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.
No supplement, whatever its nutritional value, is going to be able to fill that need.
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.
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.
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.
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.