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Soylent Closes $50M Series B Round Led by GV

blog.soylent.com

651–660 of 665 posts

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

#651
post #632

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like your idea. Certainly sounds way better taste wise.

Gorp is not a new idea. In fact you can get it for free in every single hiker box on the AT. I know someone who claims he didn't buy a single meal on the trail. The disadvantages to soylent are taste, chewing difficulty/calories, preparation, it stops up your digestive tract, and takes much longer to become usable energy.

Trail mix (never heard the word gorp before) is nothing new, neither is muesli. My version above, however, is low sugar and a complete protein with much more varied nutrition sources. Thought it doesnt taste quite as good to your sweet tooth as a bag of m&ms and nuts.

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

#652
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…

>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…

1) It's not convenient 2) That's not nutritionally complete.

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

#653

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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..."…

Partially agreed, though, I replace two meals a day with the UK equivalent. I suffer from depression and ADHD, so while I generally collect myself enough to make a proper evening meal, prior to Huel I would often skip or forget meals, and binge on junk later in the day. I'm working on 50/50. From the horses mouth, most use cases I've heard are pretty sensible. Very few users treat it as their entire diet. You've a go…

I've lived off Huel for months on end (3? 4?) with snacks and cheat weekends and never felt better in my life. As in, I felt significantly better than when eating "normal" food.

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

#654
post #485

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Last time I checked, Soylent comes in packages, and requires water to eat. So sure, you can combine your nutrient goo powder into a single sack, and thereby save a tiny fraction of the weight of the food (and water) itself. But you're splitting hairs. I picked a mountain house pouch-based product at random on amazon, and the packaging weight was .06oz on a gross of 5oz, or 1.2%. Which is, of course, nothing. I have h…

what you are saying is that you don't know any hikers that care significantly about weight. I can also state that the majority of people I know care so much about weight that they would never carry mountain house type food around. If we both extend our friends to the general public, we have a clash. Or, maybe, there are different types of people in the world, some of whom think that Soylent is a great alternative for…

I'm saying that nobody I know cares about the weight of a plastic bag unless they're trying to win a pedantic internet debate.

If everyone you know is different, congratulations. Enjoy your nutrient goo.

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

#655
post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What I don't understand: the REI market is the one place where Soylent is inarguably better than any other product in its niche, and nobody seems to give a shit about that. I guess it depends on what you mean by "better". SAR is a niche within a niche. I can totally understand why Soylent is 1000x better than other options. But most backpackers are doing it for fun. Reducing weight and space is great, but there are…

> Young folks with few savings taking a few months off work don't have three months of Soylent money ;-) thru-hiker here. I did it on $2k of credit cards, which is the least of anyone i met personally. a dehydrated meal with 350 calories costs $5 minimum, requires cooking (fuel cost/weight), and requires time/energy for your body to digest. a soylent powder meal costs $2.

You should go to Nepal. Serious mountains and everyone there uses dried instant noodles, which were less than 50 cents a pack. You can eat them dry, or boil them up and make a soup.

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

#656
post #421

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

However, there is strong evidence that any type of beef may cause cancer.

I am pretty sure this isn't true.

The advanced glycation end products from overcooked/burnt meat have been shown to, but not meat itself.

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

#657

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My great grandparents ate nothing but potatos, no thanks.

What's your point? My great grandparents were Italian and Irish.

Eating only potatos isn't healthy, why would I emulate their diet?

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

#658

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok. Soy has isoflavones, which are kinda shaped like estrogens, and bind to estrogen receptors by chance cause they have similar structures, but not as strongly as real estrogen, because they're not sex hormones to begin with. Cow milk has actual estrogen. Because cows are mammals. With actual sex hormones. Which binds strongly to estrogen receptors, because that's what they're for. I know which one I'm going with.

Are you sure about this issue with normal milk? I cannot find much about it although the soy estrogen research is all out there.

I found a few studies by googling 'dairy estrogen'.

To be honest I don't think it's that big of a deal in either case (soy or dairy), for occasional consumption, I eat both on occasion. But if we are talking about replacing meals with a dairy shake, or GOMAD (gallon of milk per day, a 'traditional' recipe for fast weight gain), I might be a little bit concerned.

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

#659

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is it irresponsible marketing?

Oh right, we already had this discussion. At least they got upgraded from "unethical marketing" to "irresponsible marketing". But how long can you continue to claim that the company engages in irresponsible marketing based on (allegedly) exaggerated claims during a Kickstarter?

Hence my use of the past tense "used", not present tense "uses".

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

#660
post #485

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Last time I checked, Soylent comes in packages, and requires water to eat. So sure, you can combine your nutrient goo powder into a single sack, and thereby save a tiny fraction of the weight of the food (and water) itself. But you're splitting hairs. I picked a mountain house pouch-based product at random on amazon, and the packaging weight was .06oz on a gross of 5oz, or 1.2%. Which is, of course, nothing. I have h…

Mountain House requires more than water though, it needs to be cooked, and ounce-for-ounce, provides no more or better nutrition than Soylent. Cooking is a hassle sometimes; if I'm just doing a quick 20-miler for the day, I want to eat but not carry a stove. If I'm carrying a stove, then I'm carrying fuel too. That weight and space adds up. Even if I'm carrying my MSR Windburner, it's still about the size of my first…

> Mountain House requires more than water though, it needs to be cooked

The instructions on all the Mountain House stuff that I have say "add hot water and wait N minutes".

(But I agree with the gist of the argument, that things like Soylent and Tsogo are better for this use case anyway.)

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