4 ms·

There's no indication of long-term anything from Soylent, just people screaming that it must be bad, or people screaming that it's the future. It's mostly a ton

by M_Grey 10y ago

There's no indication of long-term anything from Soylent, just people screaming that it must be bad, or people screaming that it's the future. It's mostly a ton of anecdote, and no reason to believe that it's particularly harmful, or particularly healthy in the long-term. My feeling? You want to beta-test that with your health, I won't stop you, but I won't join you either.

WillPostForFood 10y ago
All diet choices amount to beta testing with your health. There is no (known) correct way to eat, so we choose the best we can based culture/health class/news stories/diet gurus/doctors. It is very hard to make the case that eating Soylent (never tried it myself), is meaningfully different from choosing to go macrobiotic, or paleo, or following the food pyramid.
- M_Grey 10y ago
  How about just... eating food? I know, I know... so unpopular, but "Paleo, Macro..." all of that crap? Let it go. Outside of people trying to sell you shit, including books, the best advice you'll ever get is just to eat a relatively balanced diet, keep up fiber intake, and maintain a healthy weight. Whether you prefer or personally thrive more on meaty diets, or eating a lot of barley isn't really that hard to figure out. You don't need to chug slurry 24/7, or eschew all carbs to achieve it. Avoid too much of any one thing, avoid too much processed crap (not because it's inherently bad, but because it's usually loaded with salt and sugar), and learn to cook. It's hardly a science, but you have large historical samples of people living that way, compared to a couple years of someone telling you that you can spend the rest of your days drinking the latest gray sludge.
  - WillPostForFood 10y ago
    There is no such thing as just "eating food" - you are making diet choices, consciously and/or subconsciously in everything you choose to eat. Your comment is loaded with all sorts of diet judgement (fiber good, salt bad, balanced good, processed bad). We could find out barley causes cancer, or even though you thrive on a meaty diet, it causes heart disease. Or diet doesn't matter and it is all genetic or micro-biome. There is no diet that isn't beta testing.
    - M_Grey 10y ago
      The odds of finding out that something like barley and chicken are especially carcinogenic are a lot less than the odds that Soylent or Paleo or some other fad is frankly unhealthy. Ignore the bulk of nutrition "research" which is after all, crap, and focus on the few things that are relatively sound. High fiber, healthy weight, good blood levels, get your nutrients. It's not that hard.
      - brandon272 10y ago
        Couldn't it be argued that it's "relatively sound" that as long as you get a good balance of calories and macro and micro nutrients, which is exactly what Soylent provides, that you are on a good path? FWIW, on the topic of healthy weight, the Soylent forum has many anecdotes of people who have used the product to lose (or gain!) weight because it allows them to easily count calories without having to spend time scanning products into MyFitnessPal every day and weighing all of their food.
      - WillPostForFood 10y ago
        The idea of "healthy weight, good blood levels, get your nutrients" is the goal of every diet I am aware of. But as for what goes in your mouth to achieve it, there is a plethora of conflicting ideas. I totally agree that the bulk of nutrition research is crap, which is why I put a barley and chicken diet, vegan diet, paleo diet, and Soylent diet in the same "beta testing" category.
  - Frondo 10y ago
    My favorite two pieces of food advice both come from Michael Pollan: "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants." And: "Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food."
    - cthalupa 10y ago
      I hate the second quote. My great-gradmother wouldn't recognize all sorts of delicious cuisine from other culture's as food. A better one might be "Don't eat anything someone's great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food"

by M_Grey 10y ago

WillPostForFood 10y ago

All diet choices amount to beta testing with your health. There is no (known) correct way to eat, so we choose the best we can based culture/health class/news stories/diet gurus/doctors. It is very hard to make the case that eating Soylent (never tried it myself), is meaningfully different from choosing to go macrobiotic, or paleo, or following the food pyramid.

M_Grey 10y ago
How about just... eating food? I know, I know... so unpopular, but "Paleo, Macro..." all of that crap? Let it go. Outside of people trying to sell you shit, including books, the best advice you'll ever get is just to eat a relatively balanced diet, keep up fiber intake, and maintain a healthy weight. Whether you prefer or personally thrive more on meaty diets, or eating a lot of barley isn't really that hard to figure out. You don't need to chug slurry 24/7, or eschew all carbs to achieve it. Avoid too much of any one thing, avoid too much processed crap (not because it's inherently bad, but because it's usually loaded with salt and sugar), and learn to cook. It's hardly a science, but you have large historical samples of people living that way, compared to a couple years of someone telling you that you can spend the rest of your days drinking the latest gray sludge.
- WillPostForFood 10y ago
  There is no such thing as just "eating food" - you are making diet choices, consciously and/or subconsciously in everything you choose to eat. Your comment is loaded with all sorts of diet judgement (fiber good, salt bad, balanced good, processed bad). We could find out barley causes cancer, or even though you thrive on a meaty diet, it causes heart disease. Or diet doesn't matter and it is all genetic or micro-biome. There is no diet that isn't beta testing.
  - M_Grey 10y ago
    The odds of finding out that something like barley and chicken are especially carcinogenic are a lot less than the odds that Soylent or Paleo or some other fad is frankly unhealthy. Ignore the bulk of nutrition "research" which is after all, crap, and focus on the few things that are relatively sound. High fiber, healthy weight, good blood levels, get your nutrients. It's not that hard.
    - brandon272 10y ago
      Couldn't it be argued that it's "relatively sound" that as long as you get a good balance of calories and macro and micro nutrients, which is exactly what Soylent provides, that you are on a good path? FWIW, on the topic of healthy weight, the Soylent forum has many anecdotes of people who have used the product to lose (or gain!) weight because it allows them to easily count calories without having to spend time scanning products into MyFitnessPal every day and weighing all of their food.
    - WillPostForFood 10y ago
      The idea of "healthy weight, good blood levels, get your nutrients" is the goal of every diet I am aware of. But as for what goes in your mouth to achieve it, there is a plethora of conflicting ideas. I totally agree that the bulk of nutrition research is crap, which is why I put a barley and chicken diet, vegan diet, paleo diet, and Soylent diet in the same "beta testing" category.
- Frondo 10y ago
  My favorite two pieces of food advice both come from Michael Pollan: "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants." And: "Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food."
  - cthalupa 10y ago
    I hate the second quote. My great-gradmother wouldn't recognize all sorts of delicious cuisine from other culture's as food. A better one might be "Don't eat anything someone's great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food"