5 ms·
Soylent is amusing, but it ignores the fact that people take pleasure from eating food, a payoff which is hard-wired in our brains. No supplement, whatever its
by dpapathanasiou 13y ago
Soylent is amusing, but it ignores the fact that people take pleasure from eating food, a payoff which is hard-wired in our brains.
No supplement, whatever its nutritional value, is going to be able to fill that need.
- clavalle 13y agoThe creator of Soylent addresses this. He says he now treats eating 'real food' like he does drinking alcohol -- an enhancement for social activity. I am curious to try Soylent or something like it just for that 'Oh, this is unusual! What a pleasure!' kind of effect when eating regular food.
- jacques_chester 13y agoAnother way to achieve this is to try different foods. You might also be interested in reading about "Mindfulness-Based Eating". It seems a bit woo-y to me but psych friends of my acquaintance say it shows promise.
- clavalle 13y agoI am lucky enough to live in a city with a large variety of food both from grocery stores and restaurants and I take advantage of that, perhaps too much. Even with all of that variety the closest I seem to come to mindfulness while eating is when I pay a lot or go out to eat with foodie friends (but I repeat myself). It comes from a very utilitarian approach to food that I've (perhaps foolishly) taken my whole life. Eat fast and get on with important work. That's probably another reason a Soylent type product appeals to me. I am curious about the book but trying to maintain mindfulness while eating every meal, frankly, seems like an extravagance. Of course, that is just a guess on the advice it contains based on the title.
- jacques_chester 13y agoOh, is there a book by that title? She just told me about the idea at some point; apparently it's an up and comer in the food / eating psychology world. Her research and therapeutic work is focused on eating disorders. I understand the utilitarian approach. I've done it myself. My current diet is goal-directed. But that doesn't mean I think I'm smarter or better than dietitians who read more than the abstracts on pubmed. I haven't entirely replaced food. I just have a dozen or so meals that I can make quickly, scale up or down, which have known macronutrient breakdowns and which I can rotate according to my daily whims and tastes.
- agumonkey 13y agoAlso, just going away from processed food can be an interesting experience. The taste, texture, perfume of raw salad for instance is quite surprising, it's almost candy.
- mbrock 13y agoPlease consider whether your "woo radar" is maybe not something to take entirely seriously when evaluating stuff. Sometimes it's just an emotional reaction. It's something to be mindful of...