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What advantage does Soylent have over say, other meal replacements e.g. Slimfast, weight watcher shakes, juices etc that have existed for years before it and wi

What advantage does Soylent have over say, other meal replacements e.g. Slimfast, weight watcher shakes, juices etc that have existed for years before it and will continue to do so for years after? All I see is SV hype and marketing. In fact you just showed that Soylent is easily outplayed because you switched to a different drink already.

jefftk 9y ago
Slimfast has 4x as much sugar as Soylent (per-calorie). To get 2000 calories from Slimfast you'd be getting 180g sugar, while with Soylent it would be 45g. Now 45g is a little higher than recommended, but 180g is way too high. http://d8m5oga7foiu.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/NF-50007-S003-OriginalChocoRoyale_shake.jpg http://d8m5oga7foiu.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/1... http://files.soylent.com/pdf/soylent-drink-nutrition-facts-en.pdf http://files.soylent.com/pdf/soylent-drink-nutrition-facts-e...
- kunaalarya 9y ago
  not sure where you got the slimfast nutritional info but they have 1g of sugar: http://slimfast.com/advanced-nutrition/#shakes http://slimfast.com/advanced-nutrition/#shakes if it had that much sugar, it wouldve never gained a reputation for losing weight.
  - wattson12 9y ago
    looks like the "original" versions have much more sugar: http://slimfast.com/original/#shakes http://slimfast.com/original/#shakes
  - maxerickson 9y ago
    Original vs Advanced (click the buttons on their website to find Original). The Original I checked had 18 grams of sugar.
    - Chathamization 9y ago
      And it looks like Advanced was introduced after Soylent.
  - Obi_Juan_Kenobi 9y ago
    > if it had that much sugar, it wouldve never gained a reputation for losing weight. Ah, I see you've forgotten about the 'low-fat' era. Efficacy has very little to do with the popularity of diets.
  - Lazare 9y ago
    That's a hilariously naive comment. Historically, diet shakes/meal replacement shakes/etc have been almost entirely sugar, and slimfast is infamous for exactly that. > if it had that much sugar, it wouldve never gained a reputation for losing weight. That's not how advertising works. :) (There is a new variant of slimfast with low sugar, but that's a very recent exception to the rule. Most slimfast is high sugar, and historically all slimfast was high sugar. It's like arguing "coke doesn't have lots of sugar", and linking the nutritional information to diet coke.)
BugsJustFindMe 9y ago
> What advantage does Soylent have over say, other meal replacements e.g. Slimfast, weight watcher shakes, juices etc Which of those examples are actual food replacements instead of liquid candy blasted with vitamins? Slimfast high protein is the only option I see online that doesn't include huge amounts of sugar, but a single 180 calorie shake also gives way too much vitamins and protein to be sane times 10, which is what you need to get a day's worth of calories from it. Weight watchers shakes look like they have exactly the same issue as slimfast high protein, except with more sugar and more servings required. So here you are crapping on the product, but you actually haven't pointed to a realistic replacement for it.
- atomical 9y ago
  Protein isn't a panacea. Eating 2,000 calories of Soylent a day would mean consuming 100 grams of protein. That's unnecessary for the average person.
  - viridian 9y ago
    Man, I wish I needed 100g of protein a day. I try to be very conservative on my intake, and I still need 142g minimum at 180 pounds.
    - rhblake 9y ago
      RDA for protein is 0.8g/kg (~0.36/pound), so about 65g in your case if you're sedentary. 1g/pound is an old bodybuilder myth according to this article [0] which goes through various studies: "many review papers have concluded 0.82g/lb is the upper limit at which protein intake benefits body composition". This is for strength athletes and bodybuilders, mind you: most people (even many athletes) need far, far less. [0] http://bayesianbodybuilding.com/the-myth-of-1glb-optimal-protein-intake-for-bodybuilders/ http://bayesianbodybuilding.com/the-myth-of-1glb-optimal-pro...
      - BugsJustFindMe 9y ago
        > 1g/pound is an old bodybuilder myth according to this article Except that every time I've ever seen/heard it from bodybuilders it has always been 1g per lean pound which fits pretty well with your 0.82 figure accounting for typical bodyfat percentages. So your article is arguing a strawman and they've been right all along.
aroman 9y ago
Brand. Unlike the examples you mentioned, Soylent is not a "lose weight" brand. As an undergrad in college, Soylent is everywhere. Can't remember the last time I saw any of those other meal replacements.
- scott_s 9y ago
  Neither is Ensure a "lose weight" brand. But Ensure is an old-people brand. So Soylent (and Ample, which I learned about in this thread) are basically Ensure for young people.
  - covercash 9y ago
    Nutrition facts for those interested in comparing: Soylent - http://files.soylent.com/pdf/soylent-drink-nutrition-facts-en.pdf http://files.soylent.com/pdf/soylent-drink-nutrition-facts-e... Ensure - http://c4.q-assets.com/images/products/p/ab/ab-116_3z.jpg http://c4.q-assets.com/images/products/p/ab/ab-116_3z.jpg Ample - https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1096/7494/products/Ample_400_Nutrition_v2.png https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1096/7494/products/Ample_4... https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1096/7494/products/Ample_Ingredients_v2.png https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1096/7494/products/Ample_I... Edit: added Ample info.
    - nazgulnarsil 9y ago
      https://www.blendrunner.com/ https://www.blendrunner.com/ has a huge table.
    - lancewiggs 9y ago
      How bad does a food system have to be to get to the point where people deliberately choose to eat this? Filtered Water, Soy Protein Isolate, Maltodextrin, High Oleic Algal Oil, Isomaltulose, Canola Oil, Rice Starch, Oat Fiber, Isomaltooligosaccharide, Soy Lecithin, Potassium Chloride, Calcium Phosphate, Magnesium Phosphate, Natural & Artificial Flavors, Dipotassium Phosphate, Salt, Choline Chloride, Gellan Gum, Sodium Ascorbate, dl-alpha-Tocopheryl Acetate, Ferrous Gluconate, Zinc Sulfate, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Niacinamide, Sucralose, Thiamin Hydrochloride, Copper Gluconate, Manganese Sulfate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Vitamin A Palmitate, Riboflavin, Chromium Chloride, Biotin, Folic Acid, Sodium Molybdate, Sodium Selenite, Phytonadione, Potassium Iodide, Vitamin B12, Vitamin D. Contains: Soy
johnfn 9y ago
> easily outplayed because you switched to a different drink already. Not really. Soylent is much cheaper than Ample, and that's a major plus for the cost conscious (which is a lot of people!) As for the other ones - honestly mostly marketing I'd imagine. I've never heard of any product billed as a "nutritionally complete" meal. SlimFast to me sounds like a dieting product (as do weight watcher shakes), which isn't what I want at all. Non-dieting meal replacements, where they exist (I don't know the name of a single one!), just don't seem to target the same market that Soylent does. Do other products exist that do what Soylent does? I don't doubt it. I've never heard of them, though.
- int_19h 9y ago
  Check out Tsogo.
- maxerickson 9y ago
  Snickers?
- briantakita 9y ago
  I lived on Garden of Life's Raw Organic Meal + Green Vibrance + Alkaline Water for a while. https://www.gardenoflife.com/content/product/why-choose-raw-organic-meal/ https://www.gardenoflife.com/content/product/why-choose-raw-... https://www.vibranthealth.com/green-vibrance/ https://www.vibranthealth.com/green-vibrance/
  - Danihan 9y ago
    How did that go?
    - briantakita 9y ago
      It worked, though I had a few other items. Those products don't contain many fats nor carbs so I also had green juices, Garlic Hummus & Mary's Gone Crackers & eggs in the morning as well. What was nice about this combination was the ease of digestion. I was working from home & had an ashtanga yoga routine. Personally, I think it's better to have a diet of home-prepared food consisting of whole foods grown in good soil, but in the interest of time & (lack of) motivation to prepare meals, it worked for me.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
yegle 9y ago
Pro GMO: they are not hiding that they used a lot of GMO product, instead of selling you something organic with a huge premium. Glycemic Index/Glycemic Load: a quick search doesn't give me SlimFast's GI/GL info, while Soylent does post the number.
- ceejayoz 9y ago
  > Glycemic Index/Glycemic Load: a quick search doesn't give me SlimFast's GI/GL info, while Soylent does post the number. It's available. Seems weird to decide based on the availability of the number versus the number.
  - yegle 9y ago
    GI/GL is important for diabetes/prediabetes. The number is of course reasonable (mid-low GI/GL). I don't see result by searching "glycemic site:slimfast.com". There are some numbers posted on other websites (e.g. http://www.glycemicindex.com/foodSearch.php?num=1469&ak=detail http://www.glycemicindex.com/foodSearch.php?num=1469&ak=deta... which looks credible), but compare to Soylent's disclosure (https://faq.soylent.com/hc/en-us/articles/212769503-Glycemic-Data https://faq.soylent.com/hc/en-us/articles/212769503-Glycemic...) I'm more confident to choose Soylent instead of SlimFast. Out of curiosity, I also searched GI/GL info on amplemeal.com and found nothing.
- Dangeranger 9y ago
  A very quick look at the Slimfast page for their high protein product links the nutritional information. It shows that the mix has ~1g of sugars per serving, but is mixed with milk, so you'll need to account for that in your calculations depending on the type of milk you use for mixing. http://slimfast.com/advanced-nutrition/ http://slimfast.com/advanced-nutrition/
  - yegle 9y ago
    GI/GL is not directly related to the carbohydrate number on nutrition fact table. The number must be tested in a controlled environment. E.g. regular coke has a GI of 63 (source http://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/glycemic-index-and-glycemic-load-for-100-foods http://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/glycem...), and is considered medium GI, but of course it contains a lot of sugar.
Dangeranger 9y ago
This is my take as well. I don't see an innate advantage to Soylent over existing meal replacements like SlimFast. While Soylent has struggled with quality control, their competitors have been producing high volumes of equivalent products for many years, at better prices, and better name recognition to the american population outside of SV.
- johnfn 9y ago
  I personally would never have slimfast because I'm not on a diet! This feels like a large distinction that you are missing here. If there are non-diet meal replacements, I don't know if any, which clearly seems like an opportunity for a product such as Soylent.
  - macspoofing 9y ago
    >If there are non-diet meal replacements Millions.
    - johnfn 9y ago
      Im going to copy a response I made to someone else in this thread: The fact that at least 4 people in this thread have mentioned "meal replacements" but not a single one has named a specific product I would know by name (non dieting!) seems to me a pretty clear indictment that this category is not as established as you are suggesting.
      - axlprose 9y ago
        the meal replacement (or "MRP") is extremely well established. Just walk into any nutrition store like GNC or VitaminShoppe and they'll likely have a whole section devoted to MRPs right next to the protein shakes/bars. And as for specific products... - https://www.bodybuilding.com/store/vega/one.html https://www.bodybuilding.com/store/vega/one.html - https://www.bodybuilding.com/store/garden-of-life/raw-organic-meal.html https://www.bodybuilding.com/store/garden-of-life/raw-organi... - https://www.iherb.com/pr/Madre-Labs-Zenbu-Shake-Meal-Replacement-Powder-With-Prebiotics-Probiotics-and-Plant-Based-Protein-Chocolate-Flavor-16-4-oz-465-g/69283 https://www.iherb.com/pr/Madre-Labs-Zenbu-Shake-Meal-Replace... - https://www.iherb.com/pr/Now-Foods-Tru-Food-Vegan-Natural-Berry-Flavor-2-2-lbs-1-kg/16483 https://www.iherb.com/pr/Now-Foods-Tru-Food-Vegan-Natural-Be... - https://www.iherb.com/pr/Nature-s-Plus-Source-of-Life-Vitamin-Mineral-Protein-Energy-Shake-Creamy-Granola-Flavor-2-2-lbs-1014-g/7533 https://www.iherb.com/pr/Nature-s-Plus-Source-of-Life-Vitami... - https://www.iherb.com/pr/Orgain-Organic-Meal-All-In-One-Nutrition-Vanilla-Bean-2-01-lbs-912-g/69271 https://www.iherb.com/pr/Orgain-Organic-Meal-All-In-One-Nutr... - https://www.iherb.com/pr/PlantFusion-Phood-100-Whole-Food-Meal-Shake-Chocolate-Caramel-31-8-oz-900-g/55576 https://www.iherb.com/pr/PlantFusion-Phood-100-Whole-Food-Me... - https://www.iherb.com/pr/MRM-Veggie-Meal-Replacement-Chocolate-Mocha-3-lbs-1-361-g/62991 https://www.iherb.com/pr/MRM-Veggie-Meal-Replacement-Chocola... - https://www.iherb.com/pr/Pure-Advantage-MRP-Meal-Replacement-Shake-Chocolate-3-lbs-1380-g/45475 https://www.iherb.com/pr/Pure-Advantage-MRP-Meal-Replacement... - https://www.iherb.com/pr/Vibrant-Health-Maximum-Vibrance-Version-3-0-Vanilla-Bean-22-1-oz-626-4-g/47510 https://www.iherb.com/pr/Vibrant-Health-Maximum-Vibrance-Ver... - https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0038B1EOY/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0038B1EOY/ - https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00KS6WUUE/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00KS6WUUE/ - https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0184DGHHO/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0184DGHHO/ - https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004VRGS7W/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004VRGS7W/ - https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0088YQ8MO/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0088YQ8MO/ - https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01N2M3RK0/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01N2M3RK0/ - https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01N3Y7R1S/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01N3Y7R1S/ And those are just a few results from a quick search for "meal replacement" across 3 different stores. Now, I'm not against Soylent, and I'm definitely pro meal replacement products, but let's at least be honest here and call a spade a spade. Soylent's main differentiating factor is it's marketing pitch and that's ok, it doesn't have to be totally revolutionary to succeed.
macspoofing 9y ago
>All I see is SV hype and marketing. That's all it is. If Soylent brands itself as a normal meal replacement, that's not sexy. So Soylent branded itself as a food replacement - which is more interesting and more dangerous (I just cannot trust that replacing food with Soylent won't have unintended health consequences down the line).
- ljk 9y ago
  That's my impression as well, feels a lot like this juicer https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-04-19/silicon-valley-s-400-juicer-may-be-feeling-the-squeeze https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-04-19/silicon-v...
- yourthrowaway2 9y ago
  Well can't have Herbalife having all of the fun
PerfectElement 9y ago
The advantage, for me, is that there are no animal products in Soylent.
- i_am_viet 9y ago
  Except on those days when it isn't. https://techcrunch.com/2017/04/24/dairy-might-have-snuck-into-soylent-1-8-powder-prompting-recall/amp/ https://techcrunch.com/2017/04/24/dairy-might-have-snuck-int...
  - gnode 9y ago
    Unless you grow and prepare all your food yourself, you have this problem with anything.
    - DanBC 9y ago
      You have it disproportionately more often with Soylent. Other food manufacturers go for years, with tens of millions of units sold each day, without having a recall.
      - Karunamon 9y ago
        Other food manufacturers have been around for a lot longer.
        DanBC 9y ago
        So what? Plenty of new companies are capable of producing food in similar or greater volumes than Soylent is without any recalls, why has Soylent had more than one recall? Soylent aren't even doing the production; they're sub-contracting it out to existing companies.
        Karunamon 9y ago
        So, mass production is hard, supply chains are hard, shit happens. A recall of ~700 boxes isn't enough to damn the whole company.
ebiester 9y ago
I get what you're saying, but for many who have tried it, Soylent is simply better than ensure and slim fast. (Frankly, ensure is just too sweet.)
thaumaturgy 9y ago
You can't go hiking with Slimfast, Weight Watcher shakes, or juices. 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 carry a bag of dry Soylent in my SAR pack. When I get sent out on an assignment, I have no idea how long I might be out for. For less weight than any other option, I have dinner and breakfast and lunch if necessary. If I know in advance I'm going to be out hiking for more than about three hours, a pre-mixed solution of it in a Nalgene, with a quick chug here and there, really beats back the fatigue. The REI market is not small, and it's got a huge focus on ultralight, ultralight, ultralight now. Soylent really seems to be missing an opportunity here.
- int_19h 9y ago
  Out of curiosity, have you tried Tsogo for your SAR needs? I generally like Soylent better taste-wise; but one thing that Tsogo does, they pack their powder in fairly thick sealed mylar bags that can just be dropped in your backpack without worry of it spoiling (the shelf life is also on the same order of magnitude as freeze-dried food, so you can just put it there and forget it).
- irq11 9y ago
  Uh, you know that every REI has a wide selection of freeze-dried camping foods, right? They're a lot better than the idea of slurping down bland nutrient goo (but more power to you, if nutrient spooge is your preference, I suppose). As for price, I bought a 30-day supply of camp food for less than $100 on amazon.
  - fghvbnvbnfe 9y ago
    Those are really not alternatives to the mentioned uses. The freeze dried food selection is somewhat limited, tends to be very salty, takes substantially more time to prepare, and generates a lot of waste you get to continue hauling around. If your goals include speed or (less) weight, those freeze dried options are really far from ideal. To get around the weight issue you mostly need to plan and package your food yourself, which takes some time. If you're getting called out to do SAR you either need to have it done in advance or go with another option.
saturdaysaint 9y ago
There's a marked difference between all of the above if you take a cursory glance at the nutritional information. If you tried to eat a 2,000 calorie diet on classic Slim Fast, you'd be getting around 200 grams of sugar and over twice the recommended daily allowance of sodium. Ensure, Cliff Bars and a lot of other popular snacks of that kind compared about as unfavorably last time I checked. I agree with the common sentiment that Soylent's original goal/purpose - a simple powder/drink that could serve as one's sole source of nutrition - is sort of ridiculous, but it actually led to a remarkably well balanced product unlike anything on the mass market. It's remarkably filling and nutritionally well balanced for a convenience food.
- mdekkers 9y ago
  ...a simple powder/drink that could serve as one's sole source of nutrition - is sort of ridiculous Care to explain why? I am genuinely curious, as it sounds like an awesome idea.
Lewton 9y ago
This is a really weird myth that has started spreading lately. That somehow Soylent was just another meal replacement in a long line of meal replacements. No, none of the products you mentioned is anywhere near as nutritionally balanced as soylent. And those that are, clearly came after
- yourthrowaway2 9y ago
  This was posted last week https://www.blendrunner.com https://www.blendrunner.com
- Chathamization 9y ago
  Yeah, I've noticed that. It seems many people simply aren't aware of the state of meal replacement drinks when Soylent came out. People in the Soylent community actually looked at the other options at the time, but they were all fairly bad.
  - Lewton 9y ago
    Yes, exactly. The reason why I remember it so well is because I had been looking for something like Soylent for years before it came out
lukas099 9y ago
I drink a mix of whey/soy protein powder mixed in milk each morning. Does soylent have any advantages over that if I eat balanced meals the rest of the day?
- jdavis703 9y ago
  I like the Coffiest product because it's basically like green tea, due to the caffeine + l-theanine they add (basically you get calm energy). Also I have only 13 minutes from waking up to leaving my door each morning, so saving time from mixing anything up, chewing food, etc is very useful.
  - aisofteng 9y ago
    Do you shower?
    - Ftuuky 9y ago
      He could be like me and shower before going to bed.
- manmal 9y ago
  Depends on how balanced those other meals are. There are some nutrients in there that are not in every ordinary meal, like methylfolate. You could think of soylent as a weak multivitamin plus macronutrients. In an early report a tester talked about a fantastic energy boost, and I'd wager he was deficient in one of the nutrients soylent contains. In the case of methylfolate, it's actually better than most multivitamins which only contain folic acid, which is harder to metabolize (especially if you have a MTHFR mutation).
nommm-nommm 9y ago
Marketing.

jefftk 9y ago

Slimfast has 4x as much sugar as Soylent (per-calorie). To get 2000 calories from Slimfast you'd be getting 180g sugar, while with Soylent it would be 45g. Now 45g is a little higher than recommended, but 180g is way too high. http://d8m5oga7foiu.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/NF-50007-S003-OriginalChocoRoyale_shake.jpg http://d8m5oga7foiu.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/1... http://files.soylent.com/pdf/soylent-drink-nutrition-facts-en.pdf http://files.soylent.com/pdf/soylent-drink-nutrition-facts-e...

kunaalarya 9y ago
not sure where you got the slimfast nutritional info but they have 1g of sugar: http://slimfast.com/advanced-nutrition/#shakes http://slimfast.com/advanced-nutrition/#shakes if it had that much sugar, it wouldve never gained a reputation for losing weight.
- wattson12 9y ago
  looks like the "original" versions have much more sugar: http://slimfast.com/original/#shakes http://slimfast.com/original/#shakes
- maxerickson 9y ago
  Original vs Advanced (click the buttons on their website to find Original). The Original I checked had 18 grams of sugar.
  - Chathamization 9y ago
    And it looks like Advanced was introduced after Soylent.
- Obi_Juan_Kenobi 9y ago
  > if it had that much sugar, it wouldve never gained a reputation for losing weight. Ah, I see you've forgotten about the 'low-fat' era. Efficacy has very little to do with the popularity of diets.
- Lazare 9y ago
  That's a hilariously naive comment. Historically, diet shakes/meal replacement shakes/etc have been almost entirely sugar, and slimfast is infamous for exactly that. > if it had that much sugar, it wouldve never gained a reputation for losing weight. That's not how advertising works. :) (There is a new variant of slimfast with low sugar, but that's a very recent exception to the rule. Most slimfast is high sugar, and historically all slimfast was high sugar. It's like arguing "coke doesn't have lots of sugar", and linking the nutritional information to diet coke.)

BugsJustFindMe 9y ago

> What advantage does Soylent have over say, other meal replacements e.g. Slimfast, weight watcher shakes, juices etc Which of those examples are actual food replacements instead of liquid candy blasted with vitamins? Slimfast high protein is the only option I see online that doesn't include huge amounts of sugar, but a single 180 calorie shake also gives way too much vitamins and protein to be sane times 10, which is what you need to get a day's worth of calories from it. Weight watchers shakes look like they have exactly the same issue as slimfast high protein, except with more sugar and more servings required. So here you are crapping on the product, but you actually haven't pointed to a realistic replacement for it.

atomical 9y ago
Protein isn't a panacea. Eating 2,000 calories of Soylent a day would mean consuming 100 grams of protein. That's unnecessary for the average person.
- viridian 9y ago
  Man, I wish I needed 100g of protein a day. I try to be very conservative on my intake, and I still need 142g minimum at 180 pounds.
  - rhblake 9y ago
    RDA for protein is 0.8g/kg (~0.36/pound), so about 65g in your case if you're sedentary. 1g/pound is an old bodybuilder myth according to this article [0] which goes through various studies: "many review papers have concluded 0.82g/lb is the upper limit at which protein intake benefits body composition". This is for strength athletes and bodybuilders, mind you: most people (even many athletes) need far, far less. [0] http://bayesianbodybuilding.com/the-myth-of-1glb-optimal-protein-intake-for-bodybuilders/ http://bayesianbodybuilding.com/the-myth-of-1glb-optimal-pro...
    - BugsJustFindMe 9y ago
      > 1g/pound is an old bodybuilder myth according to this article Except that every time I've ever seen/heard it from bodybuilders it has always been 1g per lean pound which fits pretty well with your 0.82 figure accounting for typical bodyfat percentages. So your article is arguing a strawman and they've been right all along.

aroman 9y ago

Brand. Unlike the examples you mentioned, Soylent is not a "lose weight" brand. As an undergrad in college, Soylent is everywhere. Can't remember the last time I saw any of those other meal replacements.

scott_s 9y ago
Neither is Ensure a "lose weight" brand. But Ensure is an old-people brand. So Soylent (and Ample, which I learned about in this thread) are basically Ensure for young people.
- covercash 9y ago
  Nutrition facts for those interested in comparing: Soylent - http://files.soylent.com/pdf/soylent-drink-nutrition-facts-en.pdf http://files.soylent.com/pdf/soylent-drink-nutrition-facts-e... Ensure - http://c4.q-assets.com/images/products/p/ab/ab-116_3z.jpg http://c4.q-assets.com/images/products/p/ab/ab-116_3z.jpg Ample - https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1096/7494/products/Ample_400_Nutrition_v2.png https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1096/7494/products/Ample_4... https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1096/7494/products/Ample_Ingredients_v2.png https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1096/7494/products/Ample_I... Edit: added Ample info.
  - nazgulnarsil 9y ago
    https://www.blendrunner.com/ https://www.blendrunner.com/ has a huge table.
  - lancewiggs 9y ago
    How bad does a food system have to be to get to the point where people deliberately choose to eat this? Filtered Water, Soy Protein Isolate, Maltodextrin, High Oleic Algal Oil, Isomaltulose, Canola Oil, Rice Starch, Oat Fiber, Isomaltooligosaccharide, Soy Lecithin, Potassium Chloride, Calcium Phosphate, Magnesium Phosphate, Natural & Artificial Flavors, Dipotassium Phosphate, Salt, Choline Chloride, Gellan Gum, Sodium Ascorbate, dl-alpha-Tocopheryl Acetate, Ferrous Gluconate, Zinc Sulfate, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Niacinamide, Sucralose, Thiamin Hydrochloride, Copper Gluconate, Manganese Sulfate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Vitamin A Palmitate, Riboflavin, Chromium Chloride, Biotin, Folic Acid, Sodium Molybdate, Sodium Selenite, Phytonadione, Potassium Iodide, Vitamin B12, Vitamin D. Contains: Soy

johnfn 9y ago

> easily outplayed because you switched to a different drink already. Not really. Soylent is much cheaper than Ample, and that's a major plus for the cost conscious (which is a lot of people!) As for the other ones - honestly mostly marketing I'd imagine. I've never heard of any product billed as a "nutritionally complete" meal. SlimFast to me sounds like a dieting product (as do weight watcher shakes), which isn't what I want at all. Non-dieting meal replacements, where they exist (I don't know the name of a single one!), just don't seem to target the same market that Soylent does. Do other products exist that do what Soylent does? I don't doubt it. I've never heard of them, though.

int_19h 9y ago
Check out Tsogo.
maxerickson 9y ago
Snickers?
briantakita 9y ago
I lived on Garden of Life's Raw Organic Meal + Green Vibrance + Alkaline Water for a while. https://www.gardenoflife.com/content/product/why-choose-raw-organic-meal/ https://www.gardenoflife.com/content/product/why-choose-raw-... https://www.vibranthealth.com/green-vibrance/ https://www.vibranthealth.com/green-vibrance/
- Danihan 9y ago
  How did that go?
  - briantakita 9y ago
    It worked, though I had a few other items. Those products don't contain many fats nor carbs so I also had green juices, Garlic Hummus & Mary's Gone Crackers & eggs in the morning as well. What was nice about this combination was the ease of digestion. I was working from home & had an ashtanga yoga routine. Personally, I think it's better to have a diet of home-prepared food consisting of whole foods grown in good soil, but in the interest of time & (lack of) motivation to prepare meals, it worked for me.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

yegle 9y ago

Pro GMO: they are not hiding that they used a lot of GMO product, instead of selling you something organic with a huge premium. Glycemic Index/Glycemic Load: a quick search doesn't give me SlimFast's GI/GL info, while Soylent does post the number.

ceejayoz 9y ago
> Glycemic Index/Glycemic Load: a quick search doesn't give me SlimFast's GI/GL info, while Soylent does post the number. It's available. Seems weird to decide based on the availability of the number versus the number.
- yegle 9y ago
  GI/GL is important for diabetes/prediabetes. The number is of course reasonable (mid-low GI/GL). I don't see result by searching "glycemic site:slimfast.com". There are some numbers posted on other websites (e.g. http://www.glycemicindex.com/foodSearch.php?num=1469&ak=detail http://www.glycemicindex.com/foodSearch.php?num=1469&ak=deta... which looks credible), but compare to Soylent's disclosure (https://faq.soylent.com/hc/en-us/articles/212769503-Glycemic-Data https://faq.soylent.com/hc/en-us/articles/212769503-Glycemic...) I'm more confident to choose Soylent instead of SlimFast. Out of curiosity, I also searched GI/GL info on amplemeal.com and found nothing.
Dangeranger 9y ago
A very quick look at the Slimfast page for their high protein product links the nutritional information. It shows that the mix has ~1g of sugars per serving, but is mixed with milk, so you'll need to account for that in your calculations depending on the type of milk you use for mixing. http://slimfast.com/advanced-nutrition/ http://slimfast.com/advanced-nutrition/
- yegle 9y ago
  GI/GL is not directly related to the carbohydrate number on nutrition fact table. The number must be tested in a controlled environment. E.g. regular coke has a GI of 63 (source http://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/glycemic-index-and-glycemic-load-for-100-foods http://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/glycem...), and is considered medium GI, but of course it contains a lot of sugar.

Dangeranger 9y ago

This is my take as well. I don't see an innate advantage to Soylent over existing meal replacements like SlimFast. While Soylent has struggled with quality control, their competitors have been producing high volumes of equivalent products for many years, at better prices, and better name recognition to the american population outside of SV.

johnfn 9y ago
I personally would never have slimfast because I'm not on a diet! This feels like a large distinction that you are missing here. If there are non-diet meal replacements, I don't know if any, which clearly seems like an opportunity for a product such as Soylent.
- macspoofing 9y ago
  >If there are non-diet meal replacements Millions.
  - johnfn 9y ago
    Im going to copy a response I made to someone else in this thread: The fact that at least 4 people in this thread have mentioned "meal replacements" but not a single one has named a specific product I would know by name (non dieting!) seems to me a pretty clear indictment that this category is not as established as you are suggesting.
    - axlprose 9y ago
      the meal replacement (or "MRP") is extremely well established. Just walk into any nutrition store like GNC or VitaminShoppe and they'll likely have a whole section devoted to MRPs right next to the protein shakes/bars. And as for specific products... - https://www.bodybuilding.com/store/vega/one.html https://www.bodybuilding.com/store/vega/one.html - https://www.bodybuilding.com/store/garden-of-life/raw-organic-meal.html https://www.bodybuilding.com/store/garden-of-life/raw-organi... - https://www.iherb.com/pr/Madre-Labs-Zenbu-Shake-Meal-Replacement-Powder-With-Prebiotics-Probiotics-and-Plant-Based-Protein-Chocolate-Flavor-16-4-oz-465-g/69283 https://www.iherb.com/pr/Madre-Labs-Zenbu-Shake-Meal-Replace... - https://www.iherb.com/pr/Now-Foods-Tru-Food-Vegan-Natural-Berry-Flavor-2-2-lbs-1-kg/16483 https://www.iherb.com/pr/Now-Foods-Tru-Food-Vegan-Natural-Be... - https://www.iherb.com/pr/Nature-s-Plus-Source-of-Life-Vitamin-Mineral-Protein-Energy-Shake-Creamy-Granola-Flavor-2-2-lbs-1014-g/7533 https://www.iherb.com/pr/Nature-s-Plus-Source-of-Life-Vitami... - https://www.iherb.com/pr/Orgain-Organic-Meal-All-In-One-Nutrition-Vanilla-Bean-2-01-lbs-912-g/69271 https://www.iherb.com/pr/Orgain-Organic-Meal-All-In-One-Nutr... - https://www.iherb.com/pr/PlantFusion-Phood-100-Whole-Food-Meal-Shake-Chocolate-Caramel-31-8-oz-900-g/55576 https://www.iherb.com/pr/PlantFusion-Phood-100-Whole-Food-Me... - https://www.iherb.com/pr/MRM-Veggie-Meal-Replacement-Chocolate-Mocha-3-lbs-1-361-g/62991 https://www.iherb.com/pr/MRM-Veggie-Meal-Replacement-Chocola... - https://www.iherb.com/pr/Pure-Advantage-MRP-Meal-Replacement-Shake-Chocolate-3-lbs-1380-g/45475 https://www.iherb.com/pr/Pure-Advantage-MRP-Meal-Replacement... - https://www.iherb.com/pr/Vibrant-Health-Maximum-Vibrance-Version-3-0-Vanilla-Bean-22-1-oz-626-4-g/47510 https://www.iherb.com/pr/Vibrant-Health-Maximum-Vibrance-Ver... - https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0038B1EOY/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0038B1EOY/ - https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00KS6WUUE/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00KS6WUUE/ - https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0184DGHHO/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0184DGHHO/ - https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004VRGS7W/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004VRGS7W/ - https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0088YQ8MO/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0088YQ8MO/ - https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01N2M3RK0/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01N2M3RK0/ - https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01N3Y7R1S/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01N3Y7R1S/ And those are just a few results from a quick search for "meal replacement" across 3 different stores. Now, I'm not against Soylent, and I'm definitely pro meal replacement products, but let's at least be honest here and call a spade a spade. Soylent's main differentiating factor is it's marketing pitch and that's ok, it doesn't have to be totally revolutionary to succeed.

macspoofing 9y ago

>All I see is SV hype and marketing. That's all it is. If Soylent brands itself as a normal meal replacement, that's not sexy. So Soylent branded itself as a food replacement - which is more interesting and more dangerous (I just cannot trust that replacing food with Soylent won't have unintended health consequences down the line).

ljk 9y ago
That's my impression as well, feels a lot like this juicer https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-04-19/silicon-valley-s-400-juicer-may-be-feeling-the-squeeze https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-04-19/silicon-v...
yourthrowaway2 9y ago
Well can't have Herbalife having all of the fun

PerfectElement 9y ago

The advantage, for me, is that there are no animal products in Soylent.

i_am_viet 9y ago
Except on those days when it isn't. https://techcrunch.com/2017/04/24/dairy-might-have-snuck-into-soylent-1-8-powder-prompting-recall/amp/ https://techcrunch.com/2017/04/24/dairy-might-have-snuck-int...
- gnode 9y ago
  Unless you grow and prepare all your food yourself, you have this problem with anything.
  - DanBC 9y ago
    You have it disproportionately more often with Soylent. Other food manufacturers go for years, with tens of millions of units sold each day, without having a recall.
    - Karunamon 9y ago
      Other food manufacturers have been around for a lot longer.
      - DanBC 9y ago
        So what? Plenty of new companies are capable of producing food in similar or greater volumes than Soylent is without any recalls, why has Soylent had more than one recall? Soylent aren't even doing the production; they're sub-contracting it out to existing companies.
        Karunamon 9y ago
        So, mass production is hard, supply chains are hard, shit happens. A recall of ~700 boxes isn't enough to damn the whole company.

ebiester 9y ago

I get what you're saying, but for many who have tried it, Soylent is simply better than ensure and slim fast. (Frankly, ensure is just too sweet.)

thaumaturgy 9y ago

You can't go hiking with Slimfast, Weight Watcher shakes, or juices. 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 carry a bag of dry Soylent in my SAR pack. When I get sent out on an assignment, I have no idea how long I might be out for. For less weight than any other option, I have dinner and breakfast and lunch if necessary. If I know in advance I'm going to be out hiking for more than about three hours, a pre-mixed solution of it in a Nalgene, with a quick chug here and there, really beats back the fatigue. The REI market is not small, and it's got a huge focus on ultralight, ultralight, ultralight now. Soylent really seems to be missing an opportunity here.

int_19h 9y ago
Out of curiosity, have you tried Tsogo for your SAR needs? I generally like Soylent better taste-wise; but one thing that Tsogo does, they pack their powder in fairly thick sealed mylar bags that can just be dropped in your backpack without worry of it spoiling (the shelf life is also on the same order of magnitude as freeze-dried food, so you can just put it there and forget it).
irq11 9y ago
Uh, you know that every REI has a wide selection of freeze-dried camping foods, right? They're a lot better than the idea of slurping down bland nutrient goo (but more power to you, if nutrient spooge is your preference, I suppose). As for price, I bought a 30-day supply of camp food for less than $100 on amazon.
- fghvbnvbnfe 9y ago
  Those are really not alternatives to the mentioned uses. The freeze dried food selection is somewhat limited, tends to be very salty, takes substantially more time to prepare, and generates a lot of waste you get to continue hauling around. If your goals include speed or (less) weight, those freeze dried options are really far from ideal. To get around the weight issue you mostly need to plan and package your food yourself, which takes some time. If you're getting called out to do SAR you either need to have it done in advance or go with another option.

saturdaysaint 9y ago

There's a marked difference between all of the above if you take a cursory glance at the nutritional information. If you tried to eat a 2,000 calorie diet on classic Slim Fast, you'd be getting around 200 grams of sugar and over twice the recommended daily allowance of sodium. Ensure, Cliff Bars and a lot of other popular snacks of that kind compared about as unfavorably last time I checked. I agree with the common sentiment that Soylent's original goal/purpose - a simple powder/drink that could serve as one's sole source of nutrition - is sort of ridiculous, but it actually led to a remarkably well balanced product unlike anything on the mass market. It's remarkably filling and nutritionally well balanced for a convenience food.

mdekkers 9y ago
...a simple powder/drink that could serve as one's sole source of nutrition - is sort of ridiculous Care to explain why? I am genuinely curious, as it sounds like an awesome idea.

Lewton 9y ago

This is a really weird myth that has started spreading lately. That somehow Soylent was just another meal replacement in a long line of meal replacements. No, none of the products you mentioned is anywhere near as nutritionally balanced as soylent. And those that are, clearly came after

yourthrowaway2 9y ago
This was posted last week https://www.blendrunner.com https://www.blendrunner.com
Chathamization 9y ago
Yeah, I've noticed that. It seems many people simply aren't aware of the state of meal replacement drinks when Soylent came out. People in the Soylent community actually looked at the other options at the time, but they were all fairly bad.
- Lewton 9y ago
  Yes, exactly. The reason why I remember it so well is because I had been looking for something like Soylent for years before it came out

lukas099 9y ago

I drink a mix of whey/soy protein powder mixed in milk each morning. Does soylent have any advantages over that if I eat balanced meals the rest of the day?

jdavis703 9y ago
I like the Coffiest product because it's basically like green tea, due to the caffeine + l-theanine they add (basically you get calm energy). Also I have only 13 minutes from waking up to leaving my door each morning, so saving time from mixing anything up, chewing food, etc is very useful.
- aisofteng 9y ago
  Do you shower?
  - Ftuuky 9y ago
    He could be like me and shower before going to bed.
manmal 9y ago
Depends on how balanced those other meals are. There are some nutrients in there that are not in every ordinary meal, like methylfolate. You could think of soylent as a weak multivitamin plus macronutrients. In an early report a tester talked about a fantastic energy boost, and I'd wager he was deficient in one of the nutrients soylent contains. In the case of methylfolate, it's actually better than most multivitamins which only contain folic acid, which is harder to metabolize (especially if you have a MTHFR mutation).

nommm-nommm 9y ago

Marketing.