I’ve taken Soylent for months before and I absolutely love it. I started taking Soylent when I was making The Light Nearby because it’s an extremely convenient way to get all the vitamins and minerals your body needs for the day. Not only that, but it’s so quick to make.
What is Soylent?
Soylent is powered food that, when combined with water, provides you with everything that you need for the day. It has all the vitamins and minerals your body needs plus some extra supplements that are extremely healthy for you.
Soylent looks at food as a vehicle rather than a journey. For example, you don’t have milk for milk, you have milk for calcium. You have chicken for protein, oranges for vitamin c, etc. If you break down each food it’s more about what’s in the food, rather than the food itself. What Soylent does is gives you the shortest possible “vehicle,” so to speak, by containing everything you need.
Here is my full explanation and review of Soylent! If you have any questions, feel free to ask. To begin, here is a video of me making Soylent and talking about the process.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzxq8dHpqn8
Here’s What’s In Soylent
Remember that this is for one serving and Soylent provides three servings a day.
Price
A big question I get is the price of Soylent. Here’s the truth: If you don’t have a refrigerator or microwave, and only have access to food by eating out, then it’s a lot cheaper. The cost of Soylent is roughly $10 per day ($3-4 per meal), so it’s relatively cheap depending on how you look at it.
When I wasn’t using Soylent I spent way less than $10 a day on food. When I was traveling around, however, Soylent was crucial because it was difficult to save money with eating out every day. Even if I bought non-cooked food (like canned items) I wouldn’t be able to get all the nutrition, vitamins and minerals I get from Soylent.
Here’s my advice to you: If money isn’t a factor, you can’t go wrong with Soylent. However, if you’re looking to buy Soylent for the purpose of saving money, I would suggest otherwise. No joke – check out Amazon for incredible deals on food.
Convenience / Mental Aspect
The biggest benefit of Soylent is convenience. Soylent consists of one bag and one tube that you mix with water (check the video for the process). It only takes a couple minutes to make a full days worth of Soylent and it lasts 2 days in the fridge. Not only is it quick to make but the best part is not having to worry about food in general.
The mental side of it was very surprising to me. After taking Soylent I never thought if I had enough vegetables for the day, enough protein, enough vitamins, etc. The mental “stress” of food was completely gone – I literally had nothing to worry about. Don’t get me wrong – I still had Whey Protein after I worked out but besides that I never thought about what to eat.
In addition I didn’t have go to the store, find the food I wanted, pay for it, prepare it, store it afterwards, clean everything up, and so on. The whole process that comes along with food was completely gone and opened up my schedule big time.
Miss Food?
To be honest I somewhat miss food when taking Soylent. I stress somewhat because there are lot of aspects about Soylent that I love in comparison to regular food. The only drawback is the actual pleasure of having food – Soylent tastes pretty good but it’s hard to compare with gourmet meals. I also miss the actual oral fixation of chewing food – it’s a really strange feeling being completely full and yet not having chewed one bit.
My best suggestion would be to have Soylent in addition to regular meals. Most people usually have Soylent for certain meals – like only having it for lunch at work and eating a regular meal for dinner (when you might be with people).
Pros & Cons
Here are some negative aspects that I encountered with Soylent:
- Dehydration – You have to drink a lot more water than normal when taking it. When I first started consuming Soylent I would become significantly more dehydrated (especially in combination with working out). I drink a lot of water anyway, but it can be a hassle when you have to constantly drink water.
- Going to the Bathroom – In combination with the first bullet point I also urinate more frequently – this can be even more annoying especially if I’m not by a bathroom.
- Spending More Money – The issue with Soylent is that it’s really an all-or-nothing purchase. You can only purchase a minimum of one week, so too any extent you have to be committed. Spending more money can also be an issue because if I buy Soylent, and then buy food that I like having normally, I’m now spending more money than before.
- Being With Friends – This all depends on when you have it but when I was having meals with people I would just have my bottle of Soylent. This is all dependent upon your situation, which is why most people don’t have Soylent for dinner, but even if you have it for lunch at work you might get some stares.
- Alcohol – I would NOT suggest drinking alcohol if you’ve only consumed Soylent (for obvious reasons). I’ve found (through personal experience) that drinking alcohol on Soylent is actually worse than drinking on an empty stomach, so have some food before consuming alcohol.
- Missing Food – This is definitely the biggest one. Both because of flavor and the oral fixation, real food is something you might start to miss.
Here are the positive aspects I encountered with Soylent:
- Cheap – Given my situation, when traveling around the country, it was a lot cheaper having Soylent rather than eating out every day.
- Convenience – Being able to have everything your body needs in one drink is an amazing feat. Only combining water, powder and oil is a quick process that takes minutes.
- Mental Stress – It was an unforeseen – yet amazing – side effect that I didn’t worry about nutrition. This was only something I noticed after I started taking Soylent, but it’s amazing how much of my day was spent worrying if I had all the proper nutrients.
- Portability – I wouldn’t suggest leaving Soylent unrefrigerated for too long, but it’s perfect if I need to run out and just want to pour it into a bottle.
- Amount of Protein – I didn’t expect them to put as much protein as they did in the mix. There’s 114 grams of protein for a day’s serving, which is perfect because of how active I am. You want to shoot for 1g/1.5g of protein for each pound (if you’re trying to get stronger), and this way I don’t have to consume as much whey protein as before.
- Feel Healthier – I’ll definitely say I feel a lot healthier and have more energy throughout the day. Soylent is extremely good for you and you can especially tell after having it for a while.
