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Soylent Taste Test

nytimes.com

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Re: Soylent Taste Test

#41

Post by tekni5 »

evv wrote: post #39
tekni5 wrote: post #37

I wouldn't mind a product that can replace food, if it's cheaper, more convenient, provides all necessary nutrition and eliminates the feeling of hunger. However the biggest issue I have with Soylent is that I cannot trust it. It hasn't been tested long term and it doesn't sound like it's being developed by people who know what they are doing. Also let's stop pretending it's something new, stuff like Plumpy'nut have…

> However the biggest issue I have with Soylent is that I cannot trust it. It hasn't been tested long term and it doesn't sound like it's being developed by people who know what they are doing. Totally valid point, but look at the alternatives for people without the time and money to buy nice ingredients and cook for themselves. I used to eat fast food nearly every day out of convenience and because I didn't know how…

Not sure if you can compare fast food to Soylent, because there are many different types of fast food and not all of fast food is bad for you. Fast food can also contain vegetables, live cultures, and various assortment of ingredients which are good for you. Overindulgence of anything is bad, fast food just makes it easier because it's easy to get, generally tastes good and is packed with a ton of calories. If you ate fast food very carefully, then you'd probably be okay.

Furthermore, there probably isn't a simple shortcut to nutrition. If you want to be healthy you need to be involved in what you eat.

I'm sure the driving force for Soylent is profit as well, otherwise they would have done years of testing and scientific studies, before releasing a mix of chemicals as a solution to food. I suspect they'll get sued down the road, there is no way to predict what long term effects this will have when someone decides to use it for years.

Re: Soylent Taste Test

#42

Post by jimrandomh »

jljljl wrote: post #27
sneak wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meal replacement shakes are expensive, inefficient, and unhealthy compared to Soylent. They usually ship with the liquid/water mixed in, and the cost/kcal is substantially higher, with the carbohydrate concentrations much, much higher.

Do you have a source or proof for these points? Last I checked a serving of Ensure was a good bit cheaper than Soylent. Shipping with the liquid/water mixed can often be a convenience, and at least Ensure also offers it's product in a powdered form: http://ensure.com/products/ensure-powder

The product you linked to has bulk omega-6 fatty acid and no omega-3 at all. It's borderline poisonous.

Pre-existing competing products do not count because they're blatantly terrible.

Re: Soylent Taste Test

#44

Post by compcoin »

From my prospective Soylent does not taste like anything because it has never been shipped to me after receiving one notice of delay after another. I bought a week supply on Kickstarter nothing ever arrived after what seems to be a close to a year. They have missed multiple delivery time frames. I have since bought some competing products (Phood) while I waited and still wait.

Re: Soylent Taste Test

#45

Post by compcoin »

From my prospective Soylent does not taste like anything because it has never been shipped to me after receiving one notice of delay after another. I bought a week supply on Kickstarter nothing ever arrived after what seems to be a close to a year. They have missed multiple delivery time frames. I have since bought some competing products (Phood) while I waited and still wait.

Re: Soylent Taste Test

#46

Post by justsomedood »

sneak wrote: post #12
freyrs3 wrote: post #6

I don't understand why Soylent receives the press it does, meal-replacement shakes have been on the market for quite a long time. The entire phenomenon seems to just be a marketing gimmick around some misguided notion of it "replacing food".

Meal replacement shakes are expensive, inefficient, and unhealthy compared to Soylent. They usually ship with the liquid/water mixed in, and the cost/kcal is substantially higher, with the carbohydrate concentrations much, much higher.

I'm not sure about the carbohydrate concentration part, though. There really is a lot of Maltodextrin in Soylent which is a simple carbohydrate and pretty close to straight glucose.

Re: Soylent Taste Test

#47

Post by [deleted] »

sneak wrote: post #12
freyrs3 wrote: post #6

I don't understand why Soylent receives the press it does, meal-replacement shakes have been on the market for quite a long time. The entire phenomenon seems to just be a marketing gimmick around some misguided notion of it "replacing food".

Meal replacement shakes are expensive, inefficient, and unhealthy compared to Soylent. They usually ship with the liquid/water mixed in, and the cost/kcal is substantially higher, with the carbohydrate concentrations much, much higher.

[deleted]

Re: Soylent Taste Test

#48

Post by gamblor956 »

gnoway wrote: post #29
jljljl wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a source or proof for these points? Last I checked a serving of Ensure was a good bit cheaper than Soylent. Shipping with the liquid/water mixed can often be a convenience, and at least Ensure also offers it's product in a powdered form: http://ensure.com/products/ensure-powder

The cost of a serving of Soylent varies based on the amount you've ordered. The cheapest it goes for is ~$3.04 per serving - $255 for a monthly shipment of 28 days worth. The 'buy online' link from the Ensure page you posted lists their powdered product at $65 per 6 pack of 14oz cans. The serving size is 57g, so there are about 7 servings per can; a serving costs about $1.55. Each Ensure serving is 250 calories, with…

As I was informed on another Soylent thread, you need to compare Ensure Complete with Soylent. Ensure Complete is a MRE, Ensure (the standard product line) is not.

Re: Soylent Taste Test

#49

Post by gamblor956 »

digitalpacman wrote: post #25
freyrs3 wrote: post #6

I don't understand why Soylent receives the press it does, meal-replacement shakes have been on the market for quite a long time. The entire phenomenon seems to just be a marketing gimmick around some misguided notion of it "replacing food".

They actually haven't. The closest is "booster shakes" which you can use to replace a lunch, here and there. But that's it. None of them say you can stop eating food all together. I've sat down and done the research and tried to find a single one that would actually say you could use it as a meal replacement, and there aren't any. The only thing really are ones that they keep coma patients alive with, which isn't exa…

Shakeology and Garden of Life have been making MREs for years now. You've probably not heard of them because they target vegans and are very expensive.

Re: Soylent Taste Test

#50

Post by gnoway »

gamblor956 wrote: post #48
gnoway wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cost of a serving of Soylent varies based on the amount you've ordered. The cheapest it goes for is ~$3.04 per serving - $255 for a monthly shipment of 28 days worth. The 'buy online' link from the Ensure page you posted lists their powdered product at $65 per 6 pack of 14oz cans. The serving size is 57g, so there are about 7 servings per can; a serving costs about $1.55. Each Ensure serving is 250 calories, with…

As I was informed on another Soylent thread, you need to compare Ensure Complete with Soylent. Ensure Complete is a MRE, Ensure (the standard product line) is not.

Thanks, I didn't see that. Upvoted. I also didn't see the 'subscribe and save' link for 10% off; the prices above are not fair to regular Ensure, which is basically at price parity with Soylent.

Ensure Complete is more expensive than Soylent and, while much more complete than regular Ensure, is still arguably less complete than Soylent. I think the only things it has going for it are taste (presumably), availability and an established brand name.

http://abbottstore.com/adult-nutrition/ensure-complete-milk-...

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