Soylent, Fasting and the Tyranny of Choice
Soylent is getting a ridiculous amount of publicity for an apparently horrible tasting slurry. Why? Is this the iphone or itunes of food products?
I think the excitement around its proposition can be related to the growing acceptance of fasting. You want to make healthy choices but like all choices it gets tiring. The convenience of processed foods takes over. Hot dogs, chips. Even mass-marketed meal replacements are loaded with sugar and sodium. What can you do?
Enter soylent, it doesn't taste great but it's apparently nutritionally complete. For a quick breakfast/lunch etc
I find the binary simplicity of intermittent fasting to be great. I get myself into an overall calorie deficit. I save time not getting and preparing food; and money not eating it... I don't have to choose between a salad or a sandwich or a burger. Just eat nothing. This is not even considering all the other benefits of fasting, but this one choice for simplicity eliminates others. More research into willpower shows that reducing choice is often easiest.
Could this be the food revolution the founder wants it to be? Perhaps. Could this help you reduce food choices, some will argue this is destroying food culture and society itself. Just like starving yourself is a bad idea, so would a diet solely of soylent. As with everything, the dose makes the poison.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/starting-out/soylent-the-most-joyless-new-technology-to-hit-the-world-since-ms-dos/article18905027/
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/05/the-psychology-of-soylent-and-the-prison-of-first-world-food-choices/
I think the excitement around its proposition can be related to the growing acceptance of fasting. You want to make healthy choices but like all choices it gets tiring. The convenience of processed foods takes over. Hot dogs, chips. Even mass-marketed meal replacements are loaded with sugar and sodium. What can you do?
Enter soylent, it doesn't taste great but it's apparently nutritionally complete. For a quick breakfast/lunch etc
I find the binary simplicity of intermittent fasting to be great. I get myself into an overall calorie deficit. I save time not getting and preparing food; and money not eating it... I don't have to choose between a salad or a sandwich or a burger. Just eat nothing. This is not even considering all the other benefits of fasting, but this one choice for simplicity eliminates others. More research into willpower shows that reducing choice is often easiest.
Could this be the food revolution the founder wants it to be? Perhaps. Could this help you reduce food choices, some will argue this is destroying food culture and society itself. Just like starving yourself is a bad idea, so would a diet solely of soylent. As with everything, the dose makes the poison.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/starting-out/soylent-the-most-joyless-new-technology-to-hit-the-world-since-ms-dos/article18905027/
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/05/the-psychology-of-soylent-and-the-prison-of-first-world-food-choices/
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