5 ms·

Every time I see a Soylent article on HN I hope that it's all just a sick joke that will soon be revealed as an elaborate hoax and forgotten about. Why the hell

by zhemao 13y ago

Every time I see a Soylent article on HN I hope that it's all just a sick joke that will soon be revealed as an elaborate hoax and forgotten about. Why the hell would anyone in their right mind base their entire diet off of some liquid concoction made up by some random guy who is clearly not a nutritionist? Why don't you guys just learn to eat a healthy and balanced diet?

JoshTriplett 13y ago
I'd tend to expect that as this becomes more popular, they'll get some nutritionists on board. That doesn't mean it's completely insane for people to try it before that point. Personally, I don't want to be an early adopter of this (I don't like to mix "bleeding edge" and health), but I'm quite interested. And to answer your last question: the hope is that this is a healthy and balanced diet.
- zhemao 13y ago
  Blegh, maybe eventually, but I doubt it. We can already eat healthy and balanced diets today. No need to wait until they perfect some formula. I know some people might want to use this just for a quick bite (er, slurp?) when they're in a rush, but the creator's original post indicated that he was consuming soylent for every meal because, for some reason, he found the act of chewing to be somewhat tiresome. Are soylent fans just so busy that they don't have time to eat a good meal each day? If so, you may want to rethink your choices in life. Slow down, take things easier, enjoy life's simple pleasures. Building that game-changing app or chasing VC money can wait until after dinner.
  - JoshTriplett 13y ago
    Sounds like you're not in the target market, then, because you're attached to the concept of a meal. Don't assume that anyone who is in the target market has something wrong with them and needs to "rethink [their] choices in life". The issue isn't "so busy", it's "better things to do with that time". Total up the amount of time you spend shopping for food, preparing food, storing food, and eating food. Are you saying you can't think of any better uses for that time? Also note that making meal consumption optional doesn't prevent you from partaking in it as a social occasion whenever you want. But in general, the target market for this considers the need to consume food, much like the need to sleep, an annoying biological requirement rather than a feature. Patches welcome.
polymatter 13y ago
"just learn to eat a healthy and balanced diet". Can anyone recommend an authoritative compendium of what that is please? Preferably linking to multi-year statistically significant studies that take into account the obvious externalities ( local weather, amount of exercise, genetics, time of eating etc). I don't really want to make nutrition research another time-consuming hobby, but I don't want to unnecessarily kill myself faster either.
- nazgulnarsil 13y ago
  I see comments like this a lot, and I think it's pretty disingenuous to jump from the garbage diet most people have and claim the only worthwhile improvement is one supported by rock solid conclusive scientific support. Nutrition science is in a pretty bad state, but that doesn't mean you should continue eating baconators.
  - polymatter 13y ago
    well, without solid scientific support I am loath to enact major lifestyle changes with an uncertain gain long into the future. especially when there are so many competing mutually exclusive theories of which lifestyle change is 'correct', so I'd have to decide on what was the best theory at the time. and then I might go through years of misery and _still_ not get any gain. I make some effort to favor variety of fruit & veg, favor drinking water before eating, don't binge eat. Other than that, I'm just not willing to make that lifestyle change unless you can show me this isn't the modern equivalent of witchcraft superstition. and even then, the research would just give me a more informed opinion and I decide to eat baconators and accept a 10% increase in heart disease.
    - nazgulnarsil 13y ago
      You've made some changes based on the most well supported bits of systematic reviews of epidemiological and intervention studies. Is the place you have stopped optimal in terms of effort:reward? You're going to be eating daily for the next several decades at least, small amounts of effort amortize pretty well.
ParadisoShlee 13y ago
The body is a machine, it takes the good and throws away the bad. That's simple enough... but arguing against something that is aiming to be healthy while eating a bigmac and sucking on a coke isn't a convincing argument to me. He might have something. I wouldn't eat a pure Soylent diet.... but 20% of my diet... maybe?
- zhemao 13y ago
  Why would you assume I eat bigmacs and drink coke? I don't eat fast food unless I'm traveling. My diet consists mostly of rice, vegetables, and lean meat. You're putting up a false dichotomy here, i.e. Soylent vs. Standard North American Diet.
  - ParadisoShlee 13y ago
    I didn't mean YOU personally.. I'm currently eating a fatty bigmac, fries and drinking coke made with high-fructose corn syrup... I don't pretend it any more or less healthy than Soylent.

by zhemao 13y ago

JoshTriplett 13y ago

I'd tend to expect that as this becomes more popular, they'll get some nutritionists on board. That doesn't mean it's completely insane for people to try it before that point. Personally, I don't want to be an early adopter of this (I don't like to mix "bleeding edge" and health), but I'm quite interested. And to answer your last question: the hope is that this is a healthy and balanced diet.

zhemao 13y ago
Blegh, maybe eventually, but I doubt it. We can already eat healthy and balanced diets today. No need to wait until they perfect some formula. I know some people might want to use this just for a quick bite (er, slurp?) when they're in a rush, but the creator's original post indicated that he was consuming soylent for every meal because, for some reason, he found the act of chewing to be somewhat tiresome. Are soylent fans just so busy that they don't have time to eat a good meal each day? If so, you may want to rethink your choices in life. Slow down, take things easier, enjoy life's simple pleasures. Building that game-changing app or chasing VC money can wait until after dinner.
- JoshTriplett 13y ago
  Sounds like you're not in the target market, then, because you're attached to the concept of a meal. Don't assume that anyone who is in the target market has something wrong with them and needs to "rethink [their] choices in life". The issue isn't "so busy", it's "better things to do with that time". Total up the amount of time you spend shopping for food, preparing food, storing food, and eating food. Are you saying you can't think of any better uses for that time? Also note that making meal consumption optional doesn't prevent you from partaking in it as a social occasion whenever you want. But in general, the target market for this considers the need to consume food, much like the need to sleep, an annoying biological requirement rather than a feature. Patches welcome.

polymatter 13y ago

"just learn to eat a healthy and balanced diet". Can anyone recommend an authoritative compendium of what that is please? Preferably linking to multi-year statistically significant studies that take into account the obvious externalities ( local weather, amount of exercise, genetics, time of eating etc). I don't really want to make nutrition research another time-consuming hobby, but I don't want to unnecessarily kill myself faster either.

nazgulnarsil 13y ago
I see comments like this a lot, and I think it's pretty disingenuous to jump from the garbage diet most people have and claim the only worthwhile improvement is one supported by rock solid conclusive scientific support. Nutrition science is in a pretty bad state, but that doesn't mean you should continue eating baconators.
- polymatter 13y ago
  well, without solid scientific support I am loath to enact major lifestyle changes with an uncertain gain long into the future. especially when there are so many competing mutually exclusive theories of which lifestyle change is 'correct', so I'd have to decide on what was the best theory at the time. and then I might go through years of misery and _still_ not get any gain. I make some effort to favor variety of fruit & veg, favor drinking water before eating, don't binge eat. Other than that, I'm just not willing to make that lifestyle change unless you can show me this isn't the modern equivalent of witchcraft superstition. and even then, the research would just give me a more informed opinion and I decide to eat baconators and accept a 10% increase in heart disease.
  - nazgulnarsil 13y ago
    You've made some changes based on the most well supported bits of systematic reviews of epidemiological and intervention studies. Is the place you have stopped optimal in terms of effort:reward? You're going to be eating daily for the next several decades at least, small amounts of effort amortize pretty well.

ParadisoShlee 13y ago

The body is a machine, it takes the good and throws away the bad. That's simple enough... but arguing against something that is aiming to be healthy while eating a bigmac and sucking on a coke isn't a convincing argument to me. He might have something. I wouldn't eat a pure Soylent diet.... but 20% of my diet... maybe?

zhemao 13y ago
Why would you assume I eat bigmacs and drink coke? I don't eat fast food unless I'm traveling. My diet consists mostly of rice, vegetables, and lean meat. You're putting up a false dichotomy here, i.e. Soylent vs. Standard North American Diet.
- ParadisoShlee 13y ago
  I didn't mean YOU personally.. I'm currently eating a fatty bigmac, fries and drinking coke made with high-fructose corn syrup... I don't pretend it any more or less healthy than Soylent.