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After months of delay, Soylent finally ships
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- taskstrike 12y agoI ordered a bottle, can't wait to try it out. I'm not sure replacing your entire meals with any drinks is healthy since chewing improves digestion, but this seem great for a breakfast replacement.
- wlesieutre 12y agoIs it really the act of moving your jaw around that helps you digest better? I would have figured that meant "You can digest food more completely when it's been mushed into tiny pieces before you swallow it," which Soylent has covered pretty well.
- pyrocat 12y agoWhen we chew, our body sends a signal to our stomach that it's time to start digesting food.
- macNchz 12y agoIn addition to that, the digestion process of complex carbohydrates begins with enzymes in your saliva.
- logfromblammo 12y agoJust ship every nutrient slurry with a wad of ham-flavored chewing gum. Problem solved.
- mnem 12y agoChewing something that also causes you to salivate makes your stomach produce more acid in preparation for digesting whatever it is: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3376919 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3376919
- wlesieutre 12y agoHuh, interesting. Thanks!
- kamaal 12y agoI am currently drinking Ragi Malt[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finger_millet#As_Beverage http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finger_millet#As_Beverage] People in South of India have been drinking this as a breakfast meal for may be thousands of years. Also its kind of like pretty common in folklore for providing immense health benefits, besides its nutritional value.
- jph 12y agoCongratulations to the entire Soylent team! I'm an early backer and just received the shipping notice. Soylent has done an excellent job, and all the more so by keeping us all up to date on the progress.
- rdl 12y agoIt's interesting reading about the difficulties Soylent has had in sourcing ingredients -- whenever I think about processed food (which I guess Soylent is taken to an extreme), I assume it's a huge industry with infinite resources -- if they're the largest customer for some of their suppliers, maybe the industry isn't that big, or they're just picking really specialty/premium ingredients. I guess this is why most processed food is 1) made by huge, fairly vertically integrated firms like ConAgra 2) uses scary ingredients with substitution. In general I'm happier with the delays to produce a great product than rushing to get something substandard out, at least for Soylent. Should be great for trips.
- nbouscal 12y agoAccording to their previous updates, they picked a particular rice protein that apparently has a different mesh size, thanks to an innovation by the manufacturer that has not spread throughout the industry yet. This choice was made to achieve a certain mouthfeel that they couldn't accomplish with other rice proteins. Not exactly a specialty/premium ingredient, but close enough.
- batmansbelt 12y agoThey should have used Barley or quinoa. They are much healthier than rice, and tastier too.
- icegreentea 12y agoYeah, but they tried hard to keep their price low. Remember that full meal replacements have existed before - one of soylent's differentiators is cost.
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- cgh 12y agoHow is protein derived from barley or quinoa healthier or tastier than rice protein?
- MDS100 12y agoHave a look http://examine.com/blog/soylent-is-made-from-hype/ http://examine.com/blog/soylent-is-made-from-hype/
- daeken 12y agoBear in mind, this is from a year ago, from early in its development. I'm not positive how much of this is inaccurate, but I know that omega-3 and other ingredients were added to round it out. I'd take this article with a grain of salt.
- pit 12y agoI think you meant to say "0.05 ml of an aqueous solution of sodium chloride."
- Craig125 12y agoI definitely believe that the only reason why Soylent is being successful is because of hype. How does the product they are visioning differ from the food replacement given through a feeding tube? Working in a hospital, I have personally witnessed people with swallowing disabilities living on this stuff for more than a decade!
- esrauch 12y agoAre the food replacements palatable to consume without the feeding tube? Commercially available? Vegan option?
- Shorel 12y agoSadly, there's no keto friendly version. Only standard dietary carb loaded stuff.
- cube_yellow 12y agoThe best DIY keto soylents: http://diy.soylent.me/recipes?q=keto&sort=favoritesCount http://diy.soylent.me/recipes?q=keto&sort=favoritesCount
- musicaldope 12y agoOf course there isn't--that would involve completely remaking a complex product to satisfy some fad diet a few people follow.
- bjt 12y agoI wouldn't be surprised to see a low carb version if 1.0 gets traction. Soylent itself is a "fad diet a few people [may someday] follow."
- musicaldope 12y agoTrue. The intersection of potential Soylent customers and keto-diet people is probably high. It is funny to see this kind of expectation thrown at an untested type of product, though.
- rosser 12y agoKeto isn't (just) a "fad diet". There are people whose health depends on rigorously following a keto diet.
- MarcusVorenus 12y agoAs an alternative you could combine Soylent with intermittent fasting to get keto benefits.
- mentos 12y agoAt times I've found eating to be a chore and wish I had a supplement like this to allow me to skip a meal. So I'll probably give this a try. I'm curious what the long term effects are of substituting this for a majority of your meals is though.
- corysama 12y agoThere have been a few journalists who tried living exclusively on Soylent for 2-4 weeks to make a story. They've all had consistent results AFAICT. The taste takes some getting used to. But, most liked it after a week and it's easy to add a bit of vanilla or other flavoring. Once you figure out how much you personally need, you feel energized and not hungry or craving. After a few days, your bowel movements get smaller and less frequent. Your jaw gets sore from lack of activity. Taking up chewing gum is recommended. Eventually, the only major, consistent complaint is the social complications. Eating and drinking with other people is very important. And, it's awkward being the guy at the table with no food on his plate...
- logfromblammo 12y agoThe likely long term effect is that the person eating it seeks out different foods to eat. As far as I am aware, every attempted complete synthetic food replacement has failed due to psychological reasons, like texture, palatability, and variety, rather than nutritional sufficiency. Put simply, people stop eating it, whatever it is, because it does not satisfy the mind along with the body.
- theseoafs 12y agoWhat kind of results has Soylent had so far? I haven't heard much about it for a year or two. Have the results been encouraging?
- zequel 12y agoKudos to Rob Rhinehart and the team, to see a dream, with all the difficulties they've faced, ship is an incredible effort. I'm curious to see the effect after a couple of years. Should make for a good story for Kickstarter as well.
- jack-r-abbit 12y ago> Should make for a good story for Kickstarter as well. Actually... I think it might make for a better story for Crowdtilt... since they use them (and not Kickstarter) for their crowdfunding. :)
- zequel 12y agoAh, I stand corrected.
- jack-r-abbit 12y agoEasy mistake. I think Kickstarter has already joined the ranks of Kleenex & Bandaid
- shas3 12y agoHow is this any different from mail-order diets and such? Where are the double-blind peer reviewed studies? The original post by Rob Rhinehart sounds no different from the mail-order diet ads that you see on TV. Is it legitimate because it is funded via Kickstarter? Is it legitimate because it is marketed suavely via blogs and such? How does recent research about how differently processed foods are digested differently [1] apply to Soylent? [1] http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/when-dieting-not-all-calo/ http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/when-dieting-not-a...
- smackfu 12y agoAFAIK, this isn't a diet to lose weight, it's just a meal replacement. What would the double-blind be? Whether you can actually live on this stuff alone?
- Guvante 12y agoBecause the focus is different. "I don't want to deal with food" rings a different bell than "Eat this and lose weight". I would say a big factor is that avoiding food just to avoid food is (to my knowledge) unique, helping it gain traction. And while I certainly wouldn't trust the long term implications of this yet, I can't blame a company for wanting to sell units before spending money on studies, especially given their size.
- msandford 12y agoI think there are multiple differences but in my mind the biggest one is that his post mostly talks about the benefits that he gained himself. There are no promises about what it would do for you. Now obviously if you're reading critically and you're naturally a bit suspicious of his motives then of course it seems heavily implied that the benefits he feels he's gotten are the ones that you'll get too once you also use Soylent. There are two (maybe three) ways this can go: 1. He made it all up to launch a startup 2. Everything he says is true 3. He believes everything he says is true In truth it's not as mutually exclusive as I've presented it. Many of the benefits might be true, he might believe some BS about others, and some of it might be outright fabrications. I think another hugely contributing factor to the notion that he's not a snake-oil salesman is that the formula seems to be freely available and not patented: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_(food_substitute) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_(food_substitute) I am not sure how you would do a double blind between a supposedly all-encompassing shake-meal and one that is not. Are you going to purposely malnourish people so that you can see they're malnourished? That's ethically dubious at best.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- glenntzke 12y agoI would love to follow a Tim Ferriss (well-versed body hacker and author of 4-Hour Body) experiment with Soylent. I've read his book and his analyses convinced me to try a diet for the first time in my life to change my body composition. Now I go through Slow-Carb diet phases a couple times a year. If he had praise for Soylent I'd be willing to give it a try, too.
- subdane 12y agoMan I love food. I love the engagement with the senses, the stories about its origin ingredients, the way those ingredients get put together into a meal that can be enjoyed with more than one person. Soylent strikes me as something I would've been into before I learned all that.
- gnaritas 12y agoNot everyone is or wants to be a foodie.
- Karunamon 12y agoExactly. I find cooking to be a tiresome, annoying chore that cuts into time I could be using on other pursuits. This is perfect for me.
- cypherpunks01 12y agoMost people are on the middle path here—they love food, putting great meals together with friends, eating at fancy restaurants, etc. But, thinking about this 2-3x a day is a bit much for a lot of modern people.
- ars 12y agoYou don't have to be a foodie to like the taste of food.
- thatthatis 12y agoHave you ever scarfed down a bagel rushing to work, or eaten lunch at your desk, or heated up mediocre leftovers? You're forcing a false dichotomy. Moving your "non hedonic sustantive" eating to soylent or the like doesn't mean you have to abandon "hedonic social" eating.
- subdane 12y agoGreat point
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- mrfusion 12y agoIs there a way to try soylent without spending $65 for a week's supply? I've had trouble with potassium gluconate supplements in the past, so I'd want to make sure my stomach could handle a meal of it before purchasing a large amount.
- MarcusVorenus 12y agoYou could try a DIY soylent customized to your needs. http://diy.soylent.me/ http://diy.soylent.me/
- mrfusion 12y agoSome of those look good! Maybe I haven't looked hard enough but none of those seem to have the same convenience factor. I don't want mix 5+ things every meal, and I don't want to track which ingrdienients I need to order when. (I might as well be cooking)
- brakkus 12y ago*After nearly a year of delay, Soylent finally ships