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Soylent Closes $50M Series B Round Led by GV

blog.soylent.com

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Re: Soylent Closes $50M Series B Round Led by GV

#401

Post by Obi_Juan_Kenobi »

kunaalarya wrote: post #232
jefftk wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Slimfast has 4x as much sugar as Soylent (per-calorie). To get 2000 calories from Slimfast you'd be getting 180g sugar, while with Soylent it would be 45g. Now 45g is a little higher than recommended, but 180g is way too high. http://d8m5oga7foiu.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/1... http://files.soylent.com/pdf/soylent-drink-nutrition-facts-e...

not sure where you got the slimfast nutritional info but they have 1g of sugar: http://slimfast.com/advanced-nutrition/#shakes if it had that much sugar, it wouldve never gained a reputation for losing weight.

> if it had that much sugar, it wouldve never gained a reputation for losing weight.

Ah, I see you've forgotten about the 'low-fat' era.

Efficacy has very little to do with the popularity of diets.

Re: Soylent Closes $50M Series B Round Led by GV

#402

Post by rubber_duck »

eikenberry wrote: post #378
rubber_duck wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>what to eat when I'm hungry but I don't have enough time to prepare a full meal. Protein powder (whey or soy pick based on lactose tolerance) + powdered oats + whatever for flavoring (eg. cocoa powder and coconut flour) in a shaker bottle - add water/whatever milk - shake and consume. Throw in fiber supplement if you don't get enough fiber like psyllium husks. Waaay cheaper than soylent if you buy smart (bulk), scal…

You missed a major benefit of Soylent... convenience. It is pre-made, pre-bottled and ready to drink. For some at least, time is worth more than the money saved.

Soylent has 20% of calories from protein - good luck with that if you do any physical activity.

The stuff I mentioned can be bought in 5kg bags which will last you a month at least - depending on how much meals you're replacing - if it's all then you'll probably go trough more - you can pre-mix a week worth in a standard plastic container and shake in like two minutes.

The major time difference is going to be in figuring out how to do it the first time - but this is time well spent if you want to balance your nutrition (figuring out how much protein/fat/carbs you want and how many calories).

I'm in the same boat - I don't want to cook every day or eat out all the time - this is convenient and works towards my fitness goals. Throw in a multi vitamin, fish oil and some fruit/vegetables and you got a easy to do fast and cheap diet for building muscle.

Re: Soylent Closes $50M Series B Round Led by GV

#404

Post by antidaily »

chris_7 wrote: post #392
greenshackle2 wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ensure is a weight gain brand, which is also incidentally marketed as a meal replacement for everyone and their dog because why not - of course marketing will never tell anyone, "don't eat this, it's not for you". That's why it's an old people brand, it's for people who can't eat enough solid food to maintain their weight. Just compare the nutritional labels: Soylent (400 kcal) 21g fat 37g carbs (9g simple sugars, 3g…

Quest Bars have better much macros (barely any net carbs, plenty of fiber and protons) than that, though you'd need to eat ~two to hit the same calorie count. Any reason it needs to be a drink?

Are they any good? The erythritol worried me a bit.

Re: Soylent Closes $50M Series B Round Led by GV

#405

Post by nazgulnarsil »

L_Rahman wrote: post #366
nazgulnarsil wrote: post #335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Soylent has refused to make basic changes to improve their nutritional profile based on widely known and accepted research. Lots of their micronutrients look optimized for cost and not for human health. E.g. Soylent uses D2, when even 30 seconds of googling should have turned up evidence such as: http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/84/4/694.full "ergocalciferol should not be regarded as a nutrient suitable for suppleme…

I skimmed the paper you linked to and if I understood it correctly D2 has lower bioavailability than D3. Is that the primary difference?

That's one important takeaway. But we don't actually know what (synthetic) D2 and (food derived) D3 are doing differently in the body. This is exacerbated by: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4210929/

That there's this much nuance just with this one ingredient is a microcosm of the overall flaw in Soylent's approach.

Optimizing for just the legible dimensions of a poorly understood domain will not result in good outcomes.

For mealsquares we take consilience seriously and combine the inside and outside view (see: reference class forecasting) on human nutrition to try to establish reasonable confidence intervals around nutrition models, and even then we aren't stupid enough to think or claim that mealsquares are just as good as fish, fruit, and vegetables.

Re: Soylent Closes $50M Series B Round Led by GV

#406

Post by etherdoc »

rubatuga wrote: post #155

Although I was initially brought onto the hype train by great marketing and the promises of health and complete nutrition, I realize that my initial reliance on Soylent was actually part of a deeper problem, brought on by problems such as depression and inappropriate time management. When in reality I should have had enough time to eat out or possibly even cook a meal, I found myself relying on Soylent. I didn't leav…

I never understood Soylent. Why not simple, convenient, repetitive meals instead? Why not a protein shake and a banana if occasional liquid meal replacements are needed?

Re: Soylent Closes $50M Series B Round Led by GV

#407

Post by aianus »

reilly3000 wrote: post #200
rubatuga wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eating is a complex process, usually intertwined with social interactions, stimulation of multiple sensory organs, and activation of jaw muscles and blood flow. I think by short circuiting many of those processes, along with possibly the negative nutritional aspects of Soylent and my mental state back then, I was suffering as a result.

Spot on. I don't know why we would apply reductionism something as pleasurable and healthful as food.

Sex is pleasurable and healthful but if I had to have sex 3-4 times a day or I would get skinny and weak I would begin to hate sex too and maybe look to masturbating as an occasional alternative.

Re: Soylent Closes $50M Series B Round Led by GV

#408

Post by TeMPOraL »

Judgmentality wrote: post #237
dmix wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook causing depression when used too much? What were the alternative groups doing? Correlation is a tricky thing to measure. I'm not sure how I feel about these types of studies or what utility they really provide. Other than maybe giving the reader some perspective on their life. Anything used in a poor context, for example not combined with the right attitude, environment, etc can cause issues. Often we just f…

So I actually decided to look for the source and you're right - the results are a lot more complicated than I thought. I guess I'm a victim of confirmation bias. http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/09/07/49287102...

Thank you for checking it out. This "Facebook causes depression (studies show!)" meme is being repeated left and right, even on HN, and it's kind of annoying at this point.

Re: Soylent Closes $50M Series B Round Led by GV

#409

Post by deeth_starr_v »

chaostheory wrote: post #359
deeth_starr_v wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, meat/food substitutes are likely central to our population growth rate, but let's be intellectually honest. I'm not sure it'll work. I'm really hopeful the meat substitutes will pan out. We haven't figured out cancer yet. You're betting on us figuring out food? Edit: because cancer is complex, the same a food and nutrition

> You're betting on us figuring out food? Things like Soylent are already here. It's not vaporware. Yes it's not perfect or ideal but it's an answer to really inefficient food production whose water and nutrient needs aren't sustainable for a growing population.

I'm not calling it vaporware. We don't understand clearly about our gut bio/digestion/food absorption. It'd be great to hear an expert on this chime in, but my guess they would say "we don't know yet".

I'm not telling you to not eat Soylent or that it won't potentially be great for the human race. But again, we don't know.

Edit: fixed wording Edit: What if they get something wrong like including trans fats? I know this a "playing to fear" argument, but there is a long history of industrial foods being not healthy. It just takes a new generation of suckers to come of age.

Re: Soylent Closes $50M Series B Round Led by GV

#410

Post by TeMPOraL »

Questron wrote: post #375
sushid wrote: post #370

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you not eat at all during work?

If I'm as busy as OP (claims to be), then no way. EDIT: Think about marathon runners: they drink water and electrolytes. I'm pretty sure I can handle a workday fully concentrated without eating every three hours.

Can you handle a marathon on water and elecrolytes each day, every day, for most of your career?
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