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Pizza And Ramen Are Hurting Your Startup

blog.500startups.com

51–60 of 192 posts

Re: Pizza And Ramen Are Hurting Your Startup

#51
post #8

I would through in some red meat too for the protein

Beans have higher protein content by weight than beef.

Meat contains a complete set of proteins required for our bodies.

Vegetables and gains do not (with the exception of quinoa)

Re: Pizza And Ramen Are Hurting Your Startup

#52
post #8

I would through in some red meat too for the protein

Beans have higher protein content by weight than beef.

Most plant-derrived protein sources have an incomplete profile of amino acids. Humans have eight essential amino acids (amino acids that we must get from the diet as we cannot synthesize them) that are plentiful in animal sources and lacking to various degrees in plant sources. Plant sources of protein, even when combined to provide all the essential amino acids, are too heavy in carbohydrate, irritate the gut, and steal vitamins and minerals from the body via anti-nutrients.

Re: Pizza And Ramen Are Hurting Your Startup

#53
This is a tough one but I have several thoughts:

1. Fact is, in your teens and early 20s your body can digest pretty much anything. Eat a bowl of cereal in the morning (and I mean something like oatmeal or raisin bran rather than some sugary crap) and it barely matters what else you eat (other than calorific content);

2. Eating the same thing every day gets real old real fast;

3. There is an investment required in cooking in terms of equipment, etc;

4. Cooking takes time between shopping, cleaning and the actual cooking. That's time that could be better spent doing many other things.

5. Even getting something for lunch can be a huge time sink and minimally takes half an hour unless you're eating out of a hot dog stand right outside your office.

This is why I'm a huge fan of companies providing a cafeteria or some find of catered meals. Of course, this requires both being a certain size and obviously costs money but, I would argue, the cost is well worth it in terms of:

- variety of meals - not needing to shop, cook or clean - time saved in not going out for lunch and other transit - time that can be spent talking over work-related stuff while eating with your colleagues - other intangible benefits such as the team-building aspects of socializing with your colleagues

These benefits are so huge I think that it'd be worth having everyone chip in to pay for something like this and would probably be an economic form of eating.

Now I'm lucky enough to work somewhere that has almost legendary catered meals (Google), which must cost them a fortune (eg dinner was steamed mussels, beef stroganoff, garlic whipped potatoes, green beans, steamed broccoli and a pineapple and blueberry salad, and that's just what I had) but IMHO they make their money back in terms of employee satisfaction and saved time on all of the above things.

Fact is I have more variety of food than I'd ever cook myself (or probably even buy).

That of course is a cafeteria type situation. Like I said, on a smaller scale, catered meals are a cost-effective doing this on a smaller scale. Your best bet would probably be to hire a cook rather than outsourcing the entire process (eg someone in or just out of culinary school).

Re: Pizza And Ramen Are Hurting Your Startup

#54
post #15

Kind of a dearth of facts here... "The biggest reason is by only fueling your body with shit, you’re also fueling your brain with shit" I'd like to see some kind of evidence to support that. I'd be all for preparing the meal he suggests, but with shopping, prep, cooking, and cleanup it's a significant time investment compared to pizza so I'd like evidence it's doing my startup better.

Anecdotal only, but a friend of mine put himself in the hospital once by eating crap for months. It was the first time he was the primary numbers guy on a multi million dollar deal and basically didn't leave the office for months. His meals consisted of soda and vending machine snacks.

He ended up with some organ issues that put him in the hospital for a little while and when he got out he had to take it easy for awhile.

Re: Pizza And Ramen Are Hurting Your Startup

#55
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely, where is the proof of this, the studies? The human body is extremely good at extracting nutrients from just about anything.

Staying alive is quite different from performing at peak mental fitness.

Do startups require anything remotely near peak mental fitness? It's oft debated here, but i'm pretty sure the consensus is talent and intelligence isn't that big of a deal. it's commitment.

To put it another way, how many startups that depend on doing original research get funded? I (perhaps foolishly) believe startups bring technology to the masses, but only after research shows it can be done.

I guess another argument would be, if you were to invest in a company, would you tie your investment to the founders to sleeping a minimum number of hours? Lack of sleep is easily as detrimental to mental fitness as poor diet.

Re: Pizza And Ramen Are Hurting Your Startup

#56
post #42
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

get some better recipes.

Like? I've never eaten a tasty microwaved meal.

Then use the range.

Though the microwave is a misunderstood device. It's fantastic at defrosting frozen items, but it should usually be an intermediate step used to ensure that thawed items are at room temperature when they go into the pan.

It's also fantastic at a variety of simple one-step things. Melting butter, baking potatoes, melting cheese, and other things like that. Used properly, it speeds up and even improves cooking. But if it's treated as a range/oven replacement, yes, it causes problems.

Re: Pizza And Ramen Are Hurting Your Startup

#57
post #48
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do. Unless you're starving, your brain pretty much only runs only on glucose. That means that whatever you eat, good/bad fresh/packaged, whatever, just gets converted to glucose. Assuming you're getting basic levels of required vitamins, I don't see any reason why one diet would be beneficial over another in terms of brain performance.

right. lets run a case study. go buy yourself a 50lb bag of sugar, a years supply of multivitamins, and report back in a year with how that worked out for you.

Well as a college student who went on a 2 month coco pebble binge (and only ate that because of sheer laziness), I didn't feel significant effects on brain power. But it does trash your body and leaves you feeling lethargic and lose motivation to actually do anything productive. I think the latter effects are just as dangerous as reduced "brain effectiveness". (this is just my experience, certainly not any scientifically proven study)

Re: Pizza And Ramen Are Hurting Your Startup

#59
post #46
post #7

I totally agree with the argument. I totally disagree with the cost estimates. Unless you're actually going to the grocery store every day (and you need to incorporate that into the amount of time involved), vegetables go bad. For example, the amount of cilantro they sell at the grocery store is for a dozen servings of this meal. I just finished throwing out pretty well every ingredient (except the chicken) given in…

It may sound expensive, but the Tupperware™ FridgeSmarts are fantastic and they do actually work. The combination of keeping the food up out of any condensate and regulating the correct amount of airflow around the food actually keeps fruit & vegetables fresher, longer. Weeks and weeks out of things like carrots & celery & broccoli, etc. Tupperware™ may seem expensive in comparison to other plastic products (especial…

I actually tried a comparison ('cause I thought they were bollucks): Broccoli in one, broccoli in a bag next to them beside the original.

The results: in 3 weeks the bag was a sloppy mess, the container florets had loosened up.

After 5 weeks, the container florets started to bloom.

Then I ate them. They were a little bitter. Cest la vie.

And yeah, the way it works it's basically a perpetual license.

Re: Pizza And Ramen Are Hurting Your Startup

#60

Nice article. If you want something cheaper than Raman that is better for you, just go to the Asian grocery store. You can get a pound of bok choy for less than $1. Pick up some tofu and some chicken broth (and noodles). Boil all that for about 1.5 minutes and now you have yourself a sodium free, healthy meal that costs less than the disgusting Cup of Noodles or any fast food you might be eating.

A "sodium free" meal that includes chicken broth? Do you know how much salt is in even low sodium broth?

it's actually now understood that the balance of sodium to potassium in your diet is what's important, and not necessarily your sodium intake levels alone.
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