Four Weeks on Hacker School Soylent

Feeling Fine

It's been four weeks since I started drinking hacker school soylent twice per day (well almost twice per day) as a replacement for breakfast and lunch. I haven't developed super powers. I'm not feeling much different than before. But I'm generally happy with the results and I'm planning on sticking with it--here's why.

It's Easy

I'm a programmer and I most definitely exude the three virtues of one. Laziness and impatience, however, are especially relevant for soylent. The hacker school soylent recipe is simple and quick to prepare. I've been working on my analysis to see that I'm getting all of the vitamins and minerals that the USDA thinks that I need, so I'm pretty certain that I'm eating more completely than I did when I was eating breakfast at home and taking lunch to work.

It's Compelling

Drinking soylent every day is a bit boring, but that boredom does seem to have two side effects. First, I'm not as compelled to snack throughout the day. Second, I feel like I'm doing something good for myself, which helps me make better food decisions throughout the day. Third, when I finally eat "real food" for dinner each day, I feel like I enjoy each bite a little bit more.

Breaking Even

Food-wise, I feel more "even." I suspect this is what people refer to when they talk of blood-sugar levels and "crashing." I feel like, on most of my 2-servings-of-soylent days, that I have a fairly easy time making good food decisions. My problems, right now, are on my "social eating" days and after dinner, when I've exhausted my hacker school soylent for the day and grow hungry again.

The Land Down Under

When it comes down to it, though, the number one reason I'm sticking with hacker school soylent is my bowel. For years I've had movements averaging in the 6 range of the Bristol Stool Scale. Along with that has been some occasional urgency to use the facilities. Drinking hacker school soylent for the past four weeks has really calmed everything down. I mostly have 4's (with 3-4 being considered "optimal") with an occasional 3, 5 or 6. I've had very few 7's in the past four weeks, for which I am eternally grateful.

Sticking With It

With all of that in mind, I'm going to stick with it for the time being. I'm going to keep working on improving the nutrient profile of my version of hacker school soylent ("spudlent") as I find shortages and deficiencies. I've already added a vitamin of 1000IU D3 to my daily intake and am adding a 12 fl. oz. glass of milk to my intake somewhere each day. (I'll talk about the milk in a post on sleep apnea which will be coming at some point in the future.)

Finally, I'm still not convinced that this is not stupid, so I've got some blood tests coming up and I'm looking forward to seeing the results of those to see if I'm killing myself or just barely starting to thrive.