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Muesli – An alternative approach to Soylent

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Re: Muesli – An alternative approach to Soylent

#71

Post by boltn »

smallnamespace wrote: post #49

Ugh -- Soylent and now this seems to represent a branch of scientism at its worse. Our bodies are complicated. Therefore, nutrition science is complicated, and very much a work in progress. Because people eat various things all their lives in an uncontrolled way, and because what you eat can have impacts on you 10, 20, or 50 years down the line, getting reliable nutritional data is extremely expensive and difficult .…

This problem is completely mitigated by just not having a 100% soylent diet, which is the vast majority of soylent users. It's an amazing supplement.

Re: Muesli – An alternative approach to Soylent

#72

Post by smallnamespace »

affinehat wrote: post #62
smallnamespace wrote: post #49

Ugh -- Soylent and now this seems to represent a branch of scientism at its worse. Our bodies are complicated. Therefore, nutrition science is complicated, and very much a work in progress. Because people eat various things all their lives in an uncontrolled way, and because what you eat can have impacts on you 10, 20, or 50 years down the line, getting reliable nutritional data is extremely expensive and difficult .…

I disagree with your assertion that it is "extremely risky" to apply current nutrition knowledge. Since we don't understand the effects of the "traditional" diet, it's not clear whether it is helping or hurting us. Yes, we have empirical evidence, but as you said it is poorly controlled. So all we can know is that if we eat a "traditional" diet, we will probably live close to the average lifespan and have average hea…

Just to clarify, I 100% support judicious use of what we know about nutritional science today.

I also happen to think that Soylent is definitely not a wise application of our current knowledge. The sophomoric notion that we already understand nutrition well enough to create a full fledged meal replacement with everything that the body requires is false, misleading, and highly irresponsible.

From their front page:

> Protein, carbohydrates, lipids, and micronutrients: each Soylent product contains a complete blend of everything the body needs to thrive.

The micronutrients claim in particular invites scrutiny -- we definitely don't know yet whether we've succeeded in identifying every micronutrient that the body needs for survival, much less to 'thrive'.

I mean, they actually sickened a whole bunch of people with some algae powder ingredient, not realizing it would be problematic ahead of time. If they can't design a food product that avoids acute illness, why should you have confidence that they have something that is safe and healthy to use long term?

Re: Muesli – An alternative approach to Soylent

#73

Post by wtf_is_up »

aeleos wrote: post #44
kpil wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honest question: Do you not enjoy food? What do you think the benefits are? I'm asking because I think I would be severely depressed on such a monotone diet. I love cooking and it gives me great joy to eat good food, or new kinds of food, or even the boring lunch restaurant type food if it's done reasonably well. Lunch is also a nice social event. I'm skipping lunch sometimes (when I'm not that hungry) but I feel lik…

As someone who has struggled with weight for the majority of my life, food and hunger is a constant battle. Being able to just drink something to make the hunger go away without being worried about eating too much or making an impulse decision to buy something unhealthy saves a lot of stress, and makes it much easier to control your diet. While I don't know what OPs reasons are for drinking it, there are usually vali…

How much exercise are you doing?

Re: Muesli – An alternative approach to Soylent

#74

Post by pbowyer »

apocolyps6 wrote: post #58
kpil wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honest question: Do you not enjoy food? What do you think the benefits are? I'm asking because I think I would be severely depressed on such a monotone diet. I love cooking and it gives me great joy to eat good food, or new kinds of food, or even the boring lunch restaurant type food if it's done reasonably well. Lunch is also a nice social event. I'm skipping lunch sometimes (when I'm not that hungry) but I feel lik…

The choice for me is pretty simple. No breakfast, or soylent. I'd rather be eating something than nothing. If I have the chance to eat a real meal I take it, but there are also times where I literally can't. Idk why it is suddenly in vogue to shit on people for being busy.

> Idk why it is suddenly in vogue to shit on people for being busy.

Maybe because the HN crowd is getting older or more burned out, and their values are changing?

Re: Muesli – An alternative approach to Soylent

#75

Post by beagle3 »

opportune wrote: post #43

One thing I don't understand about soylent is how it can be so expensive and yet still so flawed. First, as a male I am concerned about isoflavones. I've read sources that go either way on how much it actually affects hormone levels, but since I suspect there is a lot more pressure from the agriculture / vegetarian community to make it seem safer than it is than from any other community to not, I lean towards it not…

If you spend just 1 hour per week on purchase and preparation (and you likely spend two or three), you need to add your hourly rate (or the value you assigned to a loat hour of hobby, unless making these meals is your hobby)

It is not easy to account for "time spent doing X", but assigning $0 to eat is most definitely wrong.

If you do the components+time math properly, it is likely soylent and even McDonalds is cheaper. It is only when you add "enjoying food" and "future health" that you may (or may not) win against them.

Re: Muesli – An alternative approach to Soylent

#76

Post by beagle3 »

L29Ah wrote: post #26
dgfgfdagasdfgfa wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems like it would result in sub-optimal insulin spikes.

AFAIK, cellulose in oats prevents quick digestion of starch so its glycemic index is in 50s.

Supposedly, "instant" lack this feature, be careful which oats you use.

Re: Muesli – An alternative approach to Soylent

#77

Post by peterhajas »

kpil wrote: post #38
peterhajas wrote: post #8

I've been eating Soylent twice a day for more than a year as my primary food source. I'm always interested in new variants (especially ones that cut down on cost) - this one seems interesting. Any chance that there's an Amazon shopping cart that someone can add to get all this stuff easily? Also, I noticed that the Readme links to Rob Rhinehart's page ( http://robrhinehart.com ). Unfortunately, it looks like it's all…

Honest question: Do you not enjoy food? What do you think the benefits are? I'm asking because I think I would be severely depressed on such a monotone diet. I love cooking and it gives me great joy to eat good food, or new kinds of food, or even the boring lunch restaurant type food if it's done reasonably well. Lunch is also a nice social event. I'm skipping lunch sometimes (when I'm not that hungry) but I feel lik…

I usually bring the Soylent with me to lunch with my coworkers. It allows me to enjoy the social benefits while still having Soylent.

I do enjoy food (very much!), but find myself feeling tired or sluggish after a traditional breakfast or lunch. Soylent provides consistent energy throughout the day, and makes calorie tracking very easy (400 calories a bottle twice a day @ breakfast and lunch leaves me 1200 calories for dinner).

Re: Muesli – An alternative approach to Soylent

#78

Post by allover »

CuriouslyC wrote: post #55
wdewind wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Controlling for calories and assuming you're not diabetic why does it matter what your source of carbohydrate is?

1.) Carbs are a "hot" fuel, they have been shown to increase markers of oxidative stress and inflammation unless paired with phytonutrients as is typically the case in whole fruits and vegetables. This is because sugars are highly reactive in comparison with fats (particularly fructose). 2.) Highly quality carbs, such as in beans, barley, certain kinds of sweet potatoes, etc, are fermented by by your gut bacteria int…

Sources please. 'Inflammation' sets off my pseudo-science detector. And your first point is suggesting carbs are inherently bad 'because inflammation', which I just don't buy.

Re: Muesli – An alternative approach to Soylent

#79

Post by contingencies »

cyberferret wrote: post #68
pacaro wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And just because I didn't know this until yesterday, Linseed is Flax seed, just different names for the same stuff. You can use your kitchen grade flaxseed oil for painting, putting your art supplies linseed oil on your quark is more questionable.

I used to use it on my cricket bats all the time, and nowadays on my Kendo Shinai. I guess it is one of those oils like Coconut oil, where you can ingest it or use it for a myriad of lubricating and protective purposes.

Apparently the ground linseed/flax loses its goodness (major non-fish source of omegas) very quickly after grinding unless refrigerated. So the store bought LSA is no good. You need to grind it yourself and either eat it immediately or keep it in the fridge. Apparently it has a magical smell when ground.

Re: Muesli – An alternative approach to Soylent

#80

Post by jv22222 »

sowhatquestion wrote: post #20
eljimmy wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's full of maltodextrin which is about as healthy as pounding sugar.

They've addressed this many times. There are different "grades" of maltodextrin with different glycemic indexes. Soylent uses a higher grade with a low glycemic index. Google "low DE maltodextrin." Soylent also uses other low-glycemic carbs such as isomaltulose.

I am a type 2 diabetic using 2000mg of Metformin.

Of anything I've tried that is a "meal", nothing has spiked my blood sugar as much as a bottle of Soylent.

I really wanted to use Soylent but when my BS spiked to 350 after multiple 2h post meal tests, on multiple days, I just had to give up on the idea.

To give you an example, my BS will hit about 200 2h after a big bowl of Oatmeal and then settle back to 130-150 range.

If I eat just vegetables for a week, for example, my BS will move to the 90-120 range.

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