My recipe - (Local) People Chow v3.0.1

The Recipe

After creating my own nutrient profile and after I got hold of all the nutrient profiles of all my ingredients (especially the local masa corn  flour was difficult), I was finally able to create my recipe. So, without any further ado, my recipe on diy.soylent.me. For your convenience I also copied it into the table below.

Niacin

If you check the recipe you'll quickly  notice my surprisingly high amount of Niacin. The levels are so high that many profiles would flag them as poisonous. However: they are not. Or at least they shouldn't be, since the daily UL (tolerable upper intake levels) of Niacin is based on it's flushing threat and not its actual toxicity levels - adverse effects can be observed with upwards of several hundred milligrams of Niacin daily. All of this would still put me at daily levels that could cause flushing, but as I've found out there are two kinds of Niacin: nicotinic acid and nicotinamide. The acid causes flushing, however the nicotinamide is not known to do so. And since my main source of Niacin (GNC Mega Man Sport) contains both acid and nicotinamide I concluded it should be safe. Especially because GNC actually recommends 15g more of the powder daily than what I'll be using.

Calories

My calories are a bit low to be honest - it would probably be better to have a few hundred more. However most sources recommend widely different amounts and those almost 2100 calories should at least maintain my weight. If not gain me a bit since I am likely eating even less than that currently. The overall better nutrition and optimized absorption of soylent should also decrease the amount of calories required in my food.

Still, I'll keep this in mind and luckily it is fairly easy to observe what happens and adjust my recipe accordingly. And it gives me some wiggle-room to eat a snack or something without feeling bad ;).

Manganese, Phosphorus and Potassium

The australian medical research council recommends higher amounts than the FDA and other sources. Rob does recommend a higher dose as well though, so there might be something to it. Then again, Rob recommends very high values for most nutrients and it is difficult to find reasons for it. For now, I'll trust my research but I'll observe the situation very carefully. This doesn't just apply the micronutrients mentioned above - Rob recommends slightly higher amounts of most micronutrients than what I'll be getting. The  australian medical research council is only with those mentioned above not in line with my recipe.

Improvements and Ideas for v2

Here's a list of things I am already thinking about for the next version my local People Chow:

Oat Flour

Some people have reported great success with replacing the corn masa flour with whole oat flour. This seems interesting to me, but as the masa is the main calorie-source this would likely have far reaching consequences for the rest of the recipe. Replacing just some of the masa is probably easier.
But I'll have to do some more research about the differences and advantages/disadvantages of the flours anyway. Whether or not I take offense in the "corny" taste of my People Chow will obviously heavily influence how important this is to me. I any case, trying it out won't hurt.

Omega-3 EPA and DHA

The current recipe does contain Omega 3. But only ALA Omega 3 - which is probably still healthy but only a very small amounts of it is converted to EPA and DHA.  EPA/DHA Omega 3 is the type that is supposed to have serious health benefits and people usually mean when they talk about Omega 3. Marine oils are likely the best and easily the most popular source to those "proper" Omega 3's. I'll likely include something similar to this cod liver oil in the future. And while I am at it I should fix my Omega 3 to Omega 6 ratio as well. But for this first try I'll leave them out - it's not like most people get them and research on the topic is still being done anyway.

Caffeine

I like to drink energy drink - mostly because of the pronounced effect the mix of caffeine and other ingredients has on my body: heightened energy levels (at least temporarily) and everything else that comes with it. However, once I switch so soylent I'd like to avoid them since they contain so many unhealthy things and ridiculous amounts of nutrients I already have. On the other hand I'd still like to be able to give myself a "boost" every once in a while.
Luckily people have already experimented so it shouldn't be difficult to achieve this with a little caffeine and  
L-theanine in my soylent on days I feel like I need it.

Nootropics

Nootropics is a very wide topic, if you've never heard of them this Wiki-page might help you. There is also a active and growing community on reddit surrounding them. And some people have already experimented with adding them to soylent.
I'll approach this topic with great caution and only after my body has adjusted to being completely nourished, so that I can have a proper baseline for further experiments.

Less complex ingredients

I will aim to reduce the complexity of my ingredients over time - by reducing complexity I mean reducing the amount of stuff each ingredient contains and not the amount of ingredients. The more I do this the more I can accurately control all nutrients I consume. However each step in this direction will significantly increase in difficulty and effort required. 

More local bulk supplies

For the 90 day experiment I ordered many ingredients online in american shops (Amazon for example) - they are now being reshipped by shipito. This is obviously not a sustainable solution, because of the shipping fees and the effort required, if I decide to live mainly of my local People Chow for longer than my experiment. I'll have to search for local bulk suppliers in that case.

Update on  my schedule

I am right on track with my schedule, only a few things are left to do before the experiment. Even my shipment from shipito is on time - it is currently awaiting customs clearance in London. Here's a list with the things that are left to do (this is probably more useful to me than to you...):

• Clean my kitchen from most of my ordinary food. This will have to wait until the day before I start my experiment, but I am already working on using up all my reserves. 
• Plan in more detail what data I'll record and compare and what other things I should regularly do during the experiment. That topic will be covered in a future post I'll have to write as well. It will be online this or next week.
• I've decided on my calorie source - now I just have to buy it, around 30kg. Which will suck because it is so heavy. 
• Receive the ingredients I ordered online. If TNT's estimate is to be trusted it should arrive on the 23th of July. 
• I am probably going to buy a proper hand-blender - it will come in handy if I need to work with the masa and it's "grittiness". Hm.... Nevermind, I will buy one if I need it.

All-in-All the 26th of July is still likely as the start of the experiment.

My nutrient profile

Why I need to make my own

Recently I realized that there is actually no consent over which nutrient profile should be used on diy.soylent.me. And to my surprise, there was very little discussion about them. This meant I couldn't make an informed decision on which one to use without researching each ingredient. And at that point there is no reason to not just make my own profile.
A nutrient profile contains all macro- and micro-nutrients a person needs each day to stay completely nourished. Such a profile is used to help decide on the final amount of each ingredient in a recipe. Keep in mind though that this profile is specific to me and is definitely not optimal for you. 

The profile

There are two versions of the profile, one here on diy.solyent, for you to use if you want to, and one here on Google Docs. The Google Docs version is more detailed and cites sources if you are interested in that kind of thing... For your convenience I also copied the information below:

Additional sources:  What's in Soylent, DRI, European recommended daily allowances and Dietary Guidlines

Update on things I got done 

In my last post I mentioned a lot of things I had to get done before the experiment could begin. And I happily got already a few things done:

• Bought Ziploc bags (well, not Ziploc specifically, but a similar product), vinegar, salt, water filters and olive oil. I'll have to search for the soybean oil I'll be using in a different store - they didn't have any in the one I was.
• Created a nutrient profile for myself and made a post about it - as you can see. :)
• Got the nutrient profile for the masa I can buy locally. It's not enriched, which is inconvenient since for example iron will probably have to be supplemented by adding something else... Let's hope this doesn't become a problem.

All in all I am on schedule and still expect the experiment to start on the 26th of July.

What I've done so far and road-map.

So Far

My first step was learning a lot about Soylent, the DIY approaches and food in general. At the same time I chose to customize the quite popular "People Chow v3.0.1" for what is locally available to me - I am almost done with that and the post about my recipe is already drafted as well. Finding an appropriate oil is more difficult than I expected though. And I am still waiting on my local masa supplier to get back to me with nutrient facts. 

There were quite a few ingredients I decided would be easier to just order online than to search for locally. Namely this is the Whey Protein, the Mega Man Sport Powder, the Cal-Mag Citrate, the Potassium Citrate and the Choline Bitartrate. Since I already was on Amazon I also treated myself with a new scale and two Blender-Bottles. Sadly most of these things can't be directly shipped to Europe (or Switzerland, where I live, specifically). Shipitto is the name of the service I use to have the packets consolidated and reshipped to me. These packages are on their way to me as I am writing this.

To be better prepared for this experiment I paid a visit to my doctor  - as you probably expected he wasn't enthralled by what I am planning on doing. But he also doesn't think that I am putting myself into serious danger with this experiment. As by me request he did a very basic blood analysis before I left. It didn't tell me much, but according to him everything was fine. At the end of this experiment he'll re-do the analysis and we can compare the results. But keep in mind that this was a very simple blood test, meaning it won't tell us if my People Chow it good enough to provide me with nutrients on a daily basis. But it will tell us if there is something seriously and dangerously wrong with living on it for 90 days. I'll post the analysis in a future post that focuses on how and what data I'll record and compare. It is already drafted ;).

Road-Map

There are still some things left I'll have to get done before I can start my experiment. Here's a list of them, each with a estimate on how long the task will take me:

• Buy salt. Since I already decided on which local brand this can easily be accomplished by the end of the week. I'll need 360g over the 90 day period.
• Buy ziploc bags to mix and store my dry People Chow in. I'll do that in the same grocery run that I am planning on to get the salt. Just a few appropriately large ones should do it.
• Buy vinegar, according to this post the bottles can start to smell pretty bad and soaking in vinegar is supposed to help. Again, this can be combined with the previously mentioned grocery run. 
• Find or craft measuring containers - so I don't have to weigh everything every time I mix. This will have to wait until all ingredients arrive but shouldn't take long. And I am still not sure how and in what amounts I'll pre-mix the People Chow, so we'll see if I even need these measuring containers. Probably at least one for the oil would be useful.
• Clean my kitchen from most of my ordinary food. This will have to wait until the day before I start my experiment, but I am already working on using up all my reserves. 
• Plan in more detail what data I'll record and compare and what other things I should regularly do during the experiment. That topic will be covered in a future post I'll have to write as well. It will be online this or next week.
• Find and buy an appropriate calorie source. Currently I am looking at a local "mexican" grocery store that could provide me with masa harina from this company. But I couldn't find any nutrition facts and am now waiting on the guy who runs the store to get back to me with them. If he can't find any either or the masa is not enriched I'll have to look into oats and alternatives to get enough B-vitamins and iron. So, this is either going to get easily finished up this week or it will require more investigation from my side and will probably get resolved next week.
• Find and buy an appropriate oil. The one that was listed with People Chow has a long list of features: low saturated fats, cholesterol free, with Omega 3 and 6 fats, contains Vitamin E and it even is non-GMO. I haven't looked into these requirements in detail, so it might be easier than I expect to find something appropriate, but  I honestly suspect that this isn't going to get resolved until next week.
• Write a post detailing my recipe after I cleared everything up concerning it's ingredients. If everything goes as planned this post should go online the weekend after the next one.
• Receive the ingredients I ordered online. This is probably going to take the longest, since everything has to first get to my "re-shipper" and then internationally ship to me. When calculating generously I'd estimate all of that to be over early in the week after the next one.
• Increase the fiber in my current diet to prepare my digestion for the switch. I hope to reduce the flatulence many with not enough fiber in their previous diet are experiencing when switching. Already started doing that though, so this is presumable and hopefully not going to be a big issue. 
• I think I am going to make another post where I describe what problems might come up, like the mentioned flatulence, and how I plan on dealing with them. Or maybe I'll put this information in the recipe post... We'll see.
• Buy additional water filter's so I don't run out. I am glad there is something easy to do here as well...

Overall I believe I can start the experiment a little earlier than planned, probably on the 26th of july. Maybe a few days later, I'll keep you updated...

Why am I doing this?

Striking advantages over "ordinary" Food

As soon as I heard about Soylent  I was deeply intrigued, mainly for these three reasons:

•  Saved cost - and by this I dont just mean money. Time and brain-power invested are also considered "cost" by me. My current estimate is that I'll cut my spending on food as if divided by four. The other costs are harder to quantify, but I expect significant relieve from not having to worry about proper nourishment every day and likely over an hour or two saved time each day (this includes time to get to food or clean up afterwards).
• "Real" food not lost - Soylent still allows me to eat ordinary food when I really feel like it. I even suspect this is going to increase my appreciation for and my enjoyment of ordinary food, since I'll only eat ordinary anymore to specifically taste or experience something. Most likely the social aspect of ordinary meals is also going to get more focus from my side - which, again, should increase the quality of it.
• Proper nourishment - this is probably the biggest advantage from my view point. I don't suspect that what I am currently eating on a daily basis provides me with all the macro- and micronutrients I'd need. Therefore, even if Soylent is not perfect, it is hopefully still going to be healthier than my status quo. 

Sadly I had to discover that Soylent wouldn't be shipped internationally for who-knows-how-long and that they were already weeks behind with their current orders. But luckily Soylent is "open-source" and has a ever growing DIY-community. For my experiment I'll go with a slight variation (due to what I can locally get in addition to what I ordered from Amazon) of the currently most popular recipe "People Chow v3.0.1". More detail concerning my recipe will be in a future, already drafted, post.

A blog to spread information

Logically I immediately started searching the internet for more information on the topic - to be honest it sounded a  bit too good to be true and to not already exist. However I wasn't satisfied with most sources as many were very clearly biased - lacking in logical arguments, not providing any hard data and with very obvious intentions. I was able to find out a lot but it left me with a bad "after-taste". And there were not as many longer experiments published as I expected. To do my part I decided on creating this blog. 

Hopefully someone finds it at least interesting if not even useful.

I clearly like the product and the idea, however, it is of highest importance to me to stay critical and objective on this blog. For this reason I plan to back up my personal opinion during the experiment with hard data such as sleeping patterns, weight-tracking and heart-rate measurements. More detail on my testing and tracking methods will be in a future post as well.