This week, myself and Kotaku editor Mark Serrels are eating nothing but bottled Aussielent; a liquid substance that contains all the nutrients and minerals needed to sustain life. This means no solid meals, no snacks and — horrifyingly — no coffee or porridge for a whole week. Today, our wives reveal how an all-Soylent diet has affected our moods in the household.
[related title=”Aussielent challenge series” tag=”soylent challenge” items=”3″]
Aussielent is a local version of the open source meal-replacement beverage “Soylent”. It meets all the nutritional requirements for an average adult with one bottle roughly equaling a staple meal.
A single serve contains 1989kJ of energy, 25g of protein, 40g of low-GI carbohydrates, 25% recommended daily intake (RDI) of 27 vitamins and minerals and the recommended intakes of omegas 3 & 6.
(For a full overview of what’s inside each bottle, check out Part 1.)
Today, we invite our wives — the lovely Heizy and even lovelier Jillian (sorry Heizy) — to provide a psychological assessment of our moods over the past four days.
But first, here’s a quick update for readers who expressed concern over my well being following yesterday’s manically depressed journal entry. I’m happy to report that I feel like a completely different person today. The headaches have receded to a dull roar and I no longer feel like crawling under the nearest house like a fatally poisoned dog. It would seem the worst of the caffeine and sugar withdrawals are over. Hurrah!
Jillian
When my husband said he would only be drinking Soylent for a week, my first thought was “how on Earth will you cope without Vs?” When we first starting dating, Chris’ beverage of choice was Coke and mine was lemonade. After having three children in six years, he went to the Vs and I went to the wine. I’m pretty sure my vice is healthier.
So far, Chris hasn’t been too different except I can see he is suffering from headaches. He is rubbing his head and temples a lot. He is also alerting me his head is sore. I get headaches and hate them so I’m feeling for him with that pain. I’ve been pushing more water on him and have strangely enjoyed watching him drink it. (He usually chooses gin or soft drink in the evenings….. more water has got to be good, right?)
Last night, our eight year old daughter showed him a bunch of work from school and he was attentive. Although he appears to be tired and quieter than usual. He watched The Bachelor with me last night and had no input for once. (Not sure if that’s the Soylent or Richie?)
He is putting the children to bed but falling asleep alongside them which usually never happens. He’s still putting the dishes away from the feasts the rest of the family have been enjoying. Please note that we’ve been eating before he gets home from work — which has more to do with his work hours than anything else.
Heizy
To be honest, I haven’t felt too much pain.
I’m used to Mark doing insane stuff with his diet so it’s kinda of a “sigh and get on with it” situation. What’s more frustrating is him saying how it’s pointless and generally just whinging. Normally you would be shitty and snarky but focused.
He has been pretty irritable and reactive and moody. Mostly I’ve just been trying to keep out of his way.
So there you have it. Aussielent will not turn you into an awful spouse. [Citation needed.] Join us tomorrow as we attempt to jump the final hurdle.
Comments
5 responses to “Our Week On Soylent Day 4: Spousal Assessment”
Heizy and Mark sound like they’re having fun on this project!
I’ll take one of those GTX 1080’s off your hands if you’re finished with them. 😉
So have you been monitoring weight loss/gain on a day to day basis as well?
Yep. That will be part of our wrap-up post.
Cool. Be interesting to see.
Chris’ wife’s report is about what Chris is like on caffeine withdrawal. Literally zero is about aussielent.