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SupermealX, India’s Soylent

nytimes.com

31–40 of 51 posts

Re: SupermealX, India’s Soylent

#31
post #27

All this talk about liquid food as a holy grail to pursue is intruiging but I wonder, what harm does it do to the teeth, oral flora and digestive system if they have nothing to 'chew' on? Just like our body slowly atrophies when we sit to much and move to little, perhaps our body needs the traditional 'holistic' form of food (not necessarily including raw food)?

We know so little about nutrition that it's risky to deviate too far from traditional cuisines. I would bet that Soylent has some detrimental effect if it's not part of a varied diet.

Even with a varied diet, it is likely that almost everyone can benefit from supplementation, especially of precursors required for complex processes, such as ubiquinol.

Also, for those eating, a safe measurement of food diversity is to try and eat all of the different colors.

Re: SupermealX, India’s Soylent

#32
I got some Soylent for my earthquake supplies, its shelf stable and nicer than the 3kCal US Coast Guard biscuit rations. Are their disaster kits in India? Something to tide you over until the systems reboot sufficiently ?

Re: SupermealX, India’s Soylent

#33
post #5
post #2

> Ever since an American electrical engineer invented a food that abolishes the inconveniences of foraging and cooking, and contains all the nutrition a human body is known to require but is devoid of the substances that harm, there has been talk that it can end not only the problems of the overfed but also the underfed. After all, it is in the tradition of Silicon Valley-blessed projects to invent a solution for the…

You are indeed right. Although I'm surprised HN hasn't ghost banned you for being negative anyway, lol

HN does not 'ghost ban' people for being negative.

Re: SupermealX, India’s Soylent

#34
post #22
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Link? From there site: https://ensure.com/nutrition-facts-questions-answers "Can Ensure products be used as a meal replacement or a snack? Yes, Ensure ready-to-drink shakes and drinks can be used as a snack and as an occasional meal replacement. "

The fact they don't market themselves to the general public as a complete meal replacement just means they're a) aware that they're operating in a litigious market segment and b) not fucking arseholes who recognise that they have a duty of care to people who use their products. It's telling that Soylent kickstarted with a bunch of bullshit medical claims, and that while they've dropped those claims they continue to m…

Jevity one of the abbot brands you mention is clearly designed for long term use as 'sole-source nutrition'. And, I am sure someone has lived off of Ensure, but just because they also sell total nutrition products does not mean Ensure was designed for that role.

Design goals matter, Jevity/Oxepa/etc being designed for feeding tube use has little focus on taste.

Another example, Osmolite is sole-source nutrition but it's low-residue which is not good for healthy people who need more fiber.

PS: You can look through there brands, but there is a reason they sell so many different kinds as they each have different trade offs.

ED: I have had significant digestive issues in the past so I have done some research into this. And, talk to a nutritionist before going on any unusual diet, it's easy to mess things up long term.

Re: SupermealX, India’s Soylent

#35
post #28

All this talk about liquid food as a holy grail to pursue is intruiging but I wonder, what harm does it do to the teeth, oral flora and digestive system if they have nothing to 'chew' on? Just like our body slowly atrophies when we sit to much and move to little, perhaps our body needs the traditional 'holistic' form of food (not necessarily including raw food)?

Probably best for Soylent drinkers to regularly chew gum. It'd be pretty awkward to discover after a few months that your jaw muscles have atrophied so severely that you have trouble chewing even the softest dry foods.

And Soylent should just start a line of gum while they're at it.

Re: SupermealX, India’s Soylent

#36
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think any Soylent thread would benefit from a summary of typical comments, to make way for new ideas. Pick yours. 1. Liquid diets aren't new 2. Cooking is easy and enjoyable, I don't see why people avoid it 3. Soylent is healthier than fast food even if it's inferior to well-made natural meals 4. It hasn't undergone rigorous, clinical testing 5. It's dystopic, dehumanizing 6. It's a dietary choice of others that ma…

I pick #1. My biggest problem with Soylent is not what they are doing, but that they have an attitude that they invented the idea.

The most significant departure that Soylent takes from, say, Ensure, is that it's designed to be healthy, not simply keep you alive. e.g. Its primary fuel source is not sucrose.

Other than this, yes, it's just another liquid meal replacement.

Re: SupermealX, India’s Soylent

#37
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's another thing people forget, too: you're made to chew things. Chewing helps break down food for digestion, and probably more importantly generates saliva, which is also very important for initial digestion as well as oral health.

Not to mention the gut is a muscle, and muscles need exercise. Eating liquid food is probably not good in the long run for your digestive system and probably causes other problems that will be evident 5-10 years down the line or more. People were not meant to eat liquid supplement.

[deleted]

Re: SupermealX, India’s Soylent

#38
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably best for Soylent drinkers to regularly chew gum. It'd be pretty awkward to discover after a few months that your jaw muscles have atrophied so severely that you have trouble chewing even the softest dry foods.

Perhaps its counter acted by them telling me all the time how much better it is than solid food :-). But more seriously you do have a valid (if taken to an extreme) point. But similar arguments are made by people on segways losing walking endurance (or cars even). Actual atrophy seems to require complete non-use.

People using motor vehicles all the time absolutely causes atrophy. Lack of mobility among the sedentary (especially sedentary and obese) part of the population is a serious problem. There are a substantial number of people who have difficulty walking even a couple of blocks, not through any prior injury or disability, but just through disuse of their legs.

My wife and I were at the Biltmore estate in North Carolina a couple years ago. We wandered through the gardens, and we were chatting with a couple of ladies about what we had seen. They were shocked that we had walked a half mile from the parking lot instead of taking the shuttle. “You walked all the way from the house to here?!”

Re: SupermealX, India’s Soylent

#39
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the debate around Soylent really suffers from disagreement of what users of Soylent use it for, what others think it is being used for out should be used for and what it is advertised as. I think it's foolish to believe that Soylent will provide a very healthy diet just I its own. As you point out we know way to little about what the body needs. That's why no one I know who uses Soylent eats it exclusively. U…

Unfortunately Soylent does not market it as such. If they did, I'd be inclined to agree with you. However, on Soylent's website you can find the following: "Soylent is a food product (classified as a food, not a supplement, by the FDA) designed for use as a staple meal by all adults." - https://www.soylent.com/about/ "Soylent is designed as a simple staple food, and people incorporate it into their lives to varying d…

It sounds like the FDA classified it for them.

Given:

- The FDA considers it a food

- Soylent considers it a food

- Soylent users are on record as consuming mostly or all the product for their primary complete food source..

- ..over long periods of time, including the founder, who supposedly lives on the stuff.

- Of those users, most are reporting positive results...

- ..and the negative results are generally of the classes "don't like the taste" / "gave me bad gas"

..then I'm left to conclude that it is a food, and a pretty good one at that.

Re: SupermealX, India’s Soylent

#40

I got some Soylent for my earthquake supplies, its shelf stable and nicer than the 3kCal US Coast Guard biscuit rations. Are their disaster kits in India? Something to tide you over until the systems reboot sufficiently ?

> Are their disaster kits in India?

The ones in disaster haven't heard the term yet..

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