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Why would anyone want to live on Soylent?

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Re: Why would anyone want to live on Soylent?

#41

Post by gibybo »

Using the oil packets and purchasing the most cost effective plan (28 bags for 255/month), Soylent gives you 220 calories per dollar. For a relatively sedentary averaged sized adult male (2100 calories/day), it will cost you about $285/month.

Ensure powder from Amazon[0] gets you to about 205 calories per dollar, which comes to $305/month for the same adult male. I don't buy the 'it's a lot cheaper than Ensure' line.

Another competitor, "Optimum Nutrition Serious Mass" is on Amazon in 12 pound bags for $49. It works out to 408 calories per dollar. Only $154/month for the same example male.

Admittedly Ensure and Serious Mass have different marketing than Soylent (Ensure for old people and Serious Mass for bodybuilders), but if you compare their ingredients you'll find they aren't very different.

[0] http://www.amazon.com/Ensure-Nutrition-Powder-Vanilla-Flavor... [1] http://www.amazon.com/Optimum-Nutrition-Serious-Chocolate-Po...

Re: Why would anyone want to live on Soylent?

#42

Post by corysama »

The explicitly stated purpose of Soylent is NOT to live on. NOT to "End Food". It is to be a better occasional meal replacement. It's a nice improvement on many boring products that preceded it (Ensure, etc). But, that doesn't make for good linkbait headlines nor revenue-generating eyeballs on sidewall ads. This is yet another in a long series of manufactured-controversy articles propping up Soylent as either the Savior or the Devil. YOU DECIDE!

Not that I mind. I'm a backer of Soylent. When my month's supply arrives, I'm looking forward to living on it 100% for 30 days for a few reasons:

1) I need to lose a bit of weight. I know that for me, the best way to do that is to significantly change my "generally good but occasionally indulgent" diet. I know from experience that I can't willpower that into happening. But, I think that if I commit to a defined, strict diet, I stand a chance. Soylent should be particularly good for that because supposedly it won't leave me with carb/protein/fat cravings like every other diet I've tried.

2) I like the idea of going on a cleanse. What better cleanse than supposedly exactly what your body needs and nothing else?

3) I'm interested in the chemical science vs. mystical vitalism theory of nutrition debate. I.e. do we need certain chemicals or do we need "something to do with Real Food" to thrive? Supposedly, people feel really fine living on Soylent. I want to see for myself first-hand. I plan to get my "blood work" numbers measured before and after.

Re: Why would anyone want to live on Soylent?

#43

Post by mantrax5 »

Just because the ad says you'll want to live on Soylent, doesn't mean you would.

There's a certain kind of people who like to buy into simple formulas for health, success and so on. There are more of them than it's comfortable to admit.

The ad is worded to appeal to them, because after all Soylent is a business, and which business would ignore the large segment of the market that'll be buying your product regularly, every single day?

For those who are more balanced thinkers, Soylent remains an interesting option when you need to have a meal on the go. Better than fast food.

A side reminded, just like with vitamin pills, you should be skeptical of some of the claims made about Soylent's ingredients. Say, just because a product has calcium in some form doesn't mean your body can assimilate it in that form.

Re: Why would anyone want to live on Soylent?

#44

Post by letstryagain »

corysama wrote: post #42

The explicitly stated purpose of Soylent is NOT to live on. NOT to "End Food". It is to be a better occasional meal replacement. It's a nice improvement on many boring products that preceded it (Ensure, etc). But, that doesn't make for good linkbait headlines nor revenue-generating eyeballs on sidewall ads. This is yet another in a long series of manufactured-controversy articles propping up Soylent as either the Sav…

> exactly what your body needs and nothing else?

Soylent's main ingredient is maltodextrin which is certainly not essential to any diet.

Re: Why would anyone want to live on Soylent?

#45

Post by DanBC »

corysama wrote: post #42

The explicitly stated purpose of Soylent is NOT to live on. NOT to "End Food". It is to be a better occasional meal replacement. It's a nice improvement on many boring products that preceded it (Ensure, etc). But, that doesn't make for good linkbait headlines nor revenue-generating eyeballs on sidewall ads. This is yet another in a long series of manufactured-controversy articles propping up Soylent as either the Sav…

"Boring"? While they aren't particularly pleasant those boring products come in a variety of flavours and styles (soup; juice styles; shakes).

Everytime Soylent comes up and someone mentions the existing product Soylent supporters claim that Soylent is a peoduct you can live on. (Ignoring the fact that you can live on those other products) you've just removed the only differentiator.

Re: Why would anyone want to live on Soylent?

#46

Post by markbao »

letstryagain wrote: post #44
corysama wrote: post #42

The explicitly stated purpose of Soylent is NOT to live on. NOT to "End Food". It is to be a better occasional meal replacement. It's a nice improvement on many boring products that preceded it (Ensure, etc). But, that doesn't make for good linkbait headlines nor revenue-generating eyeballs on sidewall ads. This is yet another in a long series of manufactured-controversy articles propping up Soylent as either the Sav…

> exactly what your body needs and nothing else? Soylent's main ingredient is maltodextrin which is certainly not essential to any diet.

Carbohydrates are, however. From the Soylent 1.0 ingredients list:

> Maltodextrin (165g) - As the primary source of energy for the body, carbohydrates are the largest component of Soylent by mass. The starch in Oat Flour makes up the bulk of this nutrient and the rest is provided by Maltodextrin.

http://blog.soylent.me/post/68180382810/soylent-1-0-macronut...

Re: Why would anyone want to live on Soylent?

#47

Post by yaketysax »

Scoundreller wrote: post #23
yaketysax wrote: post #9

1. There are a lot of (nonessential) nutrients that you get from plants that you won't get from this drink. 2. Our idea of "everything the body needs" can change. 3. We don't know the long term effects of relying solely on it. The author spends a lot of time on stupid counterarguments. Seriously, do your homework.

1. Soylent doesn't seem to be entirely based on fine chemicals. When you go through their ingredients list, "fish oil", "oat flour" and "rice protein" likely contain a lot of the "(nonessential) nutrients" you fear missing out on. I still wouldn't want to be the guinea pig to exclusively live off of Soylent. 2+3. Having said that, there is plenty of research on "Total Parenteral Nutrition" and "Enteral Nutrition" for…

http://www.webmd.com/diet/phytonutrients-faq

"More than 25,000 phytonutrients are found in plant foods. WebMD takes a look at these six important phytonutrients -- and their potential health effects: Carotenoids, Ellagic acid, Flavonoids, Resveratrolm Glucosinolates, Phytoestrogens"

Find them in Soylent? It's cute that you put nonessential nutrients in quotes though. It's like this foreign term that only I use.

Re: Why would anyone want to live on Soylent?

#48

Post by cthalupa »

markbao wrote: post #46
letstryagain wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> exactly what your body needs and nothing else? Soylent's main ingredient is maltodextrin which is certainly not essential to any diet.

Carbohydrates are, however. From the Soylent 1.0 ingredients list: > Maltodextrin (165g) - As the primary source of energy for the body, carbohydrates are the largest component of Soylent by mass. The starch in Oat Flour makes up the bulk of this nutrient and the rest is provided by Maltodextrin. http://blog.soylent.me/post/68180382810/soylent-1-0-macronut...

>Carbohydrates are, however.

Carbohydrates are in no way essential to a diet if replaced with proper amounts of fat and protein. http://eatingacademy.com/

Re: Why would anyone want to live on Soylent?

#49

Post by DanBC »

jeswin wrote: post #30

> The big-picture implications are also interesting. Rob Rhinehart definitely has grand ambitions for this product and hopes it will play a role in alleviating hunger. Well, this is the part that excites me a lot. Industrial scale production and distribution of a nutritionally sufficient meal could do wonders in the developing world. As of now, even though there are food subsidies for the poor, there are additional e…

Because there is already enough food for the world, that food is just poorly distributed.

But concentrating on just the specialist end of disaster nutrition: World Food Programme et al already have products that are vastly cheaper than Soylent.

20% of the world population live on less than $1.25 per day. About one billion people lack access to clean drinking water (the primary ingredient in Soylent).

Here's what the world food programme does: https://www.wfp.org/nutrition/how-wfp-fights-malnutrition

Here's a list of special nutritional products: https://www.wfp.org/nutrition/special-nutritional-products

Here is the factsheet about existing WFP products (note price and shelf life) : http://documents.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/co...

Soylent is far far too expensive for this role. It requires clean water. Rob making the claim that Soylent could help world hunger is yet another sensationalist sleazy claim made in ignorance of existing market.

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