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Two Months of Soylent

robrhinehart.com

101–110 of 247 posts

Re: Two Months of Soylent

#101
post #13

Crazy name. Grab-bag, ad-hoc nutritional doctrine. Still, I'm glad such fringe self-experimentation happens. My biggest concern would be that healthy adaptive systems benefit from variety, challenge, and chaos. Intermittent fasting is good. A little contamination from things that are normally unhealthy is good. (See, for example, the hygiene hypothesis or the idea of hormesis.) Chewing is good -- as is the somewhat r…

"Intermittent fasting is good."

Can you provide a reference for that and define what you mean by "intermittent", "fasting", and "good"?

Re: Two Months of Soylent

#102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And that's the question that's gone unasked, because we're focusing (understandably) on the health implications first: Could Soylent be scalably produced to feed 10% or more of the world's population? Would the material prices skyrocket in response to demand? Let's set aside the physiological consequences for a moment, what are the potential economic and environmental ramifications of Soylent?

The counter question is how cheaply is Abott's liquid food product produced? The profit margin on their product, I suspect, is pretty large. Why aren't liquid foods like this being supplied to under-nourished children in the 3rd world already? Because they are not a profit source. The world is optimizing to the wealthy. Whole Foods isn't cheap for a reason.

Why aren't liquid foods like this being supplied to under-nourished children in the 3rd world already?

Probably because it doesn't keep or ship well.

Re: Two Months of Soylent

#103
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. This is most likely a marketing ploy, but the ingredient list is there, anybody could mix that up and try it - no magical sauce here. I have to admit it's interesting to follow this experiment, though. As bootstrapped marketing schemes go, I've seen much worse.

Marketing for what? There's nothing being sold, he lists the items he uses and amounts. Why would a marketer give away the secret sauce.

He just gives nutritional information, not an ingredients list.

In the latest post he mentions that several chemists have figured out how to make his concoction, but he explicitly states he's not making the recipe public yet.

Re: Two Months of Soylent

#104
post #53
post #7

> Some people tell me going "ketogenic", or reducing carbs is healthy. I am now skeptical of this claim as lowering carbs makes me feel hungry and tired, and the drink taste less sweet. Perhaps it would be possible after an unpleasant transition period, but I don’t see the ultimate gain... Their advice seems to fall in line with the paleo/primal philosophies—in a nutshell: man only started eating a significant amount…

I don't eat sugar sugar anymore, but consume plenty of fruits, so I wouldn't consider myself addicted to sugar. However, I simply could not eat enough calories through the day to fit my lifestyle without eating carbs. I tried, it didn't work. Burning ~400 calories every day before breakfast and adding another ~900 calorie burn at boxing practice every two days ... just nope. I can't even fulfill my caloric goal when…

You must've really been fucking up because I've been able to maintain 5,000 kcal per day intakes or more and be mostly comfortable and happy about it. Every 3 hours is part of it...how much fat were you getting if not carbs?

I'm 5' 9", 240lbs (108kg) and lift. I know powerlifters that bulk/eat harder than I do and I've never heard them bitch about something that extreme, even if the protein intake can get tiresome sometimes. The fat though? That's always fun.

I've known bodybuilders to be able to jerk their weight around pretty hard too.

Re: Two Months of Soylent

#105
post #13

Crazy name. Grab-bag, ad-hoc nutritional doctrine. Still, I'm glad such fringe self-experimentation happens. My biggest concern would be that healthy adaptive systems benefit from variety, challenge, and chaos. Intermittent fasting is good. A little contamination from things that are normally unhealthy is good. (See, for example, the hygiene hypothesis or the idea of hormesis.) Chewing is good -- as is the somewhat r…

"Intermittent fasting is good." Can you provide a reference for that and define what you mean by "intermittent", "fasting", and "good"?

"Fasting" is not eating. It's usually done for the span of a few meals, or a full day (24-hour period or simply daytime), or even a few days.

"Intermittent" might mean fasting once every few weeks, or once a week, or every other day, or even every daytime (as for Muslims during Ramadan).

"Good" means a longer life with fewer diseases and less physical or mental decline.

Some references:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasting#Benefits

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19112549

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/feb/02/health/he-fasting2

Re: Two Months of Soylent

#106
post #13

Crazy name. Grab-bag, ad-hoc nutritional doctrine. Still, I'm glad such fringe self-experimentation happens. My biggest concern would be that healthy adaptive systems benefit from variety, challenge, and chaos. Intermittent fasting is good. A little contamination from things that are normally unhealthy is good. (See, for example, the hygiene hypothesis or the idea of hormesis.) Chewing is good -- as is the somewhat r…

"Intermittent fasting is good." Can you provide a reference for that and define what you mean by "intermittent", "fasting", and "good"?

The Wikipedia article on Intermittent Fasting (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermittent_fasting) says that there is evidence which suggests it may increase longevity.

Re: Two Months of Soylent

#107
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't eat sugar sugar anymore, but consume plenty of fruits, so I wouldn't consider myself addicted to sugar. However, I simply could not eat enough calories through the day to fit my lifestyle without eating carbs. I tried, it didn't work. Burning ~400 calories every day before breakfast and adding another ~900 calorie burn at boxing practice every two days ... just nope. I can't even fulfill my caloric goal when…

Since it's relatively easy to eat 4000 kcal a day without trying (in fact, just by not trying to not do so), I can only imagine how much you must be eating. 6000 kcal? 8000?

I'm curious what your diet looks like such that you have to take care not to consume 4000 kcal a day.

When I was cycling 100 miles a week, I found I needed about 3500 kcal / day to sustain myself, and it wasn't easy. On a typical day, I ate 3-4 normal breakfasts throughout the morning (a bagel w/ cream cheese, a smoothie, 2 or 3 eggs and toast, maybe a bowl of oatmeal). Dinners were typically a massive serving of lasagna or similar pasta. Lots of snacks throughout the day. The only days where I would say that I easily got enough calories were when I gave in to the temptation of a fast-food hamburger and milkshake. However, as long as I was cooking at home, it was quite a bit of work to keep up with the calories I needed.

Re: Two Months of Soylent

#108
post #13

Crazy name. Grab-bag, ad-hoc nutritional doctrine. Still, I'm glad such fringe self-experimentation happens. My biggest concern would be that healthy adaptive systems benefit from variety, challenge, and chaos. Intermittent fasting is good. A little contamination from things that are normally unhealthy is good. (See, for example, the hygiene hypothesis or the idea of hormesis.) Chewing is good -- as is the somewhat r…

"Intermittent fasting is good." Can you provide a reference for that and define what you mean by "intermittent", "fasting", and "good"?

http://www.leangains.com/

Check a few articles on most popular.

Re: Two Months of Soylent

#110
post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The counter question is how cheaply is Abott's liquid food product produced? The profit margin on their product, I suspect, is pretty large. Why aren't liquid foods like this being supplied to under-nourished children in the 3rd world already? Because they are not a profit source. The world is optimizing to the wealthy. Whole Foods isn't cheap for a reason.

Why aren't liquid foods like this being supplied to under-nourished children in the 3rd world already? Probably because it doesn't keep or ship well.

False.

My mother just passed of cancer, she was on a feeding tube for 8 months consuming this Abott liquid food. It was shipped in cases just like anything else - cardboard boxes - and delivered via foil-boxes just like the portable milk that you see at any starbucks, though it required no refrigeration.

However, this substance was not made for taste buds and it smelled fairly bad.

They have different types depending on what caloric intake was prescribed by the doctor.

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