Soylent

Discussion in 'Food and Drink' started by cizx.6, Apr 4, 2017.

  1. jowls

    jowls Never shitposts (please) - Friend

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    Eh. It's lucky it wasn't a dairy cow. That shit is fucked up.
     
  2. Enigmatic

    Enigmatic Friend

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    Don't use shakes to substitute real food - especially if you are on a diet - it does not re-educate you about eating, i.e. one day when soylent disappears from the market you'd either need to find an equally dodgy alternative, or not know how to estimate your food caloric and overeat/undereat.

    When I advise people who are going on a diet, and they absolutely dislike weighing and strict caloric counting long term, I will still ask them to go through a training phase of at least 1 month, where they will cook and weigh their own food to get an idea what they should be eating when they are eating out to lose weight. Some other stuff needs explicit learning (e.g. 100g of mayo is nearly 700 calories), but that should set them up for their physic goals.
     
  3. cskippy

    cskippy Creamy warmpoo

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    I've been using MyFitnessPal for 461 days in a row. I've learned a lot with the help of my good friend, nutritional coach, and training partner. She helped me go from 13.4% body fat to 4.3% for a Men's Physique competition. Since I logged my Macros throughout the process and have a log book of Calories/Weight/BF %, I can maintain, cut, or clean bulk at will.

    Currently sitting at 170 lbs and ~8% body fat. Completely happy with my current physique and don't feel like I need to change anything. I can go out and enjoy food, be with friends and family, and estimate my food intake with startling accuracy.

    I think everyone should track their macros, even just to see how much, or little, they're actually eating.

    EDIT: Before anyone asks, I don't take any supplements besides a multivitamin and pre workout. All whole food for me. Seems my stomach likes solid things more than liquid nutrition from my experience.
     
  4. cizx.6

    cizx.6 Just couldn't stay away...

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    This is all good advice. I'm glad I started this thread.

    But, I'm going to play out this Soylent thing for a while to see how it goes. It's convenient, I feel as good or better than pre-Soylent average, and I like it. If I had a family, I probably wouldn't stick with it because it's not a socializing tool like traditional food can be, but I don't. Plus, if it kills me, no one will miss me day to day. :)
     
  5. BenjaminBore

    BenjaminBore Friend

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    In regards to the wisdom of using Soylent what I would say is that with vitamin and mineral supplements the reason the doses of the better quality brands are tens of times higher than the RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance) is that even if you take them with food you won't absorb most of it. That's why your urine turns fluorescent with that stuff, as you excrete the majority of it. I think Soylent includes only the RDA, however derived, of all it's ingredients. How absorbable everything is, or what they may have done to mitigate this I can't say.

    EDIT: If I'm reading this correctly the nutrient content is only 20% of RDA for each serving, and you're supposed to have 3 servings a day. So that would be even worse than I suspected: http://files.soylent.com/pdf/soylent-nutrition-facts-1-8-en.pdf

    Norman Chan from Tested described his experience well on a podcast a few years ago. Looks like they have a video series of his experience too, but it's behind a paywall. Around 1:27:00:
    http://www.tested.com/food/464983-episode-272-norms-vs-soylent-9182014/
     
    Last edited: Apr 8, 2017
  6. cizx.6

    cizx.6 Just couldn't stay away...

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    Oh, I also take Alive! vitamins and a bunch of spirulina every day, so I think I have that all covered. I'm getting blood work done in June, so I'll see how it all looks then. Last time, my total cholesterol was exactly 100, and that was before soylent...
     
  7. FallingObjects

    FallingObjects Pay It Forward

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    The RDA %'s are per 400 calories, and each bag contains a total of 2,000 calories. Five servings. So you're still getting 100% RDA on a 2,000 calorie diet, they just split it up funny.

    And it's weird, I've read all of the studies showing multivitamins are essentially non-useful, but I still take them for ease of mind. The psychologist in me is screaming at the hypocrisy.
     
  8. %20 Oddity

    %20 Oddity Friend

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    I thought that'd be obvious considering he literally named this shit "soylent" lmfao. I'm kinda jealous of his shutin Mold Defense League, though.

    Just buy some Boost instead jesus christ. You can live off it as well (hey it's what I'm doing because I can't eat solid food) and it actually has, y'know, nutritionists involved in its creation. And it's cheaper.
     
  9. cizx.6

    cizx.6 Just couldn't stay away...

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    This is bad advice. Boost isn't a complete meal replacement, it's a supplemental for people who can't consume enough nutrients in normal ways.
     
  10. FallingObjects

    FallingObjects Pay It Forward

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    I've had a couple of fairly lengthy discussions with my friends about the merits/fallbacks of Soylent (and other meal supplement/replacement drinks), including with a few nutritionists and med-school hopefuls. I was a few courses shy of a minor in Biology, and you study a lot of human anatomy in Psyc anyways, so I have a good grasp of the functions of the human body.

    And holy shit, is it complex. I don't even think fully licensed nutritionists would suggest that they can "Fully understand" the nuances involved in diets.

    Essentially, there's not enough information to say whether Soylent is safe long-term or not to live off of, even if you meet your caloric intake. Ignoring any consequences of weight (as there are multiple examples of people going on absolutely idiotic diets just to prove that you can lose weight eating only junk food for a year and stuff).

    It hasn't even been out for 5 years yet, and the recipe keeps changing fairly frequently to boot. Yes, it hits 100% of recommended micros and vitamins, but there's lots of things that aren't on the nutrition label that it may or may not have in ideal amounts. Nutrition is also incredibly complex; everything from stomach acidity to gut flora can affect your health in unpredictable ways. A good example of this is how in the last ten years we're just sort of figuring out the importance of gut flora in mental health.

    Red meat is good. Red meat is bad. Fat is good. Fat is bad, eat margarine. Fat is okay, but only some fats. Wait, turns out those other fats are important too. Also holy shit we should stop eating margarine. Sugar is bad. Carbs are bad. Wait no, carbs are okay, but not gluten in carbs. Oh wait it's not the gluten (which has been a staple of human diets for millennia), its the additives in industrially produced bread that people are reacting to.

    We've been getting it wrong for decades, I don't have much faith in Soylent suddenly being able to scientifically figure stuff out when mainstream science is finding out that there are moth eaten holes in their theory still.

    I'll keep my Soylent intake to breakfasts and lunches, out of convenience. For people who find that Soylent and the likes improves their health (anecdotally or with support from physical examinations) or meshes with their personal needs, then I fully support you. It's just not the lifestyle for me.

    Besides, steak and bacon are amazing.
     
  11. cizx.6

    cizx.6 Just couldn't stay away...

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    I agree. However, I left eating mammals behind a while ago.
    Hookers and blow, I hear, are also amazing, but indulging in those isn't a good life decision...

    Not that getting all your calories from a guy with a blender on the internet is, either, but hey... I'm 41. I get to be hypocritical.
     
  12. Dino

    Dino Friend

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