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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

#471

Post by aRationalMoose »

lmm wrote: post #324
jonathanjaeger wrote: post #65

The latest version of Soylent powder is the best-tasting version to date and I get no uneasy feeling from it. The original powder versions I could more easily believe gastro issues, so I'm surprised this is cropping up now rather than before, but I guess it could be ingredient/allergy-specific. I tend to eat 3000 calories to maintain my weight so Soylent is great for my busy schedule. I'm still eating 1500-2000 calor…

> I don't get why people keep harping on the all-or-nothing idea behind Soylent. Because that's what all Soylent's advertising and messaging has focused on?

No it isn't. Their slogan is something like: Not meant to replace every meal, but it can replace any meal.

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

#472

Post by pvaldes »

benevol wrote: post #164
Matachines wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Well, you have a point, but our ancestors eated carrion... mmhhh, sweet, sweet carrion.

Start cooking food was a big step. Too much of nature and your body can turn into an aquatic park.

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

#473

Post by errow »

slg wrote: post #278
Animats wrote: post #196

Soylent made such a big deal of being a "tech company", and boasted about their overdesigned web infrastructure for a business that did two transactions a minute. What they didn't have is advanced technology on the production side. They write about "sending samples out" to external labs. It's not like they had an automated lab constantly sampling their production line and posting the results to the web. There are pro…

One of the biggest flaws of the tech industry is the belief that being a tech expert is enough to disrupt other industries in which they don't have any expertise. Sometimes they get lucky and it works despite something like Uber's or Airbnb's total ignorance of the law. Sometimes it fails like with numerous cryptocurrency companies relearning why the finance industry has so many dang regulations. Seems like Soylent i…

And then there are the real elephants in the room - YouTube and Facebook.

Basically saying well our platforms allow for infinite content sure, but we can't police all that. Sorry! These are actual arguments made in court.

And then behind the scenes they are running around scared shitless trying to police content - http://www.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-content-insight-i...

The whole thing reminds me of Samuel L Jackson's character in Jurassic Park. Yes the dino's are breeding when they shouldn't, the kids are missing, the fences are broken, the T Rex can't be found but hey as soon as power is back up I can monitor everything from this one magic console. Isn't that amazing?

Micheal Crichton had a good term for it. He called these people thintelligent.

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

#474

Post by hga »

amirmc wrote: post #461
LoSboccacc wrote: post #419

Earlier quoted context omitted.

eh, as the first trying to bring science in food science and use microbiology instead of dietary esoterism I'm willing to give them some slack sure this turn of people getting sick is worrying, because coming late and sudden hints at contamination, and I hope they can mature enough to go past manufacturing problems but the data they're collecting will be extraordinary for bringing down the layers of encrusted myths a…

> ... as the first trying to bring science in food science... I'm pretty sure food science and studies of nutrition have been around a lot longer than Soylent. Also, I see no reason why they should be cut any slack. It's not just a webapp that experiences downtime. When this goes wrong people get hurt .

I'm pretty sure food science and studies of nutrition have been around a lot longer than Soylent.

I've only read about this in passing, in general histories, but this was one of MIT's early strengths, in the post-Civil War late 19th Century era.

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

#475

Post by SquareWheel »

vacri wrote: post #107
mulletbum wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Not putting solid food into your system for long periods of time will destroy your ability to digest solid food when you start refeeding" That is an unscientific statement based on no citation. Top it off, I have personally lived of Soylent for a year. I go out to eat only a couple times a month and I do not die from horrendous suffering everytime. In fact, nothing changes.

Anecdata... strawman... no citations of your own despite requirements for same... somethingsomething 'unscientific'?

The point is that one unsubstantiated anecdote cancels out the other. Why is the first comment okay but this one isn't? You can't have it both ways.

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

#476

Post by another_account »

Evgeny wrote: post #303
nsxwolf wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How can you eat 5,000 kcal a day and not be a huge fat pig? How many miles a day do you need to run to burn that off? I used to be a normal weight, but I had to eat 1,200 kcals and run 4 miles a day.

How can you eat 5,000 kcal a day and not be a huge fat pig? How many miles a day do you need to run to burn that off? On the days when I lift weights I eat close to 5K calories, sometimes even a little more, depending on the commute. All of my daily commute is by bike, including taking my kid to and from the kindergarten, and later to some extra activities (welcome to Denmark), which can be anywhere between 20 and 35…

Thats one hell of a boost to your TDEE. Im impressed.

I lift 5x, walk every where and swim LISS 3x a week. 173cm about 82kg. TDEE is ~3250 kcal. Currently shoot for 3500 a day. However, I only see my son on weekends. I bet my TDEE would be higher if had him every day.

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

#477

Post by n72 »

slg wrote: post #278
Animats wrote: post #196

Soylent made such a big deal of being a "tech company", and boasted about their overdesigned web infrastructure for a business that did two transactions a minute. What they didn't have is advanced technology on the production side. They write about "sending samples out" to external labs. It's not like they had an automated lab constantly sampling their production line and posting the results to the web. There are pro…

One of the biggest flaws of the tech industry is the belief that being a tech expert is enough to disrupt other industries in which they don't have any expertise. Sometimes they get lucky and it works despite something like Uber's or Airbnb's total ignorance of the law. Sometimes it fails like with numerous cryptocurrency companies relearning why the finance industry has so many dang regulations. Seems like Soylent i…

The founder of Soylent clearly believes he's an expert in many, many fields: http://robrhinehart.com/?p=1331

BTW, anyone know a good word for this attitude? I wouldn't call it hybris, though it's closely related. It's a mix of arrogance, over confidence, ignorance, plus more and very prevalent in SV.

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

#478

Post by teddyh »

skuhn wrote: post #392
elmigranto wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never saw any official explanation, and in my perception it's a joke reference. Anyways, that surely is a talking point in some related conversations, and I guess they went for it for this very reason.

The name is derived [1] from the science fiction novel that the movie Soylent Green was loosely based on [2]. The book doesn't include the cannibalism aspect of the movie at all. However, one wonders how you could be familiar with the book and wholly ignorant of its much more culturally significant film adaptation. Especially when it makes your product's name totally unappetizing. [1] https://faq.soylent.com/hc/en-us…

If I recall correctly, that book was also used as a loose basis for a Star Trek (the original series) episode: Season 3, Episode 17: The Mark of Gideon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mark_of_Gideon

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

#479

Post by glastra »

novocaine wrote: post #388
iaskwhy wrote: post #362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought the biggest problem with blending stuff is the quantity I'll be having compared to having just one unit of something. For example, I wouldn't eat 3 oranges in a row but I would definitely drink them if blended.

Orange juice has a drastically higher GI than oranges because your body more rapidly absorbs sugar from juice than from pulp. It's not just the quantity.

The process of juicing already leaves some waste out and you are probably also removing the pulp from the juice itself.

OP was talking about the differences between eating a certain food and eating that same thing after liquifying it as a whole.

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

#480

Post by SquareWheel »

ericdykstra wrote: post #279
WalterBright wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> sold by a profit-seeking company with their own best interests at heart. All the food you eat is sold by profit-seeking companies.

I'm just making the point that they're not manufacturing garbage in a factory for altruistic reasons. They're just like Coca-Cola, or Kraft, or Nabisco, or any other trash-compacting company that sells their waste on grocery store shelves. All the food I eat is sold by profit-seeking companies, but at least it's food .

>All the food I eat is sold by profit-seeking companies, but at least it's food.

Why exactly are meal replacements not "food"?

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