The first time I heard about a diet involving eating a single product consisting of all necessary vitamins and minerals, I immediately thought of “Tasty Wheat” scene from The Matrix. When I went to the diet creator’s website, I learned that exactly what Soylent it is.
Rob Rhinehartl has developed a diet consisting of what he calls Soylent. It’s a thick beige liquid, and it allegedly tastes pretty good. That’s hard to believe, but who am I to disagree? I’ve never tried to combine “every substance the body needs to survive plus a few extras shown to be beneficial.” He has eaten that for almost every meal the past 30 days and his results, both data driven and anecdotal, are astounding. He can adjust his weight at will, cleared up lifelong health problems, has more energy than he knows what to do with, and says that he’s more productive than ever. I don’t know about you, but that sounds like something of which I want to be a part.
There are plenty of upsides to this plan. It saves time and energy. Have you ever tried to ensure you got all the nutrients needed through food? It’s exhausting. Soylent is also significantly less expensive than groceries. This benefits my bottom line as well as society. How? Well, think of every stereotypical beauty pageant answer. “I want to end world hunger.” This might not make that realistic, but it at least moves us in that direction.
The downsides are obvious. Food is awesome. If I learned one thing from doing a juice cleanse, it’s that the act of eating is a major part of my life. It fills time, engages the senses, and joins friends. Rhinehartl also points out that because there aren’t alternate sources of vitamins and minerals, a slight error in the ingredient mix can cause serious health problems.
I’m probably not about to start ordering powders from Amazon, but I’m certainly intrigued. If I could buy this at Whole Foods right now, I would. Check out his interview with Vice to see why and how this all came to be. You can also visit his site to keep up with the continued results.