Soylent (the non-people version)

[TheRobin]

Soylent is a sort of "meal replacement drink" where the formula consists of all the nutrients you'd need (or at least that's the idea). Also it's quite cheap compared to regular food and you can create and order your own recipe and mixture. Sounds really intersting. Also maybe a good and cheap way to prep some food that doesn't take up a lot of space too. 

So far only available in the US though.

 

Enjoy the reading though

 

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2014/05/12/140512fa_fact_widdicombe?currentPage=all

[ParaSait]

I wonder why this has never been thought of before? Already since I was a young child, I have been wondering why exactly we really need food, and not just a package of the stuff in it that we need, without all the trash and aesthetic aspects. Most of the answers I always received to that were just appeals to normality. Thanks for linking this article

[Wuzzums]

I often say that I look forward to that moment in time when all we need is a single pill to be set for the whole day. People usually reply: "What?? If I could I would eat all the time! Eating is the best part of the day!". Which makes me feel sorry for them.

[original_brownbear]

Hmm, well the idea seems interessting but honestly it seems unlikely that you could actually package all you really need in a single drink. All those different aminoacids and what not are really tough to prepare in a way to make you not run into any long run problems.

Additionally I feel like it could actually lead to serious eating disorders if you tried to completely take the fun out of eating.

[TheRobin]

here's a guy doing some personal 2 week testing with the stuff (thanks to Eh Steve for sharing that with me)

 

http://fourhourworkweek.com/2013/08/20/soylent/

 

Also, from what I can see now, the idea HAS been tried before. Not quite sure, why it wasn't succesful or what happened to the individual products (Didn't have enough time to really search the web yet).Anyway, if I find something I'll post it (or if anyone else finds stuff, pelase share it here, thanks )

[Jelle de Jong]

I like the idea of this but be aware that there has been no scientific study or proof that his formula is healthy.  He tested it on his own for three months without getting sick, but eating only potatoes for three months has even proven to give health benefits for most people. The standard diet of people is really really bad. We tried creating baby formula and have not yet succeeded in creating an healthy replacement, only a you will survive but not thrive formula. There are loads of chemicals and nutrients we are only starting to discover in fresh ripe organic fruits and vegetables. If you really want to life on the cheap, go on a diet of only rice/potatoes/jams and vegetables, with some whole food multi-suppliment.

[Sal9000]

but eating only potatoes for three months has even proven to give health benefits for most people.

 

 

This is the original Soylent diet. Potatos are the only cheap veggie afaik that include all minerals and nutrients required. Guess I will have to create a website and sell my dietary advide

[LovePrevails]

I'm waiting to see if it makes people well or sick

[Jelle de Jong]

I also want to add that the reductionist science approach to nutrition can end up harming us very very badly. I do like reductionist research and the information, but is like ten blind people describing an art painting. I can recommend a good book about nutrition looking at the whole picture: http://www.amazon.com/Whole-Rethinking-Nutrition-Colin-Campbell/dp/1937856240

[tjt]

Soylent is to real food what formula is to breastmilk.

 

I have a really bad gut reaction to this stuff (pun intended). In engineering this 'food' product, these guys didn't seem to consider that there is an entire ecosystem of living bacteria, fungi and other beneficial organisms in the gut that are required to synthesize vitamins etc. and convert them into a usable form. It's called gut flora. The gut system is referred to by experts as the second brain because its proper functioning is so essential to human health. It's also the first line of defense for the immune system. It requires real food (including solids) to function properly.

 

In fact, whole foods are so essential for the flora to do their job that because of their hyper-processed, toxin-laiden diets, the vitamin C supplement these guys were taking was probably a waste of money and didn't actually get used by their bodies. Same thing happens with Vitamin A and Vitamin D, they go unused and are excreted unless you have the proper gut flora transform it into something the body can utilize.

 

Secondly, diet has a significant impact on jaw and teeth formation. Raw foods that we chew, like crunchy carrots, contribute to healthy, straight teeth (this is not a consideration of vanity, dental problems including misalignment of the teeth can lead to serious health risks... and signal problems going on in other areas of the body).  I am no expert, but I've done extensive research starting about 1 year ago when I contracted a deadly intestinal infection.

 

Here's a true expert speaking about gut health; I've included a vid at the end of the post. It is long but well worth your time. Please don't be put off by the first couple of minutes about Planet Earth's health, I don't know why she stepped out of her area of expertise like that (maybe trying to make a transition from the presentation before hers).

 

Another source if you are interested in how diet can lead to degeneration of the teeth and skeletal structure, I strongly recommend "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration" by Weston A. Price.

 

Great thing about being a libertarian, though, is to each his own   So long as no one forces me to eat this stuff (or forces me to pay for the repercussions of other people eating this stuff), it's all good!

 

 

[wdiaz03]

I often say that I look forward to that moment in time when all we need is a single pill to be set for the whole day. People usually reply: "What?? If I could I would eat all the time! Eating is the best part of the day!". Which makes me feel sorry for them.

 

Lets give up sex while we are at it too. Well because its messy and a germ fest in all the body fluids involved. Egg and sperm will be extracted via catheter and mailed to a test tube farm and baby arrives 9 months later.

 

Much healthier and less risky.

[Wuzzums]

Lets give up sex while we are at it too. Well because its messy and a germ fest in all the body fluids involved. Egg and sperm will be extracted via catheter and mailed to a test tube farm and baby arrives 9 months later.

 

Much healthier and less risky.

Well that's just disproving my whole point...

[christopherjames]

Soylent is to real food what formula is to breastmilk.

 

I think that is a very good comparison, jtj. The immune support, hormonal effects, and long term metabolic benefits of breastfeeding are well documented. 

 

In many ways products such as soylent are the result of "nutrition label thinking" and the framework of nutritional thought that this tends to create. It is so easy to compare foods based on what is written on the nutrition label, it can be tempting to imagine that that is the only consideration for nutition. There is utility in thinking this way, of course, especially when examining macronutrients - fats, carbs, protein etc. However, other variables such as the contribution of gut flora you mentioned jtj, are a huge and little understood area of nutrition, health, and digestion. uBiome has a product to help quantify gut flora which is pretty cool, for those interested: http://ubiome.com/

 

I overheard a man at Costco comparing two television sets a few years ago. Out loud he was reasoning to himself, this television is 1080P and this one's 1080P and this one is twice the price, why would I ever pay more? Rather than comparing the other specifications of the TV, or actually comparing the image quality, the decision was made on the most basic metrics. Much as Jelle de Jong was saying, despite it's utility at times,

 

"reductionist science approach to nutrition can end up harming us very very badly."

[DFPercush]

I saw a documentary on this stuff, and the closing statement was basically, have this stuff during the day when you're busy and on the go, but at home eat real food. They caught a picture of a rat in the factory where they make the stuff, so that alone makes me wary. It will suffice in a survival scenario, but this stuff hasn't really been properly vetted. About food pills, that's fine for vitamins, but that's just not going to have enough mass to supply the calories our bodies need. I myself belong to the "I would eat all the time if I could get away with it." camp. Maybe that comes from some past psychological issues, haven't thought about it that much, but I do so love the taste and texture of good food. I love cooking, too, but a lot of the recipes I know from family are high fat stuff like casseroles and other Southern comfort food. It's not a problem when you're working in a field all day like my grandparents had to do, but today's lifestyle just isn't friendly to that. Cooking is an activity where I bonded with my mother in the past, so I'm sure that has something to do with it. We would also critique and rate the meal, like "it's better than last time" or "I don't think adding X was a good idea." Also, I was able to get away with eating whatever I wanted as a youth, so I didn't learn what I needed to know about proper diet and exercise back then. I think I'm doing pretty good now and keeping it under control. but I thought I would offer some insight into my mentality, since Wuzzums made that comment about feeling sorry for people who enjoy eating for the pleasure of it. A lot of culture revolves around the preparation and consumption of food. It's where traditionally families would spend time together, so there's that aspect of it. My family had dinner around a table together, so there's kind of a nostalgia factor there I guess. There's also the pure hedonistic pleasure seeking aspect. Where it gets dangerous though, is treating it as some kind of escape from reality. There was a caller like that on the show one time. Some people find their lives dull or painful, and look forward to meal time as a sensual experience where they can forget about their worries for a few minutes. So food is like an addictive narcotic to them. That's where the feeling of sadness is warranted.