Offical Soylent: Should it be producing Mustard Gas? | Hacker News Reader

Offical Soylent: Should it be producing Mustard Gas?

discourse.soylent.me

49 pointssamwilliams20 comments

The problem of Soylent is the oversimplification and premise that our nutrition science has figured it all out (yes, the same science that was vilifying saturated fat, salt, alcohol, etc.). I can understand using Soylent as a meal replacement occasionally, but doing this regularly is too risky. I mean, people can definitely survive on it, but thrive - I don't think so. Also, every ingredient of it is poor quality. Canola oil vs olive oil, rice protein vs organic grass-fed whey concentrate, worst form of magnesium (oxide vs citrate/malate/glycinate/orotate), soy lecithin vs sunflower lecithin, vitamin d2 vs d3, etc. Every single ingredient is the cheapest form. Some are proven to be detrimental for health - alpha tocopherol vs mixed tocopherols and tocotrienols, vitamin A vs mixed carotenoids, folic acid vs folate, and so on. I won't even mention sucralose, artificial flavors, and the Chinese origin of some of the ingredients. Again, this is not biohacking, this is amateur hour.

It is indeed. I really can't understand the way lots of people jump on this meal-hacking bandwagon. As a vegetarian, I deeply believe that the cure to bad eating habits lies in a better food culture and the broadening of food science knowledge among people. People who eat like shit (especially in the U.S. but also in Europe) believe that they are food lovers. They are not. It's like saying that a junkie is a fine heroin connoisseur. Good eating takes time and commitment and will to understand what goes down your throat, how it is transformed, how it could impact your whole life and the life of other beings, starting from the way food is produced. In other words, it's something more akin to a continuous learning path, with solid scientific points to move from and awareness of many factors. It's not a technological "problem" you can solve with a chemical beverage that spun off the naïf minds of self-entitling startuppers.

Rather than "is this perfect?", the important question for me is "is this better or worse than my current diet of instant noodles and baked beans, with the occasional delivery pizza when I'm too lazy for instant noodles?"

Better, but you've got a problem.

Does it imply that you are perfect? Go fix all your problems before complaining on our problems.

Chill out dude, I wasn´t implying anything but, using your words here, being "too lazy for instant noodles" seems like a problem to me.

And yes, eating properly is fixing some of my health problems. And no, I am not talking about obesity or high blood pressure. I mean some serious health problems.

I'm not the same guy, theses were not my words.

I don't think you understood my point. The issue is that you can't compare yourself and you can't take decision for other. There's always a better way, whatever you decide, there's always an healthier way. I'm pretty sure there's a dozen stuff you had in your meal during the last week that was bad for your health in a way of another. That was your choice and only yours.

"The problem of C programmers is the oversimplification and the premise that CS has figured it all. I can understand using C for simple high-level tasks, but doing this too often is risky."

Yes, Soylent might not be pefect. Doesn't mean status quo is better.

Status quo, real food, is significantly better. On so many levels.

For so much people, the status quo is not food or fast food. Soylent is significantly better for them. I'm not saying eating "real" food isn't a better option but not everyone have that luxury for a lunch.

I had the same problem, and Soylent told me this:

I think you might be having a reaction to the high soluble fiber content of Soylent. The best thing you can do is restrict yourself to 12 oz (which you drink slowly, sipping every few minutes) of Soylent for a meal, and intermingle with other foods throughout the day (use Soylent for no more than 1-2 meals per day).

If that helps, you can probably ease into more after your digestion is stable for a couple of weeks.

We're working on our next formulation of Soylent which will hopefully address people like yourself that are experiencing more severe effects, at least in part, so I hope that you'll stay tuned. I can't guarantee that the product will be 100% gluten-free at that time (we won't know until it passes certification), though that is something we are aiming for.

It's amazing to me that we don't talk more about the microbiome today. We all the various bacteria populating the gut and all the various things we eat, the bacteria change and so affect how we feel after we eat. Hopefully soon we'll understand when it's a good time for yogurt and when it's a fecal transplant!

"We" talk plenty about it (everyone from phd friends to the NYT), but it's not actually terribly well understood yet, and nearly impossible to diagnose at the individual level. I'm pretty sure there aren't even solid guidelines yet like if X reaction then eat Y [yogurt|notyogurt|whatever].

The soylent community is pretty clear on the point this impatient guy is asking about: yes, the problem that arises when you had shitty nutrition before goes away inside a week or two, and just eat some Beano in the mean time. Haven't seen anyone who has presented evidence otherwise.

For me personally, there was zero issue; I had lots of fiber before, and soylent doesn't make me gassy at all.

I forgot about uBiome:

http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/18/ubiome-raises-4-5m-from-ang...

High content of protein. It is a known problem among people who consume protein for weightlifting.

A redditor claims Activia Yogurt helps (http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/2056nq/finally_foun...)

Just a note, obviously an exaggerated "review" meant to be funny, not serious. There were minor problems with gas that have been fixed in the new recipes. (Note the date on this.)

I almost died laughing.

"Drone Warfare Guru and Alligator Enthusiast"

Try this: http://www.amazon.com/Haribo-Sugar-Free-Gummy-Bears/product-...

Adding beano helped me with this, just FYI

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