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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

#71

Post by mojoe »

Varcht wrote: post #47
dxhdr wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lack of convenience is a major hurdle to eating healthy, however I'm not convinced that a highly-processed food supplement like Soylent is the best way to do it. I have found that pre-packaged salads from Trader Joes are a decent tradeoff between price, quality, and convenience, at least for fast lunches and dinners. They are well portioned and easy to supplement with other ingredients like additional meat. Plus (mos…

I've been meaning to give Soylent a try, currently I am in a pretty bad fast food habit. It's just so convenient! I really don't feel like standing in line after a day at work. Why aren't there any healthy fast food chains? Seems like there would be plenty of demand, is it just too expensive? Too hard to keep things fresh? Or preparation takes too long? I don't require too much, just a drive through Subway would be a…

I think healthy fast food is starting to arrive -- I live in Colorado, and we've got quite a few good places (like "Mad Greens" http://www.madgreens.com/ "the Protein Bar" http://www.theproteinbar.com/, "Modmarket" http://modmarket.com/, etc.). Many of them are expanding to other markets, so hopefully this trend will grow! They're generally 2-4 dollars more expensive than other fast food options, however.

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

#72

Post by bhayden »

dxhdr wrote: post #43
lsdafjklsd wrote: post #35

I'm pretty obese at 275lbs, and binging on food is my drug of choice. Soylent has been invaluable in my addiction management. Because food is something you can't quit cold turkey, I have to try and focus on eating for nutrition instead of emotional support. Soylent allows me to get nutrition fast and in a non-food manner when my blood sugar is low and I can't reliably make a sensible food choice. I drink 500 calories…

Lack of convenience is a major hurdle to eating healthy, however I'm not convinced that a highly-processed food supplement like Soylent is the best way to do it. I have found that pre-packaged salads from Trader Joes are a decent tradeoff between price, quality, and convenience, at least for fast lunches and dinners. They are well portioned and easy to supplement with other ingredients like additional meat. Plus (mos…

What is wrong the processed nature of Soylent? It's less processed than bread, and no one slams bread for being unhealthy for being highly processed.

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

#73

Post by bhayden »

timtamboy63 wrote: post #14
sneak wrote: post #7

I reluctantly replaced about half of my meals with Soylent while stateside for a few months recently on a visit. Jake Shake is an EU competitor and, as far as I can tell, has the same nutritional profile and tastes about a million times better than Soylent on its best day. It also comes in single-serving pouches, which is a big win for me because Soylent has to be refrigerated after making it and the colder it is, th…

Any idea how to get it if you're outside the EU?

I recommend Powder Chow if you're in the US.

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

#75

Post by gola »

Welcome to the future.

It has taken surprisingly long time for people to make difference between functional eating and social eating. The key insight is: they are not mutually exclusive.

When there’s something more important to focus than food, so be it, and powdered foods enables you to stay in flow. However, nothing replaces the psychological need for social dining with your friends.

I’m just a bit worried of some of the second grade ingredients some of these powders contain. There are also organic real-food options available which contain 100% of nutrition guidelines. Have a look at Ambronite ( http://ambronite.com/ ) for example.

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

#76

Post by hollerith »

bhayden wrote: post #72
dxhdr wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lack of convenience is a major hurdle to eating healthy, however I'm not convinced that a highly-processed food supplement like Soylent is the best way to do it. I have found that pre-packaged salads from Trader Joes are a decent tradeoff between price, quality, and convenience, at least for fast lunches and dinners. They are well portioned and easy to supplement with other ingredients like additional meat. Plus (mos…

What is wrong the processed nature of Soylent? It's less processed than bread, and no one slams bread for being unhealthy for being highly processed.

There are plenty of people who slam bread for being unhealthy for being highly processed. In particular, they maintain that the milling process discards the fiber- and vitamin-containing bran and germ, leaving empty quickly-absorbed calories.

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

#77

Post by throwaway12309 »

shanusmagnus wrote: post #61
ggnore wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where Soylent falls short in this respect is that it's nutrition is only ideal given that the rest of your diet is Soylent too. It has a ton of carbs, and if you're anything like most Americans, you already have way too many carbs in your diet. Unless you're doing a lot of physical activity and you need those carbs, most people would do better just drinking a regular whey protein shake.

The thing that keeps me from really jumping in on Soylent is the lack of a low-carb option. I've made my own LC version, based on recipes online, but it takes a long time and is a pain in the ass, which is a killer considering Soylent's main virtue is that you dump it on the shaker, shake it up, and are done. I'm hopeful that if things keep going well for the company eventually they'll offer a LC version; or maybe a…

multi vitamin/mineral + fish oil capsules (a few depending on quality) + normal decent quality protein powder. If you don't eat any fiber rich foods, add a spoon of fiber (phylum husks or something)

Unless you go 100% soylent (why though?) that will sort pretty much any deficiencies you may have from the rest of your meals.

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

#78

Post by throwaway12309 »

woah wrote: post #32

Always strange to read about the la la land that New York Times reporters seem to stumble into when they take a cross country flight. It's like an exaggerated cartoon version of the real California. I guess they've got papers to flog.

to be fair, for someone one not from SV, sv is quite lala land. Just spent sometime there and it does look like a caricature of normal living.

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

#79

Post by vijayr »

Varcht wrote: post #47
dxhdr wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lack of convenience is a major hurdle to eating healthy, however I'm not convinced that a highly-processed food supplement like Soylent is the best way to do it. I have found that pre-packaged salads from Trader Joes are a decent tradeoff between price, quality, and convenience, at least for fast lunches and dinners. They are well portioned and easy to supplement with other ingredients like additional meat. Plus (mos…

I've been meaning to give Soylent a try, currently I am in a pretty bad fast food habit. It's just so convenient! I really don't feel like standing in line after a day at work. Why aren't there any healthy fast food chains? Seems like there would be plenty of demand, is it just too expensive? Too hard to keep things fresh? Or preparation takes too long? I don't require too much, just a drive through Subway would be a…

We've always had the best fast food - fruits. We can eat as much fruit as we want (most fruits anyway). They are super healthy, digest fast etc etc. Just peel a couple of bananas and eat it, takes two mins. Only problem is they are expensive. Here in NYC, a watermelon costs me 8 dollars at whole foods. For 8$, I can buy a ton of junk food.

Most food sold in supermarkets are optimized for storage and profit, not for health.

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

#80

Post by vijayr »

foobarqux wrote: post #54
tormeh wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thought the same thing. I have no idea why there's none.

Real food is expensive.

That is because meat, dairy, corn etc are all heavily subsidized, whereas fruits and vegetables are not.
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