMO in more solid food like lollies, are wrapped up with other food ingredients like inulin and gelatine, and take more time when travelling to the stomach giving a slower release of energy. Blood sugar impacts are a whole other discussion, and so I have left that for another topic.

We have compiled what you need to know to navigate your cholesterol test results. Whether you are new to Keto having made changes to your way of eating, or are wanting to know which foods are preventative by their very nature. After reading this, you will better understand the components and functions of cholesterol and make sense of your individual test results. Keto Store NZ sell wholefoods that are perfect supplements to get your cholesterol back under control, because they are loaded with cholesterol fighting nutrients, straight from nature.

Read how using Inulin makes Keto more affordable and delivers impressive health benefits. Inulin aids digestion, strengthens your immune system, keeps you regular and full and improves absorption of vitamins and minerals. In this blog we cover what Inulin is, benefits, how to use Inulin and where to get the best priced and quality in NZ. Start healing, from the inside out.

One thing we all miss on our Keto Diets is bread. The convenience of sandwiches.

We've looked long and hard, and the evidence is clear - this is the Best Keto Bread Ever!

We stock all the ingredients, but better yet, we have this as a Recipe Pack.
Everything is pre-measured and packed, and together with our easy-to-follow "How To," you can make this bread fresh at home.

You can find the Recipe Pack here