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Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getting sick

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

#261
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…

Surely cleaning up after cooking is almost always a chore, no matter how delicious the food was?

You could also take pride in cleaning and maintaining your tools. It's rather fast if you don't burn your food and if you use proper cleaning agents like "Barkeepers Friend" when soap isn't appropriate.

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

#262

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 m…

Maybe checkout http://diy.soylent.com , some guy made a webapp for you to come up with custom soylent recipes. I made a variant based on Keto chow and it's pretty good.

Thanks for the link -- I remember spending a good 10-15 minutes before giving up on the DIY suggestions. There were a few recipes that piqued my interest, but most seemed like a chemical sludge. And since I don't live off soylent, I figured it was too much effort to invest the time/energy in a drink that I consume maybe once a week.

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

#263
post #231
post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"There are already meal replacement drinks targeted at manly men; muscle milk is one of the more well known brands." Huh. I've always gotten the impression that Muscle Milk is a protein supplement (though it's got carbs, too), not really a (full nutritional) meal replacement.

that how it is marketed. My assertion is that the difference is largely marketing; that we don't know enough about nutrition to make a realistically complete long-term meal replacement, making them both "something you might drink sometimes instead of eating something, but something you wouldn't want to live off of long-term" Of course, I'm no doctor (but then, neither is Rob Rhinehart,) and it is possible research ha…

>>that how it is marketed. My assertion is that the difference is largely marketing

Nope. Here is what the Muscle Milk website says in their FAQ - note the last sentence:

Many people use MUSCLE MILK® Ready to Drink Shakes and Powders as a meal replacement or snack between meals. The ready-to-drink products are especially convenient to use as a meal replacement or snack when you are on-the-go. MUSCLE MILK® Ready to Drink Shakes should always be used in conjunction with whole foods and adequate hydration, and never as a sole source of nutrition.

http://www.musclemilk.com/learn/

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

#264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uh, you realize that nutrient absorption means that you can't just eat the molecules that you need and stay healthy? That's why products in the same space as Soylent, like Ensure, have a lot of research involved.

Given the amount of people that are consuming large amounts of this stuff and reporting their progress, I'd have expected any serious nutrient deficiencies to have been reported quite a while ago.

Absolutely not. You can be deficient in some mineral for your entire life, with the only thing to show for it a permanent light rash and an increased chance of colon cancer. E.g over 50% of the population is deficient in magnesium, even following conservative daily suggested intakes.

People report Soylent 'curing' rashes: that's exactly the opposite happening. They were deficient in e.g. zinc until now and finally got enough through Soylent. A good multivitamin would also have solved it.

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

#265

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.

Considering the fact that the Slimfast website has learning resources for cooking regular healthy meals, I would posit that their products aren't designed or intended to replace all meals.

http://www.slim-fast.com/recipes/balanced-meals/#balanced-me...

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

#266

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 don't really care about food. If I didn't have to eat anymore, that would be amazing! I tried Soylent and it was disgusting, though. Couldn't stomach it.

Coffiest actually tastes pretty good. Doesn't have the soy-ish taste and texture of regular Soylent, and if you like coffee then you'll also enjoy the mild coffee flavor in it.

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

#267
post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have all the free time in the world and I have that "ugh do I really need to eat again?" I find it hard to hit 2500 calories daily to not lose weight.

Honestly, what the other poster said: whole milk. 2400 calories per gallon, well balanced between protein, fat, and carbs (you might say that it is ideally formulated to feed large mammals :P). The best part is that it is readily available every where and super cheap (< $3 per gallon).

65%-90% of humans are lactose intolerant[0], and lactaid pills aren't always effective.

https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/lactose-intolerance#statis...

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

#268

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…

How do you deal with the Nalgene getting funky once you're >1 days into a trip, or does the Soylent rinse out cleanly enough for it to not be a concern? I used to use Accelerade for a significant proportion of my calories when backpacking - mainly because I have trouble getting down enough solid food when I'm on the go - but switched to Accel gels because the drink mix would leave the bottle pretty nasty after the first day.

> The alternatives, freeze-dried anything, are mostly disgusting and still require carrying a stove, fuel, and require cleanup

I've found Mountain House to be decently close to tasting like real food and requires no cleanup other than wiping the spoon. A Snow Peak LiteMax with a 750ml titanium pot weigh next to nothing, but there is still the fuel canister. I find the MoHo tasty enough that I'll eat it at home or work on occasion if I really don't want to spend any time on a meal.

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

#269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as I can tell, Ensure is just sugary chocolate milk with vitamin pills, ie it has horrible macro-nutrient balance. Its not like these companies do their own research anyways; its an application of the same nutritional studies everyone else has access too.

And I see no evidence that Soylent paid any attention to basic things, like what you need to also eat in order to absorb the necessary nutrients. While Ensure has more sugar that I'd like, at least it's not totally ignorant.

>>And I see no evidence that Soylent paid any attention to basic things, like what you need to also eat in order to absorb the necessary nutrients.

Care to elaborate? What exactly do you mean by "what you need to also eat in order to absorb the necessary nutrients"?

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

#270

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,…

Care to share your recipe?

https://diy.soylent.com/recipes/seans-lean-mass-gainer

I use a different protein (NOW dutch choc isolate) and a different oil (smart balance). I also dropped the choline because it has a bad interaction with nicotine and I use an e-cig. When I went full soylent though I used it because I stopped using my e-cig during that time. I also added in 5g creatine.

I should note that this is a mass building recipe and meant for use while lifting. It has way more protein then you need for regular day to day. You can axe the protein down to ~60g daily and use it.

Also if you want to try it, get the corn flour from the grocery not amazon. It's waaaayy over priced on amazon.

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