The savory scent of bacon permeated the air, wafting out of the kitchen and filling the lower level of North Christian Church in Columbus.
Chef Alexa Lemley laid tray after tray of perfectly cooked strips on the counter. On the low-carb diet, recipes require a lot of bacon.
Those strips of bacon were earmarked for Lemley’s newest food project: preparing pre-packaged low-carb meals to be frozen and delivered to conscientious eaters around the area.
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“It’s really been an amazing learning journey for me as a chef and an eater to embark on this new adventure,” she said.
Lemley and her wife, Samantha, have created Low Carb Revolution as a way to help busy people eat healthier. She uses her own uniquely created recipes to make meals that are not only low carb, but free of gluten, sugar, grains, corn and soy.
The Lemleys have been inspired by their own change to a low-carb diet, and have found hundreds of other people who are intrigued by what it can do for their lives. If they can give people that option without much effort on their part, that’s a success.
“People want to be healthier. People want to have a change. This is an easy way for people to achieve that goal,” Alexa Lemley said. “We take all of the excuses and effort away.”
Food has been the Lemleys’ passion for decades. They met while working for the catering company that Alexa Lemley’s parents founded. Over the years, they branched into all different kinds of food-related endeavors, including making gourmet marshmallows, operating a food truck and catering events.
But their approach to food changed in 2018. Sam Lemley was diagnosed with severe type 2 diabetes. Her mother had died at age 48 from diabetes and heart disease. She didn’t want to follow that path.
Foremost for the couple was changing their diet. Lemley, a trained chef, started cooking according to the diabetic diet. The approach
Alexa Lemley followed the meal plans that her wife’s doctor had put together, cooking according to the diabetic diet that calls for eating mostly fruits, vegetables and whole grains, limiting fats and calories.
But Sam Lemley didn’t see her blood sugar levels or condition improving.
That led them to the ketogenic way of eating. The keto diet is a way to force your body to change the type of fuel it burns for energy. Instead of relying on sugars from carbohydrates from grains, vegetables, fruits and legumes, the body starts burning ketone bodies, which the liver produces from stored fat.
In order for the diet to work, people need to all but give up carbohydrates. The body has to reach a state of ketosis to start burning stored fat, and doing so requires eating about 20 to 50 grams of carbs each day, according to Harvard Medical School. For comparison, a medium-sized banana contains about 27 grams of carbs.
Food allowed under the Keto lifestyle are heavy on healthy fats and protein such as beef, pork and bacon.
Soon, the couple had lost 175 pounds together, and Sam Lemley’s doctor took her off diabetes medication.
Using their own experience as a guide, the Lemleys founded KetoLuxe, a line of keto-friendly foods, spices and recipes. They made appearances at home shows and other sales events, giving out samples and talking to people about their approach.
The response they received was overwhelmingly positive, but they heard the same thing from people over and over again.
“They didn’t have the time to cook all of these things. They loved Alexa’s barbecue sauce, but they didn’t want to cook the pulled pork themselves. Or they loved her caramel sauce, but they wanted to eat it on something already made,” Sam Lemley said.
So they started making mixes of food that people could buy and whip up quickly. Then they took it a step further: fixing the food themselves, packaging the items and freezing it.
The Lemleys started offering the pre-packaged foods in June, and it quickly became half of their total sales.
“We’d go to farmers markets, and have people there already waiting for us to show up, so that they could get some before we ran out,” Sam Lemley said.
People can buy sausage and pepperoni “pizza” made with a meat crust, or a keto-friendly ranch chicken casserole that can just be popped into the microwave. For those who want something sweet, a blueberry bread with lemon glaze, cinnamon rolls and classic cheesecake are available.
Everything that Alexa Lemley cooks follows the same rules: sugar free, gluten free and grain free.
“Those are our standards for what we make. We’ll always keep that,” she said. “Our items are still keto, since that is my focus, but we’re branching into some other low-carb options for people.”
Now, the Lemleys are eyeing an expansion for Low Carb Revolution. They’re hoping to buy a label machine and sustainable packaging, to better contain the items they make. A blast chiller would allow them to freeze food faster and deeper. They would also like to purchase a sous vide machine, a shrink wrap machine and an upright freezer.
The Lemleys have started a Kickstarter campaign to raise $13,500, reaching out to supporters and longtime customers for help. Those who contribute get a range of prizes based on the amount, from getting credit in social media posts to a package of Alexa Lemley’s sauces to seven frozen entrees.
They have until Feb. 25 to reach their goal. With a week to go, they had already raised $11,575 — 85 percent of the goal.
“The Kickstarter getting the funds not only gets us the money to guy this equipment, but also shows that we have a market for these items. It tests the market for us,” Sam Lemley said.
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Low Carb Revolution
What: A business created by local chef Alexa Lemley and her wife Samantha Lemley offering low carbohydrate recipes, foods and ingredients, coaching, events, and personal chef services.
Where: Columbus
What do they offer:
Pantry items such as caramel sauce, gooey brownie mix, snack crunch and sweet and tangy barbecue sauce.
Frozen low-carb foods such as ranch chicken casserole, classic cheesecake and Italian cabbage lasagna.
In-person and virtual coaching programs
How to get it: Frozen food deliveries are available in Johnson County and elsewhere in central Indiana through Market Wagon.
How to order: lowcarb-revolution.com
Kickstarter: To help purchase equipment that will allow for Alexa and Sam Lemley to improve production, they have started a Kickstarter campaign to raise $13,500. Pledges are being taken through Feb. 25.
To contribute, go to https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/low-carb-revolution/join-the-low-carb-revolution-with-frozen-meals-and-treats-0
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