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Every time Soylent is on HN people say this. Why don't people understand? It's so simple: Soylent is for meals you don't care about but need. It's not a) the O

Every time Soylent is on HN people say this. Why don't people understand? It's so simple: Soylent is for meals you don't care about but need. It's not a) the ONLY food you can eat or b) supposed to replace all meals. I order a box of Soylent bottles every few weeks—they come in handy while working or for a quick breakfast or if I have little time and am hungry. I also cook meals with my girlfriend a few times a week and go out to dinner every weekend. Both things can exist at the same time. It's just a nutritious drink you can drink at any time if you need to. If you want to make it most of our meals, sure go ahead. But no one says you must.

ng12 10y ago
> Soylent is for meals you don't care about but need This is the problem. That concept is completely foreign to a lot of people (me included). The combination of my body's needs and the way I was raised lead me to view each meal as an opportunity to be enjoyed, never a chore. Something I observed in the weightlifting community: there are people who need to worry about dieting (cutting) and people who worry about eating enough (bulking). Serious weightlifters go through cycles of both but most people struggle more with one side or another. Bulking isn't a struggle for me -- I can clear 5,000 kcal/day without a sweat. I've trained myself to eat pretty healthy but I'd always prefer steak and eggs for breakfast. On the other hand, a friend of mine complains about all the pizza he has to eat to meet his targets. Soylent makes a lot of sense for him (quick calories) but I'll never understand that feeling of "ugh, I need to eat, guess I'll have a Soylent".
- greatjones 10y ago
  > but I'll never understand that feeling of "ugh, I need to eat, guess I'll have a Soylent". It sounds like you have either more free time or a more a steady work schedule then their target user.
  - cko 10y ago
    I have all the free time in the world and I have that "ugh do I really need to eat again?" I find it hard to hit 2500 calories daily to not lose weight.
    - oh_sigh 10y ago
      Replace all water with whole milk - problem solved!
    - toasterlovin 10y ago
      Honestly, what the other poster said: whole milk. 2400 calories per gallon, well balanced between protein, fat, and carbs (you might say that it is ideally formulated to feed large mammals :P). The best part is that it is readily available every where and super cheap (< $3 per gallon).
      - zodiac 10y ago
        Why not shouldn't instead of whole milk?
      - semi-extrinsic 10y ago
        Even better: custard. Straight from the box.
      - deleted 10y ago
        [deleted]
      - nikatwork 10y ago
        65%-90% of humans are lactose intolerant[0], and lactaid pills aren't always effective. https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/lactose-intolerance#statistics https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/lactose-intolerance#statis...
        toasterlovin 10y ago
        I'm guessing that ratio is probably different for people on HN, since, as fluent English speakers, they're more likely to be descended from Europeans.
  - tluyben2 10y ago
    Somehow this seems like an American thing or maybe people in other places make less of a spectacle of it? Always having too little time, always working and being proud to plan every minute of every day (recently Marissa Mayer and Bill Gates and someone else from the US said in interviews they have every minute of every day planned; sounds like pure hell but he) seems very American. This Soylent thing fits in there. Why would someone want to work that much unless you want to become a billionaire which, again, seems a drive in media coming from the US? Maybe it is just the media I read though, but here there is no vibe like that and when I meet (very successful/rich) entrepreneurs in Asia/Aus/EU they seem to be always eating elaborately so they do not give of that vibe either. Again the press distorts but posts here on HN and a thing like Soylent support that press.
    - greatjones 10y ago
      > Somehow this seems like an American thing or maybe people in other places make less of a spectacle of it? I think there is more acceptance in certain cultures, for example, to skip lunch because it's a busy day. Having worked globally and in multiple industries, I don't believe it's an American only thing although probably more common there. I see it as more of an industry thing, and each industry seems to have it's own use case for a product like Soylent. i.e. the programmer 'in the zone' and not wanting to stop for dinner or the investment banker running on a few hours of sleep due to an upcoming pitch. > Always having too little time, always working and being proud to plan every minute of every day I'm not sure how that was implied, but that does not represent the typical American workforce in my view. > entrepreneurs in Asia/Aus/EU they seem to be always eating elaborately I would be surprised to hear these types of individuals don't deal with skipped meals or lack of time based on what's going on in there life/work like their counterparts in other countries do.
      - tluyben2 10y ago
        > I'm not sure how that was implied, People here imply that people consume Soylent either because they cannot get enough calories in with normal food to not lose weight (what a luxury that must be), or, in most cases and as the direct parent writes, that they do not have time to eat 'normally'. That seems to mesh with the whole culture of fast food and minute day planning; I for one could not tell you if I have time for an elaborate meal or a quick meal at lunch today and I would not want to know if I do either. I'll see what happens when I get hungry. > but that does not represent the typical American workforce in my view. Not typical workforce; I'm citing some famous and very rich US business people. Just noting that these people seem proud of it while I don't hear the same stories (in the press) from anywhere else. And others (especially on HN) seem desperate to copy it (which is, I assume, were Soylent came from in the first place); people who cite this (time-hacking/life-hacking/whatever-hacking it is called) as a great feat are all from (=living in currently) the US when I check their profiles.
- jedberg 10y ago
  Think of something you have to do every day that you don't like to do. Like flossing maybe? Some people really enjoy flossing. Some people don't. If there were a device I could put in my mouth and in 30 seconds everything were flossed, I would totally do that. But some people would think, man how can you do that and take all the enjoyment out of flossing? Sometimes when I'm working, I run to the fridge, grab whatever is in it and eat it while I keep working. It usually doesn't taste like anything because I don't even bother heating it. Soylent lets me do that but it's a lot healthier than whatever leftovers I might grab out of the fridge. Either way I'm not enjoying the food nor the company (I'm at my desk at home alone). I'm also only spending 10 minutes.
  - couchand 10y ago
    "If there were a device I could put in my mouth and in 30 seconds everything were flossed"... I think what you're looking for is dental floss.
    - AlexCoventry 10y ago
      If it takes you less than a minute to floss you're probably doing it wrong. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PreNWWOYfI#t=32s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PreNWWOYfI#t=32s
      - gohrt 10y ago
        Eh, flossing is a placebo anyway.
        tempestn 10y ago
        I can't attest to whether it helps prevent cavities or gum disease or whatever, given regular dental visits. I can say though that I used to rarely floss, and since I started flossing daily a few years ago, my teeth remain noticeably smoother and cleaner feeling between dentist visits, and require considerably less scraping when I'm there.
        10y ago
- cknoxrun 10y ago
  I have two young kids and a startup. The idea that I should view each meal as an opportunity to be enjoyed is honestly a pipe dream right now. I enjoy as many of my meals as I can with my family. But when the kids are sick or I'm running behind and have a meeting, I grab a soylent and I feel like it's a lot healthier than picking up sugary junk or other alternatives.
  - balls187 10y ago
    I have one kid, and no startup, and sometimes the only meal I get to enjoy is lunch at the office. When going out to eat, I would hold my son in my left hand, as I shoveled food into my mouth with my right hand, taking a break to apologize to whomever was dining with me for having such bad manners.
  - eropple 10y ago
    Soylent has nine grams of sugar per serving. It is sugary junk.
    - minitech 10y ago
      Isn’t it supposed to be a meal or something? Nine grams isn’t that much compared to e.g. a muffin (~30 g).
      - adrianN 10y ago
        A muffin is not a meal though. A juicy steak with a side of grilled vegetables has ~0g sugar.
        gohrt 10y ago
        I tried that. I got sick after I eat a juicy steak that I put in the trunk of my car last week.
        webscaleizfun 10y ago
- Taek 10y ago
  Eating a meal takes a lot of time. You've got to prepare it, clean up afterwards, and take your mind off of whatever you are doing. Or you have to order it, and then still usually there's some cleanup and interaction. The liquid Soylent is about as disruptive as drinking water. That's really useful to me when I'm sucked into a programming challenge or research task. Sometimes I'll go 3-4 days doing nothing but work and sleep. A meal is really disruptive during those times, because I just want my head fully integrated into the problems I'm working on.
  - summarite 10y ago
    If that's a regular schedule for you - Don't you feel you're missing out on living life?
    - sgdesign 10y ago
      Telling someone they're "missing out on living life" just because they don't do the same thing as you is really condescending.
      - Taek 10y ago
        I don't think it was meant that way, I didn't take offense.
    - Taek 10y ago
      When I'm really sucked into a problem is one of the few times that I feel fully alive. It's like being in a flow state for multiple days, pushing every cognitive resource I have to reach a solution. I think it happens less than once a month, and almost always lasts less than a week. I do wish that I went hiking more often, camping more often, and I wish that I had more social interactions that were free of social and business undertones.
      - cyberferret 10y ago
        You sound like me 25 years ago. I assume you are still young (20-30?) but I would urge you to take a look at your lifestyle and habits now, with a view to changing it to incorporate more of your hiking and camping and social interactions that you mention. I once felt that living like you currently are was sustainable and that I would be impervious to the long term effects, but now that I have hit the half century mark, I am finding I suffer from all sorts of back and shoulder pain from sitting for extended programming sessions lasting days. I also have rapidly degrading eyesight, and high risk of glaucoma from staring at screens all day every day, and I have other health and digestive issues from not eating regular healthy meals, or drinking enough water back in the day. It is highly likely that the lifestyle you are accustomed to will turn around and bite you one day. Make changes now so that you don't end up the same as this old programmer. :)
- praxulus 10y ago
  Surely cleaning up after cooking is almost always a chore, no matter how delicious the food was?
  - nemo44x 10y ago
    You could also take pride in cleaning and maintaining your tools. It's rather fast if you don't burn your food and if you use proper cleaning agents like "Barkeepers Friend" when soap isn't appropriate.
  - fernandotakai 10y ago
    i usually cleanup while i listen to an audiobook/music. it's not a chore.
- nsxwolf 10y ago
  How can you eat 5,000 kcal a day and not be a huge fat pig? How many miles a day do you need to run to burn that off? I used to be a normal weight, but I had to eat 1,200 kcals and run 4 miles a day.
  - Evgeny 10y ago
    How can you eat 5,000 kcal a day and not be a huge fat pig? How many miles a day do you need to run to burn that off? On the days when I lift weights I eat close to 5K calories, sometimes even a little more, depending on the commute. All of my daily commute is by bike, including taking my kid to and from the kindergarten, and later to some extra activities (welcome to Denmark), which can be anywhere between 20 and 35 km total for the day. I'm 178 cm and weigh around 79 kg.
    - ensiferum 10y ago
      Thats quite a bit of cycling. Don't you think all that cycling is getting into your lifting? I used to cycle about 10km a day and found that it was already hampering leg training at the gym.
      - gaius 10y ago
        Not if you are eating 5000 kcals and getting enough sleep...
      - Evgeny 10y ago
        I actually changed my approach to lifting a little and now following the principles described by Greg Nuckols in his article about increasing work capacity http://strengtheory.com/increasing-work-capacity/ http://strengtheory.com/increasing-work-capacity/ So essentially every week I'm doing just a little bit more volume in every exercise, either by adding a little weight, or an extra rep. So far I'm able to do it consistently for a few months so I guess I'm recovering well. Then of course there is all that "getting used to it" thing where you do something long enough and get into it gradually and increase little by little and you're fine. I worked originally about 5 km from home and it felt like it was enough cycling there and back. Then I changed my job and now I was 11 km from home so I started combining bike + train for a while because that felt like too much to cycle. Then one sunny day I cycled all the way home. I realized two things: 1) I'm not that tired and 2) I cut 10 minutes off my train + bike commute. So now I bike all the way and save time and money at the same time! Win-win!
- BurningFrog 10y ago
  Don't you ever have things to do? I like a great meal a lot, but if that was the three top events each day, I'd consider it an empty life.
  - briandear 10y ago
    You are clearly not French or have you lived there. A great meal should absolutely be one of the highlights of a day. Food can be (and should be) the catalyst of great conversations, great ideas or even meditative self-reflection. Soylent seems to me to be a hipster Ultra Slim Fast and consumed for the exact same reasons legions of working women have that stuff in office refrigerators. I can respect that people have different priorities than a great meal each day, but I can also pity them.
    - BurningFrog 10y ago
      Even if I was French, I would be happy to ignore arguments about how I must to things because it's The French Way.
  - ng12 10y ago
    Who said anything about that? Of course I have things to do, but grabbing a sandwich from the deli on my block is almost as fast as soylent and much more enjoyable. Although from this thread I'm starting to think the real reason many people dislike Soylent is the holier-than-thou attitude many of it's supporters seem to sport :)
- TeMPOraL 10y ago
  > This is the problem. That concept is completely foreign to a lot of people (me included). The combination of my body's needs and the way I was raised lead me to view each meal as an opportunity to be enjoyed, never a chore. Different people, different concepts :). I used a Soylent clone in the past to replace breakfast/lunch and I liked it. I feel I might be unique at that among my coworkers, but I e.g. really prefer eating at my desk - I can parallelize it with work, or reading a book, or reading HN, which is infinitely more interesting to me than eating out with most people. > but I'll never understand that feeling of "ugh, I need to eat, guess I'll have a Soylent". My mother was on a diet plan once, where they suggested two options for meals each day, and if you really didn't feel like eating that, you could replace it with a protein shake. There were days when that shake really was the best alternative, and it allowed her to stick to the plan instead of giving up.
- mbrock 10y ago
  That's a problem of empathy. You can't understand how other people would have this specific feeling or practice. Obviously though many people do have it. There seems to be something very unsettling to people like you about the idea of "meal replacement". To me it appears to be a kind of cultural conservatism, like it's an attack on "family values".
  - ng12 10y ago
    It's not about empathy. The original poster was asking why people don't understand Soylent, and my answer is that it's solving a problem that they never even considered could be a problem.
- dimino 10y ago
  But do you understand that based on the way I was raised, eat was the thing you did because if you didn't you'd literally die? There is no cultural value to food, for me. There is no social value that I find appealing about food.
  - ng12 10y ago
    Right, I do understand that! That's the whole point. Your experience is completely foreign to me which is why I didn't understand Soylent's purpose when it first came out. It's like trying to sell an umbrella to a nomad in the Sahara.
- mcv 10y ago
  Not everybody is the same. Maybe it's not for you, but for people to busy with something else to think about what to eat, soylent is a lot better than fast food, a bar, whatever random crap you have lying around, or skipping a meal.
- ubercore 10y ago
  That's not _the_ problem, it just means Soylent isn't for you. Which is cool. I love Soylent 2.0. I'm very happy that I can get a decent chunk of my calories from a vegan source with little effort and lots of convenience. Maybe it's the way Soylent markets itself, but I don't understand why people are so _personally_ offended by it. Just... don't eat it.
- sliverstorm 10y ago
  It depends a little on what you choose to eat. Hitting my calorie goals would be easy if I ate fast food, but I'm trying to bulk while avoiding refined carbs and keeping my fruit & vegetable intake up. There's a volume challenge - 5,000kcal is only 1.5lb of butter, but 32lb of broccoli. There's also a mechanical challenge- chewing constantly (e.g. when eating lots of vegetables) is emotionally exhausting. I do acknowledge it's possible there are people out there for whom there is simply no greater joy than eating, who would eat nonstop with joy. But, not everyone is like that.
- Raphmedia 10y ago
  > This is the problem. That concept is completely foreign to a lot of people (me included). When I arrive home to an empty apartment at 9PM, I sure as hell don't feel like cooking. Sure, I cook great meals during the weekend and the days I come home early. But cooking when you got back from a big day of work + an infernal commute is cooking nothing but a chore. Edit: That being said, I'll drink a regular liquid meal and only if all the other alternatives can't be done (no food in the fridge, I am not home, I need to eat in the car, etc.) I don't see the need to get Soylent either.
joe_the_user 10y ago
"It's not [...] supposed to replace all meals." Wait, "Soylent is an open source meal REPLACEMENT[emph added], advertised as a "staple meal", available in liquid and powdered forms as a beverage, and as a solid-form meal bar. Its creators state that Soylent meets all nutritional requirements for an average adult." If something is advertised as a "meal replacement", it seems likely that people will use it to ... replace their meals - for those inclined, that would mean "all meals". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_(food) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_(food)
- rockdiesel 10y ago
  Also, they originally advertised it with copy like "A full day of balanced nutrition prepared in 3 minutes for $3/meal" and "What if you never have to worry about food again?" https://web.archive.org/web/20150515220800/https://www.soylent.com/ https://web.archive.org/web/20150515220800/https://www.soyle...
- JauntyHatAngle 10y ago
  Well yeah, you don't eat one meal your whole life. You have multiple meals in a day. But regardless, they went for that angle in the early days because it got them the advertising and funding. It got the attention, it's good marketing. Nowadays they bill it as a meal replacer, in the respect of you CAN replace whatever meal you want with it without having to worry about the effort or time it takes to prepare/research a good balanced meal. All that said, I don't personally use the stuff but would like to try it out.
benevol 10y ago
Processed food is always a bad idea. It's simple, really: The closer your are to nature, the better you feel (because the healthier you are). Our body is happier when we spend our time in nature instead of artificial environment (there are studies on that subject) and we are less cancerous when we eat natural food (as opposed to processed food). Every time we step away from our nature, we sabotage ourselves.
- cheiVia0 10y ago
  MMM, delicious natural snake venom.
  - vidarh 10y ago
    I'm partial to that all-natural cyanide myself. With a uranium chaser.
- JauntyHatAngle 10y ago
  ....you realise people are living longer than they ever have before, even though we all live in bigass cities - the literal antithesis of nature.
- pvaldes 10y ago
  Well, you have a point, but our ancestors eated carrion... mmhhh, sweet, sweet carrion. Start cooking food was a big step. Too much of nature and your body can turn into an aquatic park.
davnn 10y ago
It's not that people are too stupid to understand, they just did a really bad job telling us, but it kind of was their PR strategy. Look how many articles there are "I ate Soylent only for X days". Let's see how long it takes them to lose that image of a complete food replacement.
- JauntyHatAngle 10y ago
  True that, it helped them get the funding and the interest so it was a great marketing strategy. But now that people understand the theory (ie you can supply someone with all the nutrition they need from the one product) they are going a bit more on a sane sort of image. Soylent makes perfect sense in the context of a meal replacer for busy or lazy people. But even the original creator stopped eating it at all times because he missed the "social aspect of eating".
summarite 10y ago
That's probably just me but a lifestyle where you have no time to take a break (or meet friends/colleagues) and eat doesn't sound very healthy and not very desirable either. I understand the desire to optimise eating times and life overall, and sometimes there's a lot of work that seems important, but at the point where you drink a supplement rather than eat it seems there's no life left in what should be more than just a person working and sleeping (or napping if you're in the sleep optimiser boat..) . Probably it's all not that black and white, you like the convenience etc, but damn it just sounds sad. I also used to try to optimise my life to have impact etc, until i realised that i don't want to miss out on also living it.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- briandear 10y ago
  Why is this getting downvoted? It is incredibly sad when meals need 'replacing.' I understand once in awhile, but it seems like people are habitually making meal replacement a viable lifestyle choice. It IS sad, downvotes or not.
- beachstartup 10y ago
  don't worry, you're not alone. unfortunately i do have to skip meals occasionally but i always try to get something reasonable. eating an avocado with some seasoning, or other fruit like a banana, or some cheese, or some turkey slices, or a small bag of carrots, or hell even skipping a meal so i can eat a little more at dinner without blowing my calorie budget -- sounds infinitely more appetizing than drinking some lab-made slop that comes in a bottle. the possibilities are literally endless. i've known since high school that there are some people out there that view eating as a nuisance but i didn't know there were so many that were in the tech industry. everyone i've ever known in tech loved eating/cooking/meals out/whatever (obviously i've been self-selecting my social group!)
- cauterized 10y ago
  What if you usually break for lunch with colleagues but just have some days when you don't get a chance to take a break - you're not planning a life without breaks, but the database server crashes and shit happens? What if you schedule your workday too tightly to break for lunch specifically so that you can leave the office earlier and spend time with the people you love? What if you'd rather spend an extra hour a couple times a week hiking with your friends / family rather than chopping vegetables and scrubbing pots? What if spending less time on food ENABLES you to live your life instead of missing out?
bootload 10y ago
"Why don't people understand? It's so simple: Soylent is for meals you don't care about but need. It's not a) the ONLY food you can eat or b) supposed to replace all meals." Problem already solved, MRE [0] and discussed [1]. [0] Example here is a Patrol Ration One Man (PR1M) used in the ADF ~ https://flickr.com/photos/bootload/4549780731/in/set-72157623926788156/ https://flickr.com/photos/bootload/4549780731/in/set-7215762... [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1665563 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1665563
6nf 10y ago
> Soylent is for meals you don't care about but need. But there are already so many meal replacements on the market, from companies that actually know what they are doing. Why choose soylent? Soylent is not the cheapest. It's not the tastiest. It doesn't have the best macro balance. Why soylent and not one of the trusted brands?
- aianus 10y ago
  Please point me to an existing trusted meal replacement brand that has a balanced nutritional profile. No, Ensure, Slimfast, Boost, etc. are not balanced (eg. too much sugar and vitamins, not enough calories and fiber).
NumberCruncher 10y ago
>> Soylent is for meals you don't care about but need Thanks god for creating apples and bananas and thanks the grocery stores for selling them all the year round. And thanks the Germans for putting a bakery on every corner.
- akvadrako 10y ago
  Those are not nutritionally complete, fruits go bad and most people don't live next to an open bakery.
  - NumberCruncher 10y ago
    Not all of your meals has to be "nutritionally complete". You can store apples during the whole winter if you have below 0 degrees outside. We did it when I was young. Quality of life does not starts with a 6 digit salary and ends with working on the next Uber for X. Living in the right country/city with the right people can case you a lot of happiness. I know because I was born behind the iron curtain.
    - akvadrako 10y ago
      So instead of Soylent you are suggesting people live in the right country/city with the right people? Uh-huh.
      - NumberCruncher 10y ago
        Not exactly. Insted of drinking Soylent go to a nearby shop and by some apples and rye bread. If there are any shops... you maybe just found a market gap. Opening one you could make your city to a better place for living.
        DanBC 10y ago
        Food deserts in the US are pretty common. That makes it harder for people to get nutritious, cheap, fresh food.
gohrt 10y ago
Why do you buy Soylent instead of Ensure? https://ensure.com/nutrition-products/protein-shakes-healthy-drinks https://ensure.com/nutrition-products/protein-shakes-healthy... Is it cheaper? More complete? Dehydrated?
- OilDerek 10y ago
  It seems like the answer to this and similar questions on here, which is Soylent's true "innovation" in my estimation, is that Soylent is the first meal replacement with young men as a target market. Meal replacements are pretty convenient, but if you're an 18-25 y.o. man I have a feeling there's a nonzero level of stigma (real or just feared) associated with drinking SlimFast ("women's drink") or Ensure ("old people drink") all the time. Before now all there was for young people were protein shakes + multivitamin, which is also possibly too associated with bodybuilding/gym rats for comfort for some people. But if you're a young man drinking Soylent, this hip new VC-backed tech fuel drink, it occupies a similar mental association space to Red Bull. I can't help just seeing it as a marketing thing.
- cauterized 10y ago
  Less sweet. I was on a liquid diet for a while for medical reasons. Ensure (and other drinks in that space) are horrifyingly sugary, and even their "diabetic" formula is disgustingly sweet and high in simple processed carbs that are a half step up from sucrose. They're also extremely low in fiber. Additionally, though the vitamins and minerals are balanced for consuming four per day, you'd have to drink 8-10 of them daily to fill the caloric needs of a healthy and not particularly active adult. Sugar is a surprisingly inefficient source of calories on the scale of an adult's daily metabolic needs. Soylent has a very neutral flavor that can be seasoned for a sweet or savory effect, and a bottle has roughly the right amount of calories for a meal for an adult. If you're moderately active and eating nothing else, around 5 per day will suffice. Even on a liquid diet, I ate other things besides soylent, and I struggled to consume enough calories to meet my basal metabolic rate - below which your body will start consuming itself for energy. (Forget maintaining your original weight on a liquid diet at all.) Whole milk, you say? I was forbidden to consume significant amounts of lactose. Unfortunately, the vast majority of options were either extremely sweet or would fill your stomach without providing meaningful nutrition (a cup of chicken broth has 10 calories!) Despite usually being a chocolate hound, after two weeks of that I would gag at the thought of a m&m. Soylent at least was neutral and would keep me feeling full for a little while.
DanBC 10y ago
> Why don't people understand? > It's not [...] b) supposed to replace all meals. That's not how it was advertised during launch and the kickstarter. It was heavily pushed as a sole source of nutrition. People are only repeating what Soylent said.
- mcv 10y ago
  I think the point was that it could, but doesn't have to, replace all meals.
  - DanBC 10y ago
    So, Soylent push it as a sole source of nutrition, and some people use it as such, but then when there are problems people say "but you shouldn't do that", even though most of the people experiencing the problems aren't doing that and even though it's something pushed as possible by Soylent. If you can use Soylent as a sole source of nutrition there shouldn't be anyone in this thread saying that Soylent is never meant to be used as a sole source of nutrition. If you can't use it as such then Soylent have been irresponsible in their marketing (although they have toned it down a bit).
gaius 10y ago
Right, but where's the tech innovation? I mean check it: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Met-Rx https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Met-Rx - meal replacement powders/shakes have been around for a looooong time, and you can order online too...
jonathanstrange 10y ago
That's what I don't get. Most people have difficulties keeping their weight in check rather than vice versa, and you can get all kind of snacks, ranging from healthy to extremely unhealthy, practically everywhere. Streets and shops and cafés are plastered with food, the abundance is mind-boggling if you think about it (or come from some really poor country). How is mixing & drinking a glass of Soylent easier or less time consuming than eating a sandwich with cheese & lettuce? Or an apple?
- stonewhite 10y ago
  It is just more nutritionally sound and low effort compared to almost all other quick fixes.
- Klathmon 10y ago
  For me it's the storage. Lettuce goes bad, fruits rot, bread gets moldy, all within a short timeframe. I buy some Soylent and it will be good there for a while. So when I'm hungry and we are out of bread, now it's a 30 second meal vs a 30 minutes or more to run to the store.
  - ksherlock 10y ago
    > Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getting sick >I buy some Soylent and it will be good there for a while.
    - Klathmon 10y ago
      ... Which as far as I or anyone else knows has nothing to do with it's shelf-life. Regardless, I'm hoping you realize that I was being general and using "Soylent" as the example there because that was the topic of conversation. Also your comment is especially funny to me as I've never purchased Soylent the product. I have things similar to it, but I've never bought any Soylent. Once they get this figured out, I might try their bars, but they seem a bit expensive for me which is why I'm always apprehensive to pull the trigger.
cauterized 10y ago
Exactly. Twice this week I've been in meetings that ran long and left me with no time for lunch. I keep a box of soylent under my desk specifically for days like this. Without food I get "hangry" and can't concentrate. I can chug a bottle of soylent in a minute or two between meetings, or sip from it instead of from a water glass, without being even as disruptive as an energy bar would be. (Plus I can't stand how sugary those things are.) It's a terrible substitute for a salad but there's every reason to believe it's better for you than a slice of pizza or a bag of chips. Like any other food, it has a place in a healthy diet as long as it's in moderation.
eloisant 10y ago
Yes, Soylent is Slim-Fast. Just with a different marketing pitch.
kaitai 10y ago
I think you're right -- Soylent is for meals you don't care about but need, and it's marketed with a message that appeals to men, unlike SlimFast. You gotta admit that all the folks responding who are talking about how Soylent feeds their programming mania feel way cooler & smarter drinking Soylent, the techy solution, as opposed to SlimFast, the 1970s ladies' drink, or EAS Myoplex Ketogenic Meal Replacement, the bodybuilder's choice! Only one of these companies is venture-backed!
Balgair 10y ago
Its a more fundamental misunderstanding. You don't have time to eat, that is why you use this product. A lot of the other commenters cannot conceive of that world view as a regular state. Along with myself, if I don't have time to eat something that is fine. If this happens more than once a week/month, I am going to change my life as obviously something is very wrong with the way I am living it. To me, food is part of the reason for living. It's social, tasty, visceral, primal, fun, enjoyable, etc. It makes me who I am and is a part of my identity. For you, that is not necessarily true, as far as I can read about you in a single comment. Like, if I am dashing out the door and don't have time to cook a breakfast, then fine, Soylent is ok. If I have done this more than once in my week, I am going to wake up much earlier and go to bed earlier too in order to make that breakfast and prep my lunches that are tasty and good for me. If I have to work late, fine, Soylent. If that happens a lot in my life, I am going to start quickly looking for another job that lets me see my wife and kids and eat dinners with them and have fun making the food too and doing the dishes. A habit of missing meals is not on the table for me. I will never order a box of soylent, as I will never need it. If I ever go through that much, something is very very wrong with my life and needs immediate change. I know this is not true of you and many of Soylent's customers, and I don't mean to disparage you. I just want to explain the misunderstanding. They obviously have a customer base, yourself included, but for many of us, using Soylent habitually is impossible to understand.

ng12 10y ago

> Soylent is for meals you don't care about but need This is the problem. That concept is completely foreign to a lot of people (me included). The combination of my body's needs and the way I was raised lead me to view each meal as an opportunity to be enjoyed, never a chore. Something I observed in the weightlifting community: there are people who need to worry about dieting (cutting) and people who worry about eating enough (bulking). Serious weightlifters go through cycles of both but most people struggle more with one side or another. Bulking isn't a struggle for me -- I can clear 5,000 kcal/day without a sweat. I've trained myself to eat pretty healthy but I'd always prefer steak and eggs for breakfast. On the other hand, a friend of mine complains about all the pizza he has to eat to meet his targets. Soylent makes a lot of sense for him (quick calories) but I'll never understand that feeling of "ugh, I need to eat, guess I'll have a Soylent".

greatjones 10y ago
> but I'll never understand that feeling of "ugh, I need to eat, guess I'll have a Soylent". It sounds like you have either more free time or a more a steady work schedule then their target user.
- cko 10y ago
  I have all the free time in the world and I have that "ugh do I really need to eat again?" I find it hard to hit 2500 calories daily to not lose weight.
  - oh_sigh 10y ago
    Replace all water with whole milk - problem solved!
  - toasterlovin 10y ago
    Honestly, what the other poster said: whole milk. 2400 calories per gallon, well balanced between protein, fat, and carbs (you might say that it is ideally formulated to feed large mammals :P). The best part is that it is readily available every where and super cheap (< $3 per gallon).
    - zodiac 10y ago
      Why not shouldn't instead of whole milk?
    - semi-extrinsic 10y ago
      Even better: custard. Straight from the box.
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
    - nikatwork 10y ago
      65%-90% of humans are lactose intolerant[0], and lactaid pills aren't always effective. https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/lactose-intolerance#statistics https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/lactose-intolerance#statis...
      - toasterlovin 10y ago
        I'm guessing that ratio is probably different for people on HN, since, as fluent English speakers, they're more likely to be descended from Europeans.
- tluyben2 10y ago
  Somehow this seems like an American thing or maybe people in other places make less of a spectacle of it? Always having too little time, always working and being proud to plan every minute of every day (recently Marissa Mayer and Bill Gates and someone else from the US said in interviews they have every minute of every day planned; sounds like pure hell but he) seems very American. This Soylent thing fits in there. Why would someone want to work that much unless you want to become a billionaire which, again, seems a drive in media coming from the US? Maybe it is just the media I read though, but here there is no vibe like that and when I meet (very successful/rich) entrepreneurs in Asia/Aus/EU they seem to be always eating elaborately so they do not give of that vibe either. Again the press distorts but posts here on HN and a thing like Soylent support that press.
  - greatjones 10y ago
    > Somehow this seems like an American thing or maybe people in other places make less of a spectacle of it? I think there is more acceptance in certain cultures, for example, to skip lunch because it's a busy day. Having worked globally and in multiple industries, I don't believe it's an American only thing although probably more common there. I see it as more of an industry thing, and each industry seems to have it's own use case for a product like Soylent. i.e. the programmer 'in the zone' and not wanting to stop for dinner or the investment banker running on a few hours of sleep due to an upcoming pitch. > Always having too little time, always working and being proud to plan every minute of every day I'm not sure how that was implied, but that does not represent the typical American workforce in my view. > entrepreneurs in Asia/Aus/EU they seem to be always eating elaborately I would be surprised to hear these types of individuals don't deal with skipped meals or lack of time based on what's going on in there life/work like their counterparts in other countries do.
    - tluyben2 10y ago
      > I'm not sure how that was implied, People here imply that people consume Soylent either because they cannot get enough calories in with normal food to not lose weight (what a luxury that must be), or, in most cases and as the direct parent writes, that they do not have time to eat 'normally'. That seems to mesh with the whole culture of fast food and minute day planning; I for one could not tell you if I have time for an elaborate meal or a quick meal at lunch today and I would not want to know if I do either. I'll see what happens when I get hungry. > but that does not represent the typical American workforce in my view. Not typical workforce; I'm citing some famous and very rich US business people. Just noting that these people seem proud of it while I don't hear the same stories (in the press) from anywhere else. And others (especially on HN) seem desperate to copy it (which is, I assume, were Soylent came from in the first place); people who cite this (time-hacking/life-hacking/whatever-hacking it is called) as a great feat are all from (=living in currently) the US when I check their profiles.
jedberg 10y ago
Think of something you have to do every day that you don't like to do. Like flossing maybe? Some people really enjoy flossing. Some people don't. If there were a device I could put in my mouth and in 30 seconds everything were flossed, I would totally do that. But some people would think, man how can you do that and take all the enjoyment out of flossing? Sometimes when I'm working, I run to the fridge, grab whatever is in it and eat it while I keep working. It usually doesn't taste like anything because I don't even bother heating it. Soylent lets me do that but it's a lot healthier than whatever leftovers I might grab out of the fridge. Either way I'm not enjoying the food nor the company (I'm at my desk at home alone). I'm also only spending 10 minutes.
- couchand 10y ago
  "If there were a device I could put in my mouth and in 30 seconds everything were flossed"... I think what you're looking for is dental floss.
  - AlexCoventry 10y ago
    If it takes you less than a minute to floss you're probably doing it wrong. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PreNWWOYfI#t=32s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PreNWWOYfI#t=32s
    - gohrt 10y ago
      Eh, flossing is a placebo anyway.
      - tempestn 10y ago
        I can't attest to whether it helps prevent cavities or gum disease or whatever, given regular dental visits. I can say though that I used to rarely floss, and since I started flossing daily a few years ago, my teeth remain noticeably smoother and cleaner feeling between dentist visits, and require considerably less scraping when I'm there.
      - 10y ago
cknoxrun 10y ago
I have two young kids and a startup. The idea that I should view each meal as an opportunity to be enjoyed is honestly a pipe dream right now. I enjoy as many of my meals as I can with my family. But when the kids are sick or I'm running behind and have a meeting, I grab a soylent and I feel like it's a lot healthier than picking up sugary junk or other alternatives.
- balls187 10y ago
  I have one kid, and no startup, and sometimes the only meal I get to enjoy is lunch at the office. When going out to eat, I would hold my son in my left hand, as I shoveled food into my mouth with my right hand, taking a break to apologize to whomever was dining with me for having such bad manners.
- eropple 10y ago
  Soylent has nine grams of sugar per serving. It is sugary junk.
  - minitech 10y ago
    Isn’t it supposed to be a meal or something? Nine grams isn’t that much compared to e.g. a muffin (~30 g).
    - adrianN 10y ago
      A muffin is not a meal though. A juicy steak with a side of grilled vegetables has ~0g sugar.
      - gohrt 10y ago
        I tried that. I got sick after I eat a juicy steak that I put in the trunk of my car last week.
        webscaleizfun 10y ago
Taek 10y ago
Eating a meal takes a lot of time. You've got to prepare it, clean up afterwards, and take your mind off of whatever you are doing. Or you have to order it, and then still usually there's some cleanup and interaction. The liquid Soylent is about as disruptive as drinking water. That's really useful to me when I'm sucked into a programming challenge or research task. Sometimes I'll go 3-4 days doing nothing but work and sleep. A meal is really disruptive during those times, because I just want my head fully integrated into the problems I'm working on.
- summarite 10y ago
  If that's a regular schedule for you - Don't you feel you're missing out on living life?
  - sgdesign 10y ago
    Telling someone they're "missing out on living life" just because they don't do the same thing as you is really condescending.
    - Taek 10y ago
      I don't think it was meant that way, I didn't take offense.
  - Taek 10y ago
    When I'm really sucked into a problem is one of the few times that I feel fully alive. It's like being in a flow state for multiple days, pushing every cognitive resource I have to reach a solution. I think it happens less than once a month, and almost always lasts less than a week. I do wish that I went hiking more often, camping more often, and I wish that I had more social interactions that were free of social and business undertones.
    - cyberferret 10y ago
      You sound like me 25 years ago. I assume you are still young (20-30?) but I would urge you to take a look at your lifestyle and habits now, with a view to changing it to incorporate more of your hiking and camping and social interactions that you mention. I once felt that living like you currently are was sustainable and that I would be impervious to the long term effects, but now that I have hit the half century mark, I am finding I suffer from all sorts of back and shoulder pain from sitting for extended programming sessions lasting days. I also have rapidly degrading eyesight, and high risk of glaucoma from staring at screens all day every day, and I have other health and digestive issues from not eating regular healthy meals, or drinking enough water back in the day. It is highly likely that the lifestyle you are accustomed to will turn around and bite you one day. Make changes now so that you don't end up the same as this old programmer. :)
praxulus 10y ago
Surely cleaning up after cooking is almost always a chore, no matter how delicious the food was?
- nemo44x 10y ago
  You could also take pride in cleaning and maintaining your tools. It's rather fast if you don't burn your food and if you use proper cleaning agents like "Barkeepers Friend" when soap isn't appropriate.
- fernandotakai 10y ago
  i usually cleanup while i listen to an audiobook/music. it's not a chore.
nsxwolf 10y ago
How can you eat 5,000 kcal a day and not be a huge fat pig? How many miles a day do you need to run to burn that off? I used to be a normal weight, but I had to eat 1,200 kcals and run 4 miles a day.
- Evgeny 10y ago
  How can you eat 5,000 kcal a day and not be a huge fat pig? How many miles a day do you need to run to burn that off? On the days when I lift weights I eat close to 5K calories, sometimes even a little more, depending on the commute. All of my daily commute is by bike, including taking my kid to and from the kindergarten, and later to some extra activities (welcome to Denmark), which can be anywhere between 20 and 35 km total for the day. I'm 178 cm and weigh around 79 kg.
  - ensiferum 10y ago
    Thats quite a bit of cycling. Don't you think all that cycling is getting into your lifting? I used to cycle about 10km a day and found that it was already hampering leg training at the gym.
    - gaius 10y ago
      Not if you are eating 5000 kcals and getting enough sleep...
    - Evgeny 10y ago
      I actually changed my approach to lifting a little and now following the principles described by Greg Nuckols in his article about increasing work capacity http://strengtheory.com/increasing-work-capacity/ http://strengtheory.com/increasing-work-capacity/ So essentially every week I'm doing just a little bit more volume in every exercise, either by adding a little weight, or an extra rep. So far I'm able to do it consistently for a few months so I guess I'm recovering well. Then of course there is all that "getting used to it" thing where you do something long enough and get into it gradually and increase little by little and you're fine. I worked originally about 5 km from home and it felt like it was enough cycling there and back. Then I changed my job and now I was 11 km from home so I started combining bike + train for a while because that felt like too much to cycle. Then one sunny day I cycled all the way home. I realized two things: 1) I'm not that tired and 2) I cut 10 minutes off my train + bike commute. So now I bike all the way and save time and money at the same time! Win-win!
BurningFrog 10y ago
Don't you ever have things to do? I like a great meal a lot, but if that was the three top events each day, I'd consider it an empty life.
- briandear 10y ago
  You are clearly not French or have you lived there. A great meal should absolutely be one of the highlights of a day. Food can be (and should be) the catalyst of great conversations, great ideas or even meditative self-reflection. Soylent seems to me to be a hipster Ultra Slim Fast and consumed for the exact same reasons legions of working women have that stuff in office refrigerators. I can respect that people have different priorities than a great meal each day, but I can also pity them.
  - BurningFrog 10y ago
    Even if I was French, I would be happy to ignore arguments about how I must to things because it's The French Way.
- ng12 10y ago
  Who said anything about that? Of course I have things to do, but grabbing a sandwich from the deli on my block is almost as fast as soylent and much more enjoyable. Although from this thread I'm starting to think the real reason many people dislike Soylent is the holier-than-thou attitude many of it's supporters seem to sport :)
TeMPOraL 10y ago
> This is the problem. That concept is completely foreign to a lot of people (me included). The combination of my body's needs and the way I was raised lead me to view each meal as an opportunity to be enjoyed, never a chore. Different people, different concepts :). I used a Soylent clone in the past to replace breakfast/lunch and I liked it. I feel I might be unique at that among my coworkers, but I e.g. really prefer eating at my desk - I can parallelize it with work, or reading a book, or reading HN, which is infinitely more interesting to me than eating out with most people. > but I'll never understand that feeling of "ugh, I need to eat, guess I'll have a Soylent". My mother was on a diet plan once, where they suggested two options for meals each day, and if you really didn't feel like eating that, you could replace it with a protein shake. There were days when that shake really was the best alternative, and it allowed her to stick to the plan instead of giving up.
mbrock 10y ago
That's a problem of empathy. You can't understand how other people would have this specific feeling or practice. Obviously though many people do have it. There seems to be something very unsettling to people like you about the idea of "meal replacement". To me it appears to be a kind of cultural conservatism, like it's an attack on "family values".
- ng12 10y ago
  It's not about empathy. The original poster was asking why people don't understand Soylent, and my answer is that it's solving a problem that they never even considered could be a problem.
dimino 10y ago
But do you understand that based on the way I was raised, eat was the thing you did because if you didn't you'd literally die? There is no cultural value to food, for me. There is no social value that I find appealing about food.
- ng12 10y ago
  Right, I do understand that! That's the whole point. Your experience is completely foreign to me which is why I didn't understand Soylent's purpose when it first came out. It's like trying to sell an umbrella to a nomad in the Sahara.
mcv 10y ago
Not everybody is the same. Maybe it's not for you, but for people to busy with something else to think about what to eat, soylent is a lot better than fast food, a bar, whatever random crap you have lying around, or skipping a meal.
ubercore 10y ago
That's not _the_ problem, it just means Soylent isn't for you. Which is cool. I love Soylent 2.0. I'm very happy that I can get a decent chunk of my calories from a vegan source with little effort and lots of convenience. Maybe it's the way Soylent markets itself, but I don't understand why people are so _personally_ offended by it. Just... don't eat it.
sliverstorm 10y ago
It depends a little on what you choose to eat. Hitting my calorie goals would be easy if I ate fast food, but I'm trying to bulk while avoiding refined carbs and keeping my fruit & vegetable intake up. There's a volume challenge - 5,000kcal is only 1.5lb of butter, but 32lb of broccoli. There's also a mechanical challenge- chewing constantly (e.g. when eating lots of vegetables) is emotionally exhausting. I do acknowledge it's possible there are people out there for whom there is simply no greater joy than eating, who would eat nonstop with joy. But, not everyone is like that.
Raphmedia 10y ago
> This is the problem. That concept is completely foreign to a lot of people (me included). When I arrive home to an empty apartment at 9PM, I sure as hell don't feel like cooking. Sure, I cook great meals during the weekend and the days I come home early. But cooking when you got back from a big day of work + an infernal commute is cooking nothing but a chore. Edit: That being said, I'll drink a regular liquid meal and only if all the other alternatives can't be done (no food in the fridge, I am not home, I need to eat in the car, etc.) I don't see the need to get Soylent either.

joe_the_user 10y ago

"It's not [...] supposed to replace all meals." Wait, "Soylent is an open source meal REPLACEMENT[emph added], advertised as a "staple meal", available in liquid and powdered forms as a beverage, and as a solid-form meal bar. Its creators state that Soylent meets all nutritional requirements for an average adult." If something is advertised as a "meal replacement", it seems likely that people will use it to ... replace their meals - for those inclined, that would mean "all meals". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_(food) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_(food)

rockdiesel 10y ago
Also, they originally advertised it with copy like "A full day of balanced nutrition prepared in 3 minutes for $3/meal" and "What if you never have to worry about food again?" https://web.archive.org/web/20150515220800/https://www.soylent.com/ https://web.archive.org/web/20150515220800/https://www.soyle...
JauntyHatAngle 10y ago
Well yeah, you don't eat one meal your whole life. You have multiple meals in a day. But regardless, they went for that angle in the early days because it got them the advertising and funding. It got the attention, it's good marketing. Nowadays they bill it as a meal replacer, in the respect of you CAN replace whatever meal you want with it without having to worry about the effort or time it takes to prepare/research a good balanced meal. All that said, I don't personally use the stuff but would like to try it out.

benevol 10y ago

Processed food is always a bad idea. It's simple, really: The closer your are to nature, the better you feel (because the healthier you are). Our body is happier when we spend our time in nature instead of artificial environment (there are studies on that subject) and we are less cancerous when we eat natural food (as opposed to processed food). Every time we step away from our nature, we sabotage ourselves.

cheiVia0 10y ago
MMM, delicious natural snake venom.
- vidarh 10y ago
  I'm partial to that all-natural cyanide myself. With a uranium chaser.
JauntyHatAngle 10y ago
....you realise people are living longer than they ever have before, even though we all live in bigass cities - the literal antithesis of nature.
pvaldes 10y ago
Well, you have a point, but our ancestors eated carrion... mmhhh, sweet, sweet carrion. Start cooking food was a big step. Too much of nature and your body can turn into an aquatic park.

davnn 10y ago

It's not that people are too stupid to understand, they just did a really bad job telling us, but it kind of was their PR strategy. Look how many articles there are "I ate Soylent only for X days". Let's see how long it takes them to lose that image of a complete food replacement.

JauntyHatAngle 10y ago
True that, it helped them get the funding and the interest so it was a great marketing strategy. But now that people understand the theory (ie you can supply someone with all the nutrition they need from the one product) they are going a bit more on a sane sort of image. Soylent makes perfect sense in the context of a meal replacer for busy or lazy people. But even the original creator stopped eating it at all times because he missed the "social aspect of eating".

summarite 10y ago

That's probably just me but a lifestyle where you have no time to take a break (or meet friends/colleagues) and eat doesn't sound very healthy and not very desirable either. I understand the desire to optimise eating times and life overall, and sometimes there's a lot of work that seems important, but at the point where you drink a supplement rather than eat it seems there's no life left in what should be more than just a person working and sleeping (or napping if you're in the sleep optimiser boat..) . Probably it's all not that black and white, you like the convenience etc, but damn it just sounds sad. I also used to try to optimise my life to have impact etc, until i realised that i don't want to miss out on also living it.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
briandear 10y ago
Why is this getting downvoted? It is incredibly sad when meals need 'replacing.' I understand once in awhile, but it seems like people are habitually making meal replacement a viable lifestyle choice. It IS sad, downvotes or not.
beachstartup 10y ago
don't worry, you're not alone. unfortunately i do have to skip meals occasionally but i always try to get something reasonable. eating an avocado with some seasoning, or other fruit like a banana, or some cheese, or some turkey slices, or a small bag of carrots, or hell even skipping a meal so i can eat a little more at dinner without blowing my calorie budget -- sounds infinitely more appetizing than drinking some lab-made slop that comes in a bottle. the possibilities are literally endless. i've known since high school that there are some people out there that view eating as a nuisance but i didn't know there were so many that were in the tech industry. everyone i've ever known in tech loved eating/cooking/meals out/whatever (obviously i've been self-selecting my social group!)
cauterized 10y ago
What if you usually break for lunch with colleagues but just have some days when you don't get a chance to take a break - you're not planning a life without breaks, but the database server crashes and shit happens? What if you schedule your workday too tightly to break for lunch specifically so that you can leave the office earlier and spend time with the people you love? What if you'd rather spend an extra hour a couple times a week hiking with your friends / family rather than chopping vegetables and scrubbing pots? What if spending less time on food ENABLES you to live your life instead of missing out?

bootload 10y ago

"Why don't people understand? It's so simple: Soylent is for meals you don't care about but need. It's not a) the ONLY food you can eat or b) supposed to replace all meals." Problem already solved, MRE [0] and discussed [1]. [0] Example here is a Patrol Ration One Man (PR1M) used in the ADF ~ https://flickr.com/photos/bootload/4549780731/in/set-72157623926788156/ https://flickr.com/photos/bootload/4549780731/in/set-7215762... [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1665563 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1665563

6nf 10y ago

> Soylent is for meals you don't care about but need. But there are already so many meal replacements on the market, from companies that actually know what they are doing. Why choose soylent? Soylent is not the cheapest. It's not the tastiest. It doesn't have the best macro balance. Why soylent and not one of the trusted brands?

aianus 10y ago
Please point me to an existing trusted meal replacement brand that has a balanced nutritional profile. No, Ensure, Slimfast, Boost, etc. are not balanced (eg. too much sugar and vitamins, not enough calories and fiber).

NumberCruncher 10y ago

>> Soylent is for meals you don't care about but need Thanks god for creating apples and bananas and thanks the grocery stores for selling them all the year round. And thanks the Germans for putting a bakery on every corner.

akvadrako 10y ago
Those are not nutritionally complete, fruits go bad and most people don't live next to an open bakery.
- NumberCruncher 10y ago
  Not all of your meals has to be "nutritionally complete". You can store apples during the whole winter if you have below 0 degrees outside. We did it when I was young. Quality of life does not starts with a 6 digit salary and ends with working on the next Uber for X. Living in the right country/city with the right people can case you a lot of happiness. I know because I was born behind the iron curtain.
  - akvadrako 10y ago
    So instead of Soylent you are suggesting people live in the right country/city with the right people? Uh-huh.
    - NumberCruncher 10y ago
      Not exactly. Insted of drinking Soylent go to a nearby shop and by some apples and rye bread. If there are any shops... you maybe just found a market gap. Opening one you could make your city to a better place for living.
      - DanBC 10y ago
        Food deserts in the US are pretty common. That makes it harder for people to get nutritious, cheap, fresh food.

gohrt 10y ago

Why do you buy Soylent instead of Ensure? https://ensure.com/nutrition-products/protein-shakes-healthy-drinks https://ensure.com/nutrition-products/protein-shakes-healthy... Is it cheaper? More complete? Dehydrated?

OilDerek 10y ago
It seems like the answer to this and similar questions on here, which is Soylent's true "innovation" in my estimation, is that Soylent is the first meal replacement with young men as a target market. Meal replacements are pretty convenient, but if you're an 18-25 y.o. man I have a feeling there's a nonzero level of stigma (real or just feared) associated with drinking SlimFast ("women's drink") or Ensure ("old people drink") all the time. Before now all there was for young people were protein shakes + multivitamin, which is also possibly too associated with bodybuilding/gym rats for comfort for some people. But if you're a young man drinking Soylent, this hip new VC-backed tech fuel drink, it occupies a similar mental association space to Red Bull. I can't help just seeing it as a marketing thing.
cauterized 10y ago
Less sweet. I was on a liquid diet for a while for medical reasons. Ensure (and other drinks in that space) are horrifyingly sugary, and even their "diabetic" formula is disgustingly sweet and high in simple processed carbs that are a half step up from sucrose. They're also extremely low in fiber. Additionally, though the vitamins and minerals are balanced for consuming four per day, you'd have to drink 8-10 of them daily to fill the caloric needs of a healthy and not particularly active adult. Sugar is a surprisingly inefficient source of calories on the scale of an adult's daily metabolic needs. Soylent has a very neutral flavor that can be seasoned for a sweet or savory effect, and a bottle has roughly the right amount of calories for a meal for an adult. If you're moderately active and eating nothing else, around 5 per day will suffice. Even on a liquid diet, I ate other things besides soylent, and I struggled to consume enough calories to meet my basal metabolic rate - below which your body will start consuming itself for energy. (Forget maintaining your original weight on a liquid diet at all.) Whole milk, you say? I was forbidden to consume significant amounts of lactose. Unfortunately, the vast majority of options were either extremely sweet or would fill your stomach without providing meaningful nutrition (a cup of chicken broth has 10 calories!) Despite usually being a chocolate hound, after two weeks of that I would gag at the thought of a m&m. Soylent at least was neutral and would keep me feeling full for a little while.

DanBC 10y ago

> Why don't people understand? > It's not [...] b) supposed to replace all meals. That's not how it was advertised during launch and the kickstarter. It was heavily pushed as a sole source of nutrition. People are only repeating what Soylent said.

mcv 10y ago
I think the point was that it could, but doesn't have to, replace all meals.
- DanBC 10y ago
  So, Soylent push it as a sole source of nutrition, and some people use it as such, but then when there are problems people say "but you shouldn't do that", even though most of the people experiencing the problems aren't doing that and even though it's something pushed as possible by Soylent. If you can use Soylent as a sole source of nutrition there shouldn't be anyone in this thread saying that Soylent is never meant to be used as a sole source of nutrition. If you can't use it as such then Soylent have been irresponsible in their marketing (although they have toned it down a bit).

gaius 10y ago

Right, but where's the tech innovation? I mean check it: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Met-Rx https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Met-Rx - meal replacement powders/shakes have been around for a looooong time, and you can order online too...

jonathanstrange 10y ago

That's what I don't get. Most people have difficulties keeping their weight in check rather than vice versa, and you can get all kind of snacks, ranging from healthy to extremely unhealthy, practically everywhere. Streets and shops and cafés are plastered with food, the abundance is mind-boggling if you think about it (or come from some really poor country). How is mixing & drinking a glass of Soylent easier or less time consuming than eating a sandwich with cheese & lettuce? Or an apple?

stonewhite 10y ago
It is just more nutritionally sound and low effort compared to almost all other quick fixes.
Klathmon 10y ago
For me it's the storage. Lettuce goes bad, fruits rot, bread gets moldy, all within a short timeframe. I buy some Soylent and it will be good there for a while. So when I'm hungry and we are out of bread, now it's a 30 second meal vs a 30 minutes or more to run to the store.
- ksherlock 10y ago
  > Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getting sick >I buy some Soylent and it will be good there for a while.
  - Klathmon 10y ago
    ... Which as far as I or anyone else knows has nothing to do with it's shelf-life. Regardless, I'm hoping you realize that I was being general and using "Soylent" as the example there because that was the topic of conversation. Also your comment is especially funny to me as I've never purchased Soylent the product. I have things similar to it, but I've never bought any Soylent. Once they get this figured out, I might try their bars, but they seem a bit expensive for me which is why I'm always apprehensive to pull the trigger.

cauterized 10y ago

Exactly. Twice this week I've been in meetings that ran long and left me with no time for lunch. I keep a box of soylent under my desk specifically for days like this. Without food I get "hangry" and can't concentrate. I can chug a bottle of soylent in a minute or two between meetings, or sip from it instead of from a water glass, without being even as disruptive as an energy bar would be. (Plus I can't stand how sugary those things are.) It's a terrible substitute for a salad but there's every reason to believe it's better for you than a slice of pizza or a bag of chips. Like any other food, it has a place in a healthy diet as long as it's in moderation.

eloisant 10y ago

Yes, Soylent is Slim-Fast. Just with a different marketing pitch.

kaitai 10y ago

I think you're right -- Soylent is for meals you don't care about but need, and it's marketed with a message that appeals to men, unlike SlimFast. You gotta admit that all the folks responding who are talking about how Soylent feeds their programming mania feel way cooler & smarter drinking Soylent, the techy solution, as opposed to SlimFast, the 1970s ladies' drink, or EAS Myoplex Ketogenic Meal Replacement, the bodybuilder's choice! Only one of these companies is venture-backed!

Balgair 10y ago

Its a more fundamental misunderstanding. You don't have time to eat, that is why you use this product. A lot of the other commenters cannot conceive of that world view as a regular state. Along with myself, if I don't have time to eat something that is fine. If this happens more than once a week/month, I am going to change my life as obviously something is very wrong with the way I am living it. To me, food is part of the reason for living. It's social, tasty, visceral, primal, fun, enjoyable, etc. It makes me who I am and is a part of my identity. For you, that is not necessarily true, as far as I can read about you in a single comment. Like, if I am dashing out the door and don't have time to cook a breakfast, then fine, Soylent is ok. If I have done this more than once in my week, I am going to wake up much earlier and go to bed earlier too in order to make that breakfast and prep my lunches that are tasty and good for me. If I have to work late, fine, Soylent. If that happens a lot in my life, I am going to start quickly looking for another job that lets me see my wife and kids and eat dinners with them and have fun making the food too and doing the dishes. A habit of missing meals is not on the table for me. I will never order a box of soylent, as I will never need it. If I ever go through that much, something is very very wrong with my life and needs immediate change. I know this is not true of you and many of Soylent's customers, and I don't mean to disparage you. I just want to explain the misunderstanding. They obviously have a customer base, yourself included, but for many of us, using Soylent habitually is impossible to understand.