Charlie Hebdo

This really got to me, as it did so many others. I'm very late doing this, but I agree with those who say we should flood the internet and anywhere else with images of the Prophet.

Those Muslims who have entered the 21st century, hell even the 20th, won't mind and likely will agree with the action. The only ones who will be "offended" are those who are still left behind in the 5th century and can't drag themselves up.

This is the spirit of it:

That is from Dave Brown

So, here are a few cartoons from Charlie hebdo.

A good start!

These images and more should be spread all over the world!

A friend of mine suggested that images of the prophet should be placed at the entrances and exits of all sorts of businesses, and on public streets. What a jolly time watching extremists trying to avoid stepping on them!

I think maybe that goes a bit too far, but it's an interesting idea.

Soylent, 100% Food, and a Backslider Week

It's been 3 weeks since my last post. Bad on me.

I spent the first week with Soylent and 100% Food, one for breakfast and one for lunch, mixing it up day to day, and nothing new to report there.

I spent the third week on the 100% Food, as I feared running out of Soylent. As before, worked fine, nothing new.

Ah but the second week I had been nervous about running out, and I was curious as to what it would be like to quit using these products altogether, so I went back to my old eating routine.

I AM NEVER DOING THAT AGAIN!

Greasy.
I noticed my energy level drop, it got harder to wake up and drag my ass out of bed, I often felt queasy and sometimes bloated.
I tell you now that no matter what brand I choose, I am going to stay on Soylent type product for breakfast and lunch permanently. I may have mentioned that before, but now I am completely committed.

During the 3 weeks, my waist jumped back to 54 during the off week, back to 53 end of the third week. My scale died again, so I don't know my weight.

 I mentioned that I was going to write about some odd things I've noticed. Here they are, along with repeats of some I've mentioned before.

I've lost much of my taste for sweets. Someone is always bringing in cookies, cakes, etc. at work, and I would go for it. But now, I don't care so much, as I find myself not touching any of it, or just having one cookie or muffin or whatever instead of 3 or more. I just don't like the stuff as much as I used to.
I've lost my taste for junk food too. This is amazing, as a bag of Doritos and some sour cream was heavenly for me. I also used to like nacho chips with hummus or port wine cheese, but I had some of that a few days ago and it didn't taste all that great and really made me feel bloated and gross.

It is a bit easier to get out of bed in the morning.

I do have a bit more energy. Maybe I should call it feeling a bit more awake instead. I just feel "better."

I started noticing just that my joints feel better. I'm able to move more easily. I've been taking glucosamine/msm for years, and that does help, but this is an improvement on top of that. It's not a big difference, so it's something I should monitor and tell about if anything changes.

I urinate slightly more, even if I don't drink more water. And it is hugely important to drink more water when using these products! I get headaches if I don't increase my water consumption. Of course, that means even more trips to the bathroom. A minor inconvenience overall.

I suspect that I need more than 2,000 calories per day. I find myself being hungrier and eating more for dinner and late afternoon snacks. This makes no sense, as my lifestyle is sedentary. I'll have to monitor this more too.
I think at some point I will try going all in on 3 meals a day and see how much more I eat beyond that.
I'd love to do just this stuff for all 3, the way I'm feeling at this point.


That's it for observations for now.

I am doing Soylent for both meals this week. My monthly subscription has shipped, but not arrived. I'm frankly worried about Soylent's ability to keep up with it, and I suspect I'll run out frequently if I depend on them only. So far, 100% Food ships quick and reliably when I place an order (I have not subscribed)

I am thinking about trying low carb versions of 100% Food, and I may even try one from Custom Body Fuel. These are more expensive, $83-$85/week, but I am considering it.

So, let's see how going completely Soylent works out this week. If it's as good as it should be, I will have a hard time choosing a product. I could continue to split between the two, but it would be lower priced to go for a two week supply subscription to one.

So, next time, a report on doing all Soylent.

Soylent Review, with 100%Food Also

Right off, the Soylent seems to work well.

It tastes OK, kind of like cake batter as others have described. Its consistency is fine, as I mix up an entire bag in the truly excellent blender jug they ship with the first order, and it sits in the fridge for a day or more before I use it.
The 100% food I mix in the bottle it comes in and drink it right away. But I don't see that there would be any benefit to letting it sit. Soylent specifically recommends it, 100% Food recommends against it.

The Soylent is just as filling as the 100% Food. The 100% Food chocolate tastes better, but the other two flavors, Raw and Spicy, are not quite as good as Soylent. Again, no difference between any of them as far as feeling satiated.

I notice an increase in gassiness with the Soylent that I did not get with the 100% Food. This should go away as my body gets used to the Soylent, so no concern.

I missed the lunch meal, twice this week, and breakfast once. I'd really like to go through a solid week of the stuff for breakfast and lunch. My schedule looks like I should be able to easily this coming week.

I was thinking about going with Soylent for both meals this coming week, followed by 100% Food the next, but instead I'm going to stick with Soylent for breakfast and 100% Food for lunch.

I've backed off on the idea of trying any other Custom Body Fuel products, as they are too expensive. So the contest is down to Soylent and 100% Food. I'm not sure what to do about weekends, as I don't plan to buy more than a two week supply of the winner each month and only use that for breakfast and lunch, which will leave me a bit short on weekends. I need not worry yet though, as I have plenty of People Fuel left for that for now.

My waist measured 52 inches, but I"m still at 283 lbs, so I consider the measurement to be a fluke.

I noticed some odd things (nothing bad) about using these, but I'm not ready to mention them yet as they could be just odd days or something.

This next week will tell me for sure, so I'll mention it all next week.

So far, I'm very happy with and would recommend either product.

People Fuel (Soylent DIY) follow up

Failed week, failed product.

Custom Body Fuel's People Fuel (People Fuel Plain actually) did not hold me long enough to be worth using, even at a $10/week savings.
That was one of only two conclusive results for the week. I wound up eating normally for lunch as I was too hungry by then to be fair to the 100% Food. Also, some free food came my way at the office, and I will not turn down free food!
I also learned that the 1/4 cup scoop works great. It fits right down into the mouth of the blender bottle, so no spilling.

This is not a slam against Custom Body Fuel overall. As I've mentioned before, People Fuel is their lowest priced product, so I'm sure the more expensive stuff will work better.
I will not buy it again, but I will likely try one of their other blends, probably Spencer Fuel. Price is a factor however, all the others are considerably more. I will compare their ingredients with Soylent and 100% Food's mix. Soylent contains ingredients that I'm not too fond of, while the others seem to be devoid of all evil stuff.

MY SOYLENT FINALLY CAME IN!

I'll be testing the Soylent for breakfast this week, and if it works well, I'll use 100% Food for lunch as I had planned to do this past week.

I'm going to use the People Fuel when I feel like it on weekends and holidays. It should last a while at that rate, but I'm not sure what I'll do when it runs out.

Still at 54 inches on the ol' belly.

I finally put batteries in the scale, and I wish I hadn't. My God, I came in at 283 pounds (about 128 kilograms) I have never seen myself even hit 260 before. This is just damn depressing.
All the more reason to use this stuff. I do have to be careful not to be fixated on weight, it's the girth that means fat!

I'm looking forward to seeing how the original stacks up against the copies.

100% Food Follow Up (Soylent copy)

Last post, I had been using 100% Food for breakfast about 5 days a week, and it was working well.

I have received another one week (21 day) order, and have also received the same quantity of Custom Body Fuel's People Food Plain, the lowest priced version they have.
Starting tomorrow (Monday 13 October 2014), I will use the People Food for breakfast in order to directly compare it to the 100% Food. I will start using the 100% Food for lunch, bumping me to 2 meals a day.

I tried one serving of the People Food today, and it tastes a bit strange, kind of like a liquid tortilla. Not terrible, but not at all enjoyable. Remember this is the cheapest stuff they sell, so I'm sure the pricier stuff tastes much better.

Speaking of price, the 100% Food I've been buying is the mix, wherein they include 3 different flavors in the order, Chocolate, Raw, and Spicy. 21 servings cost $75 including shipping, for $3.57 per meal, while a one month supply, 84 servings, cost $270 for $3.21 per meal.
People Food costs $60 for 21 servings for $2.86 per meal, while 84 servings costs $240 for the same $2.86 per meal. Remember this is their cheapest product, most of the others are $70 or more for 21 servings.
Soylent costs $70 for 21 servings for $3.33 per meal, while 84 servings costs $255 for $3 per meal.

They all sell 2 week supplies, which is 42 servings, but I didn't bother including those prices here. If I decide to go forward with one brand and stick with 2 meals per day, I'll go to that.

Soylent has only one product, but 100% Food and Custom Body Fuel offer different blends and/or flavors. I am considering going with a low carb product from Custom Body Fuel if I decide to stick with them.

Soylent contains artificial vanilla flavoring and Sucralose, while the others do not contain artificial ingredients.

For convenience 100% Food wins hands down. It comes in a disposable plastic bottle that is premeasured. You simply add water, shake, and enjoy. I find that it's much better to add a bit more water after taking a few sips. I then rinse out the bottle and drop in recycling.
The others come in bags of 3 servings each. You have to measure out 1 cup of powder (in the case of the People Food, haven't gotten the Soylent yet) put it in a container, blender bottle, or blender, add some oil (canola is the cheapest, but any will do), mix it up, and enjoy (or tolerate in the case of People Food).
I use the 28 oz blender bottle, and I find that it's just damn messy to get the powder into the blender bottle. I just bought a set of measured scoops (1, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4 cup) at a grocery store, but the 1 cup still spills the powder off the sides. I'm going to try the 1/4 cup scoop next, as it looks like it will fit right into the blender bottle opening.

During the now 4 weeks that I have been using the 100% Food for breakfast, I have noted the following.

• You need to drink more water than normal. This is important as you can get headaches at the very least if you don't.
• If I am very hungry when I have my 100% Food, it doesn't work, I still feel hungry. But it's easy to just munch a couple of handfulls of sunflower seeds, though sometimes that's not enough and I do have to have a sandwich or yogurt. It's only if I am VERY hungry. It doesn't seem to be purely psychological, as I first thought. I've not seen any other mention of this, so maybe it's just me.
• You will urinate more frequently, even if you don't drink more water. Not much, just maybe one or two more trips than usual, and a definitely few seconds longer.

I measured my waist on Saturday, and it was 53 inches, so as expected no fat loss. I do think that I may start experiencing some small losses when I go to 2 meals per day. Though again, I will not use it weekends and holidays in order to stretch it out to a full month.
I once again forgot to get new batteries for the scale. As I mentioned in the last post, weight is not a big concern, it's measurements.

I'm jumping the gun here, but I'm really hoping I can go to a full on 3 meals per day, every day.

Soylent and DIY imitations

I started using a Soylent imitation (copy, clone, DIY recipe, knockoff) 3 weeks ago, just for breakfast.
Soylent is a food replacement product. Unlike half assed diet products such as Slim Fast, 3 servings of Soylent (here's a wiki link)will give you 2000 calories or better. Any other product you see will usually be around 100 to 300 calories per serving. And no, you cannot just drink enough of them to add up to 2000 calories, or even 1500, because the vitamin/mineral/chemical content will kill your kidneys at that quantity.
Soylent is designed to completely replace food. You drink 3 servings of this powdered mix with water and you are set. Don't laugh, do some searches, there are people out there who have been doing it for many months as of this writing.

I ordered a one week supply, 21 servings, to only drink for breakfast for a month at first to test it out.
Turns out Soylent caught on so well that I'm back ordered 2 months.
Not willing to wait that long, I found another product that is an imitation of Soylent called 100% Food. That order arrived in a week.
As I mentioned, I've been using it for breakfast on weekdays, skipping weekends and holidays to help make it last a full month.

A little info about me, and what else I'm eating.
I am 56 years old, sedentary and overweight, but with no real health problems other than allergies (trees mostly).
I had been eating mostly frozen veggies and meats, very little processed food. However, a few months before I started this, I got so sick and tired of meal preparation that I started eating almost nothing but frozen burritos, fish sticks, and chicken nuggets and patties. I also started eating deli takeout a lot more, which I can ill afford. So this test came right on time!

I had intended to weigh myself weekly, though I did not expect to see any changes. But the batteries were dead in my scale and I haven't yet replaced them. Obviously, weight reduction is not that important to me.

What is important is girth reduction. I'm not fond of being a tub of guts, but I did not expect just breakfast would have any effect. So far, it has not.

I'm taping my gut using my belly button as a marker, and looking in a mirror to see if the tape is fairly straight. Not scientific, a lot of room for error, but it'll show a trend over time.
So far, I came up with, measured in inches, 53, 54, 53. So I was right that there would be no changes from just drinking it for breakfast.

I expect to feel no other changes in energy, alertness, etc. and indeed there have been no changes good or bad. Some folks complain of gas, but I have not had any issues with that.


So, as far as successfully drinking 100% Food for breakfast, how does it work?

IT WORKS GREAT!

I am very happy with this product! I drink it around 8:30am and I am all set until noon, when I start feeling that I could use a snack, but no big deal. Typically, I don't eat until somewhere between 12:30pm to 1:30pm and I have no problem with that. I do not have any snacks between breakfast and lunch. When I was eating "normal" food, I always needed a snack by about 11:00am.

I do not need a full month to know that I want to go to 2 meals a day ASAP.

I have ordered another product, Custom Body Fuel, to try it out. I plan to switch to that for breakfast to compare with 100% Food, and use the 100% Food for lunch. Again, I ordered a 21 day supply which is intended for a week.
Whenever the hell the Soyent finally gets here, I'll use that for breakfast so as to keep a consistent comparison. 21 day supply here too.
Let's see how I do on 2 meals a day.

There are more details, like pricing and such. But I'll go over that in the next post. I intend to continue follow ups every week to 2 weeks, depending on if anything interesting happens.

Meantime, I highly recommend using 100% Food for at least one meal a day replacement.