[DISCUSSION] What is your opinion about meal replacement shakes?
Do you use them when you don’t have time to cook or don’t want to? Do you use them to avoid gaining weight? What is your opinion about their potential health implications?
I’ve tried Soylent, Huel, and Jimmy Joy. Each has their own advantages and disadvantages. Soylent has a very smooth texture but not too many flavors, Huel and JJ have great flavor variety but a more grainy texture. Huel (and I think JJ now too) have hot meals which are pretty good and a nice change of pace from cold drinks.
I use them partly for convenience and partly because they have a good amount of fiber which I sometimes don’t get enough of. I don’t really have the self discipline or the willingness to eat the same thing 3x/day in order to put exactly X number of calories in me so I can lose weight.
I have a subscription to Holfood and I love it. It definitely makes life easier. For me, the advantages I get from meal replacement shakes are
it saves me from having to decide what to eat so I can put that energy towards things I actually care to do
it’s not very filling, so i can have a shake fairly soon after a solid meal and fit more calories into my day
Probably much healthier than any other meal I can make in the same amount of time
Very tasty in my opinion, but that’s down to personal preference
Makes solid meals much more enjoyable because they’re no longer mandatory, you don’t have to eat so much that you get sick of the foods you normally enjoy, and you can choose your solid meals to maximize enjoyment rather than nutritional value
The main con is that it’s expensive relative to cooking for yourself. But if you factor in the time savings, it may not actually be any more expensive.
Probably saved my life during a severe anxious period where I was physically unable to eat enough regular food and became dangerously underweight very fast.
Nowadays, useful as a convenience when I don’t have time to make proper food, or just to switch it up a bit. I enjoy these particular shakes I get so sometimes I just get them because I like them.
Had the Aussie version of Soylent, Aussielent for a few months. I don’t get as much satisfaction from food as others, so for me it was awesome, I saved so much time not preparing food, and I didn’t need to think about balancing my diet.
Then I started my relationship and had to start eating normie food again. Let me go back to the Nebuchadnezza and eat my nutrient slop.
They’re no replacement for a meal in terms of making you feel less hungry. Soylent has some good flavors, but it’s also kinda chalky. Best one I’ve ever had though.
If these things actually filled your belly and didn’t just provide a meal’s worth of vitamins and such, I think they’d be pretty good for a super quick replacement to real food. Definitely not something you want when you’re actually hungry.
I started having a Soylent shake for lunch last week. I hate having to deal with eating during my work day (WFH), and want to stop doordashing. It’s worked well, I’m hungry by dinner and it has better nutrition than what I normally eat.
Will keep on doing it this week and see how it goes.
When we get sick we rely on Ensure to keep our nutrients up when we can’t eat, but I’ve never used them to replace a proper meal because they are wholly unsatisfying, I would need a sandwich or something to top off my fat ass.
Soylent is great. I don’t use it on the regular but it works for all the things you’d want one to work for. 400 calories downed quick and satiates for about 3 hours.
I tried Soylent for a little bit. It was okay. I think they work well as a once-in-awhile kinda thing, or in particularly strenuous or limiting conditions, but relying on them for any real length of time would be a little sad imo.
I’d still look for some for a solo road trip of any sort, they’re preferable to most road food.
I don’t use them and wouldn’t use them. I like food, and would rather cut into other things’ time to cook and eat.
I generally have a pretty negative opinion of the idea of “replacing meals” with soilent-esque products. I understand the various reasons people use these, and don’t blame them, but to me it’s treating a symptom rather than the problems that cause it.
I tried to get into it, but between finding recipes and washing the blender, it wasn’t less effort or money than just making a sandwich. I did not find it helpful as a diet aid, because I would still be hungry after a “meal replacement.” If I don’t have time to cook, I don’t have time to blend. If I make a bunch in advance, I can just as easily make a bunch of salads in containers.
I’m already fat and disabled, though, and I work from home, so factor that into my experience.
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