Category: Updates

Hi everyone,

If you’ve been waiting for the option to try Basically Food without starting a subscription, now is your chance to try it. :)

If you have already started a subscription, thank you, and please let us know how the ordering process and subscription-editing interface has been for you! There’s still time to change things around. :d

If you’re wondering what Basically Food is, check out our last update on the blog. Short answer: it’s our shiny new rebrand of Super Body Fuel. :]

Behold…

Anyway. Aside from the whole “most people really don’t want to create a subscription” thing, we’ve heard that some of the tubs are turning out fishy from the DHA somehow. Initially it seemed like this was specific to BALANCE chocolate, but it turns out that it’s just a small percentage of tubs across all flavors and product lines that have the issue. :o

And there’s no way to know which ones will have it, until you open them and smell. :p

Sadly we don’t seem to have any recourse or leverage with the manufacturer that screwed this up, but we’re working on it. Like we said before, next time, we’re trying a new manufacturer. Sigh.

So… the way we’re thinking of handling this is just to send out free replacements for fishy tubs, no questions asked (except for, “how many tubs?” or “what’s your order number?” and stuff like that). Same with any mixing inconsistencies that might arise – if it tastes weird, send us an email. It’s supposed to taste good. Most tubs taste good. :|

We’ve added some guidance and clarification to the FAQ – feel free to check there first if you’re not sure.

For all our customers outside the US, we’re still trying to work with our new fulfillment center to find an international shipping option that will not be prohibitively expensive. It seems that there may be an option to bundle multiple shipments to the same country together to reduce costs a bit, but we’re still waiting on the bundled price quotes so we can see if it will actually be viable. Stay tuned. :d

Anyway, if you still have a subscription on Super Body Fuel, please start a new one on Basically Food this month if you can. If you don’t do subscriptions, please try placing a one-off order with Basically Food and let us know what you think! :D

Thank you all!

Alex Cho Snyder (axcho)

Hi everyone,

In our last email update, we announced that we’d run out of our custom vitamin and mineral mix and had to switch back to placeholder vitamins, again.

Now, I’m happy to announce that we got our custom vitamin mix back, and it’s a new and improved formula! :D That means that Super Micros is available to order again, and soon, new orders of all products will be shipped out with the new vitamins instead of the placeholders we’d been using. :)

You can see the full supplement facts here, but changes to the formula include using only Vitamin D3 (from a vegan, algal source) instead of D2, increasing some B vitamin amounts to cover 100% DV with a single meal (while still staying within safe limits), adding the phytonutrient Quercetin (which is supposed to help reduce inflammation and allergies), and including Myo-Inositol in the mix (previously included in our meals but not Super Micros). Now that we’re adding Glycine directly to our protein blend, we’ve also swapped out some mineral glycinates for citrates, which should be similarly bioavailable but more readily available to source given supply chain challenges. :d

I did consider many other phytonutrients as well (inspired by PhytoGenesis), but Quercetin was one of the few that were generally safe and beneficial in all circumstances, when dosed appropriately. Others may have benefits, but also drawbacks in certain situations, or aren’t safe for certain people – like Lycopene, which may be unsafe to take while pregnant or breastfeeding! Or like Curcumin and Piperine, which can interfere with certain medications. Some, on the other hand, were just not available or affordable to include.

I did want to add Lutein and Zeaxanthin for eye health, but they’re extremely expensive and would have disproportionately increased the cost in a way that the majority of people would most likely not want to pay for. :p As it is, with the improvements we are including, along with inflation and supply chain cost increases, the cost to us from the manufacturer is already twice that of the previous version! :O

Happy to answer any other questions about the new formula – just let me know. :)

We’ve also removed the Xanthan Gum from Super Micros, so you can add it to drinks and soups without it clumping or getting thick. This means it is much more susceptible to humidity damage, however, so be very careful to keep it in a dry environment! :o

Next, we are actually replacing Xanthan Gum entirely with a more natural (and more expensive) alternative: Glucomannan from konjac root, which is what shirataki noodles are traditionally made of. :) Based on my tests, with a 95% or higher Glucomannan extract, the resulting texture and stability is almost indistinguishable from Xanthan Gum! This is for the small number of people who have sensitivities to Xanthan Gum or otherwise prefer an alternative. We’d love to have you. :)

Apparently there are a fair number of studies on the health benefits of Glucomannan as a dietary supplement, as well, and it seems to stack up favorably against both Xanthan Gum and Psyllium Husk in that respect. So, probably a good move all around. :]

Oh, also, as I just posted here over at r/SaturatedFat, we’ve got an experimental vegan 50% stearic acid powder available now as Super Saturated, to go along with our Super MCT, Super Protein, Super Electrolytes, and of course, Super Micros. If you’re wondering why anyone would want more saturated fat (aside from that it’s a zero-carb powdered fat source!) you can read this little writeup I did back in 2021. Short answer is that not all saturated fat (or fat in general) is created equal, and stearic acid stimulates mitochondrial fusion and fat-burning. Kind of like how MCT oil (another saturated fat) stimulates the generation of ketones even outside of a zero-carb ketogenic state. Anyway, feel free to check it out – and please let us know how it goes, if you do!

We hope you like the new changes. Happy Holidays, and thanks as always for your support! :)

Alex Cho Snyder (axcho)

Hi everyone,

My apologies for not getting an update out earlier – as you may remember from our June update, I’ve been busy manufacturing full-time and haven’t had a lot of time to write or respond to emails! :o Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten you – in fact I am lovingly hand-crafting every batch we ship out. ;) I’ve made some small tweaks and additions to our process to ensure a more consistent mix, which you will probably not notice, except in the absence of any bad-tasting or poorly mixed bags. :d But of course, if you do come across any issues, let us know!

With Dan gone, we are thoroughly understaffed – it’s down to just me, Rhodel, and Arrow now, and we’ve all had to step up and do a little bit more (or a lot more!) than before. So our order turnaround time varies, but we’ve got a perpetual rolling backlog of maybe a week or so for most orders these days, as we crank out the batches as fast as we (sustainably) can manage.

The good news is we’re not actively losing money every month now! But if we were to hire another person, we would be. So, we are surviving, not thriving – which is honestly pretty good, considering how many of our competitors are actively in crisis. It’s a tough time for a lot of people. :/

So, let’s start with the not-so-great news.

• NATURELO: temporary placeholder vitamins.
• Super Micros: out of stock for at least a month.
• International Shipping: no more discount rates.
• Canadian Shipping: trying out netParcel (UPS).

First of all, we have once again run out of our custom vitamin mix before we’ve been able to get our resupply – our premix manufacturer has been even slower than usual this year! That means that we are out of Super Micros, and we are beginning to use NATURELO brand vitamins as a placeholder for the time being – for at least the next month or so. These vitamins are vegan and use methylated B vitamins and chelated minerals and all that good stuff, so while the dosages may not be the exact same, the quality should be comparable.

Next, we’ve made the hard decision to remove the considerable shipping discounts we’d put in place for international orders – no more flat rate shipping for orders of $100 or more, outside the US. :/ This is the place we’ve been losing the most money, and as we search for ways to stay afloat as a business amidst rising costs, this is the place that has made the most sense to tighten up first. We considered ceasing international shipping altogether, but I just couldn’t bring myself to leave so many people out like that.

So, we’ll be charging (almost) what it costs us to ship, with USPS Priority Mail International. For those of you who will no longer be able to afford to order from us overseas, I hope you can find an alternative that works for you. <3

For those of you in Canada, we are starting to test out netParcel, a service that provides access to cheaper shipping between the US and Canada, mostly with UPS. The shipping costs are lower and the shipping speed even seems quicker as well – the potential catch may be that getting through customs without delays or fees might be trickier. Hard to say at this point! We’ve gotten a few test packages through without a problem, but one seems to be stuck, and there’s no information as to why. :p

So, we’ll give it a try and keep on monitoring the situation – if it doesn’t work out, we’ll have to go back to USPS and their very expensive shipping costs. Fingers crossed. :d

Okay, so is there any good news? Well… I have been able to listen to a ton of podcasts, with all the rote manual labor I’ve been doing most days. I’ve been learning a lot – for example, about worker-owned cooperatives, as explained concisely in this 20-minute podcast about Alvarado Street Bakery. Apparently there are actually a lot of worker-owned co-op bakeries right here in the Bay Area! Neat. :)

I mean, Super Body Fuel is basically like a bakery – just, with more nutrients, and less glamor (and gluten!). ;d

Anyway, food for thought. I’ve been thinking quite a bit about the future – as I’m sure many of us are, these days – both for humanity as a whole, and this business, as well as my place in it. I will resist the urge to overload you with all my thought-provoking podcast recommendations (though here’s one more podcast on worker-owned co-ops, an insightful big-picture discussion between two very thoughtful people) but I do want to acknowledge that we are apparently living in, increasingly, interesting times. I just want to do my best, and I’m still figuring out what that is.

For now, that does seem to mean shuffling heavy containers and scoops of nutrient powder around in a dusty room while listening to podcasts, but this is probably not a long-term solution. :p

The biggest challenges faced by this business currently include ingredient supply disruptions, rising costs of everything, and an increasingly maxed-out and burned-out team, myself very much included!

The obvious solution to these challenges is and has always been what most companies have already done: hire a contract manufacturer that can make literal tons of product at a time to buffer supply disruptions, along with cheaper costs but also better quality due to fancier equipment. Then we can focus on the fun stuff – like putting Rhodel’s video production skills and Arrow’s graphic design skills to good use, along with my tendency to write way too many words! :)

What’s the catch? Aside from the obvious upfront costs (often made easier via crowdfunding) the real challenge is finding a manufacturer that is good enough and big enough to create a quality product at a reasonable cost, while also being small enough to even consider taking on such a relatively small client as us. Especially when that small client is very picky and has way too many flavors and product lines. :p

Really what you have to do is find a promising, upstart manufacturer that believes in your brand and your vision and wants to grow with you – to hitch their wagon to your horse, so to speak. And that’s the sort of perfect match that’s hard to find.

So… kind of a long shot, but if you happen to know of any promising contract manufacturers making supplements or nutraceuticals in the US, who would be aligned with our philosophy and our vision (even better, if they’re a worker-owned co-op!) please let us know! ;D We’d love to talk with them. :3

Thank you all! :D

Alex Cho Snyder (axcho)

PS – Email me if you want my podcast recommendations. ;]

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to give you a heads up about a couple things, in case they affect you! :O

First of all, we’re shutting down our dairy-based, ketogenic companion brand Actualize, and we wanted to give you a chance to stock up before we close it all down for good!

From now until the end of June, you can get all Actualize packs for just $1/packet – our lowest price yet – while supplies last. :) Use coupon code: KETOKINDNESS

At the end of June, shop’s closed! :o Any leftover inventory will be donated to (citizen) science at r/SaturatedFat. (The nutrition nerd community there deserves a break after suffering through all my silly memes lately!) ;p

In case you’re wondering, we just didn’t get enough traction to keep up with increasing costs and minimum order quantities for outsourced manufacturing, and after consistently losing money month after month on Actualize this year, decided to focus our resources on the products that have maintained a strong following: Super Body Fuel. Thanks to you all! :)

For those of you who have tried Actualize in the past, I do have some experimental samples of an improved version that will now (most likely) never see the light of day. :/ So if you want to try them and offer your feedback, I’d be happy to send you some with your next Super Body Fuel order – just reply to this email and let me know! ;D

We also still have some free samples of the current Actualize available for anyone who wants it in their SBF shipment this month – let us know. ;)

So, Super Body Fuel. That’s why you all are here, anyway! :d

Last month I mentioned that things have gotten a little rough for the business, losing money for the first time, this year. Not an emergency – the past month has been a bit better – but definitely a thing.

The responses we got actually surprised me – literally every customer who replied said they may not want to pay more, but they wouldn’t mind if prices went up a little bit to account for rising costs – honestly it’s been surprising that we hadn’t already done so. Oh, okay. :o Y’all give me hope for humanity, thank you. <3

Well, I really don’t want to raise prices if I can possibly avoid it, so here’s what I’ve come up with. After bringing all our cost calculations up to date, and fiddling with the numbers to see how to get that bottom line consistently above zero, I found a couple things we can do…

Shipping costs have consistently been going up over time, and while that affects everything, the place where we lose the most money per order is on international shipping. To start with, I’m bumping up the Canadian shipping base cost from $20 to $30, and the base cost for other countries from $30 to $40. Honestly, it probably won’t make a huge difference since we still offer that (very silly) flat international shipping rate on orders of $100 or more, but it’s a start. And I probably should have done it a long time ago. :p

Secondly, that 20% subscription discount is where we’re starting to lose the most money overall. Back when we first increased the discount from 10% to 20% the idea was to make up the difference in increased volume, but… turns out it doesn’t really work that way long-term. That was fine as long as costs were low enough to still break even, but these days? No longer the case.

So, we’re bringing subscriptions back to 10% off, or $45 per bag instead of $40. Fortunately for you all, the subscription plugin on our website doesn’t automatically update existing subscriptions when the price is changed, so all of you who already have subscriptions are grandfathered in at the cheaper price. (For now!) ;p

Obviously, that doesn’t really help us break even, so the plan is for someone (me, unless Rhodel wants to do it) to manually adjust all the active subscriptions to the new price at the end of this month. As far as the (thousands of) additional paused subscriptions in the system, I’ll probably just cancel them at that point, and you all can start a new subscription when you are ready for more. :d

In other words, enjoy the next couple weeks of blissfully low prices on your existing subscriptions, because at the end of June, your favorite fuel is going to take a timid step toward (partly) correcting for inflation! >:o I mean, unless you manage to convince me otherwise between now and then. Feel free to let me know what you think. :3

(Alternatively, we could instead try leaving subscription prices low at $40 and raising one-off purchase prices from $50 to $55 or $60, effectively subsidizing the subscriptions. But that might feel a bit arbitrary and unfair. You tell me!)

The other thing is that Dan, our stalwart manufacturing lead and passionate vegan advocate, will soon be migrating south with his enormous plant-powered puppy to resume his Waldorf teaching career. Rather than hire a replacement, in order to save money I will be taking his place for the next few months, measuring and mixing powders like the good old days. No one else on the team is eager to “seize the means of production” in this particular way, so it’s my chance to show I still got it and crank out batches like a boss. B)

Honestly, I’m looking forward to listening to a ton of podcasts, annoying Arrow with the latest updates on my biohacking experiments, and personally putting our work-life balance policies to the test. ;) And don’t worry, we’ve got some exciting updates in the pipeline with this long-awaited rebrand, so the story is far from over. It’s just about to get interesting. :)

Thanks for sticking with us. You make this all possible! :D

Alex Cho Snyder (axcho)

Hi everyone,

Just a quick update to let you all know that all of our recipes have been updated to include the amino acid glycine, yay! :D That includes Milk Fuel and Super Protein, by the way. :d

You can read more in the last couple email updates from February, archived on the blog. But long story short, glycine is one of those “nonessential” amino acids that arguably people don’t get enough of, these days.

In order to target a 4:1 ratio of glycine to methionine, we have started adding 2g of vegan-friendly, sweet-tasting glycine powder to every Super Body Fuel meal in order to balance out the high methionine content of rice protein (and dairy protein, for that matter).

Nothing weird about this – it’s analogous to how we’ve been adding lysine since rice protein is low in that. With sufficient glycine, your body (and mind) will thank you, with reduced inflammation and a more relaxed mood, among other benefits – according to the studies. :)

Personally, I’ve been adding glycine to my Super Fuel and Keto Fuel for months – and now, I won’t have to! :D Awesome!

All the old inventory has turned over, so with the exception of a few samples (that will be gone soon) anything you order will have the new glycine-enhanced formula.

If you’ve already got the new glycine version (check the Ingredients list!) let us know what you think of the taste! :) Glycine adds a subtle sweetness that has allowed us to very slightly dial back the monkfruit sweetener, so the overall effect may be a bit different. My impression is that the overall sweetness is down about half a perceptible notch – which may be a good thing, as we sometimes get feedback from longtime customers that it would be better if the sweetness were slightly toned down. But what do you think? Please, please let us know! :D We want to get it just right.

At the same time, based on the overwhelmingly positive feedback on our beetroot survey in the last email, we’ve added 1g of beetroot powder to every meal of our strawberry flavor, for an enhanced taste, color, and nutritional profile (betaine and nitric oxide and such). And before you ask, net carbs for the keto version remain the same. ;)

Again, please let us know what you think of the updated flavor! We hope you like it better, but do let us know. :o All the strawberry samples have switched over to the new version, with both glycine and beetroot added.

Initially, I’d hoped that the glycine powder would “pay for itself” in effect by reducing the amount of expensive monkfruit sweetener we’d need to add. But it turns out that we’re only able to reduce the monkfruit very slightly, if at all (you tell us!) and now, the price of glycine has gone up significantly! :o Bad timing, I know.

Still, we are committed to keeping our prices low and affordable, and I believe in the value of this glycine addition in making our formula the best that it can be, so we’re holding steady for now. Please let us know if you think it’s been worth it – your feedback is the main thing that steers this ship. :)

I will say that this year is when world events are finally catching up with us at Super Body Fuel. :/ Our costs for ingredients and shipping have gone up significantly in the past several months, on top of the cost-of-living adjustments we’ve already had to make for the whole team to keep up with inflation in the beginning of this year. At the same time, the number of orders we are getting each month has been declining to a level that is lower than it’s been for years.

The bottom line is, this year is the first time that the business has been losing money month over month since we started operations. Don’t panic! ;p This is not an emergency, or a cry for help, as we have savings to weather this downturn – for the year, at least. And we (still) have the rebrand coming up, hopefully very soon. But this is a new thing for us. And I want to be transparent about that.

I have no intention of raising prices, as I know we could pull out of this just as easily by increasing monthly orders beyond a certain threshold, and I’m stubborn. But if you appreciate us holding prices steady when everyone else seems to be raising them, maybe let us know that – with your words or with your dollars. ;)

Thanks everyone. Let’s all hang in there. <3

Alex Cho Snyder (axcho)

Hi everyone,

Happy February! I hope that 2022 has been treating you a bit better than the last year, so far! :) We’ve got some mildly good news to share:

• Super Micros and strawberry are back!
• Glycine: (probably) coming soon!
• Inulin: volunteer testing underway…
• Beetroot: strawberry’s savior? (take the survey!)

Before all that, I wanted to let you all know that we’ve pretty much caught up with our backlog, and you can expect orders to ship within a few days, for the most part! Yay! :D Thanks to the team for working hard, and you all for not overwhelming us with orders this month! ;p I even logged a few weeks in the manufacturing room, getting my (nitrile-gloved) hands dirty to help clear the backlog, and it looks like it’s paying off. :d

Anyway, we got our vitamin mix back, so Super Micros is available again and most of our product inventory (except for samples) at this point has turned over to our custom mix instead of the NATURELO vitamins we were using in January. Also, we got our strawberry resupply a little earlier than expected, so you may have noticed the strawberry flavors are back in stock on our website as well! It’s good to be back on track! :)

We got a lot of responses to our survey on glycine and inulin, thanks to everyone who participated! :D

The response in favor of glycine was overwhelmingly positive, which doesn’t surprise me as I’ve been adding it to my daily Super Fuel for months now at 2g per meal, and it’s been great! :D Some of you have asked for more of the science behind it, so here’s a review paper discussing the benefits of glycine. As far as I’m concerned, it’s no more controversial than the lysine that we already add to balance out the amino acid profile of the rice protein. Glycine is just a piece of that puzzle that I’d overlooked until recently.

We haven’t started adding it to our formulas yet, but we’ve got 50kg of the stuff in our warehouse, ready to go. If you have any concerns or caveats to share, this is your chance! Reply and let us know. :)

The response to inulin was much more mixed. My guess is that it’s not going to make sense, honestly, given the number of people with sensitive digestive systems who would not be able to tolerate it. But we’re running some experiments with the many brave volunteers who have stepped up to try it! :) If you’ve added your email address to the last survey, you will (or may already have) receive a packet of 1g of agave inulin in your next order. Please add it to one of your usual Super Body Fuel shakes, and email us to let us know if you notice any gas or other issues (or not)!

Lastly, we have a new recipe update to run by you all! :) That is, adding a bit of beetroot powder to enhance our strawberry flavor, rather than using fake “natural flavors” that don’t taste very good. :p Yes, powdered beets, as in the reddish-purple root vegetables.

Oddly, while testing beetroot powder as a supplement simply for its nitric oxide-boosting benefits, I found that adding a small amount, say 1g, to one of our strawberry shakes helped enhance the flavor and color of the strawberry without overpowering it! And beetroot powder isn’t particularly expensive – certainly nothing like freeze-dried strawberry powder. So I thought this might be a good way to introduce a beet-enhanced line and boost the intensity of our notoriously subtle strawberry flavor at the same time! :o

Obviously, this is not a change we’d make without consulting you first, so here’s a survey on beetroot! Please weigh in if you’re a fan (or potential fan) of our strawberry flavor, or if you have a strong opinion about beets (as one does). :]

And here’s a review paper on the benefits of beetroot supplementation, before you ask. ;)

Anyway, please take the survey! :D

Thank you and take care!

Alex Cho Snyder (axcho)

Hi everyone,

It’s been a while! Not much has changed on our end in the past year, honestly – I’d been hoping we’d be announcing our shiny new rebrand by now, but things are still a few months behind schedule. :p

As the great Shigeru Miyamoto once said, “A delayed game is eventually good, but a bad game is bad forever.” Spoken like a true perfectionist. In other words, stay tuned.

The good news is we’re not increasing our prices! Other than that, we just have some supply issues and delay-causing complications to update you about. And a survey at the end. A fun survey.

• Delays, especially for international shipping!
• NATURELO: temporary placeholder vitamins.
• Super Micros: out of stock for a few weeks.
• Strawberry: out of stock until next March!

As you may have noticed, we’ve got a perpetual rolling backlog that is putting us as much as two or three weeks behind on some orders. I’m sorry about this ongoing issue. :/ If you’re lucky, you might not get much of a delay at all, but most likely, it will take a couple weeks before we can ship out your order. On top of that, the postal system has been slower than normal, and it’s particularly bad for destinations outside the US, like Australia. If you can swing it, I’d recommend keeping some extra on hand to cover you when these delays happen.

We also just got notice that the EU is adding customs taxes to smaller orders that may have previously slipped under the threshold. We are already barely breaking even (or even losing money) on international orders, so this is not something that we can really help with right now. If you’re in Europe, you might want to hold off on ordering for a bit, given the combination of our backlog, slow international shipping, and additional customs fees – we honestly may not be able to provide enough value to make it worth your while (or ours, for that matter!).

You may have also heard about the global supply issues that have been affecting businesses all over. There was even an article about it in the San Francisco Chronicle recently, featuring our friendly business neighbor Nana Joes Granola! We’ve so far been able to stay nimble and dodge most of these issues, but there are a couple that we’ve just been hit with.

First of all, we recently ran out of our custom vitamin premix before we were able to get a resupply, and so – a year and a half since the last time – we are back to using placeholder vitamins instead. As before, we’re substituting the high-quality vegan brand NATURELO, which includes the same methylated B vitamins and chelated minerals so it will hopefully be of comparable quality. But it’s still not the same, I know. Fortunately, we should be getting the next shipment of our custom vitamin mix before the end of this month, so you can expect to see it back in our products (and Super Micros!) by January.

We also got word from our freeze-dried strawberry supplier that they will be out of product until next March, which is a long time. Yes, there technically are other suppliers of real strawberry powder, but based on our taste tests, there’s only one that tastes good enough to (barely) justify the price, and so we’re out of luck. :/ We still have some of our strawberry products in stock, but they’ll be gone soon, and it will be a few months before we have it available again. So if you have a subscription that includes strawberry, I’d recommend switching the flavors now. Feel free to email us and we can take care of it for you – just let us know what flavor you want instead.

I also want to say a big thanks to all of you who participated in our scoop size survey earlier this year! :) There was a very slight majority in favor of keeping the big scoops as-is, so we haven’t changed anything.

And now for the speculative stuff…

• netParcel: cheaper Canadian shipping?
• Glycine: should we add it to our formula?
• Inulin: dare we open Pandora’s box again?
• Please take the survey!

Have any of you had experience with netParcel? One of our Canadian customers recommended it as a way to get cheaper Canadian shipping. We might give that a try soon, which would involve switching (only) Canadian shipments from USPS to UPS. This could potentially save enough money that we could afford to bring our Canadian shipping fees down to (nearly) the level of our US shipping. Seems almost too good to be true, right? If you have experiences with netParcel, good or bad, let us know. If you’re in Canada and have opinions on UPS shipping in your country, please let us know also!

Lastly, the fun stuff. In the past several months I’ve been experimenting a lot with various supplements for sleep and mood and tissue repair, and one of the most interesting I’ve come across is glycine. Glycine is an amino acid, one of the building blocks of protein, found in significant amounts in collagen and skin and joints, moderate amounts in plant proteins, and smaller amounts in muscle tissue (and rice protein, turns out!).

Super smart nutrition guy Chris Masterjohn (check out his free resources on vitamins and minerals!) recommends supplementing glycine if you eat meat (or rice protein?), in order to achieve a 4:1 ratio of glycine to methionine in your diet and improve your physical and mental health. He suggests that the human body expects this ratio in order to function optimally, which is easy to achieve if you’re eating mostly plants and “the whole animal” but rare these days when muscle meat is the main source of protein for most people.

The good news is that glycine powder is cheap, vegan, hypoallergenic, and tastes sweet (with a slightly weird aftertaste if you take a lot). And in order to achieve a 4:1 ratio of glycine:methionine, we could add 2g of glycine per meal of Super Body Fuel. It would even pay for itself, given that we could lower the amount of expensive monkfruit sweetener slightly to account for the sweetness of the glycine. Initial taste tests are very promising. The slight sweetness even balances out the natural bitterness of the Plain flavors as well.

The bad news? Well, there isn’t any, as far as I’ve found. Glycine can even improve your mood and sleep, via very gentle effects on the serotonin system (unlike the heavy-handed effects of tryptophan or 5-HTP, for example). People like Chris Masterjohn might argue that it’s just about giving your body the glycine levels it naturally expects, so it can run smoothly and calmly the way it’s supposed to. I just want to run it by you all before we pull the trigger and add it. What do you think? Let us know in this short survey! :)

I’ve also spent a while experimenting with prebiotic fiber sources this year and building up my tolerance for the notoriously potent inulin, and I’ll admit I’m tempted to play with it again in our Super Body Fuel formulas. But don’t worry! I wouldn’t do it without consulting with you all first, via this same survey. ;) Inulin is delicious (tastes like cotton candy), sweet and smooth, the best prebiotic fiber source… if not for the explosive flatulence it can cause in some people. :o

But you know, with up to 1g of inulin and 2g of glycine in a meal of one of our plain flavors, “Plain” becomes truly neutral and decently tasty, all without any sweeteners at all (no monkfruit!). The texture is better too. And if you start small, you can usually adjust to tolerate inulin without all the gas – there’s certainly an argument to be made for mixing fermentable fibers, like acacia and inulin, rather than using high doses of a single type as we currently do…

Still, that’s all theory – if it doesn’t work out for you in practice, it doesn’t work out. :p We’re not going to do it unless we’ve thoroughly tested it to the point of success. So let us know if you have a concern, and let us know if you want to be a brave tester to find out if it would cause a problem for you, via the survey:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeTiLQZwK9h_8RdgIop03ik5qAYG0GiR6nJj-si_SPmmebFvg/viewform?usp=sf_link

Even if you don’t have an opinion on glycine or inulin, we’d also like to hear from all of you about your digestive experience generally on Super Body Fuel – any gas or bloating, constipation or diarrhea, or is it all just smooth sailing for you? :) Please weigh in on the survey!

Thank you, and Happy Holidays! :D See you next year. ;)

Alex Cho Snyder (axcho)

Hi everyone,

To our customers in the US, hope you all had a good Thanksgiving and that you’ve been staying safe and healthy! :)

We’re not doing a Black Friday sale or anything this year, mostly because we don’t do that sort of thing now that we’ve lowered our prices across the board over the years, but also because we’re a bit backlogged and slightly understaffed at the moment. So a lot of orders are running a week behind (sorry!) and we’re not exactly hoping for a bunch of new orders to roll in.

However, if you like dairy, convenience, and cutting carbs, then you might like to check out the ridiculous 50% off everything sale we’re doing right now at Actualize keto meal. :)

In case you hadn’t heard, Actualize is the brand that I acquired and have been rebooting as a sort of side project, lately. It’s a dairy-based ketogenic ‘lent in convenient just-add-water single-serving packets, otherwise pretty similar to Keto Fuel, which is vegan, hypoallergenic, without added fats, and packaged in bulk. Very complementary. It’s been an interesting experience!

And yes, we’re still working on a rebrand and new website for Super Body Fuel, it’s still my baby, and gosh there have been a lot of delays. So… early next year, I hope? :x

Anyway, the coupon code for the Actualize sale is HALFOFFHOLIDAY – good for the rest of this month. Actualize is definitely on the pricier side, but with this deal, the best price we have available is 120 packets for $120, with the biggest Actualize Subscription. That’s about the same price as Keto Fuel.

Added fats and single-serving packets are expensive, so to be honest we’ll be losing money on all orders made with this coupon code! :o But I figure it’s worth getting the word out and getting as much feedback as we can, to see if a premium product like this is really viable. And as the brand grows we should be able to bring the costs down.

Now, we’ve finally started to get some reviews trickling in, and it’s been heartening to see that people actually seem to like it better than other stuff they’ve tried. This review just came in yesterday, for example:

Heaven is smooth and delicious
Somehow this is the smoothest and most delicious formula for a keto meal shake I’ve ever consumed. Worth getting if you’re looking for a full meal replacement shake geared towards keto.
Seren Creech

I don’t know who you are, Seren, but thank you! :) You’re giving me hope.

Oh, and if any of you want a free sample of Actualize included in your next Super Body Fuel order, we’ve still got a few of those left to give away, so send us an email if you want to try it but you’re not in a rush! ;)

Anyway, check it out: Actualize!

To our customers in the UK, I’m afraid we have some bad news… :(

So, thanks to Brexit there are some new VAT rules that will go into effect at the beginning of next year, January 2021, that will impact any businesses shipping product from outside the UK, into the UK. Like us.

You can read more about it, and what it means for complete food customers in the UK, in this r/soylent thread. But the bottom line is, we’re going to stop shipping to the UK at the end of this year. :/ I’m sorry.

Given the extreme cost of shipping packages internationally, we’re already barely breaking even on UK orders, and usually losing money on international subscription orders. This change is just tipping this already precarious situation all the way over the edge.

I wanted to let you know about it now, for two reasons. One is that if you want to stock up on any Super Body Fuel before we stop shipping to the UK, you should do so now, because we’re already backlogged and running out of time before this law takes effect!

The other is that there’s another company in the UK that I strongly encourage you to check out: Genesis Foods. They are essentially the Super Body Fuel of the UK, and I mean that in the best way possible. (I mean, the founder’s name is Joe, not Alex, but other than that it’s pretty similar…)

Joe Barrow at Genesis Foods is the only ‘lent founder out there who takes micronutrient optimization as seriously as I do – he’s very much a kindred spirit in that way. In fact, he used to import Super Micros in bulk to manufacture his product, until he was able to source his own custom MicroGenesis blend. I’m a fan.

So if you’re in the UK, I strongly encourage you to check them out. If you’re low-carb, check out their keto product, KetoGenesis – they’ve even got hypoallergenic and vegan options. Otherwise, check out GlycoGenesis, also with a vegan option.

So, yeah. Do let me know if you have any thoughts or suggestions to share. And of course, thanks for everything. Take care!

Alex Cho Snyder (axcho)

Hi everyone,

Remember how things were a year ago, back when life was normal (whatever that means) and you could be annoyed by the little things, like seeing pumpkin spice everything being advertised everywhere like it was a big deal? (I mean, to be fair, pumpkin spice is a big deal, but…)

Well, it may feel like the world is literally ending now, but the good news is, you can still be annoyed by pumpkin spice, yet again. At least at Super Body Fuel! :)

Because, for the third year in a row, we have brought back our seasonal Pumpkin Spice flavor, yay! :D

As usual, it’s nothing but real, certified organic spices: cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves, and nutmeg (pumpkin not included, obviously – that’s how pumpkin spice works). Sweetened with antioxidant-rich, luxuriously expensive monkfruit extract. Obviously. That’s how we do it.

Don’t worry, it’s not “premium” priced (it’s not ridiculously expensive like freeze-dried strawberry) but as a limited-time-only, seasonal flavor, it’s not available for subscription, so here are some handy links if you want to order now:

• Milk Fuel Pumpkin Spice
• Super Fuel Pumpkin Spice
• Keto Fuel Pumpkin Spice
• Athlete Fuel Pumpkin Spice

Hope you like it! :) And best of luck with voting, and avoiding the plague, or whatever else it is you’re busy surviving at the moment. <3

Thanks as always,

Alex Cho Snyder (axcho)

PS – Also, if you haven’t taken the Complete Food Survey 2020 yet, please consider doing so now! It’s like voting, except slightly less annoying because you can do it online and you get a 10% off coupon code at the end! :D Thanks to everyone who’s already participated.