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Soylent Closes $50M Series B Round Led by GV

blog.soylent.com

461–470 of 665 posts

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

#461

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

> Why not simple, convenient, repetitive meals instead? Name one that a) provides a proper amount of needed nutrients and b) is as simple and convenient as Soylent (or equivalents).

A multivitamin. Organic valley protein shakes (already liquid): https://www.organicvalley.coop/products/protein-shakes/

And purple corn meal for carbs: https://www.amazon.com/Z%C3%B3calo-Peru-Organic-Purple-Flour...

Organic virgin coconut oil (in glass jar) for fats: https://www.pureformulas.com/nutiva-organic-extravirgin-coco...

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

#462
post #5

Soylent gets a lot of hate (I'm looking forward to skipping out on this thread before the inevitable negative comments from people who assume that Soylent consumers will eat nothing but Soylent for the rest of their lives), but to me, it's solved a large problem in my life: what to eat when I'm hungry but I don't have enough time to prepare a full meal. It can happen every now and then when I'm rushing around, and so…

Soylent gets a lot of hype, and invariably the hype follows a predictable pattern- "Geez, you don't eat only Soylent! It's just an occasional meal replacement!" "Okay, then how is it interesting when there are dozens of competing products in the meal replacement category?" "Because those aren't a full dietary replacement. You can't live on only Ensure (insert many other products here)." "Okay....but you just said..."…

> I don't get Soylent. Not only is food one of the greatest luxuries in life -- one of the greatest rewards

totally agree with this. soylent feels too much like... dog food for humans

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

#463

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What advantage does Soylent have over say, other meal replacements e.g. Slimfast, weight watcher shakes, juices etc Which of those examples are actual food replacements instead of liquid candy blasted with vitamins? Slimfast high protein is the only option I see online that doesn't include huge amounts of sugar, but a single 180 calorie shake also gives way too much vitamins and protein to be sane times 10, which i…

Products for people on feeding tubes like Jevity? Last I checked Soylent contained Sucralose (Splenda).

> ... sucralose

Funny how that information buried on the site. I've re-ordered a few times based on its (prominently featured) use of Isomaltulose, thinking that is where the sweetness came from. Some evidence that sucralose will spike insulin. Seems to jibe with personal experience. Will probably hold off until they eliminate sucralose. Perhaps trehalose?

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

#465
post #421

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They still exist. Eat locally from farmers. All my beef is grass fed (which have higher omega 3's), for example. And if you can't because of where you live, there's a good chance neither could your grandparents had if they lived there as well.

Or you could take an omega-3 supplement and eat normal beef. There isn't much evidence to show that grass-fed beef has any measurable effect on health.

There isn't much evidence to show that supplements do either.

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

#466

Does this mean they're going to make their own product? Currently, Soylent, the company, is just a marketing operation. Everything else is outsourced. That's not an unusual strategy for hype-based products. Skyy Vodka and WD-40 were completely outsourced. Skyy Vodka was originally made by Frank-Lin Distillers Products in San Jose, the company that makes most of the low-end booze on the West Coast. Frank-Lin buys bulk…

They don't outsource their formula development or testing, which is the difficult part. You could say they outsource the manufacturing, but that's common in every industry these days.

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

#467
post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and then realized I was just eating chemicals You do realize that everything you eat is chemicals, right?

I hate this argument. Usually people are talking about synthetic or non-naturally occurring compounds ancillary to the reason for eating the food. In other words, are you eating processed cheese for the protein, or for the potassium sorbate? Only one of these is a "chemical" is the vernacular.

Plenty of naturally-occurring compounds found in various plants and animals are toxic for humans to consume. To say that naturally-occurring foods are inherently better for us to eat requires an awful lot of cherry-picking (no pun intended).

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

#468
I still don't understand the strong reactions Soylent gets on either side. There's plenty to criticize and to like but reactions to it cluster around it being the end of the world or solution to all your problems.

I'm a fan of the breakfast Soylent (Coffiest). To me it's the best form of the Soylent idea.

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

#469

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate this argument. Usually people are talking about synthetic or non-naturally occurring compounds ancillary to the reason for eating the food. In other words, are you eating processed cheese for the protein, or for the potassium sorbate? Only one of these is a "chemical" is the vernacular.

> Only one of these is a "chemical" is the vernacular. The vernacular is wrong in this case and encourages ignorance. "Preservatives", "dyes", "perfumes", "thickeners", and "artificial sweeteners" are all words that everyone understands. We can say "artificial ingredients" instead if we want a catch all. The English language is really expressive. "Chemicals" is a buzzword used a lot by hucksters to push sales through…

I apologize for using "chemicals" rather than using correct terms. I was just using it as a shorthand for something grown vs something made.

Edit: This seems to be your argument, that engineered is the same as non-engineered. Because they are all the same basic building blocks. Right?

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

#470
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Neither is Ensure a "lose weight" brand. But Ensure is an old-people brand. So Soylent (and Ample, which I learned about in this thread) are basically Ensure for young people.

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…

The maltodextrin is the primary calorie source in Soylent, but it's a much slower absorbing sugar (higher glycemic index, so it doesn't completely fuck your blood sugar) than the plain old sucrose you get in literally every other meal replacement drink.
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