Soylent ... What's Your Experience?

mjbnj0001

My wife is a hospital-based nurse (OR). In this time of covid-19, lunch has been complicated by PPE removal/redressing and the time/exposure resulting. With TCM showing "Soylent Green" recently, I had the brilliant idea (so *I* think, anyway, LOL) of trying out a liquid meal replacement to streamline her experience a bit.

So, I just got in a tub of Soylent.

If it doesn't work for her (taste, system compatibility, satiation, whatever), then I can finish the tub. I'm pretty flexible. But I thought it worth a try and it might be better than say, Ensure or similar.

What's your experience with this product? I got the original powder; it's pretty bland. Does anybody dress it up in any way? I've heard some folks get GI problems with it, which is why I'm the initial guinea pig trying it.

Thanks in advance for comments and advice.

lemurcat2

I tried it just because I was curious. It is bland, but I found it pleasantly so, and it worked for an easy meal replacement if one had no time. I didn't have any ill effects, but it's high cal for the amount of protein, for me, and I found it not nearly as filling as eating other food -- that is, it was when I consumed it, but I'd get hungry again more quickly.

I have no particular reason to rely on it, but nothing against it, and it could be a good fit for your wife's situation if she likes it okay and it is sufficiently sating for her.

HeidiCooksSupper

Just whatever you do, don't eat the green soylent.

mjbnj0001

UPDATES: we just got power back last night after the storm last week. In the interim, the Soylent experiment became part of our response, er, mine, actually.

First off, as to my wife's PPE/hospital eating problem, the jury's still out. She's not warm to the idea (both the logistics/procedural hurdles and food aesthetic situation), so this is basically a non-starter - it may or may not help, but that's a bridge yet to be crossed.

Secondly, I used it as my "blackout lunch" for a week. Four days plain, then I tried it mixed with whey as a change-up. The "original flavor" is bland to nearly flavorless, so there's no downside to that. They give nutrition and dosage for 1-scoop and 2-scoop versions; I mostly used the 2-scoop version. As a 2-scoop meal, the proportions of nutrients are about 20% of what you'd want in a 2000cal/day diet plan. So, for me, that'd be 5 servings/day, 10 scoops total. The tub holds about 9-10 days' worth of powder in that case (about 18 scoops total). 5 servings/day might be right, as I am a big guy, and while I am very satisfied for a while after drinking the mix, I found myself looking forward to dinner - moreso than my usual solid foods lunches.

Third, I had some initial GI impact for the first 2 days, but it went away afterwards, and was never extreme in any case. My gut is different than yours, so YMMV, LOL.

Fourth, I mixed pure unflavored whey (1-scoop) with 1-scoop of Soylent for several days. This gave me more of a protein boost, without the other constituents of Soylent. No apparent impact or differences. The combo mixed well with water.

CONCLUSIONS:

As a solution to the PPE-eating situation I originally postulated for my wife, no progress. As a meal replacement, it seems to work just fine. As an aesthetic choice, it is extremely neutral and probably plays well with other ingredients in the smoothie world - in fact, there's an apparently-robust "DIY" culture around this stuff.

As a full-time nutrient source, this is probably OK. the protein in Soylent comes from soy protein isolate. As a male over 60yo, I fret about too much soy in my diet, so that's a concern. I keep to a moderate intake. As Soylent says on their bottle, "... is not intended to replace every meal, but it can replace any meal."

The vitamin mix is OK, but I get much higher amounts of say, B-vitamins, by adding a spoonful of nutritional yeast to my breakfast oatmeal.

I had thought Soylent would have a significant "cachet" pricing situation - trendy and all that, per serving. It is expensive, but really not so much different than comparing it to Ensure powder, another potential supplement I had looked at. Serving-to-serving, nutrition content to nutrition content, there are differences in price and food values, but with either one, I won't be running to the bank to deposit or withdraw wheelbarrows of money, one versus the other, and nutritionally, while Ensure has some MORE vitamins content than Soylent, Soylent seems to have some better ingredients. I class this as a general matchup comparison.

So, all in all, while so far the Soylent experience has been OK, it hasn't been uniquely a home run.

The irony of trying Soylent during a week in 2020 where I have been dependent on my gasoline-powered portable generator for electricity to keep my frozen goods frozen following the storm, versus Edward G. Robinson pedaling his stationary bike to generate electricity in the fictional 2022 of the movie "Soylent Green" has not eluded me. At least, the real Soylent isn't "People!"

I hope, LOL.