Hacker News Reader

Comment by confluence | Hacker News Reader

This guy is effectively popularising something that has existed for ages in the medical/weight loss industries: namely medical food/meal replacement drinks. The difference is that he is using them daily, without paying the premium for an off the shelf, tested, and regulated version by doing it himself.

My question for those more experienced in this area is:

What well tested, off the shelf, medically regulated products could I buy today that would allow me to eliminate the consumption of solid food altogether - and of those products, which ones are the best value for money?

I really can't be bothered doing all the leg work required to make my own meal replacement drink (reasons being: the chance of not measuring correctly + work + forgetting nutrients + risk) - I'd like to just grab a product every month or so and just go.

View on HN

I've done 3-5 month stretches (multiple times) using Sustagen (the Hospital Formula[1] one from chemists, not the supermarket variety).

It was during cancer surgeries and therapies, and recommended to me by the hospital + various specialist doctors, so that's the only vote of confidence I needed that it was OK.

I had no side effects while on it, didn't lose or gain weight, and actually quite enjoyed not having to worry about shopping, cooking, washing up, etc. I also slept better, and all-round "felt" better.

I've considered trying it longer term voluntarily, maybe try 6 months or so, and get the full gamut of medical tests done before and after, to see what they say.

[1] http://www.sustagen.com.au/products/sustagen-hospital-formul...

Could you please go into more detail with what your Sustagen regime was like? Number of drinks per day? Taste? Cost? Preparation?

No problems if you can't - but I'd love to hear it from someone that's been through it before (under cancer no less! hope you got better).

The website you shared says that it's merely a nutritional supplement - I'd just like to know what a full regime of meal replacement would be like over say a day (do you have breakfast? or do you just drink whenever you are hungry?).

Pretty much what was your daily eating schedule like during those liquid only stretches.

Pretty much drink it when you're hungry. I usually had 3-4 serves a day at random times. A serve is 2 tablespoons of the powder mixed into a glass/tumbler of water.

Keep in mind I was nearly 100% dormant for those months, so I wasn't exactly building up an appetite. The most exercise I'd get would be a trip to the bathroom. I rarely got hungry with 3-4 serves a day.

Occasionally I would try eat some fruit and (real/natural) yoghurt. Just for taste/sanity more than health/hunger. Maybe once a week or so, and about a coffee-mug sized portion at most was all I could handle.

I believe the websites say they're a "supplement" for legal purposes? I'm not sure. The doctors, nutritionists, and specialists all agreed I could live indefinitely off it.

(Thanks for the well wishes, but there's no getting better from my particular case, just a matter of prolonging it now)

This all kind of sounds like the Jevity that they gave my dad in ICU. Apparently you can stay on it for quite some time. http://abbottnutrition.com/Products/jevity-1_2-cal

Or Scandishake which appears to be a popular brand in the UK. I always remember trying to get my grandfarther to drink some when he was in the hospice, I used to bribe him by talking about an analogue circuit from the Art of Electronics, as he was mostly still in the mind of valves, but only if he finished the drink. :(

My grandmother spent the last 1.5 years of her life on some high-calorie nutrient powder/drink. Even put on a bit of weight for a while.

Ensure and Ensure plus are one brand that come in a variety of flavours.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com