Meal Replacement: The Food Of The Future

"Soylent Green is people!"

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That is exactly the market these serve.

The trend is to try and engineer these foods to be nutritionally 'complete' (rather than a supplement). This has not been achieved yet.

Cheaper than a big Mac, ostensibly healthier. One meal square is about $3.50, 400 cals.

 

Food is the one of the things, most looking forward to have it in life. If we take away that by fulfilling hunger in an alternate way, what else we do? Like cattle, eat on the green pasture and roam around?

Understand, obese is a serious issue.

Who knows, in the future we may live in spaceships and on the move looking for a place to live in our solar system - star trek inspired?

 

Yeah, I got that. We are both acknowledging the same message.

Ah. Ok. I see. Thanks for that information. Now I understand the difference.

No @sokanasanah . I am not comparing them with other American fast-food. Naturally they are better than the Big Mac or any other fast food fare. I read the articles including the link you posted.
As a homemaker, and a working woman, I was wondering if I should use these(they are vegan too) as a quick picker upper, would they be cost effective? That was all. I make my own smoothies, veggie patties, etc. Hence my comparison.

 

Me too - I use these only on the go, as a backup.

 

Not related to Soylent but the same goes with the formula companies . The big giants will spend billions to promote formula with their tall claims that formula is "maternalised" milk and how it's the perfect substitue for mother's milk . Exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months has been the unanimous recommendation all over the world , based on indisputable research findings. But somehow , these formula makers want us to believe that their product can give the exact same benefits as a mother's milk or it's much superior . If you read the labels of these formula , you will notice how most of them have questionable content like HFCS ,soy , preservatives etc . How could that ever match the goodness of a breast milk ? No wonder we live in a time when childhood obesity is through the roof . We start receiving samples from our doctors during our pre natal visit and after delivery , the nurses will insist on feeding the babies with formula from day 1 itself . The more we depend on formula , the less the motivation to bf . The happiest are these companies who are laughing away to their banks .

What vexes me is that we all know that natural food will always be better than the processed ones and there are bazillions of studies out there to support this claim but somehow we always fall prey to these big giant companies who are not thinking about our well being but just $$.

 

Your point is correct @Sunburst.
We need to take control of what goes in our bodies. The processed food world is similar to the television, video games, etc. - external forces telling how they benefit us. We need to use our discretion to determine if they really are.

That said, let me be the devil's advocate here.
Regarding baby formula, there are moms who have health issues and are not able to nurse. While cow's milk is not good for the newborn these formulas are the better option. If I were a mother who could not nurse her baby I am sure I would look for the best alternative and these formula come to the rescue.

Same with the meal replacement. Given an option I will always choose to cook my own meals but then life is not the same as mine for many out there.
I live in a military/armed forces base area and I have seen many young men and women leave for work as early as 5:30 am. Some drop off their kids at day care while middle-school aged children are latch-key kids.
When I think of these parents who may not have time to cook a good breakfast for their kids, the option of a good meal replacement is far better than having their kids eat sugary cereal and oily french fries.

I also think of the single mother who, if she happens to fall sick, can depend on these meals to nourish her family till she gets fit.

While we should not depend on meal replacements or baby formula, we should also not chuck them out completely. Moderation - both ways - is the key. JMO.

 

I haven't tried Soylent but looking at its nutrition label, it has 21g of fat with 37g of Carbs, and 400 calories per serving. Also, it has no green, fruits, or probiotics.

In the past, I have tried Progressive VegEssential / WheyEssential. I like them but no probiotics. Right now, I'm enjoying VeganPure from Walmart, and it only cost $20 myveganpure.com/vegan-pure

 

I am all for mothers making their choices whether they want to nurse or feed formula . I am a mother myself so won't judge judge them . My gripe is with the formula companies claiming how formula is superior to BM and an ideal meal for babies which we know is not true.