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Soylent Squared — A complete 100g mini-meal bar from Soylent
Soylent Squared is the first complete 100 calorie mini meal bar designed to give you 5g of plant protein, 36 essential nutrients, and probiotics for digestive health. Have 1 to 2 for a healthy snack, or 3 to 4 for a complete meal.
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Replies
@ys @jakewesorick Processed doesn't make food bad, processed food just means its through a set process, it's whats in the specific process that it can be made bad. Milk is processed.
@jakewesorick Sure. Processing alone is not the issue (broccoli is processed), however, most bad food is processed, so it's a good heuristic to be cautious.
Oftentimes, processed foods bring with them ingredient ratios, ingredient states, and ingredient profiles which we have not evolved to process and consume; or that are outright toxic for us.
For example, at a basic level, poor carbohydrate, fat and protein profiles are common in processed food:
1. Carb consumption is the leading cause of weight gain, which we now know to be a leading cause of most acquired illnesses; for example, GERD, T2D, heart disease, cancer, etc. Processed foods are often very high in carbs, as they are both cheap to produce and tasty (corn, HFCS, sugar, etc.). Each of these small Soylent bars contains 12 grams of carbohydrates. These 12 grams of carbs, like all carbs, will be converted into 12 grams of sugar by your body. 12 grams of sugar is a lot of sugar, it's 3 sugar cubes. (4 grams of sugar per cube, worth thinking about it in terms of cubes.) On Soylent's website, they recommend you eat up to 4 of these bars at a time "for a complete healthy meal". In no world are 16 sugar cubes (64 grams of sugar) considered a healthy meal. This is how you get Type 2 Diabetes. They're lying, and it makes people fatally sick. And it's not about eating these in moderation, 12 grams of sugar in such a small meal is never something that can be eaten in moderation. You don't eat sugar cubes in moderation. You just don't eat them.
2. Bad omega 3:6 ratios result in long-term and damaging inflammation of body tissues (as does sugar). Chronic inflammation is known to cause many illnesses, but also mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. This is one of the arguments behind why CBD is helpful in improving anxiety. CBD can reduce inflammation in the body, and in doing so, reduce the side-effects: anxiety. Also why lifting weights, baths, etc. can help with mood. They reduce inflammation. Omega 3:6 ratios are supposed to be about 1:1, yet, over the last century our omega 3:6 consumption has shifted to 1:20-50. Omega 6 (palm oil, vegetable oils) is cheaper than omega 3 (fish oils), but not healthy when consumed in this ratio. So, this is why we see less O3 and O6 in our diets. Cheaper to manufacture.
So, that's carbs and fat, both terrible for you when done wrong; as they are here.
3. Finally, protein. These bars are less than 10% protein; which is wholly inadequate for any meal, let alone an already junk candy bar. However, what's telling is how they've overcompensated for this fact by putting the protein content on the front of the bar. A whole 5g of protein! Useless. We need a lot more than that, and a lot less sugar, and more omega 3 fats. But they know this, so they want to distract you with the protein content, as protein is generally harder to criticize. Now, imagine it said "4 sugar cubes per bar" on the front? Ha!
Even if it wasn't processed, and it was a meal you made a home, this macronutrient profile is very bad. If we want, we can get into the micronutrients and chemical additive. The business need to have a long shelf-life, handle a variety of climates, postage, etc. results in the ingredients becoming further denatured and alien and difficult for our bodies to digest.
So, not only are the ingredients trash, the method of delivery brings with it it's a share of issues.
Processed food, such as soylent, is, at best, akin to rations. Not an ideal to live on, perhaps better in a survival situation; in which case, I'd recommend actual military grade rations. https://www.jomipsa.com/military
But, you don't see those being posted on Product Hunt. lol.
That's how strange this is to me. Rations on Product Hunt.
Anyway, I wrote this quick, spelling errors and all, so, please look up all the details and find your own conclusions, but I'm as confident as I can be in what I've just written.
@jakewesorick @ys FYI, at a weight of 25g per bar, 5g of protein is 20%, not 10. Alternatively, if you look at it calorically, 5g of protein = 20 calories = 20% of the caloric value of the bar.
Of course we need more than 5g of protein in the day, but I think these bars are more marketed towards the interstitial times between meals (aka calling these 'mini-meals', not 'sustenance'), as in 'eat this Soylent bar instead of a bag of chips or a 100-calorie Oreo thins pack'.
@johncoogan Dozens, if not hundreds of people were afflicted with "intense vomiting and diarrhea" after eating Soylent bars in 2016. What steps has your company taken to test this new product and ensure that no one is in danger of serious health consequences from eating it?
I've been using Soylent (bottles) since they became available and order the food bars when they first came out. BUt they went away.
Pros:The Food Bars are finaly back
Cons:I had to wait a loooooooooooooooooonnnng time
Love a small snack size but If you're supposed to eat '4 at a time' for a meal, use less packaging!
Interesting continuation in the solid food area, I've never felt super comfortable with replacing meals with shakes as was previously the idea, a lot happens when you turn something into a shake as opposed to a solid mass. @johncoogan what made you and the team explore this route more?
Why though
Pros:This is the best product I've ever hunted in my entire life 🤣
Cons:What do you mean?
Will try their bars, and their product
Pros:Good concept in a booming industry "Fast food" finally Healthy
Cons:It should better highlight the properties of each bar
@andre_daste You can get Soylent products on Amazon in the U.S. Is that an option in Canada?
I love this idea. But I wish there was a lower-calorie drink as well. Maybe 200 calories with the full micronutrients of the 400 calorie version.
I'm just waiting for you to produce a green one to make the obvious joke no one has done for reasons that are beyond my comprehension. Apart from that, nice product, probably not all that nutritious but still enjoyable and useful when you just need a quick snack to keep you moving. Also, calling a food brand "Soylent" is both brilliant and disturbing and I love it
Personally, I take probiotics on a daily basis. I love the idea of a mini-meal bar, and probiotics is great, but for anyone who actually sees that as a value proposition I'd need to know more than just the fact that you have them. for example, how many are in a bar?
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