Man invents food-less diet

[bob]

So some guy in America has invented a diet of a powder called amusingly 'Soylent' which contains all the necessary nutrients that a human needs, and has effectively removed proper food from his diet.

 

http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/rob-rhinehart-no-longer-requires-food

 

He doesn't cook anymore - and saves energy on not having to cook (or presumably owning a fridge) - and doesn't have to buy groceries or worry about what to eat each day.

 

Would anyone here try this? I would imagine it would be quite bizarre to suddenly not have to deal with food. I'd like to try it for a week or two and see what happened, but i think i'd miss the social aspects of food and proper meals. If i lived on my own, i think it would be a intriguing prospect - imagine the time you'd save!

[Cube]

I was under the impression that this already existed.

[Platty]

Would I try it? No I like food.

 

Interesting though.

[Daft]

Dozer: It's a single celled protein combined with synthetic aminos, vitamins, and minerals. Everything the body needs.

 

Mouse: It doesn't have everything the body needs.

 

Baby formula for adults? No thanks.

[Debug Mode]

That's actually a pretty interesting idea and it's amazing that he's already put it to the test. My problem with it? Far too much effort each day.

[Oxigen_Waste]

This guy's doing it wrong, he should focus on making a powder that allowed us to eat more!

[Daft]

Weirdly, I was thinking yesterday how bizarrely inconvenient food can be (probably made a subconscious jump when I read this in the morning).

 

He has a point about 'what if it could be as convenient as drinking coffee?' I eat brakfast but I do it at a brutal speed as I run out the house this morning (I also make porridge when I get into work, too). I'd actually consider this for breakfast.

 

Also, in terms of helping obese 'societies' - like America - this could be tailored to diet. In this country a diet could be more easily prescribed on the NHS. It could bridge the middle ground between medicine and nutrition, which a lot of people are blind to.

 

One thing I find absolutely repugnant about it though, is that this is just another fucking time-saving device which will actually allow me to be busier. I get an hour off at lunch like most people, but would employers think that was necessary once sustenance was a couple swigs away?

[Cube]

Rob found himself resenting the inordinate amount time it takes to fry an egg in the morning

 

I save hours a day

 

How much was this guy eating beforehand?

 

Not having to worry about food is fantastic. No groceries, dishes, deciding what to eat, no endless conversations weighing the relative merits of gluten-free, keto, paleo or vegan.

 

Erm..surely his food choice (it's still food) would spark even longer conversations. And you still have dishes, just not as much. And you still need to buy the stuff. And prepare it.

 

Especially as this point counters the previous ones

 

It doesn't keep long after mixing with water, so I still have to make it every day. If I make a mistake with the amount of an ingredient it can make me sick

 

This does sound like a good alternative, but this guy is so far up his own arse that his head is coming out of his mouth.

[bob]

Well i assumed that if i were to try it, someone else would have already made it and i just bought it as a powder in bulk.

 

So the only preparation would be mixing it with water and drinking it. Presumably the only washing up would be a glass plus a measuring jug perhaps.

 

It would be pretty convenient on certain days to just chug a glass of it and not have to spend time eating, or looking for places that sell groceries (i'm looking at you, shops that close at 4pm on a Sunday).

 

 

Like i said before, if it did catch on, and no-one ate proper meals anymore, i would miss the social aspect of eating, i.e everyone gathering round a table and chatting.

[Rummy]

Looks too light for my liking, I'm not usually good with light fluids. I'm sure it's a very lovely idea otherwise, but I think I'd tire of it quite quickly. I definitely share his sentiments however, I often find myself hungry but then bothered by the prospect of actually 'cooking' something that I end up not really eating anything decent.

 

I'd wonder of course about the other things - does it quench hunger? Surely there's psychological associations between eating food and feelings? Is this rather monotonous diet going to have a longer term effect on the body? How about the consistency of such, does the digestive system become lazy? Do the teeth/jaw/mouth etc get the working out they need?

[Ville]

Great idea. Although people get so much pleasure from eating that they're not likely to abandon that...

[bob]

Looks too light for my liking, I'm not usually good with light fluids. I'm sure it's a very lovely idea otherwise, but I think I'd tire of it quite quickly. I definitely share his sentiments however, I often find myself hungry but then bothered by the prospect of actually 'cooking' something that I end up not really eating anything decent.

 

I'd wonder of course about the other things - does it quench hunger? Surely there's psychological associations between eating food and feelings? Is this rather monotonous diet going to have a longer term effect on the body? How about the consistency of such, does the digestive system become lazy? Do the teeth/jaw/mouth etc get the working out they need?

 

Interesting points...

 

...i think that the feelings are mostly controlled by chemicals in your food, so as long as you were getting everything you needed, you wouldn't start getting depression etc. Obviously if you felt really down and you needed comfort food for example, theres nothing to stop you eating that as well i suppose.

 

The digestive system wasting away is a good point, i have no idea what would happen.....although people who have really crappy diets have normally functioning digestive systems i think, so i doubt this would be a problem.

 

I'm sure your jaw would be just fine though Rummy. It gets enough of a workout when you're playing Halo...

[MoogleViper]

Do you have to do this all the time? Can you not just have some in for when you've not got time for a meal?

[Dannyboy-the-Dane]

Since I sometimes find myself hungry/needing sustenance without actually having any appetite (and sometimes even finding the thought of eating unpleasant), this would be very useful. But I also LOVE food, so I'd definitely never change my diet completely!

 

I wonder what role this could play in combatting world hunger.

[Cube]

Since I sometimes find myself hungry/needing sustenance without actually having any appetite (and sometimes even finding the thought of eating unpleasant), this would be very useful. But I also LOVE food, so I'd definitely never change my diet completely!

 

I'm the opposite. I often find myself having an appetite and wanting food when I'm not hungry.

[Dannyboy-the-Dane]

I do know that feeling as well. Sometimes I feel like eating constantly! :p

[Diageo]

I'm hungry and full right now. I just assume since the only meal I've had was pure chicken breast and tuna that my body wants something besides that.

[Iun]

 

No.

[Fierce_LiNk]

It has its benefits and draw-backs. Personally, food is just too nice for me to do without. When dinnertime comes (Suck it, @Rummy), I never think of it as being a time for nutrition and giving my body the nutrients it needs. I'm hungry and I want some yummy food.

 

Could I go without pastas, lasagnas, pizzas, chicken, tuna, potatoes, rice, bread, milk, eggs (scrambled, poached, fried, boiled, omelettes), yoghurt and so on? No way.

 

I can see the benefit for people who are ill or old and perhaps can't go out and do a ton of food shopping and cooking. But, your life should never be too busy that you don't have time to eat. In my opinion, that should be a wakeup call that something is wrong with your life.

[Cube]

http://bacolicious.s3.amazonaws.com/bacon.png

 

No.

 

Why is that bacon so thin? It's like 80% fat.

[Raining_again]

Yeah they already exist, they're call meal replacement shakes =P

 

From experience, meal replacements are incredibly depressing. When you realise how much time you spend creating/eating/enjoying food, then you've just got a shake filled void..

[Ville]

Maybe if you snorted all the powders if would be more fulfilling as a meal? : D

[yesteryeargames]

Dust anyone, dust . fat fighters

[heroicjanitor]

I think it would be good to have a tablet because you then know you are eating perfectly. As in you never know if you are missing a bit of one mineral or getting too much of another etc. Also eating is boring.

[MoogleViper]

I think it would be good to have a tablet because you then know you are eating perfectly. As in you never know if you are missing a bit of one mineral or getting too much of another etc. Also eating is boring.

 

Are you mentally deficient?