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In Busy Silicon Valley, Protein Powder Is in Demand

nytimes.com

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Re: In Busy Silicon Valley, Protein Powder Is in Demand

#21

Post by sebastianconcpt »

BrainInAJar wrote: post #6
gfodor wrote: post #2

Soylent was originally touted as a meal replacement but I (and others) have found that it works best as a "plan B" to nutrition. It changes the way you look at food if you always have an option to just get the nutrition you need quickly and easily: a lot of meals you'd normally skip you don't, and a lot of meals you eat that are less than nutritious you can either opt-out of or can supplement with proper nutrition wi…

So, here's a question; If you're using it as a supplement rather than a total meal replacement, why spend the exorbitant amount for Soylent specifically when you could get 90% of the way by getting some whey, mixing in a bit of cheap oil, and taking a multivitamin?

Good question. Nature usually favours diversity so I'm.

Re: In Busy Silicon Valley, Protein Powder Is in Demand

#22

Post by sebastianconcpt »

BrainInAJar wrote: post #6
gfodor wrote: post #2

Soylent was originally touted as a meal replacement but I (and others) have found that it works best as a "plan B" to nutrition. It changes the way you look at food if you always have an option to just get the nutrition you need quickly and easily: a lot of meals you'd normally skip you don't, and a lot of meals you eat that are less than nutritious you can either opt-out of or can supplement with proper nutrition wi…

So, here's a question; If you're using it as a supplement rather than a total meal replacement, why spend the exorbitant amount for Soylent specifically when you could get 90% of the way by getting some whey, mixing in a bit of cheap oil, and taking a multivitamin?

Good question. And Nature usually favours diversity so I'm skeptical at how convenient this idea really is at a Molecular Biology level.

Re: In Busy Silicon Valley, Protein Powder Is in Demand

#23

Post by gmays »

From 2008-2009 when I was still in the Marine Corps I spent a year in Iraq operating on small teams while embedded with the Iraqi security forces. We'd go out on 6-9 man teams and stay in the field for 1-2 weeks at a time.

Since a lot of what we did was clearing operating we were constantly on the move, so we needed something quick that packed a lot of calories since it was hard to keep weight on.

What I found that worked really well was a high calorie protein powder called TrueMass (I'm not sure if it's still around, but I use Syntha 6 now since it's leaner) since we could find it at just about every PX (store on military bases) we came across.

It worked well because we had those large bottles of water and you could drink half of it then pour some powder in, shake it up and polish it off for some calories. It wasn't super filling, but by the time you made it through the next half a bottle of water you'd be ready for more. The large jugs of protein and the large water bottles were a bit unwieldy on patrols, but we always had our vics relatively close by so it wasn't a problem.

When I heard about Soylent I thought back to this and got pretty excited. I have yet to try it yet (I ordered some early on, but cancelled after waiting a few months), but look forward to it. I'm especially looking forward to more variations in flavors and lifestyles (i.e. athletes, bodybuilders, distance, sedentary, etc.).

Re: In Busy Silicon Valley, Protein Powder Is in Demand

#25

Post by bane »

BrainInAJar wrote: post #10
bane wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't call Soylent "exorbitant". It works out to like $3 a meal.

Right, but whey protein is less than a dollar per serving.

You should probably look at the nutrition information in Soylent (or similar) and compare it to your notional proposal. If your proposal is better, give it a go and do a write-up on it.

From a quick look-see, whey protein seems to carry only ~100 calories per serving, offers almost no carbohydrates or fiber and provides almost no other vitamins or minerals. So you'd need about six servings to hit a meal's worth of calories, still have to make up for the lack of carbs and fiber sources and still have to find a good multi to take with.

If a serving is $1, then we're already at around $5-6 per meal with whey protein.

Re: In Busy Silicon Valley, Protein Powder Is in Demand

#26

Post by bane »

gmays wrote: post #23

From 2008-2009 when I was still in the Marine Corps I spent a year in Iraq operating on small teams while embedded with the Iraqi security forces. We'd go out on 6-9 man teams and stay in the field for 1-2 weeks at a time. Since a lot of what we did was clearing operating we were constantly on the move, so we needed something quick that packed a lot of calories since it was hard to keep weight on. What I found that w…

When I placed my last order it showed up before the end of the week. You might want to give it a shot again.

Re: In Busy Silicon Valley, Protein Powder Is in Demand

#27

Post by bane »

sebastianconcpt wrote: post #19

Anybody knows if the soy used to produce Soylent is a GMO?

For the lecithin? Who knows, probably not.

Of all the ingedients in Soylent, why are you interested in almost the last ingredient on the list?

https://soylent-production-herokuapp-com.global.ssl.fastly.n...

Re: In Busy Silicon Valley, Protein Powder Is in Demand

#29

Post by LewisJEllis »

"While a meal generally costs upward of $50 at Silicon Valley-area restaurants, a week’s worth of Soylent or Schmoylent totals $85."

I get it, Soylent can save you money on food, but this comically excessive exaggeration isn't helping make that point. Even in "Silicon-Valley area restaurants", I've only ever spent $50 on a meal when it was a nice dinner with drinks.

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