Because of this challenge, My Wife Orders Meals for One [Soylent Blogrimage 6/30]

Every Thursday my wife and I go on a date (#JeevaDateNight). We love trying new restaurants. Soylent adds a new element to this tradition. Instead of us sharing an experience of food together, swapping notes on taste, I simply watch my wife as she eats--I kinda feel bad for her. 

This is a fairly typical experience. It's always a little awkward when you go out to eat and someone does not eat. No matter if they are eating due to a spiritual fast, a diet or financial limitations, it's a bummer when you can't share a meal together. This challenge is affording me the opportunity to create that dynamic for all sorts up people in my 90 meal challenge (30 days). 

Today is the day I've missed food the most. Going to Ann Arbor and dining at a hip ramen noodle bar is something I really enjoy. Overall, though we loved our date night together!

And sorry to all of those who have to eat while I simply stare at you. 

FEELINGS:

• Really Missing Food
• Head feels a little tired at times
• Body is full of energy
• Waste is all normal (pee is very yellow though)
• Date night wasn't awkward, but watching people eat (without eating myself) is a funny experience

I Lost 8 Pounds in the last Four Days! [Soylent Blogrimage 5/30]

I feel a lot of energy eating only Soylent. My midday crashes are almost nonexistent. A friend told me that I try a lot of different food experiments and always claim my energy is going through the roof (Vitamin D, Slow Carb, Drinking Water before Sleeping). So, this energy could very well be a placebo. 

Losing 8 pounds however....

This is not a placebo, though it could be all water weight. If I go beyond 10 pounds of lost weight at this pace, I'll be pretty sure it's water weight. When hearing about this weight loss, people around me are way more open to trying Soylent. Haha. This could be the next big diet fad--in addition to solving world hunger. 

FEELINGS:

• Concerned that I might be losing too much weight
• Excited to see my stomach get smaller #6Pack
• Getting more and more used to the flavor
• My capacity to eat more Soylent is increasing
• Energy levels are Great! 

The Soylent Hunger Games in my Belly [Soylent Blogrimage 4/30]

What a day's worth of Soylent looks like

I am getting used to Soylent, taste and all. Things taste better when you are hungry. My mind feels clearer on this stuff, and my body feels lighter. It's like there is extra energy--normally used for digestion--funneling towards mind and energy functions. I'm not sure if this is a placebo or not, which is why I want to get blood work done. 

Skipping lunch didn't really help with hunger issues, but when I got home I actually craved Soylent. Crazy. Making a meal was extremely easy and convenient. Today I actually thought, "I don't look forward to making meals." With this new habit, eating is not a struggle. So often I'm worried about what to eat or bummed about food preparation (this makes me sound very lazy). With Soylent, I don't have to think about a thing. It's easy to make. There are no options. It's just there. I love that factor. For the last month, I've been wearing the same outfit almost everyday (kind of a social experiment) and this experience applied there too. Not having to think about what to wear made life easier. Simplifying and minimalism is very appealing to me. I can foresee myself using Soylent as a life habit for breakfast and lunch. We'll see. 

Feelings:

• Skipped Lunch so I feel very hungry
• Not crashing from 3-6 PM like normal. Love this!
• Getting used to the taste
• Love the convenience. Not looking forward to making meals after this

The Sweet Taste of Soggy Cardboard [Soylent Blogrimage 3/30]

[Somehow these guys like my watered down Soylent]

Watering down the Soylent today massively benefited the taste. My first batches seemed especially horrid because of the taste and texture. The texture is something like a thick pancake batter mixed with paper mache pulp. The taste is like bitter chemicals covered in soggy cardboard. After this flavor hits your mouth, the grainy leftovers coat various parts of your mouth. This forces you to use the tongue to find every morsel and push it into your throat. It's really bad. 

Watering down the mixture helps. 

I've now completed 10% of this 30 day challenge!

I want to get blood work done so I can see what this is doing to me.

FEELINGS:

• Pee is still Radical Yellow despite proper hydration
• Social situations are still awkward
• Energy way higher than normal during my typical 3-6PM crash
• Missing Food a little, but don’t feel hunger pains
• Having a hard time eating the full quantity
• Watered down food tastes way better

Did someone say Choline Bitartrate? [Soylent Blogrimage 2/30]

Today, I went to church for the first time on Soylent. I get a lot of jokes like "you know what soylent is made out of, right?" Also, a bunch of people tried it and tasted for themselves how disgusting it is [see above video].

[A lonely Soylent Meal amongst plates full of regular food]

Yesterday, I said I'd talk about the ingredients in Soylent and how gathering them made me feel like Walter White in Breaking Bad. I did feel a little shady walking into places and demanding a certain amount of Choline Bitartrate and other substances. Since many of my ingredients aren't found in local Michigan stores, I ordered from Pure Bulk, Amazon, and a few shady places (jk, but seriously). I spent hours looking in local stores to no avail. Luckily, the internet makes projects like this so much easier. 

The Soylent I'm using is made up of the following ingredients:

These ingredients add up to 2000 Calories and 272.8 Carbs a day. 

Here is a breakdown of how it is meeting all my nutritional needs:

For this recipe, I'm using the People Chow 3.01 Version. I couldn't get the famous pre-packaged kind because they are backed up in their production. 

Day 2 Feelings:

• Still hate it. This is causing me to not eat as much as I should. I'm pacing myself through out the day.
• My body doesn't feel weak, but my head kind of hurts at times.
• Pee is yellow even though I'm hyrdrated
• Stools are regular
• Energy is normal
• Socially, it's awkward to eat this stuff while everyone is eating a meal

I hate This [Soylent Blogrimage 1/30]

The 2014 Blogrimage begins today! After participating in Jumping Rope, Stand Up Comedy, and Book Writing challenges, this challenge is the one I dread the most. I hate it already.

For 30 days I will only eat Soylent as my food source. Basically, Soylent exists as a future food. Remember how the Jetsons ate all their food in the form of a pill? Or Remember how the people in The Matrix ate that goopy soup containing all their necessary nutrients? Soylent represents this life after food. It is a minimalistic substance containing all the nutrients a human needs to optimally function.

I remember surviving off of instant Ramen noodles as food with very limited nutritional value. Soylent offers a cheap alternative packed with all the nutrients one needs. Imagine the possibilities. Ending world hunger? Ending the nutritional deficiency most of us have? If you want to know more, watch this documentary.

Today, I made my first batch, and it is horrible. I mean the texture, the flavor, the aroma, all literally made me vomit in my mouth. The thing is, I didn’t realize I vomited because the consistency is the same as Soylent. I don’t know how I’m going to eat this for every meal over the next 30 days.

Here are some pictures of my setup.

Notice the last picture in the gallery. It is the lunch prepared at a class I took this morning. Delicious roast beef. Denying that great meal is my first success of discipline. Tommorrow, I’ll talk about gathering all my ingredients and how it made me feel like Walter White and Jesse from Breaking Bad.