Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getting sick • Hacker News Board

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

#251

Post by blub » Fri, Oct 28, 2016, 6:12 AM UTC

Taek wrote: post #209

ng12 wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Soylent is for meals you don't care about but need This is the problem. That concept is completely foreign to a lot of people (me included). The combination of my body's needs and the way I was raised lead me to view each meal as an opportunity to be enjoyed, never a chore. Something I observed in the weightlifting community: there are people who need to worry about dieting (cutting) and people who worry about eati…

Eating a meal takes a lot of time. You've got to prepare it, clean up afterwards, and take your mind off of whatever you are doing. Or you have to order it, and then still usually there's some cleanup and interaction. The liquid Soylent is about as disruptive as drinking water. That's really useful to me when I'm sucked into a programming challenge or research task. Sometimes I'll go 3-4 days doing nothing but work a…

At that effort level I was hoping you're working on curing a disease or at least something more important than the cloud. :-/

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

#252

Post by cyberferret » Fri, Oct 28, 2016, 6:16 AM UTC

Taek wrote: post #241

summarite wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If that's a regular schedule for you - Don't you feel you're missing out on living life?

When I'm really sucked into a problem is one of the few times that I feel fully alive. It's like being in a flow state for multiple days, pushing every cognitive resource I have to reach a solution. I think it happens less than once a month, and almost always lasts less than a week. I do wish that I went hiking more often, camping more often, and I wish that I had more social interactions that were free of social and…

You sound like me 25 years ago. I assume you are still young (20-30?) but I would urge you to take a look at your lifestyle and habits now, with a view to changing it to incorporate more of your hiking and camping and social interactions that you mention.

I once felt that living like you currently are was sustainable and that I would be impervious to the long term effects, but now that I have hit the half century mark, I am finding I suffer from all sorts of back and shoulder pain from sitting for extended programming sessions lasting days. I also have rapidly degrading eyesight, and high risk of glaucoma from staring at screens all day every day, and I have other health and digestive issues from not eating regular healthy meals, or drinking enough water back in the day.

It is highly likely that the lifestyle you are accustomed to will turn around and bite you one day. Make changes now so that you don't end up the same as this old programmer. :)

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

#253

Post by tluyben2 » Fri, Oct 28, 2016, 6:17 AM UTC

greatjones wrote: post #127

ng12 wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Soylent is for meals you don't care about but need This is the problem. That concept is completely foreign to a lot of people (me included). The combination of my body's needs and the way I was raised lead me to view each meal as an opportunity to be enjoyed, never a chore. Something I observed in the weightlifting community: there are people who need to worry about dieting (cutting) and people who worry about eati…

> but I'll never understand that feeling of "ugh, I need to eat, guess I'll have a Soylent". It sounds like you have either more free time or a more a steady work schedule then their target user.

Somehow this seems like an American thing or maybe people in other places make less of a spectacle of it?

Always having too little time, always working and being proud to plan every minute of every day (recently Marissa Mayer and Bill Gates and someone else from the US said in interviews they have every minute of every day planned; sounds like pure hell but he) seems very American. This Soylent thing fits in there.

Why would someone want to work that much unless you want to become a billionaire which, again, seems a drive in media coming from the US?

Maybe it is just the media I read though, but here there is no vibe like that and when I meet (very successful/rich) entrepreneurs in Asia/Aus/EU they seem to be always eating elaborately so they do not give of that vibe either. Again the press distorts but posts here on HN and a thing like Soylent support that press.

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

#254

Post by tunesmith » Fri, Oct 28, 2016, 6:18 AM UTC

I tried this off and on for over a year - huge supporter of the idea to have a basic "fallback" healthy meal option better than the kind of crap we might eat when we're low on ingredients.

But I had to stop. No matter what kind of soylent I had, even the liquid, I'd just get horrible indigestion from it - heartburn, even acid reflux. I read all the theories about "oh, you're just not used to the fiber" but I eat plenty of beans and psyllium husk and that's not it. Thought it was the oat protein, but the liquid uses more soy protein instead - no change. And no other foods seem to trigger that consistently for me. I stopped drinking it and the problem went away.

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

#255

Post by bootload » Fri, Oct 28, 2016, 6:18 AM UTC

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…

"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."

Problem already solved, MRE [0] and discussed [1].

[0] Example here is a Patrol Ration One Man (PR1M) used in the ADF ~ https://flickr.com/photos/bootload/4549780731/in/set-7215762...

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1665563

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

#256

Post by enraged_camel » Fri, Oct 28, 2016, 6:20 AM UTC

thaumaturgy wrote: post #161

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 h…

I tried the powder when backpacking like you described when I went on a camping trip last year. The problem is that you need to rinse the Nalgene bottle thoroughly after consuming the Soylent (which means you have to carry excess water, or find a water source relatively quickly). Otherwise it stinks like hell.

I found Soylent 2.0 and Coffiest work a lot better, since their bottles are disposable. Just put it in your trash bag and you're good.

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

#257

Post by dahart » Fri, Oct 28, 2016, 6:21 AM UTC

peterwwillis wrote: post #233

dahart wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't judge anyone for making food and drink a footnote in their life. I believe you that you're trying not to be judgemental, but FWIW, your statement equating eating soylent to making food and drink a footnote in life sounds at least presumptuous if not judgemental. I love cooked meals too, but I can easily see the value in a quick, controlled meal with a proper balance of macros, it's not a stretch to understa…

Do you not cook every meal because you don't have the time, or because it's simply easier to buy something? Because I bet you have the time. Anyway, you don't have to cook to eat a nutritious meal that you make yourself. Nuts and dried fruit is a good meal supplement, as are greens, chopped veggies, homemade granola bars, bread with peanut butter, hard boiled eggs, etc. Even a glass of milk, honestly. All of these th…

> Do you not cook every meal because you don't have the time, or because it's simply easier...?

Aren't those two sides of the same coin? Yes, I really don't cook every meal because it's easier and because I don't have the time. Unless I do a lot of planning and shopping in advance and change my habits and take lunch to work with me every day. I can't cook at work, and I'm not working from home.

The answer truly is that I do not have the time to cook a reduction for every meal.

> Anyway, you don't have to cook to eat a nutritious meal that you make yourself

Totally agreed. Do it all the time. Not sure what made you think I'm saying otherwise.

> You probably do laundry at some point [...] the time argument is very improbably. Proof: you have time to comment on HN.

That's wildly flimsy "proof", but you already know that, right? I'm a walking counter-example that cooking meals takes longer than commenting on HN, I happen to know from experience, because I do both.

You seem to be in favor of Soylent, your argument is the same as theirs, it's quick and healthy to spend 5 minutes making a shake. You don't seem to be advocating well cooked meals like reductions with wine. I replied to someone talking about cooking a reduction and having wine as the alternative to Soylent, that is the context in which you're replying.

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

#258

Post by hvidgaard » Fri, Oct 28, 2016, 6:22 AM UTC

Taek wrote: post #209

ng12 wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Soylent is for meals you don't care about but need This is the problem. That concept is completely foreign to a lot of people (me included). The combination of my body's needs and the way I was raised lead me to view each meal as an opportunity to be enjoyed, never a chore. Something I observed in the weightlifting community: there are people who need to worry about dieting (cutting) and people who worry about eati…

Eating a meal takes a lot of time. You've got to prepare it, clean up afterwards, and take your mind off of whatever you are doing. Or you have to order it, and then still usually there's some cleanup and interaction. The liquid Soylent is about as disruptive as drinking water. That's really useful to me when I'm sucked into a programming challenge or research task. Sometimes I'll go 3-4 days doing nothing but work a…

I used to do that as well when I was younger. Obviously not with Soylent, that wasn't around then. It works well for menial programming tasks where time is the limiting factor. Incidently, those are the problems where you can for the most part jump out and right back in without too much overhead. But when facing a hard problem, getting up and away from the computer, and cooking a meal always mean I'll solve the problem faster and better. Simply because I let the problem alone for a while. I even use non tech coworkers for sparing, explaning the problem, and answering their questions means I'll have to think about the problem in a significantly different way - often revealing insight in the process. YMMW

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

#259

Post by yladiz » Fri, Oct 28, 2016, 6:22 AM UTC

joshschreuder wrote: post #152

yladiz wrote: post #4

> “Our tests all came back negative for food pathogens, toxins or outside contamination,” the company wrote. If that's true, then it could be part of the formulation that causes a small percentage of people to get sick. Maybe it's akin to how cilantro causes some people to have a very alkaline taste when they eat it.

Ah yes, the cilantro / coriander tastes like soap thing... completely ruins a whole bunch of delicious foods for me :(

Maybe one day they will fix that in the womb before the baby is born, haha! Or there can be some kind of gene therapy that can fix it/subdue it.

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

#260

Post by Itsdijital » Fri, Oct 28, 2016, 6:23 AM UTC

fryguy wrote: post #190

Itsdijital wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did a DIY soylent diet for ~6 months last year. I had maybe 1 regular meal every 2 weeks during that time. Honestly, it fucking kicked ass. I'll list some of the pros and cons Pro - Easy to make - Portable - Little mess/no cleaning - More time to do other stuff - Most insane regular shits. 2pm everyday, sit, shit, 2x wipe, done in 30 seconds. Every shit was exactly the same. - Never any indigestion, gas, diarrhea,…

Why do you have "Never any ... sick feeling" under pro, and then under con "First 2 weeks were brutal. Felt all manner of sick and uneasy"?

Ok fair enough. After the 2 weeks of hell I never felt sick or anything.

Throughout my entire life I always would get get some form of indigestion pretty regularly. It had gotten to the point where I just accepted it as what it is to be human. Nausea was by far the most common and happened all the time. Once over that two week hump though, everything went away. It was awesome. Now I still get some indigestion since I eat more much regular food now, but I eat a healthier diet so it's not so bad.