Over the past couple years, I've heard many of my friends, family, and colleagues asking me:
What exactly are you drinking in that blender bottle?
Is that a protein powder? I didn't know you worked out!
The answer is that I'm drinking a blended powder product called Soylent. My understanding is that the Soylent product is not meant to be a supplement, but rather it's a product that can completely replace food. Another interesting fact is that Soylent as a company is run in the fashion of a software company - one that iterates upon its products with community feedback and provides new releases - rather than the traditional model of a food company.
Dipping my toes
I first heard about Soylent while regularly browsing Hacker News, and found the concept to be interesting as well as appealing for potential time savings. I must admit that I also pondered how exactly "neutral" would taste. Ultimately, I didn't end up trying it because there was no shipping to Canada.
Fast forward a few months to when I stayed overnight at a friend's place in Bellevue, WA while heading to an event in Seattle: I noticed a bag of Soylent (1.4) sitting atop his kitchen counter and immediately asked about his experience with it. Being the gracious host he was, my friend offered to let me try it out and I gladly accepted (while my fiancée facepalmed, haha). A couple scoops, some water, some shaking, and some waiting later, I finally had a fresh bottle of Soylent in hand. Three gulps in, I truly understood what "neutral" tasted like... it was, nothing to like and nothing to dislike. I suppose many could (and do) argue that the absence of flavour in food is blasphemy, but I actually quite enjoyed it for its simplicity and that it left me feeling satisfied.
Jumping in with two feet
Two or three short weeks later, I had all but forgotten about Soylent when it started popping up in all my social media feeds. The reason being that Soylent was promoting that shipping to Canada started and some folks in my network are very interested in productivity. Since I fall into that camp, I signed up without hesitation for Soylent's 1.5 Powder formulation (the only product available at the time) and have ordered additional inventory since then.
In the ensuing months, I've tried varying levels of Soylent intake as food replacement for a couple weeks at a time, going as high as having the formula for 60-80% of my meals. These days, I mostly use the product when I know in advance that meetings will run through lunchtime (i.e. 5-10% of my weekly food intake). An important point is to note is that Soylent should be thought of only as "food" and therefore important to still drink your 8 cups of water per day lest you become very dehydrated,
So, how's the water?
I've found the effects of Soylent to be surprising – it was easy to focus mentally, sleep more soundly, and have consistent levels of energy throughout the day. For me, the downside, as has been widely documented by others, was the flatulence that I experienced occasionally. The problem was that I couldn't pinpoint the cause; I tried adding or removing food elements from my diet for controlled periods, but it simply did not reveal any clear pattern of when/why the flatulence occurred.
All said, I enjoyed experimenting with Soylent as a food replacement, but I truly enjoy everything about food (i.e. its prep process, the range of tastes, the social element, and cultural/heritage component) so I doubt I’d ever join the ranks of folks who incorporate >75% of their diet to food replacements.
My recommendation is that using a food replacement product (there are others) is undeniably better than skipping or going out for (read: lining up for) if you're having a time-crunched kind of day.
Happy Fooding!