Soylent

[Turniphead]

I just heard about this stuff...

I hope it becomes popular and the price goes way down. It sure would be convenient.

Any heath "experts" on here have opinions about it?


Current ingredients: http://blog.soylent.me/post/53485019917/soylent-v-8-alpha-ingredients

 

[Cognisant]

Cool, I'd still consult a doctor and nutritionist before making it the mainstay of my diet but compared to what I'm already, well the health bar is pretty low

 

[Pyropyro]

I thought that stuff was made from people.

 

[Cognisant]

Assumedly it's a grassroots precursor to that

 

[Kuu]

Heh I was just reading about this yesterday. The guy's blog is rather amusing to read.

If it were readily available i'd definitely give it a go. I do wonder if the cost of refining or synthesizing the raw materials used is less than that of traditional food production, that's the large issue I could see with its large adoption... It is true that a lot of food production is wasteful, consumes a lot of water and generates a lot of pollution, hell, most household garbage is food wrappers and food remnants.

Ultimately medicine already has had similar solutions for years; the lack of widespread adoption of solutions that are known by science to work is one of those stupid things that bother me about human civilisation.

 

[Amagi82]

I chipped in for the Kickstarter. I'll be getting a week's worth whenever they get production up and running (August?). I'll make a thread about it and let you guys know after I've tried it.

Science!

 

[Ex-User (9086)]

I'm trying a variant of one of these recipes tomorrow, I want to see how I'm functioning on simple meals for a week. It's an interesting site built around designing nutritionally complete diets for individualised needs. Soylent is too expensive and difficult to get hold of, perhaps experimenting myself will yield satisfactory results.

 

[Yellow]

I've been using Soylent off and on for about 7 months now. It's awesome except for the taste. The health effects are almost instantaneous. After a few weeks, I didn't just feel healthier, I felt more alert, better rested, and more cheerful. My INTJ noticed the same (though we kept it to ourselves at first because we were both afraid of sounding like fruitcakes).

I started out eating/drinking nothing but Soylent and water, but after about a month, I was having hot, meaty cravings. I've stuck a balance now where on weekdays, I eat Soylent for breakfast and lunch, and have a dinner. On the weekends, I only have Soylent for lunch. My INTJ does the same.

The best thing I've found for the taste is chocolate syrup or fresh raspberries.

Also, ALWAYS USE A BLENDER TO MIX IT! It says you can mix by shaking and it's lying to you. Any chunkiness left behind is likely to make you gag, especially at first. Also, I wouldn't advise trying it without masking the flavor. Over time, you'll get more used to the flavor and can live without supplementation, but even if it's a sugar-free coffee syrup, you need something to mask the waffle-batter taste.

One more thing -- thin it down a little (not a lot) more than instructed. And make sure it's really cold. I make it the night before so it's as cold as possible when I drink it.

Edit:
I use v1.5
I can't afford the premixed kind. The powder comes out to be the same price as healthy (not ramen) groceries for me, so that's what I use.

 

[Ex-User (9086)]

Why does it have to be cold? It would seem that cold food is less digestible.

 

[Yellow]

It has a strong, not-pleasant taste. The colder, the weaker the taste so you can drink it slowly. Unless you plan to chug it (which I really wouldn't recommend because it sits heavy on the stomach like milk).

Edit: I realize that taste is subjective. My INTJ can drink it straight, and has grown to like the taste. But even he insists on drinking it as cold as possible.

 

[Pyropyro]

*pokes Yellow and Blarraun to see if they're healthy*
*Goes off to heat the oven in the sugar candy house*

I'm looking at a disaster relief angle. The recipes that I've read from Blarraun's links show ingredients that might be easy to ship and resistant to spoilage. The soylent can then be made on-site. I assume that they aren't tasty but if they can make you survive then its okay.

 

[Yellow]

With a 6-month shelf-life in sealed powder form, Soylent itself can be sent for disaster relief. The recipe has been changed a few times based on ingredient availability though, so there's no reason to think a few varieties could be published and whipped together in preparation for an emergency.

The only health concern would be the sugar source for diabetics. My current version uses isomaltulose, which is probably the safest option, but it's not exactly a handy ingredient. However, in an emergency, there are few ideal options for people with extreme dietary restrictions.

I don't know if it's perfect, ideal food for forever, but it sure seems to beat the pants off the average first-world diet.

 

[Pyropyro]

6 months is pretty decent given that seasonal change and its associated weather patterns would've drastically changed during those time periods.

I think sugar can be quickly shipped to any disaster areas here since the Philippines is a sugar top producer so no problems there. Candies can also be used as emergency source of sugar (and the kids would probably get some serious morale boost out of it).

I don't think there would be any perfect food. You should change ingredients to match the current consumer's needs or their availability.

 

[Deleted member 1424]

I wanted to try out soylent a long time ago, but it took ages for them to stabilize and not be constantly on backorder.

I purchased some a couple weeks ago, and it's pretty awesome. I just add some cinnamon and I'm good to go. 'Cooking' is very low on my list of priorities and I have finicky palate; so this stuff is a great time saver.

It also helps cover nutritional bases more easily. Unfortunately, the rda for potassium is way overblown to compensate for a hypertensive, salt-loving population, so I'm getting way too much potassium this way. I'll have to make sure my non-soylent meals are extra salty if I want my blood pressure to stay above 80/50.

 

[Hadoblado]

I'm trying a variant of one of these recipes tomorrow, I want to see how I'm functioning on simple meals for a week. It's an interesting site built around designing nutritionally complete diets for individualised needs. Soylent is too expensive and difficult to get hold of, perhaps experimenting myself will yield satisfactory results.

That site is exactly what I've been looking for. Thanks.

Now I just need a chest freezer, digital scales, blender, and willpower.

Hopefully the appeal of never having to actually think about food again (even if I have to order ingredients and prepare it), on top of health benefits, will fuel my sails.

 

[Cheeseumpuffs]

Soylent green is people.

 

[redbaron]

Cooking is fun guys, stop hating on it :'(

 

[Cheeseumpuffs]

Cooking is fun guys, stop hating on it :'(

Cooking sucks. It's, like, way too much time and effort.

 

[reloaded]

Cooking sucks. It's, like, way too much time and effort.

I cook while thinking. I find it awkward to just sit and think (because I end up getting distracted). So if I need/want to think, I'll either cook or walk around. But I almost always end up burning something.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Deleted member 1424]

Cooking is fun guys, stop hating on it :'(

Never. You can't stop me.

 

[Cognisant]

Is it filling?

Getting all the calories and nutrients I need isn't very helpful if I'm snacking afterwards because I still feel hungry. Lately I've been researching a cellulose rich diet for weight loss, I tried exercise and I just ended up eating more, but fresh produce is such a hassle.

 

[Cheeseumpuffs]

Is it filling?

About as filling as eating people, I'd guess.

 

[redbaron]

People who think cooking sucks, suck.

 

[Cheeseumpuffs]

People who think people who think cooking sucks suck, suck.

 

[Puffy]

I'm trying a variant of one of these recipes tomorrow, I want to see how I'm functioning on simple meals for a week. It's an interesting site built around designing nutritionally complete diets for individualised needs. Soylent is too expensive and difficult to get hold of, perhaps experimenting myself will yield satisfactory results.

Thanks for linking this. I'd be interested in experimenting with soylent for a month to test against my current diet but it costs 4x my current food budget. Will have a read through this later.

That site is exactly what I've been looking for. Thanks.

Now I just need a chest freezer, digital scales, blender, and willpower.

Hopefully the appeal of never having to actually think about food again (even if I have to order ingredients and prepare it), on top of health benefits, will fuel my sails.

I just need willpower.

 

[Deleted member 1424]

Is it filling?

Well considering you're getting 25g of fat and protein in every serving; I'd say definitely. I'm quite physically active every day due to my job, and I feel like more than two servings a day... would just be too much. If you really need to buff it up, you could simply add a sugar-less protein powder to the mix or some peanut butter. Plus, not every meal needs to or should be soylent. 2/3 is working well for me so far.

 

[Yellow]

Is it filling?

Getting all the calories and nutrients I need isn't very helpful if I'm snacking afterwards because I still feel hungry. Lately I've been researching a cellulose rich diet for weight loss, I tried exercise and I just ended up eating more, but fresh produce is such a hassle.

It's filling.

People who think cooking sucks, suck.

I like cooking when I' in the mood to cook. I'm a good cook. I just hate cleaning up and sometimes I don't feel like cooking, but I'm too cheap to buy someone else's food, and "quick food" is unhealthy.

 

[meanlittlechimp]

I've been living on the stuff for the last 3 months almost exclusively. I decided to teach myself how to code while holding a full time job so I was trying to maximize time, by not using seamless, menupages, cooking or thinking about what to stuff my face with.

They've made the formula tastier and less likely to cause gas like earlier iterations but I'm pretty sure the nutritional content went down partly because of it. They're also trying to cut down costs by buying tech to grow nutrients using photosynthesis, algae etc in the hopes of curing world hunger apparently. So they're less trying to cater to 99% who currently use their product rather than the worse consumers on earth... the poor.

It was never a cure-all to begin but it's far healthier than eating most of the shit you're gonna order via delivery or microwave from your freezer.