Saturday 25 October 2014

BentoBlend - my DIY Soylent

My search for a quick, cheap, easy, no-mess and nutritious meal that would keep me full and provide sufficient energy to work through the day.

I don't like cooking, washing up or waiting for food. I love my desserts and my burgers but sometimes I just want to eat healthy and move on. My solution, DIY soylent.
Heres my recipe on the DIY soylent site:
http://diy.soylent.me/recipes/wholefoods-with-whey-oats-egg-banana-yogurt

The idea is not to replace all meals but the ones where I just can't be bothered cooking.
I've been drinking bentoblend for breakfast (sometimes eating it as the usual oat, yogurt, whey) for 40 days and I've made a few tweaks during that time.

Heres a pic of the longer shelf-life ingredients in the bentoblend, the breakdown and future additions.

Ingredient
Nutrient
Whey protein fast release protein
Soy protein slow release protein
Oats low GI carbs, fiber
Oat Bran low GI carbs, fiber, magnesium
Egg (hard-boiled) protein, fats, choline
Soy Lecithin fats, choline
Canola oil fats, omega3 ALA, omega6 (watch out for trans fat)
Fish oil omega3 EPA, omega3 DHA
Coconut oil omega6, medium-chain triglycerides (for energy)
Psyllium husk fiber
Potassium chloride potassium, chloride (tastes terrible)
Banana potassium, fiber, taste
Yogurt calcium, taste
Milk calcium, for tea/coffee
Nature Made multi-V and minerals all-rounder multi (female & male versions available)
Cocoa powder, cinnamon taste
Future additions / researching
Algae powder Replace fish oil for EPA and DHA
Digestive enzymes (papaya, pineapple, others) To aid the breakdown of molecules for better absorption by the body
micronutrient ratiosFor optimal absorption and health benefits.
Calcium citrate Replace yogurt. Citrate is better absorbed than carbonate by 20%
Choline bitartrate, CDP choline, alpha GPC Different choline sources
My breakfast before and after blending.
Tastes like a mild chocolate shake.

My preference to DIY over the official Soylent
  • Custom calories. Official soylent is based on a 2000 calorie diet. I'm short and I hardly exercise so 1350 calories is plentiful for my daily needs.
  • Custom blend of macros. The official soylent is 50% carbs. I prefer a balanced diet with 30-40% of each macro and keeping the carbs lowest.

2 Months of bentoblend breakfast (Nov 2014 update)
Below are the ingredients and micronutrients contained in a single serve of bentoblend. I occasionally add in yogurt (sometimes home-made from kefir) for probiotics. Planning to change it based on my food science research.

Ingredient
Amount
Whey protein
15g / 0.5 scoop
Soy protein
7.5g / 0.25 scoop
Oats
20.625g / 3 tbsp
Oat Bran
13.75g / 2 tbsp
Soy Lecithin
7.5g / 1 tbsp
Fish oil
1g / 1 pill
Cocoa powder
2.7g / 0.5 tbsp
Coconut oil
2.5ml / 0.5 tsp
Psyllium husk
7.5g / 1 tsp
Potassium chloride
0.014g / a pinch
Nature Made multi-V and minerals
1 pill
Egg (hard-boiled)
50g

Total Sugars: 1.1g in a bentoblend (~60g a serve).
Sugar RDI: 90g. I aim for <20g of sugar a day.
Nutrient-packed single serve bentoblend.
Screenshot from my recipe

Tried Nootropics
Piracetam - makes me sleepy. Tried for a week straight and on-off every 2nd day.
DMAE - gives me nightmares. Tried for 3 days straight.
Gingko - no difference. Eating it on an empty stomach results in massive stomach pains.

My conclusion
I'm definitely going to keep tweaking and reading up on food science. I plan to summarise my findings in future posts.
If anyone is interested in trying a blend, I'm happy to make and sell you a bentoblend!

4 comments:

  1. I've been looking all over for Potassium Chloride in Singapore! LiteSalt gets me part of the way there but still...

    Any tips for a fellow DYI Soylenter? (http://goo.gl/VoPuYP)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cool recipe. How is it working out? I tried to do keto but my body still works best with some carbs (around 30%).
    Potassium chloride tastes really bad! I can only add a little pinch. If you want to try some, I can pass you some. Does the citrate have a taste? Im planning to add potassium gluconate to reach the daily dose.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Tsk, tsk, conflating potassium chloride and potassium citrate. That's silly of me.

    The potassium citrate I get out of LiteSalt tastes like... salt (I'm not taking any bets on it's purity) but if you've got some potassium chloride I can pay you back in potassium citrate (I'm importing some from the US).

    The recipe above doesn't keep very long - it turns a little fishy by the end of the day and I need something I can make in larger batches before I'll be able to find out how ketogenesis affects me.

    I'm just run an experiment with canning it (like how people make jam) and results are promising. It tastes like oatmeal with the consistency of cream of wheat and I should be able to make large amounts all at once.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Deal! Happy to swap my potassium chloride for your citrate. Saves me getting the potassium gluconate. Email me when it arrives (alyssaquek@gmail).

      Are you ordering all the ingredients from US? I can't seem to find a cheap shipment of choline bitartrate to SG. The soy lecithin melts in SG's room temperature so I'm looking at it as a longer-storage alternative.

      How are you canning your mixture? With boiling water (http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/uga/using_bw_canners.html) or pressure? Pretty interesting, love to hear how it works out after storing for a few weeks. I'm planning to do a full powder batch and seeing if I can store it in bottles for on-the-go meal (just need to add water and shake).

      Delete