Soylent, day 11

I started with the strawberry flavored Soylent and it actually tastes strawberry.
The white/gray/yellow-ish look of the dry powder morphed into a more suitable red after being mixed with water. That was a bonus because it actually does not look bad either.
The texture is a bit like a smoothie with a bit more oat flakes mixed in than is customary. To test if the mixture changed flavor or texture when stored, I mixed a batch/meal/shake/portion last night and placed it in the fridge over night.
The prepared mixture did not really change flavor or texture over night.

All the other flavors followed the same pattern as the first: Tasted what the label says(OK, the label should maybe state "X-flavored oat flavor"), looked the right color and had an OK texture. And about the texture: You learn to appreciate the seeds in the mixture, because you get something to actually chew on...

All in all a pretty pleasant experience.

I guess to some extent I (and it seems: many others I talked to) were expecting some of that terrible "diet powder" crap that, in my experience at least, has the distinctive taste of "horrible, but I'll endure it to get results even if I know I'll regain any weight loss immediately because I'm eating expensive crap instead of changing my lifestyle". But in that respect I'm happy to be disappointed.

I'm guessing that as Soylent actually contains the stuff your body needs, your body recognizes it as something it can try and even have some more of.

OK, so that sounds all swell and terrific. So what's the catch?

• I feel good. Not better. Not worse. No real change. And I've worked out the same as I usually do, so no problem there.
• Cheaper than my regular diet, but I almost exclusively eat out, so that does not really say that much.
• Mindbogglingly boring. At least to me that loves any good food, be it a juicy food-truck burger at lunch or a long breakfast with a book in my local café on the weekends. To have Soylent as my only food source for any length of time would probably lead to some form of bacon-deficiency induced depression.

So far I would say that I'll probably keep buying it after this batch is depleted.

But I'll use it when I'm pressed for time at work.

When I forgot to buy anything to eat and it is to late to fix that.

When I'm to lazy.

Or when I just need to get something to eat really quick because I'm way to late for something.

I'd say those times are adding up to almost half my meals.

And the pooping you ask? No real difference actually. A bit less maybe. Perhaps a bit surprising I would say, but there it is.

PS: There's a sheet of really large bubble plastic in the package. *giggles*

PS2: Poop! *giggles*

Soylent

I wanted to try this futuristic Soylent thing. But the Soylent company does not yet ship from USA to Europe. However, a quick search gave me Soylent Life, a company in the Netherlands that makes it based on the D.I.Y. recipes of the movement around the original makers of Soylent. I love open source.

Anyway: I ordered one of their 1 month variation packs, which is 90 meals in 5 different flavors. I got it today and was struck by the size and weight of the package... It was big and it weighed around 20 kg.

A LEGO Mindstorms SPIK3ER for size reference... because... reasons.

I should not have been so surprised as I actually remember calculating the mass of the things you needed to eat to around 600g per day already 20 years ago after having a discussion on the possibility of taking a pill to replace eating. And just as the Soylent product, that calculation was "just add water".

It filled the entire base of of one of my cupboards:

I'm about to tear out the kitchen(it will be done this year, I swear), thus the lack of cupboard doors...

So the plan is to start "eating" only Soylent (nearly only, because: beer, steak and friends) , beginning breakfast tomorrow. And to answer the questions I have, like: Will I feel full? Does it taste dust flavored dust and chemical fruit? Will I have the energy to keep up my exercise schedule? Will I hate it? Is it the shiny Sci-Fi future or the dark one where it always rains?

And also the question a friend of mine had: What will my poop be like? I love the brain on that one.

I'll keep you posted.

Or just myself posted I guess. ;)