Potassium and electrolytes

Of all the nutrients, potassium is the hardest to hit. At the recommended intake of 4.7g, you'll need to eat 8-11 bananas everyday to reach the daily dose. USDA electrolyte recommendations are 2.3g sodium, 4.7g potassium and 3.6g chloride. Looking at my nutrient tracking over 2 weeks, I average 1.4g of potassium a day without supplements. Here are some sources of potassium:

Estimates of potassium in certain foods¹

Food	Serving size	Potassium amount (milligrams)
Cooked spinach	1 cup	840 mg
Sweet potato	1 medium	695 mg
Plain nonfat yogurt	8 ounces	579 mg
Banana	1 cup	540 mg
Cooked broccoli	1 cup	460 mg
Tomato	1 cup	430 mg
Fat-free milk	8 ounces	380 mg
Chicken meat	100 grams	256 mg
Oats	0.5 cup (45g)	193 mg
Whey Protein	1 scoop (30g)	145 mg

Supplementing Potassium

Potassium chloride tastes horrendous. I'm currently looking at replacing it with potassium gluconate or citrate, which are better absorbed that the chloride compound.
Heres a discussion on potassium at DIY soylent: http://discourse.soylent.me/sources-for-potassium

Below table shows the amount of elemental potassium in each compound.

Potassium Compound	Potassium per gram
Potassium Chloride	521 mg (remaining is chloride)
Potassium Citrate	360 mg (remaining is citric acid)
Potassium Gluconate	155 mg (remaining is glucose)

Potassium citrate is harder to find in pure powder form so I'll probably mix potassium chloride and gluconate to get my recommended dose of electrolytes. Ill update the exact amounts once I'm happy with the combination.

Keeping sodium-potassium ratio around 3:2 (in moles) is more important since that is required for neural activity (lessons from Sol from Khan academy and brain basics). There is a also a thread on the DIY soylent forum about sodium-potassium.

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Oils, Fatty acids, Fat sources

Our body requires two fatty acids: Omega 3 alpha-linolenic acid and Omega 6 linoleic acid. These are essential fatty acids that we have to consume as our bodies don’t have the enzymes to produce them. These fatty acids are also known as polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and you'll be able to find endless sources citing their role in brain function, bone health, skin and hair growth, metabolism and general health.

Omega 3 ALA is converted to eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Omega 6 is converted to gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) and then to arachidonic acid (AA). Several studies have shown that a lower ratio of omega-6/omega-3 fatty acids is more desirable in reducing the risk of many chronic diseases and a ratio of 4:1 showing improvements. [1]

The diagram below shows the components of fatty acids

Increasing my omega 3 to omega 6 ratios

I'm removing canola oil as I cannot find a bottle that does not contain any trans fat. I currently take fish oil for EPA and DHA. Algae is another alternative but it comes with a higher cost.
I've also added coconut oil for its medium-chain triglycerides, which are rapidly digested and acts more like a carbohydrate than a fat. I'm mainly trying it out to increase energy levels [2]. Its the only saturated fat that I'm happy to consume at larger dosages.

Common sources of GLA are evening primrose oil and borage oil. Borage oil contains 20% GLA, evening primrose oil with 9% GLA and black current oil with 15-20% GLA [3]. While I've been unable to find scientific sources, I've read positive personal stories about the use of these oils for controlling hormonal acne [4][5][6].

Heres a list of lipid nutrition: https://www.iupac.org/publications/pac/2001/pdf/7304x0685.pdf

Soylent forum posts related to oils and fat sources
https://discourse.soylent.me/t/the-real-problems-with-soylent-are-not-fixed-in-version-1-1/17259/71
http://discourse.soylent.me/t/canola-oil-as-fat-source/3149/10
https://discourse.soylent.me/t/omega-3-and-omega-6-fatty-acids-again-how-much-is-too-much/4944/8
http://discourse.soylent.me/t/omega-3-fatty-acids/2800
http://discourse.soylent.me/t/what-about-powdered-oil/5087

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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 ratios	For 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!

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