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Food has always been an inconvenience to me. Yes, I love the taste and I love eating – but it’s always been outweighed by the drudgery of cooking, and washing up. For years now, I’ve essentially lived off various frozen foods. But even those take more work than I would like…microwaving, stirring, then microwaving again. And I need to break what I’m doing and waste around 15 minutes shoveling fuel into my body to get through the next few hours.

I call it the tyranny of food. I mean, it’s ridiculous that I live in the 21st century and I still have to prepare and eat stuff to power my body. Nirvana would mean I could touch an electrical outlet and “charge myself” for the whole day in advance like my phone. Sadly, that day seems a long time in the future :(

My frustration ended with me writing a long post on how no one understands what “readymade” means. So many food products claim to be readymade, but that’s just a trick. Most of the time you need to heat it up, boil stuff, mix it with something else and other such nonsense. “Readymade” means:

1. Open

2. Eat/Drink

The outcome of that post was a recommendation made by a friend of mine on Google+ to try out a product called “Soylent”. When I looked at it, I knew I had found food paradise.

Soylent has replaced food for me. It’s nutritionally complete with a low glycemic index and load. It comes in two forms – powdered and ready made liquid. I’ve been drinking the latter for now, because I prefer the macronutrient profile (it has more protein), but the powdered form will be updated soon. It comes in a nice simple white box with 12 bottles in each.

A single bottle is 400 calories and has everything the body needs. All the optimal micro/macro nutrients. Unlike other similar products, it’s not a food “supplement”. It is a food replacement. I’ve been drinking Soylent for around 2 months now for 80% of my meals and I’ve never felt better. It’s bloody awesome!

It has no taste. It makes no pretensions to flavor. It is what it is – fuel for my body and nothing more. Being bland means I can’t get tired of it, or sick of it. 5 minutes after gulping down a bottle of Soylent, I stop thinking about food for the next few hours. What’s more, you can keep an exact log of your calories since each bottle is so a discrete unit. 3-5 bottles a day is what I drink. And my food worries are over.

I’m sipping a bottle of Soylent as I write this article. I no longer have to get up from my computer to bother with whipping up some crap and hastily stuffing my face so I can get back to whatever I was doing before. My fuel is right here next to me. I think I’m in love…

I still enjoy eating and the flavor of food of course. And I still do so 3-4 times a week at restaurants. But that’s when I want to have a good time with social company and nice conversation. This way I’m in charge of my experience with food. I’m no longer doing so out of hunger. My body no longer controls me. The tyrant is dead!

Also, Soylent ships to my door via FedEx for free. The shipping costs are bundled into the product cost. So no more leaving the house to go shopping and lugging my food back every week. Everything is convenient and simple. The answer to my prayers!

On a related note, to my knowledge this is the only product that is 100% nutritionally complete and where you don’t have to eat/drink anything besides. Additionally, the low glycemic index is a real selling point, compared to other solutions like Ensure and Slimfast which go way above the recommended 180 mg/dl 2 hrs after consumption. This guy plotted his blood sugar after Soylent consumption, so you can see the results for yourself. Also, that’s the old 1.5 version. The new bottled 2.0 has an even lower index.

I realize that food is a big deal to a lot of people, and they would be horrified at the idea of giving it up. That’s great – no one is coming after people’s kitchens :) . But for those like me who view food as an inconvenience to be dispatched with quickly and efficiently, products like Soylent are a godsend.

P.S. Yes, I know the name “Soylent” is from the 1973 movie “Soylent Green” starring Charleston Heston. Apparently the name was a deliberate choice for some laughs. “Soylent Green is people!!”.