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Is that correct? If so, aren't those assumptions.. uhmm.. sort of delusional?
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?
> Also, people don’t eat nutrients, they eat foods, and foods can behave very differently than the nutrients they contain. Researchers have long believed, based on epidemiological comparisons of different populations, that a diet high in fruits and vegetables confers some protection against cancer. So naturally they ask, What nutrients in those plant foods are responsible for that effect? One hypothesis is that the antioxidants in fresh produce — compounds like beta carotene, lycopene, vitamin E, etc. — are the X factor. It makes good sense: these molecules (which plants produce to protect themselves from the highly reactive oxygen atoms produced in photosynthesis) vanquish the free radicals in our bodies, which can damage DNA and initiate cancers. At least that’s how it seems to work in the test tube. Yet as soon as you remove these useful molecules from the context of the whole foods they’re found in, as we’ve done in creating antioxidant supplements, they don’t work at all. Indeed, in the case of beta carotene ingested as a supplement, scientists have discovered that it actually increases the risk of certain cancers. Big oops.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t....
The idea that we can understand each food as just the sum of the macro and micronutrients it contains is, as understood today, false. While it may be true in the future when we have a greater understanding of what food is made of and how the body works (it's trivially true that you can break food down into something and then sum that thing up to get the same food), right now that's outside the understanding of science.
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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.
"I have not set foot in a grocery store in years. Nevermore will I bumble through endless confusing aisles like a pack-donkey searching for feed while the smell of rotting flesh fills my nostrils and fluorescent lights sear my eyeballs and sappy love songs torture my ears. Grocery shopping is a multisensory living nightmare." This kind of writing is insufferable.
That said, it's still insufferable, just mildly entertaining as well.
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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…
Generally speaking it seems like energy bars targeting the outdoors crowd come in bar form. I can see that... from my perspective a bar's easier to lug around in a backpack compared to something you need to add water to. That said I agree in another aspect... I'm actually surprised I couldn't find more MRE (not just energy-granola type) bars that specifically market to the outdoor crowd on Google, especially consider…
Speaking for myself, I also find that after a day of getting your ass kicked by Mother Nature, having something that somewhat approximates comfort food - warm, saucy, even if rehydrated - before crawling into your tent or bivy is a big morale booster.
I'd bet 90% of coders are within 10 minutes of a whole Foods and btw you might actually find a date there and not the kind that grows on trees.
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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…
> Soylent is for meals you don't care about but need. But there are already so many meal replacements on the market, from companies that actually know what they are doing. Why choose soylent? Soylent is not the cheapest. It's not the tastiest. It doesn't have the best macro balance. Why soylent and not one of the trusted brands?
No, Ensure, Slimfast, Boost, etc. are not balanced (eg. too much sugar and vitamins, not enough calories and fiber).
Just a quick counterargument from a regular Soylent consumer: I drink a coffiest for breakfast every morning and drink two liquid Soylents on days when I don't have time for a nice lunch or dinner. It's convenient, healthy and tastes good. I've never had any intestinal troubles. I use it as a meal replacement, not a complete food replacement. It sucks that they included this ingredient in their powder and bars that h…
"doing startups is hard, and we all make mistakes along the way" I'd love to see a restaurant use that line. Food safety is hard!
My impression was that the Soylent products are based on certain assumptions: 1) every human body is about the same, differences don't matter 2) a human body doesn't change much during its lifetime and 3) it's only the average that matters in nutrition, within-diet variance doesn't matter at all. Is that correct? If so, aren't those assumptions.. uhmm.. sort of delusional?
So my bet is that right now their "one size fits all" solution (when I last checked you could individualize it to some degree) is good enough.
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…
I'd bet 90% of coders are within 10 minutes of a whole Foods and btw you might actually find a date there and not the kind that grows on trees.
Possibly you might find a date there. But do you really want to date the sort of person who voluntarily shops at the sort of grocery store which prominently and proudly displays whole shelving units of homeopathic remedies?