Have a cheeky week.
Monday, July 28, 2014
Friday, July 18, 2014
Day 43, steady as she goes
Someone asked me for an update, so here ya go!
It's going great! Not much to report, really. 2/3 meals are soylent, sometimes all 3. We spend less time and money eating now and happily allocate the energy/funds elsewhere. Been mixing it with fruit or chocolate syrup when we want some variety. On that note, my little hand blender ($20 at Walmart) works great for mixing in fresh fruit. But it does make it a bit frothy, which I don't like very much. Still, it tastes pretty good.
It's going great! Not much to report, really. 2/3 meals are soylent, sometimes all 3. We spend less time and money eating now and happily allocate the energy/funds elsewhere. Been mixing it with fruit or chocolate syrup when we want some variety. On that note, my little hand blender ($20 at Walmart) works great for mixing in fresh fruit. But it does make it a bit frothy, which I don't like very much. Still, it tastes pretty good.
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Day 23, still a busy bee
So much for regularity! The summer calls and so do all of the awesome activities that go with it, throwing wrenches in plans and tossing the calendar out the window. But that's precisely why I wanted Soylent, and it has not disappointed.
My biggest concern had been the supposed two-day timer you're given once you add water to the mixture. They say it starts to ferment soon after, but I haven't noticed anything of the sort. I've been careful to keep it refrigerated in my thermos as often as possible, and I've gone for at least 5 days without any signs of expiration. But I really do need to crack down and decline full meals when I'm out with friends. That's just too expensive, especially if Soylent ever does decide to expire.
My biggest concern had been the supposed two-day timer you're given once you add water to the mixture. They say it starts to ferment soon after, but I haven't noticed anything of the sort. I've been careful to keep it refrigerated in my thermos as often as possible, and I've gone for at least 5 days without any signs of expiration. But I really do need to crack down and decline full meals when I'm out with friends. That's just too expensive, especially if Soylent ever does decide to expire.
In other news, our raspberries have begun to ripen! We bought a little hand blender for $20.00 to finally experiment by making fruit smoothies from our Soylent. I'll report on that more later.
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Day 12, home from vacation
We had a lovely time in Texas but, as can be expected of any vacation, meals deviated from routine. When it came to eateries like Fuzzy's, Whataburger and In and Out, food was a local attraction in and of itself worth exploring, but we still managed to have Soylent once per day or so. Now that we're home, the experiment will resume with more regularity.
I would like to note that my body does, in fact, seem to react severely to flip flopping back and forth from Soylent to highly processed, greasy foods. On the way home, we went through Taco Bell and wow. My body rejected that immediately. I spent several hours trying to keep it down, but eventually had to pull over and yack in some bushes. Then yesterday we got a coupon from Papa Johns, so I stuffed my face with half a pizza, and now I'm feeling it like a food hangover; headaches and yuckiness. But I love pizza, so I'll figure it out.
Greg continues to experience no such adverse effects, so it may just be me. Headaches are a 2-3 times per week occurrence for me anyway, which was one of the reasons I wanted to try Soylent, in hopes that it would solve that problem. Time will tell!
Edit: Thought I'd add some pictures.
Here is how my morning looked.
Pro tip: The best way to keep an ice pack on your piercing headache is to just not get a headache.
And here is some Soylent w/added chocolate syrup, Stephen Colbert style. Absolutely delicious.
I would like to note that my body does, in fact, seem to react severely to flip flopping back and forth from Soylent to highly processed, greasy foods. On the way home, we went through Taco Bell and wow. My body rejected that immediately. I spent several hours trying to keep it down, but eventually had to pull over and yack in some bushes. Then yesterday we got a coupon from Papa Johns, so I stuffed my face with half a pizza, and now I'm feeling it like a food hangover; headaches and yuckiness. But I love pizza, so I'll figure it out.
Greg continues to experience no such adverse effects, so it may just be me. Headaches are a 2-3 times per week occurrence for me anyway, which was one of the reasons I wanted to try Soylent, in hopes that it would solve that problem. Time will tell!
Edit: Thought I'd add some pictures.
Here is how my morning looked.
Pro tip: The best way to keep an ice pack on your piercing headache is to just not get a headache.
And here is some Soylent w/added chocolate syrup, Stephen Colbert style. Absolutely delicious.
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Day Seven, on vacation
We drove down to Texas a day or so ago, using Soylent to replace fast food stops during travel and most (sometimes all) of our meals while here so far. As you can imagine, this saves a fair amount of money! Whiiiiiiich I promptly spent on a new swimsuit from Victoria's Secret. Ha! Saving and reallocating money is another fantastic benefit of this weird drink of the future! So, I get a completely balanced, 100% good for me meal instead of a burger and fries and I get to go shopping! How is this not brilliant??
Irksome (if you can even call it that) things we've encountered so far when traveling with Soylent are ...
Irksome (if you can even call it that) things we've encountered so far when traveling with Soylent are ...
- Keeping it cool, which you must do to avoid build-up of pressure (and explosion) in it's air-tight container. Also, it just tastes best cold. We are using a mini cooler and thermoses. Easy.
- Drinking in the car. I like my soylent thick, like a milkshake, but just as a clump of it makes it's way to my mouth, we usually hit a bump and it slams into my face. Getting this stuff on your clothes is no big deal, but you have to rinse it under a faucet to get it all out, rather than just dabbing it up with a napkin. Easily solvable, though. Just get a straw!
Yeah. That's about it.
In other news, we went to lunch with a friend yesterday and both ordered burgers and fries. Several hours later, I began to feel nauseous and developed a headache. It would seem that switching back and forth between crap and perfect nutrition could result in some outraged responses from your body. Not surprising, right? Then again, it may have had something to do with the front flips I did on a trampoline 2-3 hours after eating! Greg didn't experience any trouble after his burger, so obviously I'll have to conduct more experiments before coming to a conclusion. My digestive system is more sensitive than his, but who knows!
Monday, June 9, 2014
Day Four
Breakfast: Cereal, Honey Bunches of Oats w/strawberries
Lunch: Jambalaya (Hubby had Soylent, as he doesn't care for Jamalaya)
Dinner: Soylent
I purchased these re-usable ice cubes from Wal-Mart the other day, to place in my Soylent bottle and help break up the powder when mixing. Works pretty well, even though it is one more thing to clean.
Bowel movements are definitely less common, but normal besides that.
We slept like logs last night, which was awesome.
Lunch: Jambalaya (Hubby had Soylent, as he doesn't care for Jamalaya)
Dinner: Soylent
I purchased these re-usable ice cubes from Wal-Mart the other day, to place in my Soylent bottle and help break up the powder when mixing. Works pretty well, even though it is one more thing to clean.
Bowel movements are definitely less common, but normal besides that.
We slept like logs last night, which was awesome.
Sunday, June 8, 2014
Day Three
It's the end of another very long week. I think I've spent more time in my car than I have in my house, and that's never fun. In the past, a lot of poor eating choices had to be made in times like these, but no longer! Having a thermos of chilled Soylent with me has saved a ton of money, time and my body from having to process yet another nutritional compromise by way of Taco Bell.
And this is the point of Soylent, at least in our lives. We have a real alternative, now. We aren't slaves to the grocery store, to the ingredients list on food labels, to each other's picky eating habits, to the limited variety of restaurants in our small town or to whatever fast food place we'll have to settle for at the next exit on our road trip. When we want to eat solid food, we will! And we'll do for the fun of it this time and not because we have no other choice.
I discovered this morning that a thicker texture (achieved by simply adding less water) makes my Soylent taste more like a milkshake. I'll even go so far as to say it's "delicious" to me now, and I didn't have to add anything extra to it like sugar or cinnamon. I'll just have to remember to drink more water separately to make sure I'm getting enough.
Update: Greg says the sleep he's gotten these past few days have felt more 'restful' than normal, conceding that it could just be placebo. I, on the other hand, have been too busy courting conflicting schedules to get more than 3-4 hours a night. I should be dead on my feet right now, but somehow I'm not. Seems too soon for either of us to credit Soylent yet.
Update #2: I forgot to mention that we both had Planet Sub sandwiches for lunch today, eating Soylent the rest of the time. We got a coupon in our Inboxes and couldn't pass it up.
And this is the point of Soylent, at least in our lives. We have a real alternative, now. We aren't slaves to the grocery store, to the ingredients list on food labels, to each other's picky eating habits, to the limited variety of restaurants in our small town or to whatever fast food place we'll have to settle for at the next exit on our road trip. When we want to eat solid food, we will! And we'll do for the fun of it this time and not because we have no other choice.
I discovered this morning that a thicker texture (achieved by simply adding less water) makes my Soylent taste more like a milkshake. I'll even go so far as to say it's "delicious" to me now, and I didn't have to add anything extra to it like sugar or cinnamon. I'll just have to remember to drink more water separately to make sure I'm getting enough.
Update: Greg says the sleep he's gotten these past few days have felt more 'restful' than normal, conceding that it could just be placebo. I, on the other hand, have been too busy courting conflicting schedules to get more than 3-4 hours a night. I should be dead on my feet right now, but somehow I'm not. Seems too soon for either of us to credit Soylent yet.
Update #2: I forgot to mention that we both had Planet Sub sandwiches for lunch today, eating Soylent the rest of the time. We got a coupon in our Inboxes and couldn't pass it up.
Day Two
Started Day 2 with my favorite bowl of cereal, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, had a latte from Starbucks and had about 1200 calories of Soylent throughout the rest of the day. Again, I experienced complete satisfaction and zero cravings for the various goodies I keep stocked in my house; cookies, soda, potato chips, crackers, etc.
My husband didn't have any solid food until his third day, grabbing a burger from Sonic. He reports much the same results as I do in the satisfaction/cravings department, and he has been more alert at work. He's on the graveyard shift, so that's really saying something. He has dropped 3 lbs and I remain about the same so far. Both of us are already very close to our ideal weights, so I don't expect we'll be reporting much in that area.
I will note that we've been having trouble sleeping for about a month. So far, Soylent hasn't had any positive or negative effects on sleep yet, but I'm optimistic that as we continue to feed ourselves with this stuff, sleep will improve. We'll see.
My husband didn't have any solid food until his third day, grabbing a burger from Sonic. He reports much the same results as I do in the satisfaction/cravings department, and he has been more alert at work. He's on the graveyard shift, so that's really saying something. He has dropped 3 lbs and I remain about the same so far. Both of us are already very close to our ideal weights, so I don't expect we'll be reporting much in that area.
I will note that we've been having trouble sleeping for about a month. So far, Soylent hasn't had any positive or negative effects on sleep yet, but I'm optimistic that as we continue to feed ourselves with this stuff, sleep will improve. We'll see.
Friday, June 6, 2014
Day One
First impressions:
Ok, it tastes like a boring protein shake. There's a hint of vanilla and it's slightly sweet. The "non-vegan" variety of Soylent comes with a tube of fish oil that you add, along with water, to each prepared batch. This GROSSES ME OUT BEYOND BELIEF, but I can't taste it. So hooray!
Update: Just added cinnamon and a few ice cubes. Now it almost resembles an iced latte.
I will not add sugar
I will not add sugar
I will not add sugar
Update #2: Ok, it took me about 45 minutes to finish that little glass. Wasn't tasty enough to keep me interested in downing it like I would, say, a coffee or a soda. But I'm not hungry, and I guess that's the point.
Update #3: I still wasn't hungry at around 4pm, thanks to my morning glass of around 500 calories of Soylent. But I made myself drink another one, all at once this time, as I was headed downtown to spend the evening with friends. According to my weight and height, I had about 200-400 more calories left to play with, so I spent them on a light dinner at a Mexican restaurant (chips and salsa implied). I was never hungry, but I ate for fun, and to taste the foods I love. Over-eating was not possible, and that was very strange for me. I can usually eat Mexican until I'm blue in the face; stopping not because I don't want more but because I couldn't fit anymore in my body. This time was different, though. It wasn't hard to quit. I enjoyed the food for what it was and did not, for once, binge until all that joy turned into the stomach sickness and guilt of over-eating. So so weird.
Thursday, June 5, 2014
Ongoing Q & A
Last Updated on 06-10-14 @ 1:35 AM CST
This post is where I'll store inquiries (and valid comments worth replying to) from friends and family, collected from Facebook, Twitter and real life discussions.
--------------
Q: Does Soylent have Folic Acid?
A: Yup. Here are the Nutritional Facts: http://www.soylent.me/#nutrition
More specific breakdown here: http://blog.soylent.me/.../soylent-micronutrient-breakdown
On Folic Acid - "Vitamin B9 (400ug) as Folic Acid - Acts as a coenzyme in the form of tetrahydrofolate (THF) which is important for the formation of nucleotides and amino acids. Due to its importance in the formation of nucleotides, it is especially needed during times of cell division such as pregnancy and infancy. People lacking sufficient levels of Folic Acid often suffer from anemia and/or improper absorption of nutrients. Pregnant women lacking Folic Acid may give birth to infants with spina bifida at a higher than normal incidence."
Follow-up response from my friend:
Dang it! My body can't process inactive folic acid. It just builds up in my kidneys, and causes all sorts of problems. Folic acid is only needed by pregnant women in that amount, I wish they'd leave it out, and let folks supplement.
My response:
That's too bad. But you can build your own! http://diy.soylent.me/
---------------
Q: What about the soy? Is that an estrogen concern?
A: Actually, it's 6g of Soy Lecithin.
"While derived from soy, lecithin is completely isolated from proteins and phytoestrogens from the plant and thus is safe for consumption by those with a soy allergy."
Basically, doesn't even register on the scale I guess.
Source: http://blog.soylent.me/post/73232819517/there-is-more-to-food-than-nutrition-even-a
----------------
C: That sounds boring as hell, and completely joyless. Who wants to turn a fun socially healthy thing into (essentially) a medical injection?
A: Joyless, yeah. It likely will be. But you don't have to give up eating socially. In fact, you shouldn't! But many (myself included) consider it a viable alternative to occasions when eating is expensive, time sensitive and devoid of social stimulation.
------------------
Q: Where can I buy some?
A: http://www.soylent.me/
------------------
Q: What does it taste like?
A: A lamo protein shake. Slightly sweet, slightly vanilla flavored, a little watery. Nothing exciting. Adding cinnamon and ice cubes gave it an almost iced latte taste.
------------------
Q: I gotta know this. Why would ANY company name their protein drink Soylent? The name itself drives 98% of the people away right?
A: The developer did an Ask Me Anything on Reddit awhile back and someone asked this question, and his answer was pretty awesome, imo.
He said the reason he liked the title is because it exposes the prejudice in people who are unwilling to look beyond the front page anyway. If you're inclined to allow Hollywood to influence your judgments in the real world, then an idea as innovative as this is probably not something you'd be comfortable trying. (Perhaps you'd better wait for a celebrity endorsement.) The title weeds those folks out pretty quickly. For those who can separate the two, the nod to the movie allowed for a quick and easy explanation about what Soylent is, as it's essentially the same idea. Only, you know, not touched by the government and not made of people.
Greg and I hated the name too, until we read that. Ha.
Update: Found the AMA. I guess I read more into it than was actually there, but I stand by it anyway.
------------------
More to come, I'm sure.
This post is where I'll store inquiries (and valid comments worth replying to) from friends and family, collected from Facebook, Twitter and real life discussions.
--------------
Q: Does Soylent have Folic Acid?
A: Yup. Here are the Nutritional Facts: http://www.soylent.me/#nutrition
More specific breakdown here: http://blog.soylent.me/.../soylent-micronutrient-breakdown
On Folic Acid - "Vitamin B9 (400ug) as Folic Acid - Acts as a coenzyme in the form of tetrahydrofolate (THF) which is important for the formation of nucleotides and amino acids. Due to its importance in the formation of nucleotides, it is especially needed during times of cell division such as pregnancy and infancy. People lacking sufficient levels of Folic Acid often suffer from anemia and/or improper absorption of nutrients. Pregnant women lacking Folic Acid may give birth to infants with spina bifida at a higher than normal incidence."
Follow-up response from my friend:
Dang it! My body can't process inactive folic acid. It just builds up in my kidneys, and causes all sorts of problems. Folic acid is only needed by pregnant women in that amount, I wish they'd leave it out, and let folks supplement.
My response:
That's too bad. But you can build your own! http://diy.soylent.me/
---------------
Q: What about the soy? Is that an estrogen concern?
A: Actually, it's 6g of Soy Lecithin.
"While derived from soy, lecithin is completely isolated from proteins and phytoestrogens from the plant and thus is safe for consumption by those with a soy allergy."
Basically, doesn't even register on the scale I guess.
Source: http://blog.soylent.me/post/73232819517/there-is-more-to-food-than-nutrition-even-a
----------------
C: That sounds boring as hell, and completely joyless. Who wants to turn a fun socially healthy thing into (essentially) a medical injection?
A: Joyless, yeah. It likely will be. But you don't have to give up eating socially. In fact, you shouldn't! But many (myself included) consider it a viable alternative to occasions when eating is expensive, time sensitive and devoid of social stimulation.
------------------
Q: Where can I buy some?
A: http://www.soylent.me/
------------------
Q: What does it taste like?
A: A lamo protein shake. Slightly sweet, slightly vanilla flavored, a little watery. Nothing exciting. Adding cinnamon and ice cubes gave it an almost iced latte taste.
------------------
Q: I gotta know this. Why would ANY company name their protein drink Soylent? The name itself drives 98% of the people away right?
A: The developer did an Ask Me Anything on Reddit awhile back and someone asked this question, and his answer was pretty awesome, imo.
He said the reason he liked the title is because it exposes the prejudice in people who are unwilling to look beyond the front page anyway. If you're inclined to allow Hollywood to influence your judgments in the real world, then an idea as innovative as this is probably not something you'd be comfortable trying. (Perhaps you'd better wait for a celebrity endorsement.) The title weeds those folks out pretty quickly. For those who can separate the two, the nod to the movie allowed for a quick and easy explanation about what Soylent is, as it's essentially the same idea. Only, you know, not touched by the government and not made of people.
Greg and I hated the name too, until we read that. Ha.
Update: Found the AMA. I guess I read more into it than was actually there, but I stand by it anyway.
------------------
More to come, I'm sure.
Well, I guess it's not a hoax!
It's been more than a year since my husband and I helped back an idea which we've been told, repeatedly, is too crazy and too weird to ever work; replacing food with a 100% nutritionally balanced drink thingy.
Trust me, we were the first to balk at this, but after our initial disbelief and some don't-they-know-that's-a-movie-about-cannibalism comments, we opened ourselves up to the possibility. Fine. What if you can get everything you need to survive from a drink? Why would you want to? I really like food! The short answer: to save time, to save money, to have full nutritional efficiency, to avoid food allergy complications, to gain needed weight, to lose excess weight, and (in many parts of the world) to supplement a lack of natural resources. Oh and Soylent doesn't expire or go bad until you add water for consumption. So you can stock pile it, like we did.
Ok. But how different is this from, say, protein shakes? Can you live off of Slimfast? The short answer: Maybe, but those were developed as supplements, not replacements. So you'd still have to depend on a secondary source. (I'll be eating a secondary source anyway, namely cake. Probably dinner out once or twice a week for social reasons, but mostly cake.) Regardless, Slimfast is not 100% balanced. NO product is, whether from a factory or from the earth itself. Until now.
Right now, we have to consume many different things to have balanced and healthy bodies. Just look at that food pyramid! Meh. That takes a lot of planning, careful purchasing and careful preparation. Let's be honest, we suck at that! And because we suck at that, we've developed unhealthy shortcuts that have resulted in some pretty terrible long term health problems. Heart Disease, Diabetes and Obesity aside, what about other things that may be effected by our diet, having negative effects on our well being? Headaches, feeling tired all the time, skin problems, manageable (but no less frustrating) weight issues effecting self image, food allergies, random chronic health complications you may have to juggle on top of eating right - the list goes on and on and on.
Will Soylent solve these problems and save the world? I don't know, guys. That would be a dream come true. So hey, we're giving it a shot.
Personally, I find aaaallll of this extremely hard to believe. And the number one item on my list of YEAH-RIGHT-I'LL-BELIEVE-IT-WHEN-I-SEE-IT is the claim that one experiences no cravings when consuming Soylent.
NO. CRAVINGS.
WUT
One self-proclaimed habitual snacker reported that he walked past his favorite food items every day with zero desire to eat them; that Soylent was fully and completely satisfying and he simply didn't want anything more.
.......
I CALL SHENANIGANS!
But time will tell. We begin tomorrow morning. Apparently, you mix this powder with water and simply drink it, as needed. No complicated weighing and measuring of ingredients or keeping track of your intake. When you're hungry, have a swig. Greg and I will be having our blood tested periodically to see what it does, but other than that ... yeah. That's it. Weird. Awesome!
Guess I have a supplemental cake to go bake. We'll see if I even want it.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)