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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

#201

Post by tolmasky »

nakedrobot2 wrote: post #195
tolmasky wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 ab…

You go ahead and eat your fake food. I'll continue working very hard but still have time for my family, and I also eat real food. Heck, I can cook a whole pizza from scratch in 30 minutes, dough included. Now that's a hack that's centuries old I'm guessing. No, I'm not putting it on Kickstarter :-)

As I stated in another comment, I am also a "real food" advocate. Nowhere have I stated that I think we should replace everyones meals with soylent. I simply made the assertion (which I continue to believe is correct), that doing so would probably be a net positive for many people in this country. In other words, the main thing I'm wanting to argue is that if you are "afraid" of soylent's potential effects, then you should already be equally afraid given this country's current average diet.

Re: How I Ate No Food for 30 Days

#202

Post by foobarqux »

KeliNorth wrote: post #57
sethbannon wrote: post #23

As someone who drinks Soylent regularly, the most pertinent part of this article was the blood tests after the author went on a 30 day Soylent-only diet. "Doctors tested Merchant’s blood at the end of it, and the only nutrient he was deficient in was Vitamin D -- i.e. sunlight", which he says made sense because having Soylent handy meant he "wouldn’t have to leave the office". That's certainly good news. If the mold…

I'm not a real fan of chewing food, but having done a similar diet before I prefer it. Turns out that even though me and food don't always get along, after 3 weeks on a liquid diet the cravings for real food for me come back. There are plenty of weightlifters who have done similar full-liquid diets for years before soylent, this data exists but has been largely ignored since it's from a different kind of community. A…

> There are plenty of weightlifters who have done similar full-liquid diets for years before soylent

Name one competitive weightlifter, powerlifter or bodybuilder that lived primarily on a shake made from powder for years.

Re: How I Ate No Food for 30 Days

#203

Post by rosser »

Afforess wrote: post #184
timr wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah yes...the "McDonald's is bad, so let's feed people glop instead" argument. How about this: let's help people get access to, appreciate, and learn how to prepare "real" food, instead of jumping to the lowest common denominator. That's what I'd call "disruption".

Except the "glop", as you put it, is nutritionally healthy and McDonalds is not.

The only thing we have indicating that this glop is healthy or nutritious is the word of the guy selling it.

Ever heard of caveat emptor?

Re: How I Ate No Food for 30 Days

#204

Post by w1ntermute »

soperj wrote: post #182
yuvadam wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I broke my jaw twice and had to subsist on this stuff for 2 months at a time. It just plain sucks, and after 2 months of not chewing your teeth feel soft, and everything hurts when you do (eventually) chew. Also lost weight really quickly, went from 183 to 127 in 2 months.

I recall reading that it's recommended that you chew gum if you are on Soylent, in order to offset the effects of not chewing.

Re: How I Ate No Food for 30 Days

#205

Post by foobarqux »

lowboy wrote: post #179
jlgreco wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Show me some evidence or even some indication that Soylent will result in an irreversible and sudden decline in health. > If it fails to live up to the hype, it's reversible. Once again, demanding evidence that something is unsafe instead of providing evidence that it is not, then in the same breath taking that it is not for granted. Is that all you are wired to do? It's like what I'm saying is going in one ear and…

That's the thing, absent any negative information a dietary change shouldn't need rigourous proof. Unless there's any indication that Soylent will do irreparable damage from day 1, I see no good reason for an individual not to try it and monitor their progress. If it doesn't work for them, then they can stop using it. How hard is that? How is that breaking anyone? I don't treat human life lightly. You're just treatin…

Mono-nutrition is known to have negative health effects.

And there is clear evidence of trial-and-error that has resulted in short-term health effects due to initial versions of Soylent. Longer term effects would not have been identified and so remain a very high risk.

From wikipedia: Modifications to the ingredient list have occurred in response to results incurred in testing, for example: the first version of the formula omitted iron, which caused Rhineheart to report his heart had begun to race.[8] In other early experiments, intentionally induced overdoses of potassium and magnesium gave Rhinehart cardiac arrhythmia and burning sensations.[8] After the early recipe had stabilized, Rhinehart found himself suffering from joint pain due to a sulfur deficiency. Methylsulfonylmethane was added to address this problem

Re: How I Ate No Food for 30 Days

#206

Post by pbreit »

JacksonGariety wrote: post #198
Afforess wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except the "glop", as you put it, is nutritionally healthy and McDonalds is not.

I will agree with this once I see a study showing consuming nothing but soylent has no effect on a person's happiness or mental well-being. Dehumanization is worse than diabetes.

The reports so far are that it definitely has an impact on happiness and mental well-being: a positive one.

Re: How I Ate No Food for 30 Days

#207

Post by digitalzombie »

I wouldn't mind eating this once and a while when I'm low on time and don't want to drive somewhere or whip something up.

I wouldn't see myself eating this ONLY, cause the video did bring up a good point, eating is also a social thing. Hey babe you want to go back to my place and eat some soylent?

Re: How I Ate No Food for 30 Days

#208

Post by obstacle1 »

bowlofpetunias wrote: post #32

EDIT: Unbelievable. Both the title and the link to the article I commented on have been swapped from the PandoDaily article ( http://pandodaily.com/2013/11/12/vice-investigates-soylent-f... ) to the Vice article which PandoDaily referred to, but that tries to give it a positive spin. This goes well beyond whatever policy pg was trying to defend recently. This is deeply manipulative. --- It looks a scam, it sounds lik…

I just tried to submit the investigation article, too, and the same happened to me. Worrisome.

Is YCombinator invested in Soylent?

Re: How I Ate No Food for 30 Days

#209

Post by ceejayoz »

pbreit wrote: post #206
JacksonGariety wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will agree with this once I see a study showing consuming nothing but soylent has no effect on a person's happiness or mental well-being. Dehumanization is worse than diabetes.

The reports so far are that it definitely has an impact on happiness and mental well-being: a positive one.

The reports are mostly involved parties and early adopter types. Not only is there a lot of potential bias involved, but a proper study has all sorts of important elements - double-blindness, valid controls, ethics boards, etc.

Re: How I Ate No Food for 30 Days

#210

Post by ceejayoz »

spinlock wrote: post #162
freyrs3 wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> let's tell everyone carbohydrates are the most important staple to eat and let's put corn and sugar in everything Seems to be conflating two parties here. The USDA guidelines are written by government nutritionists and there are sound scientific reasons for recommending the base of any diet be grains. Though being a free country, whether or not the private sector decides to put corn syrup in everything is their own…

Humans have only eaten grains for the last 10,000 years or so. For the millions of years before that, we evolved on a diet that didn't include grain. Of courses those assertions don't prove anything but they do make me question the wisdom of basing the human diet on grain.

> they do make me question the wisdom of basing the human diet on grain

I question the wisdom of folks who seem to think prehistoric humans should be providing nutrition advice.

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