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Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getting sick

latimes.com

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Re: Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getting sick

#161

Post by thaumaturgy »

djsumdog wrote: post #11

I'm really amazed by all the supporters on here. When I first heard about Soylent, I thought it was a terrible terrible idea. I mean, there's so much to food. It's not just eating it, it's all the flavours and ingredients and cooking with friends and loved ones and parties and such. I'm guessing most people on here use it as a supplement + regular food, but when I saw it originally, it seemed like it was intended to…

There's a niche that Soylent has been really helpful in, that pretty much everyone seems to have ignored so far (including Soylent-the-company, who I sent an email to regarding this and received back a form letter response that hadn't had all of its fields filled in).

Backpacking, hiking, search and rescue, hunting, anything outdoors.

I carry an unopened package of Soylent powder in my SAR pack and I've been glad I have it several times. Take a Nalgene, fill it up to about 300 ml with powder, add water, shake vigorously, and now you have enough fuel to ease fatigue for several hours. It's lightweight and convenient and easy. Cleanup is simple.

Now when I'm peak-bagging my default is just to carry some Soylent with me. The only time I carry my mess kit anymore is if I'm going out with the intention of a morning, afternoon, or evening meal ritual being a planned part of the trip. Like, "let's hike out to Phoenix Lake and have a nice hot dinner at sunset." Otherwise, Soylent.

I've been gradually becoming a disciple of the ultralight over the last couple of years and food weight is challenging to whittle down. The alternatives, freeze-dried anything, are mostly disgusting and still require carrying a stove, fuel, and require cleanup. Soylent has reduced my pack weight and size by quite a bit, and (for the most part) I'm getting better nutrition overall because I can just chug it in small doses throughout the day. It also means I'm less likely to develop a fatigue-related injury.

It's gotten some attention from other folks on my SAR team and my longtime hiking partner has started giving it a try too. It doesn't seem to be something that's really caught on in the outdoor industry yet. I really wish Soylent would sell small, lightweight packages of the powder that were pre-sized to mix with about .8 liters of water and then get it into places like REI, but I guess that's not something they're very interested in.

Re: Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getting sick

#162

Post by neilsharma »

I always have a bottle of soylent in my backpack for emergencies, or if I'm in SF for half a day and don't want to waste $10 on a sandwich I can finish in 3 bites.

That said, I'm not a big fan of its macros. I don't really care about following food pyramid guidelines and would prefer something with less sugar, fewer starches, and a different oil blend. I make "life-changing bread" [0] on occasion, and its basically my all-natural soylent alternative (I substitute out most of the oats for more seeds + bran and add protein powder). It doesn't taste great, but that's not the point here.

Was looking into getting the powder when my current batch of drinks finish, but I suppose I'll revisit this decision after soylent addresses these issues.

Still not sure if soylent actually replaces meals -- I end up chugging a bottle and then buying food most of the time. 400kcals makes for a nice snack, but simply isn't enough food to replace a meal.

[0] https://www.google.com/search?q=lifechanging+bread&oq=lifech...

Re: Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getting sick

#163

Post by LordHumungous »

Meegul wrote: post #142
LordHumungous wrote: post #130

I'm a big fan of Michael Pollan's manifesto: Eat food . Not too much. Mostly plants. The idea being that processed foods cannot hope to match the nutritional profile found in whole foods, particularly plants. This soylent stuff is about as processed as food comes, so I'm inclined to be very skeptical of it's healthfulness.

Do you believe that there is some chemical (or other) difference between two molecules of, for instance, glucose, solely due to their origin?

I suggest you read In Defense of Food. Long story short there are thousands of complex molecules in whole foods, along with fiber, that are removed when processing occurs.

Re: Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getting sick

#164

Post by benevol »

Matachines wrote: post #85
djsumdog wrote: post #11

I'm really amazed by all the supporters on here. When I first heard about Soylent, I thought it was a terrible terrible idea. I mean, there's so much to food. It's not just eating it, it's all the flavours and ingredients and cooking with friends and loved ones and parties and such. I'm guessing most people on here use it as a supplement + regular food, but when I saw it originally, it seemed like it was intended to…

Every time Soylent is on HN people say this. Why don't people understand? It's so simple: Soylent is for meals you don't care about but need. It's not a) the ONLY food you can eat or b) supposed to replace all meals. I order a box of Soylent bottles every few weeks—they come in handy while working or for a quick breakfast or if I have little time and am hungry. I also cook meals with my girlfriend a few times a week…

Processed food is always a bad idea.

It's simple, really: The closer your are to nature, the better you feel (because the healthier you are). Our body is happier when we spend our time in nature instead of artificial environment (there are studies on that subject) and we are less cancerous when we eat natural food (as opposed to processed food).

Every time we step away from our nature, we sabotage ourselves.

Re: Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getting sick

#165

Post by greglindahl »

Meegul wrote: post #136
throwaway101416 wrote: post #102

I had hemorrhoids that would flair up from soy/almond milk or large quantities of corn chips. However, I never had blood loss and it was mostly gone by the time I tried Soylent. After having one drink made with powder version 1.2 or 1.3, I lost about a liter of blood and couldn't move or work on anything that week. Had to switch to yogurt for a month to eat normally again. I think it has to do with jagged precipitate…

What do you mean by unnatural? What is in Soylent that isn't natural ? Food in and of itself is just a mix of different chemicals - be they from plants, animals, or other sources. But at the end of the day, a molecule of glucose from a plant is identical to a molecule of glucose created synthetically.

If you grind beans and rice into a powder, with other stuff, and cook them, do you think that that's the same as cooking whole beans and whole rice with the other stuff?

The answer is no. It's not just about molecules.

Re: Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getting sick

#166

Post by AlexCoventry »

couchand wrote: post #147
jedberg wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Think of something you have to do every day that you don't like to do. Like flossing maybe? Some people really enjoy flossing. Some people don't. If there were a device I could put in my mouth and in 30 seconds everything were flossed, I would totally do that. But some people would think, man how can you do that and take all the enjoyment out of flossing? Sometimes when I'm working, I run to the fridge, grab whatever…

"If there were a device I could put in my mouth and in 30 seconds everything were flossed"... I think what you're looking for is dental floss.

If it takes you less than a minute to floss you're probably doing it wrong.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PreNWWOYfI#t=32s

Re: Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getting sick

#167

Post by nurettin »

djsumdog wrote: post #11

I'm really amazed by all the supporters on here. When I first heard about Soylent, I thought it was a terrible terrible idea. I mean, there's so much to food. It's not just eating it, it's all the flavours and ingredients and cooking with friends and loved ones and parties and such. I'm guessing most people on here use it as a supplement + regular food, but when I saw it originally, it seemed like it was intended to…

Traditional social eating is deeply embedded into the culture I was brought up in. However, that doesn't stop me from experimenting with food that requires no preparation, no ordering, no waiting when I am in a hurry to accomplish a life goal.

That said, of course I would never support "soylent" anything if it is making people energy/immune system/vitamin deficient no matter how many classic dystopian novels it names its food after.

Re: Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getting sick

#168

Post by alphanumeric0 »

There is also the question of bioavailability, which applies to drug as well as vitamin intake.

Just because Soylent claims to give you all of these vitamins at once, that does not mean your body is actually adsorbing them all at once. You need a varied diet. You can't just eat one thing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioavailability#Factors_influe...

Re: Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getting sick

#169

Post by grzm »

warfangle wrote: post #140
djsumdog wrote: post #11

I'm really amazed by all the supporters on here. When I first heard about Soylent, I thought it was a terrible terrible idea. I mean, there's so much to food. It's not just eating it, it's all the flavours and ingredients and cooking with friends and loved ones and parties and such. I'm guessing most people on here use it as a supplement + regular food, but when I saw it originally, it seemed like it was intended to…

I'm still curious why the soylent thing has hit it off in the HN crowd and not, say, Slimfast. Which is basically the same thing but with more production hardening. Maybe fragile masculinity? IDK.

I think the answer is mostly that Soylent is new and associated with the startup world.

- initially announced on a blog in 2013

- crowdfunded on Tilt, raising over $3M

- got funding from a16z

Due to that it's got a lot of cachet. Also, the idea of a meal replacement is more in line with life/body hacking.

Slimfast goes back to 1987 and is marketed as a diet and weight loss product. One could consider it more "old tech".

This is just my very fallible perception, and I don't intend any judgement on either.

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