I’m a little bit embarrassed to admit this. I almost didn’t post about this on Nose Graze because I didn’t really want anyone I know to know what my husband and I did. But I’m just going to suck it up and talk about it because I so badly wanted to post/blog about this SOMEWHERE.
A “bespoke” weight loss programme
My husband and I wanted to try a low carb diet for weight loss purposes, but for some reason we had ZERO confidence in our cooking abilities. Yes we had cooked before, but it was always stuff like: boil pasta and add sauce from a jar. Easy.
But on a low carb diet, pasta was going to be out of the question. Suddenly, we were terrified. We didn’t have any confidence in our cooking skills and didn’t believe we could go on a low carb diet by ourselves. So we sought out a company that would deliver prepared meals to us, and that’s how we found Natural Ketosis.
They brag about their personal consultations, their “all natural” and “high quality” food that’s “from local farms”.
What if we don’t like the food?
Our biggest concern with using a company like this was the quality of the food. What if we didn’t like it? There’s no way we’d be able to diet on food that we hated. So, the first thing we did was check their terms and conditions for some kind of refund policy. Their terms state:
Right to Cancel Your Diet Plan
Pursuant to the terms of the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling ) Regulations 2000 (” the Regulations”) once you have concluded a contract for a Programme or Plan with us your seven day cooling off period will commence. To effectively cancel your Programme or Plan pursuant to these provisions you must return within 30 days all goods delivered to our head office at your cost in adequate condition and unopened. .. While you are in control of our goods you must take good care of our products.
So we figured: we buy their smallest plan (a box for one month) and we can always cancel it within seven days (the “cooling off period”) and return the goods within 30 days. No problem. This also matched up with the Distance Selling Regulations. My husband has told me about these regulations many times. In the UK, whenever you purchase something that you haven’t seen in the flesh, you have seven days to return the items and get a full refund. This law always trumps any other terms and conditions the site has written up. So I knew we always had that to fall back on anyway.
After talking with one of their sales reps, we decided to go ahead with the £500 purchase for one month of food (for two people). It was about £9 per day, per person.
Well, how was it?
The food arrived in four big boxes. All of the meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner) were spread across these four boxes. The first thing I noticed was that they got our order wrong. I specifically requested that I not receive the chicken and mushroom meal, but they added it anyway. Then I specifically did request the sweet chilli pork, but they didn’t include it. We immediately sent them an email about this, and also inquired about some additional breakfast options. No reply.
My husband was the first one to try a meal (lunch). He had a soup, which he said was “okay”. That first day I just had a salad for lunch (which consisted of me buying all the salad ingredients separately and using their salad dressing).
That night, we both tried the dinners.
I had the “beef in peppercorn”, which is:
Tender slow cooked British beef in creamy, delicate pepper sauce.
If I’m being honest, the peppercorn sauce wasn’t too bad. It was DEFINITELY oily, but the taste wasn’t so bad. I had two huge problems with the meal though:
- The quality of meat
- The amount of meat vs the amount of sauce
The the meat tasted like airplane food
If you’ve flown on many planes, you probably know what “airplane food” tastes like. It tastes low quality. It tastes pre-packaged. And the meat is almost always uncomfortably chewy. You know, when you’re chewing it forever and ever and you know in your head that this is bad.
That’s what this meat was. I had to close my eyes and hold my breath as I swallowed the meat.
It wasn’t a beef meal—it was a soup
This is where I started to feel ripped off. I so desperately wished I had taken a photo of this meal, but I didn’t. To see a similar meal, check out this review of the chicken breton dish. My beef looked exactly like that. It was peppercorn SOUP with about four chunks of meat floating in it. Did I really pay £9 per day for myself for that little meat? It’s almost like having a liquid dinner every night!
My husband hated his meal
While I was “okay” with the taste of the peppercorn “soup”, my husband absolutely hated his chicken. Like my meal, his was soup with small bits of chicken floating in it—not a proper chicken dish. But his biggest complaint was the quality of the chicken (airplane food) and the sheer amount of oil present in his dish.
Why this is a total rip off
Long after this incident (which isn’t over yet), my husband and I did a lot more research into a keto, low carb diet. It turns out, you’re allowed to eat A LOT of meat. You can have fat, meat, and protein galore. And yet, this Natural Ketosis company is charging people £9 per day for what is probably less than 100g of meat per day. Their portions are so incredibly tiny that it’s almost a wonder that people aren’t starving on their diet.
My problem with this is you don’t have to do this to lose weight. You don’t have to have only four tiny chunks of meat and then soup for dinner. Now that we’re off this Natural Ketosis plan, we have:
- A full chicken breast each with plenty of cheese and veg
- TONS of bacon. I mean tons. Bacon in EVERYTHING.
- Cheeseburgers (usually with two patties each) without the buns.
See how much more meat that is? Four chunks of meat (less than 100g per day I bet) vs 250g of chicken for one meal (never mind the bacon and sausages I had for breakfast). And even though I’m now eating a lot more meat, I’m still within my daily calorie goal (of about ~1200 per day).
My point is that Natural Ketosis so obviously includes as little meat as possible in order to cut down on their costs (because meat isn’t cheap). And yet they’re still charging people £9 per day, which is A LOT.
So, we wanted a refund
After realizing we didn’t like the food and that we were getting ripped off with these “liquid” dinners, we wanted a refund. We contacted Natural Ketosis saying so, and they immediately told us they don’t offer refunds. Here’s the exact chat transcript:
We immediately thought this was bullshit. We can’t return the closed, sealed food packets that have an expiration date of one year in the future? What the hell?
This doesn’t sound legal, let’s check those laws
The first thing my husband and I did was double check the Distance Selling Regulations to see if there was a note in there about food. And actually, the regulations did have an exception in them for “perishable goods”. However, that was a bit ambiguous in this case because yes, we did receive food, but the expiration dates were in summer 2015. That’s hardly perishable, is it?
So next we called the Citizen’s Advice Bureau. They looked up the exact bit of legislation for us and the definition of “perishable” in this instance. They told us that “perishable” referred to things like flowers or fresh food that had a quick expiration date. They also told us that the law had changed recently and we’re now allowed 14 days to return any products—not seven.
In short, Natural Ketosis trying to deny a refund was ILLEGAL!
The Citizen’s Advice Bureau confirmed with us that Natural Ketosis was wrongly trying to deny us our refund and even asked us if we wanted to report them to Trading Standards, which we agreed to do.
We were finally put in touch with the “managing director” of Natural Ketosis. She tried so hard to make us look like the bad guys taking advantage of the law, even though what they were doing was totally illegal! She sent me a message, trying to make me look as bad as possible, but then finally agreed to do a refund on a “one time basis”. We were to send the boxes back and then they would refund us the retail price of the remaining goods.
Waiting on a refund
While we waited for the refund to be processed, my husband and I did more research into the law to reconfirm that we were in the right. We didn’t like being told we were wrong and taking advantage, when we were so sure otherwise.
It turns out, the Distance Selling Regulations had been changed on June 13th, 2014 and is now called the Consumer Contracts Regulations. This supersedes the Distance Selling Regulations. We noticed that in this new law the “perishable goods” phrase had been removed and replaced with “the supply of goods which are liable to deteriorate or expire rapidly”. This OBVIOUSLY didn’t apply to Natural Ketosis products, which had a shelf life of nine months or more. The only products that could have possibly applied were the salami packs they sent us, which only had a shelf life of one month.
Two weeks later…
So it had now been ALMOST two weeks since Natural Ketosis received our returned boxes and we had yet to receive a refund. Natural Ketosis received the boxes on September 4th, and it was now September 16th. We had sent them multiple emails asking for a status update or when we could expect a refund and never got a clear response. We finally sent them one last reminder because the law states a refund should be processed within 14 days:
(5) If the contract is a sales contract and the trader has not offered to collect the goods, the time is the end of 14 days after—
(a)the day on which the trader receives the goods back, or
(b)if earlier, the day on which the consumer supplies evidence of having sent the goods back.
I had to “threaten” them AGAIN with the law and my credit card company before they finally came through with the refund. I said:
The law states that you have 14 days from receipt of the goods to issue a refund. Since the items arrived on September 4th ( as per http://www.city-link.co.uk/consignments/tracking/LVZ77543/ ), Thursday the 18th will mark two weeks. I haven’t heard back from you or the dispatch team, so I just want you to be aware that if we don’t have a refund by the 18th we will be contacting our credit card company about this.
Finally, this prompted them into action and they refunded us about £480.
Wrapping it up — why you should avoid Natural Ketosis
- Their food is INSANELY oily.
- Their meat is very low quality and tastes like airplane food.
- Their dinners are just soups with a few chunks of meat floating around. Because of this, the portions feel TINY and almost certainly won’t fill you up.
- Their “personal consultation” is a complete joke. Sure, we only “used” it once before asking for a refund a few days later, but they NEVER replied to us. We never got a response.
- They are BREAKING THE LAW by forbidding any kind of refunds or returns. If you are stuck in this situation with them, FIGHT! Quote the law to them and don’t be afraid to get in touch with your credit card company if you have to.
A keto diet is actually FABULOUS—it’s just this company that sucks
I want to be clear about one thing: I think a keto/low carb diet is great. I know for a fact that it works for helping you lose weight. But this company is a horrible, horrible example of a keto diet. In order to make things cheaper for themselves, they give you as little meat as possible. This makes no sense when on a keto diet you’re allowed PLENTY of meat. You’re even allowed “comfort” foods like tons of bacon, cheese, and BUTTER (yum). You can even eat until you’re full and satisfied. But Natural Ketosis gives you as little food (and meat) as possible. The portions are bitty and won’t fill you up. The food is oily and unappetizing.
If you want to go keto, do it yourself
I’m planning a whole other post about the keto diet and how/why it works. But for now, just keep in mind that YOU CAN DO THIS YOURSELF! You don’t need to do what my husband and I did and turn to a premade/packaged food company. There are so many easy dishes you can make yourself, such as:
- Bacon, eggs, and sausages
- Tuna salad
- Taco salad
- Chili
- Meatballs
- Parmesan chicken
- …and more!
This. Company. Sounds. Really. Awful. There’s no need for you to be embarrassed, Ashley!
Thanks Priscilla!
Wow, that’s crazy. I love hearing about bad companies. I feel like a lot of us don’t share these stories, and all we are doing are perpetuating the bad behavior of the company. Good for you for fighting.
Yeah I love hearing about them too. I hate it when companies can get away with crap like this. I feel bad for all the people who must’ve tried to get a refund from them but didn’t fight hard enough.
I often wondered about diet food companies like this, sounds horrid. I would love to know more about your dieting. I need to lose a ton of weight and would like to know how much you guys have lost since starting your low carb and how you feel now that you started it. 🙂 I have probably tried everything but low carb..scared of losing all my pastas and breads..lol.
I plan on doing a post all about the keto diet and my progress so far, so stay tuned! 😀 I think I just want to wait a few more weeks so I have more data to offer up. I’ve only been doing it for about four weeks or something so far, so waiting a bit longer might be good. 🙂
But so far my husband and I have seen excellent results. We’ve both lost about 10 pounds, and that’s with eating tons of bacon and butter, haha! Who would have thought!
I never thought I’d be able to go low carb because I also LOVE pasta and bread. That used to be all I eat. But I think low carb helps because it’s actually 10x easier than just counting calories. I’ll talk about why that is in my post. But it’s not as hard as I thought it would be, especially because you can have so many comfort foods like unlimited meat, bacon, butter, and loads of other things you can’t have on a calorie counting diet.
There’s a company like that in Australia. I tried it once and even though it wasn’t as horrible, some of it probably wasn’t good for me. Plus, I always got hungry. Honestly, I have no idea what to do with my lifestyle anymore. Most people say that a low-carb diet is good for losing weight but I’ve also heard that it’s not actually good for you. There’s a couple people on YouTube like Freelee the Banana Girl and Annie Jaffrey who actually endorse a high carb diet with lots of fructose. They said that your body needs carbs for energy or something like that. And then there’s those who say that’s completely unhealthy because you don’t get enough protein but I’ve seen blood tests and they look fine. Eh, I don’t know. I guess I have to try them all haha!
Low carb is great and it’s perfectly healthy for you! The only reason it could possibly not be healthy is if you have some kind of other health condition. But in general, it’s perfectly healthy for you and most people report feeling SO much better after switching to it.
Your body doesn’t need carbs for energy. It’s true that when you eat carbs your body uses carbs for energy. But the main point of a low carb diet is to go into ketosis. Ketosis is where you switch your body from using carbs for energy to using fat. So your body actually gets its energy from fat instead of carbs. That’s why when you go low carb, you actually go “low carb, high fat”. On this diet you need to stop buying ANYTHING low fat, and low fat is actually super bad for you anyway. That’s why you’re encouraged to have tons of butter, bacon, and even heavy cream.
Also you get plenty of protein because you eat a lot of meat. Usually when you go low carb you aim for values like:
<25 grams of carbs
80-120 grams of protein
100-150 grams of fat
per day. Obviously the exact values depend on your current weight, height, age, gender, and activity levels.
I plan on doing a more in depth post soon about low carb/keto diet, but that's the gist of it. 🙂
To clarify-I wasn’t saying low carb was dangerous, I was referring to the whole fruitarian movement (30 Bananas a Day website/Dr. Graham/ Banana Girl etc). 🙂
I don’t want to turn Ashley’s post into some big nutrition debate, but please please please be very cautious with ‘gurus’ like the banana girl/Dr. Graham etc. There are people who take things to the extreme and advocate eating practices that are dangerous.
I don’t want to cause a debate or anything like that either Finley. 😀 I’m just really confused myself and I don’t know who to listen to you know? I don’t think that either of these is particularly dangerous though.
Thank you so much Ashley! I really do need to learn more about all of this. There is so much out there. 😀
This is horrible but I am glad you posted this. When I research new diet plans I like to read the reviews but sometimes there aren’t enough. Your experience with this company will help other people. It’s good you got some of your money back.
You’re right Kathy, sometimes it’s just hard to find good reviews. I really want people to be aware that they CAN get a refund from this company, they just have to know the law, their rights, and have the courage to fight the company on it.
Good post and you have a right to be angry! Here in the U.S. this is called the Atkins Diet, in which you eat very high levels of protein to force your body into ketosis which burns the fat. My husband and I did it a few years ago and I lost 30 lbs. One drawback is bad breath, just warning you now 🙂
Also, some people with certain health conditions can’t take part in this. I am not allowed to do this anymore due to my family’s health history and my age, but kudos to you for fighting for your rights and standing up for the “little guy”!
Atkins is actually slightly different, but they are in fact very similar. 🙂
Bummer that you’re not allowed to do it anymore!
Ha, been there done that with the bad breath ugh 😛 I did a Primal eating experiment for several months, a while back,and that led to some ‘lovely’ side effects like bad breath/body odor etc etc. I didn’t magically lose weight either grrrrr.
A great, free resource for low carbers is the forum area on the website low carb friends (just google this and it pops up towards the top). That’s actually where I started out and got a lot of great info. I ended up doing JUDDD for my weight loss and found out about it via that forum 🙂
Ok, home now and on my desktop -here’s the link to the forums I mentioned above. It’s a general low carb forum and then it has sub-forum areas for different plans 🙂 The people are so nice there and it’s where I hung out during my weight loss phase. If you’re interested in the specific plan I did, all the details are in the sub-forum labeled JUDDD.
http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/bbs/
Thank you!! 😀
Great post, Ashley! What a nightmare you had! Thanks for highlighting this, I think a lot of these companies work in a similar way and have heard enough nightmare-ish stories to stay well clear. I’ve tried a couple of healthy eating plans over the years and I’m about to embark on low carb as of tomorrow morning actually, so this couldn’t have been better timed! I’m petrified though, as being a typical Irish person a lot of my diet consists of carbs – I’ve basically already cut out bread and sugar (I use sweetener), I don’t fry anything, and rarely eat “bad things” but my weightloss has kind of plateaued for a year or so now. So I’m hitting low carb with a bang to try and shift around 14-21 lbs. Any tips you have would be great!! I’m struggling to think of replacements and snack ideas already, and having a 9-5 job can make meal planning trickier – some net research will be required! Are you finding the weight loss to be relatively quick? R x
Wow great timing!
Low carb isn’t quite as hard as I thought it would be. For the longest time I NEVER thought I could do it because I love pasta, rice, and breads so much.. that used to be all I ate! But I think it helps that we are allowed a lot of meat, and that’s fine by me. 😉
I’m finding the weight loss to be very good! I’ve lost 10 pounds in September (since the 4th) so that’s pretty fantastic! Also that’s with almost zero exercising. I imagine it could be a lot more if I went to the gym more than like twice this month, haha.
I honestly consider this weight loss without even trying. It doesn’t feel like a diet when you’re allowed to eat until you’re full. We don’t worry much about portioning or calories.. as long as we’re under 20-25 grams of carbs per day.
Here are a few snack foods we like:
* Peanuts (we even bought some flavoured ones, like BBQ and sweet chilli)
* Cheese (I like those babybel cheeses
* Peperami sticks
* Peanut butter cookies (basically just peanut butter and egg thrown together and put in the oven — simple and delish)
* Fruit. Fruit actually has a lot of carbs so you have to be careful, but now and then I just have a container of berries (raspberries and blackberries have some of the lowest carbs I think).
But I also find that I don’t have to snack very often at all. This is the benefit of going “low carb, high fat”. When you’re eating carbs, you’re constantly hungry because carbs actually don’t keep you full for very long. So before this low carb diet I was CONSTANTLY hungry and then I’d get moody and grumpy if I didn’t eat.. this is no longer the case. The high fat diet keeps me comfortably full for very long periods of time. Usually I’d be STARVING by the time dinner came around (7pm) and that would make me cranky. But since going low carb I have NEVER had that starving feeling. The most I’ve ever felt is “kind of hungry”. It’s incredible. So I actually don’t snack too much.
I know, I love(d) my carbs!! I actually did Slimming World for a year or so, and it did work, I just got a bit bored and restless and fell off the bandwagon with it, but I’ve been lucky to pretty much maintain what I lost, now I need a kickstart to shift the last of it. Sometimes I find when you haven’t a lot to loose it takes longer to come off. Because of SW though, I’ve already cut out a lot, so going low-carb isn’t a huge jump for me, but still a tough enough one!
That’s a really good loss for a month! And without exercise too is great. Exercise is another thing I struggle with, both time-wise and in general – I’m a Book Geek for a reason, sports and me never really mixed. Dancing til 2am for sure, but other than that – no thanks lol Though I’m planning to start doing some toning exercises at home, lunges, planks, sit-ups, all the good stuff.
I haven’t really gone as far as measuring my carb intake, I’m just trying to base my dishes around eggs, meat, veg and fish. When I feel the need to add more “bulk” I’m going for half a cup of brown rice, some sweet potato wedges/cubes or some type of bean. Do you measure or watch your nut intake though? i’ve recently discovered pumpkin seeds and flavoured hummus and I’m in love! Lol Those peanut butter cookies sound immense!! Do you have the quantities??
I feel outraged about the fruit thing! Lol I wouldn’t mind just as much if I could munch away on fruits but to try and watch out for the ones that are high in sugar it’s like, “Really?! Cut me some slack!!”
My friend has used this method to control her weight for a few years now, she’ll go low carb to cut down a few lbs when she needs too, and then eat slightly more “normally” for a few months, and go low carb again if she feels she’s gained. She’s stayed within a 7lbs margin for years now, so I’m hoping I can some how make this work for me. I’m taking it a week at a time at the minute, but I’m excited to see what the results are next week!
Yeah I want to start exercising more as well. I just suck at getting into a good routine, you know?
I don’t really measure my nut intake, but I don’t eat a lot of nuts. I pretty much only eat peanuts, and when I do eat those I only eat about 50 grams or so. So if you eat a lot of nuts you might want to keep an eye on them. 😉 You can use MyFitnessPal to log your food intake.
For the cookies I used:
250 grams of natural, no sugar added peanut butter (250g = 1 cup)
1 egg
A splash of vanilla extract
Optionally: sugar free chocolate chips
That adds up to about 2-3 grams of carbs per cookie. 🙂
Oh and then I just baked the cookies at 350 degrees F for about 10-15 minutes. 🙂
Check out this FB page it’s called Ruled.Me and has lots of different keto recipes and tips. A friend had actually posted on her page about an amazing green bean dish that came from that page, and I love green beans! Everything looks delicious! https://www.facebook.com/ruledme
I’ve actually heard of that! I hadn’t visited the Facebook page but late last week I stumbled upon their website and bookmarked about 10 recipes!
I’m actually shocked. How is a company with this happening still around? I’m so glad you stood up, fought it and will win. I have a feeling I would have just accepted the loss, ate the food and moved on afterward (I think my non confrontational boyfriend is having an effect on me). Shame on these people. I realize they’re a business and doing everything they can to survive a rough economy, but still. They certainly won’t grow and I’m hopeful that other potential customers will do some research and find this post to make a more informed decision.
As a side note, BF and I are on a low-carb (well, we’re at a no-carb stage right now) diet, too! I saw your bacon weave quesadilla on Instagram the other day and lost my mind. Looked good enough that I made my own. 🙂 I’ll definitely be checking out your other meal recommendations. This diet is great but I’m growing tired of what we eat on a constant basis.
I honestly think my husband helped a lot, lol. If it weren’t for him, I probably would have sucked it up and eaten the food anyway… BUT, I think I also probably would have ended up “cheating” on the diet because the food wasn’t tasty or filling. But my husband really hated it (instead of me just not “liking” it, you know?) and that made me want to get a refund. Then when they said no, I REALLY wanted to fight them on it because suddenly I hated the company and wanted them to get what was coming to them.
It’s awesome that you’re on low carb too! I can definitely see how the meals could get tiring though. My husband and I are working really hard to add variety into our meals so we don’t get sick of them. Hopefully I’ll have some more good recipes this week! Tonight I’m making bacon-wrapped mini meatloaves. I’ll let you know how those turn out. 😉 I’m also going to make some low carb cheddar biscuits. It’ll be pretty awesome if those are tasty!
Good for you Ashley for sticking up for yourself, and getting your refund that you rightly deserved. It’s quite disgusting when companies offer what sounds like a fantastic idea, fantastic offer, and then their food can’t live up to what they promise.
See I’m too fussy to use a company like this, but I see them on the telly all the time and the meals look delicious so it’s sad to see they’re not what you expect, and I’m just glad you were able to return the items, Ashley.
I can’t wait to read more about the low-carb/ketosis diet. I’m trying to diet at the moment, and it’s just so hard. I’ve been on holiday so it’s time to get back on the wagon. The low-card diet sounds awesome – bacon and eggs? SAY WHAT? I’ll be watching for that post with interest!
Yeah screw this company! My husband and I would normally never use a company like this, but when confronted with the idea of low carb, all our cooking confidence just evaporated, haha!
But low carb is like the non-diet. You have plenty of comfort foods, almost magically stay under your calorie limits, and you can always eat until you’re full/satisfied! I think that’s what makes it so doable. When you’re just counting calories normally (not low carb) it’s so easy to feel like you didn’t have enough to eat. Then that can make you grumpy and start having cravings, then you’ll probably end up binge eating a few days later.
But since ketosis is low carb, high fat, the fat actually keeps you feeling REALLY full. Plus bacon, butter, and cheese are delicious and you can pretty much have unlimited amounts of those!
And there are plenty alternatives for the good things. Heck, I just made low carb biscuits! Tomorrow I’m going to make a low carb pizza! I’m excited to see how that turns out.
Hi
I used to work for NK and it was horrendous! All sales focused its just all about money. Sure some people really enjoy it and it has made a difference to them but as you say low carb is easily achieved at home without the greasy slop that NK supply. Some foods were handy like the breakfast cereals and porridge etc but again these things can be done at home too. NK has changed its name a couple of times it used to be Go Lower now Rexcone own it. The CEO is a lawyer and a rather horrid nasty one! She filed for insolvency on the 1st of November 2013 yet denied that the business was in trouble. On the last Friday of that month 1 week before pay day and a month before xmas most of us got a letter to say we don’t have a job and we are not getting paid for the month we have worked. we had to wait 6 months to claim back out basic wage from the government meanwhile NK continues to trade. Horrible nasty company with horrid nasty food and sales tactics avoid like the plague!
Thank you so much for sharing your experience, Tracy. I’m so sorry you had to go through all that! It’s horrible that they don’t seem to treat their employees any better than their customers. 🙁
Hi Ashley,
Ive fallen for it too ive signed up for natural ketosis for 4 months with my dad and we both want to cancel as the food is rank!!
I’m so sorry!! 🙁
Hi i agree the food from natural ketosis is different but not horrible, like other companies. But i have done this diet found the staff great and helpfull. i did not follow the diet as planned but used the foods for when i was busy it worked fab for me lost 30LB over 2 months as i had back up from the foods when didn’t have time to cook or to busy, better than sticking other stuff (carbs) that’s not good in the mouth. i suppose i live on my own and shopping is not my top priority.
so a months box would last about 2 months. i love the soups. hope this helps. also i also found it is value for money the one week i stuck to just the plan was my biggest weight loss of ten pounds so i suppose depends whats important weight loss or whinging xx
I’m sure by now you have realized that this way of eating is easier than you think. I sometimes think I’d like to have an easy way too, but I just do a lot of cooking and prepping on the weekend instead. So, on the up side, you learned that you don’t need NK to get you through this!!
Yes it was definitely a learning experience. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
I used Natural Ketosis once – back when it was called ‘Go Lower’ (they rebranded to Natural Ketosis) and they were pretty good. The consultants were really helpful – and set me on course to maintaining the weight loss long after the programme had finished. Then some personal stuff happened which pushed me off the wagon… 3 years down I had pilled on the lbs, so went with Natural Ketosis again…
Only this time, they just took my money and sent me the food… the quality of the food had gone downhill. There was little to no help – their consultants were more interested in selling you more food than guiding you through the process. I was really disappointed.
How did I solve the problem – well, I’ve leaned that Ketogenic diets when done incorrectly (eg – you pile on the meat, at the expense of veggies etc) are harmful. I learnt to cook… I cut out the process foods (no bacon!) and chemical crap. I eat real meat, real veggies in moderate portions and the weight flew off. My blood tests show all is chemically sound. I’m better than ever
I’m sorry that you had some bad experience with them too!
And yes, if you do Keto you really have to do it right. All of the carbs you eat are meant to be comprised of vegetables. Meat has almost no carbs, so you should be eating meat and then ~25 grams of pure vegetables per day.
It sounds like you’re doing great now! Congratulations!
I have had problems with this company too. Non delivery, wrong contents plus not actually losing any weight!
They don’t want to know if you have a problem, they just want the money.
Having cancelled halfway through, I’m told I can’t have a refund, even on the food they still owe me!
I’m so sorry that you’re going through this too Milly. Make sure you stand up for yourself and cite the laws. Call the Citizen’s Advice Bureau and explain your entire situation. They should be able to confirm whether or not you’re entitled to a full or partial refund.
I had the same problem as Milly. I paid nearly £400 and didn’t get my delivery. I had to report my debit card as lost to the bank to stop the company taking another payment. They chased me for payment of the next order as I had signed up for a fixed number of months. They denied that they owed me a box of food and threatened me with court. I told them to take me to court so that I could tell the court about my missing delivery. They didn’t take me to court and I never got the food or the refund. A lot of money to lose. They still have the cheek to email regularly trying to sell me the diet again.
That’s horrible Andrea! I’m so sorry that you experienced this. 🙁
I’ve been totally ripped off with this company. After spending more than a thousand pounds with them I’ve only lost a stone. The payments weren’t even explained to me correctly I thought it was £280 for the whole course not for every month and by the time I realized this was coming out of my credit card it was too late to cancel
I’m so sorry Maureen. 🙁 It is very, very expensive!
If it would have been explained to me correctly there would have been no way I would have signed up. Now I have all this money to pay back on my credit card. We can’t afford this kind of money. I dare not tell my partner
Glad I read that was just about to call them, thank you for saving me £450!
Phew! Crisis averted!
Thank you so much for writing a post about this god awful product. I ordered this last year and was horrified by the quality of the food and was so disgusted by the amount of money I had wasted. Anyway, I get phone calls now asking whether I’d like the summer plan this year etc. Every time Naturalketosis call me I reinforce how completely and utterly attricious the food is that they sent to me. Please do not buy from this company you will regret it.
Oh noooooo!
Wish I’d read this blog this morning, as I’ve just paid for a 28 day plan that’s being delivered tomorrow!!!!????
I am so terribly sorry Annette!! If you’re not happy with the quality of what you receive then definitely push for a refund!
i have spent £2,500 with natural ketosis co, but was pleased with results so ignored rubbish customer service . After that i have decided to do short one and ordered food worth £350 but shortly find out that i am pregnant, when i called Natural Ketosis to return – they refused so the fact that i overall have spent with them over £3,500 ( i was ordering additional food during my first plan) clearly made no difference for them. I fully agree that they just want your money and nothing else. i ended up throwing away £350 worth of food cos you cant eat them while pregnant.
I’m so sorry to hear that Volha! You probably could have pushed them for a refund, but I assume you didn’t read this post until afterwards.
So much for supporting their loyal customers!!
Thanks for prompt reply, where can i find article about keto diet you mentioned you going to write?
Here are two great websites about Keto:
https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/ – Read the introduction post plus it’s a great community to just post and connect with others. There’s also another forum specifically for women on Keto: https://www.reddit.com/r/xxketo/
http://www.ruled.me/ – Great for information and recipes.
Thank you very much for sharing . I will do my homework before starting this time, shame i didnt read your article before showering natural ketosis in my cash !
I read this with interest…I have been a fan of this company for over 6 years when they were known then as Go Lower. I lost 4lbs after my second child and found their program incepredibly easy, tasty and not at all like you’ve experienced. I’ve needed a helping hand recently after two foreign holidays and careless eating and just ordered a big box of their breakfasts and meals to get my ketosis kick started.
Just shows you how different things work and taste for different people. I had the Pork Milanese tonight and it was delicious….4 huge big meatballs in a delicious Mediterranean style sauce. Not oily just tasty and filling.
It’s a shame this didn’t work out for you.
I think your review is very unfair. I have no affiliation with this company whatsoever, but have tried their diet in the past, with a great deal of success (losing a stone and a half in just over a month).
It may not be for you, but the fact is that it does work for some people. And to honest, I’m surprised they haven’t sued for libel because if I were them I would have been on you like herpes.
The fact that it’s “not for me” and that they tried to violate Distance Selling Regulations is exactly why you couldn’t sue for libel. To sue for libel the statements have to be untrue.
I stated my opinion that the food was gross.
I stated facts and evidence that show they tried to violate distance selling regulations.
I never said you couldn’t lose weight on this diet. I said there are better ways to do it and get more bang for your buck.
You sound like the kind of person who can’t handle criticism. Do you only want to see positive reviews on Amazon too? How dare we dislike a product we purchase….
Wow, how very grown up of you to resort to personal insults. Well done you. You disgusting person.
But there was no personal insults to you from Ashley… This Bill Hunt is a strange character.
I was just about to buy from Natural Ketosis, but I’m convinced now that they should be avoided. Too bad I don’t have time to cook. I hate cooking, too. If you know of another keto company please let me know!
Ashley,
Thanks so much for this thorough write-up. I absolutely LOVE the keto diet, but struggling to maintain the “get my ass in to the kitchen” with a busy schedule. So, I found myself eyeing Natural Ketosis.
Your excellent write-up has convinced me to avoid these guys and re-embrace the kitchen, griddle pan and awesomeness that is BACON CHEESEBURGERS 🙂
Enjoy! 🙂 I know all the cooking can be tiresome, but you’ll enjoy the food much more. 🙂
This is absurd! How could they refuse to refund you?! The customer is always right, but even that aside it had been less than seven days! I’m sorry you had to go through so much trouble, but happy you got your refund back! Hope the ketogenic diet is still going strong for you and your husband – my partner and I are in love with it 🙂
Hiya, yes I had the same experience when I tried this in 2010. Except then it was called Go Lower . Georgie from your chat transcript worked there then also. I ended up speaking to the MD, a facetious person. After a little bit of research I found out she used to be a lawyer. No wonder she was so adept at manipulating the law and words and then throwing them at you. Only companies with a complete lack of integrity have to change their name and rebrand every few years in order to continue to make sales!
I have been having meals from Natural Ketosis. I too am concerned about the quality of the meat. Even worse I have not lost much weight. As for support, I have telephoned several times, and have always been left feeling that I am to blame.
I have not ‘cheated’ but am on a lot of medication. I still have meals to get through – I like the soups very much but I shall
in future do my own thing. Any advice would be appreciated. Carole
did the diet, loved the food, lost the weight – great support – sorry you didn’t have as good a time
I was just about to buy some as a kick start to a Ketogenic, No sugar diet. Im not sure if in 3 years they have improved the quality of the dishes but I wont be trying it thanks to you. I have found another supplier who I have had recommended. I know these are easy to put together yourself, but my work pattern is non existent and its hard to fit in good quality food. I could eat keto and sugar free every single day if someone else cooked for me but being alone it makes it more difficult and more tempting to go for quick and easy – Thanks