WHAT?

For 30 days — with few exceptions for my own personal sanity — I will eat exclusively Soylent, a meal replacement powder created by tech-startup-turned-accidental-food-industry-disruptor Rob Rhinehart.

This is a particularly foolish & ill-informed project. Aside from personal health & sanity reasons, it's already been done before. Many more well-established journalists working for more established domains have already gotten the inside scoop (bad pun) on Soylent. Creator Rob Rhinehart has been "living on a 90% soylent diet for 18 months." I don't particularly care.

RULES:

  1. All meals will be Soylent except for one (1) meal each week. That “cheat meal” can be anything but must be eaten dinner on Friday or Saturday.
  2. One soylent meal per day may be flavored with cinnamon or vanilla extract.
  3. No alcohol, except for one (1) drink with cheat meal.
  4. Black coffee, unsweetened tea, and water are allowed.
  5. No other substances, no funny business.
  6. A self-administered informal physical will occur before and after the project to determine health effects (if any) of living on Soylent for 30 days.
  7. A log must be kept detailing feelings, perceived side effects, weight (morning and night), amount of exercise, bedtime & wake time, regularity, cheat meals, etc. and should be posted online each night.

WHO?

My name is Alex Tapper and I (was at one point) a 23 year old Nashvillian. An unashamed foodie, amateur chef, and all-around enthusiastic eater & trier of new things, I have decided to go a month without food.

WHY?

This project was encouraged by numerous friends and inspired by such other whimsical projects such as 90 Days of Making and 40 Days of Dating. As you can see, I have commitment issues and thusly chose a sizably smaller number within which to execute this minimalist & restrictive diet. Also I only purchased a month's supply for $230 (about $1.50 per “meal” — or perhaps more precisely “dose”), so I was likewise limited.

30 Days of Soylent exists primarily as a way to track & archive my experiences, but I assume you're here for a few laughs at my expense. I doubt you'll find them. You can read more about Soylent on their website, on creator Rob Rhinehart's blog, Mostly Harmless, and probably many other places too.

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