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How I Ate No Food for 30 Days

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Re: How I Ate No Food for 30 Days

#111

Post by mixmastamyk »

The angry comments in every solyent article are pretty silly imho. You are under no obligation to use it. Those that do are still permitted to dine with family. :/ Any bugs will get worked out over time.

These days I usually make a smoothie for a quick breakfast... perhaps some unsweetened almond milk, protein/vitamin powder, ground flax seed, a bit of fruit/veggies, sometimes even a healthy oil. The concept is not terribly different than soylent.

I do like to keep my blood sugar in a moderate range, however. I might be interested in trying soylent if they had a low-carb version, one not significantly made of oats and maltodextrin.

Re: How I Ate No Food for 30 Days

#112

Post by fleitz »

stinkytaco wrote: post #90
fleitz wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shush, they have plenty of testimonials from real customers saying it works. Soylent is a true superfood unlike scams like acai berry juice. Solves long standing dietary issues that have gone unsolved by modern medicine? Check. Helps you lose weight? Check. Saves time and money? Check. Testimonials? Check. Even people with sciency sounding backgrounds think it's good! Let me just get out my credit card and sign up fo…

OK, so I like cooking and eating food. I think soylent is a scam, or at the very least just another in a long line of unappetizing "diet replacement shakes". But just allow me a moment to conduct a thought experiment, or at least play devil's advocate. For years you've been walking to get where you are going and you've been plowing your fields with a couple of very high maintenance animals that are costly and risky.…

The breaking of bread is one of the most important social aspects of humanity. Soylent is perfect for the disconnected from humanity factory worker.

I fully appreciate that it's cheaper than food, and might be nutritionally healthy for you. Mental healthwise, it seems like a disaster.

Re: How I Ate No Food for 30 Days

#113

Post by lowboy »

jlgreco wrote: post #107
lowboy wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a poor analogy. 1) We're starting from a functional state, 2) Changing diet is nowhere near as violent as hitting something with a wrench. Humans are very adaptable wrt. food, generally speaking. Look at the different diets all around the world, or even in one person's lifetime. The only issue I take with Soylent is their claim that it's perfect. I think we need MUCH more time to gather data.

You have failed to understand the analogy. Hitting things with a wrench is how I fix things. Hitting things with a wrench is not analogous to eating Soylent, hitting things with a wrench is analogous to the medical care required when you break yourself. The fear is that Soylent, used as hyped , has the potential to break a human. Breaking yourself, or much worse, others, is a far more serious than breaking a machine.…

Ah. That wasn't very clear in your comment.

Yes, breaking humans is bad. Is there any indication that Soylent is going to break people though?

As far as I can tell, it's unknown what the long term effects will be, but we have some evidence that it should be just fine.

Do you have any evidence that points to Soylent being harmful?

Re: How I Ate No Food for 30 Days

#114

Post by [deleted] »

yuvadam wrote: post #69

Soylent might, technically, work. It might be safe and healthy, it definitely looks simple and allows you to forget anything related to grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning up afterwards. But thinking about the prospect of the future makes me sick to my stomach. Soylent paints a disgustingly frightening dystopia where humans are fed 100% "correct" food to allow them to continue being cogs in the business machine, n…

[deleted]

Re: How I Ate No Food for 30 Days

#115

Post by tolmasky »

yuvadam wrote: post #69

Soylent might, technically, work. It might be safe and healthy, it definitely looks simple and allows you to forget anything related to grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning up afterwards. But thinking about the prospect of the future makes me sick to my stomach. Soylent paints a disgustingly frightening dystopia where humans are fed 100% "correct" food to allow them to continue being cogs in the business machine, n…

Its funny because we already live in this dystopia and you simply don't notice it because the plastic food we eat "looks real" and "tastes good". What is the difference between the completely artificial hamburger people get at McDonalds and Soylent? The fact that its basically "molded" to look like the real food we used to eat?

The reality is that we long ago crossed the line into having a society that mostly eats absolutely garbage and artificial food. This is not some future prospect, it is today, and we regularly see (and ignore) the disastrous medical results. This is of course perpetuated by a government that pushes a purely political nutritional agenda (let's tell everyone carbohydrates are the most important staple to eat and let's put corn and sugar in everything for economic reasons and let's also hope no one notices that fiber has mysteriously disappeared from our diets).

At least Soylent is trying to harness this machine for good. A world where "the cogs" at least receive proper nutrition would be a step up from today's illusion of choice.

Re: How I Ate No Food for 30 Days

#116

Post by jjoe »

For those who feel like they are missing out on the social aspect of eating out. Perhaps restaurants can start offering Soylent-based meals in their menu but with a twist. Instead of a plain shake in a cup, they could mold and dye the Soylent powder to look like a natural food like an apple, strawberry, or even a steak and serve it on a plate.

No stigma from having to turn down a restaurant invitation or a get together with friends.

Re: How I Ate No Food for 30 Days

#117

Post by JoeAltmaier »

lowboy wrote: post #113
jlgreco wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have failed to understand the analogy. Hitting things with a wrench is how I fix things. Hitting things with a wrench is not analogous to eating Soylent, hitting things with a wrench is analogous to the medical care required when you break yourself. The fear is that Soylent, used as hyped , has the potential to break a human. Breaking yourself, or much worse, others, is a far more serious than breaking a machine.…

Ah. That wasn't very clear in your comment. Yes, breaking humans is bad. Is there any indication that Soylent is going to break people though? As far as I can tell, it's unknown what the long term effects will be, but we have some evidence that it should be just fine. Do you have any evidence that points to Soylent being harmful?

Stronger: more harmful than many irresponsible diets e.g. McJunk, fat, sugar?

Re: How I Ate No Food for 30 Days

#118

Post by jlgreco »

lowboy wrote: post #113
jlgreco wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have failed to understand the analogy. Hitting things with a wrench is how I fix things. Hitting things with a wrench is not analogous to eating Soylent, hitting things with a wrench is analogous to the medical care required when you break yourself. The fear is that Soylent, used as hyped , has the potential to break a human. Breaking yourself, or much worse, others, is a far more serious than breaking a machine.…

Ah. That wasn't very clear in your comment. Yes, breaking humans is bad. Is there any indication that Soylent is going to break people though? As far as I can tell, it's unknown what the long term effects will be, but we have some evidence that it should be just fine. Do you have any evidence that points to Soylent being harmful?

This is exactly the relaxed attitude I am talking about. Soylent, used as hyped, should not need to be proved hazardous. Soylent, used as hyped, should be shown to be safe.

Re: How I Ate No Food for 30 Days

#119

Post by yuvadam »

gtaylor wrote: post #103
yuvadam wrote: post #69

Soylent might, technically, work. It might be safe and healthy, it definitely looks simple and allows you to forget anything related to grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning up afterwards. But thinking about the prospect of the future makes me sick to my stomach. Soylent paints a disgustingly frightening dystopia where humans are fed 100% "correct" food to allow them to continue being cogs in the business machine, n…

There are also those of us that derive no joy from eating. Eating is an inconvenience to me. I have zero sweet tooth, and I don't have many cravings for specific foods. I'd rather be doing any number of other things, like reading, working out, yard/car work, calling up family, etc. I work for myself (and work reasonable hours). Of course, all of this anecdotal, but the point is that this isn't a dystopia scenario for…

I accept that fact that some people like yourself find a product such as Soylent to be convenient, and I am in no position to criticize such personal choices.

But there are lots of existing products on the market, that have been available for quite some time now, everything from nutrition shakes to complete food replacements for people with chronic diseases (Crohn's, IBS, etc...), and Soylent seems to be more of the same, sans the actual clinical testing and trials that guarantee the safety of such products (and with the added Silicon Valley hype, of course.)

Re: How I Ate No Food for 30 Days

#120

Post by jlgreco »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #117
lowboy wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah. That wasn't very clear in your comment. Yes, breaking humans is bad. Is there any indication that Soylent is going to break people though? As far as I can tell, it's unknown what the long term effects will be, but we have some evidence that it should be just fine. Do you have any evidence that points to Soylent being harmful?

Stronger: more harmful than many irresponsible diets e.g. McJunk, fat, sugar?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6720683
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