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Why would anyone want to live on Soylent?

raptitude.com

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Re: Why would anyone want to live on Soylent?

#3
From the article:

    Rhinehart is well aware of the fact that Soylent
    isn’t the first beverage designed to replace meals.
    He considered using Ensure for his initial no-eating
    experiment, but found it much too expensive, too sugary,
    too unpalatable, and sub-optimal in its ingredient
    make-up.

    The differentiating factor seems to be in the intended
    purpose. Meal-replacement shakes have never been
    presented as a food — something that you could (or
    might want to) live on for an extended period.

Re: Why would anyone want to live on Soylent?

#4
I'm not sure people will want to live on Soylent, at least the first batch seems to be targeted at people who are intrigued by the idea and want to experiment with it. If that experiment pans out, then maybe there will be a question about why people want to live on it.

Re: Why would anyone want to live on Soylent?

#5
I've been enjoying my first week of Soylent. I eat "regular" dinner, but the rest of the day I drink a cup of soylent every couple hours. The best part about Soylent is it's hackable. I'm looking to gain weight, so I use whole milk instead of water, and add 4 eggs and 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream which also dramatically improves the taste (for me at least).

It's almost like drinking melted ice cream, to be honest.

Re: Why would anyone want to live on Soylent?

#6
post #3

From the article: Rhinehart is well aware of the fact that Soylent isn’t the first beverage designed to replace meals. He considered using Ensure for his initial no-eating experiment, but found it much too expensive, too sugary, too unpalatable, and sub-optimal in its ingredient make-up. The differentiating factor seems to be in the intended purpose. Meal-replacement shakes have never been presented as a food — somet…

I hope that the companies making the existing Soylent-like products (though I have yet to find one that is unflavored and isn't targeted to dieting people or to bodybuilders...) take the hype around Soylent as a cue to market their stuff this way. I trust their nutritionists more than I trust the Soylent guys' knowledge, which (as I think I read somewhere) comes from just reading some nutrition textbooks.

Re: Why would anyone want to live on Soylent?

#7
post #3

From the article: Rhinehart is well aware of the fact that Soylent isn’t the first beverage designed to replace meals. He considered using Ensure for his initial no-eating experiment, but found it much too expensive, too sugary, too unpalatable, and sub-optimal in its ingredient make-up. The differentiating factor seems to be in the intended purpose. Meal-replacement shakes have never been presented as a food — somet…

I hope that the companies making the existing Soylent-like products (though I have yet to find one that is unflavored and isn't targeted to dieting people or to bodybuilders...) take the hype around Soylent as a cue to market their stuff this way. I trust their nutritionists more than I trust the Soylent guys' knowledge, which (as I think I read somewhere) comes from just reading some nutrition textbooks.

Currently they have employed an on-staff nutritionist. That part is unfortunately not very well known...

Re: Why would anyone want to live on Soylent?

#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.

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