No more food: how to live on a cocktail

His name is Rob Rhinehart, he is twenty-four years old and he is an American software programmer from Atlanta. He works tirelessly and simply cannot find the time to cook, which is why he decided to boycott all solid foods, which take time and effort to prepare and cook, and "invented" a cocktail that allows him to nourish himself while eating normally only twice a week: Soylent, a name derived from the 1970s science-fiction film "Soylent Green".

The idea came from an episode within his family: meeting an elderly gentleman no longer able to cook for himself triggered something in young Rhinehart, who studied at length "the fundamental laws of metabolism and spent hours browsing the web in search of information on the most important nutrients", as Corriere Salute reports.

The conclusion was that the human body needs nutrients, in other words what lies behind the most common foods, and that therefore whether these substances are taken in through food or in some other form is entirely irrelevant.
Rob slowly began transforming his own diet; his "kitchen became a chemistry lab producing a cocktail made of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, fats and carbohydrates" — Soylent, in fact.
Ginseng, Ginko Biloba and Alpha-carotene were then added to the essential substances, all mixed in water.

For the complete composition of the "mix drink", see the author's blog: www.robrhinehart.com

«To my great surprise it was really good, and after a few minutes I felt full of energy», the young "chef" declares on his blog.
So for a 30-day test young Rhinehart fed himself solely on the Soylent cocktail, regularly monitoring his blood values and physical performance. This period reportedly served to fine-tune the cocktail's contents until it was calibrated to fully meet the young man's physical needs. According to him, Soylent contains all the nutritional components of a balanced diet, with only a third of the calories and none of the toxins present in normal foods.

At present there is no scientific evidence attesting to the "healthiness and sustainability" of the cocktail invented by the young web programmer. Experts such as Christoph Klotter, professor of nutritional psychology and health promotion at the University of Fulda in Germany, maintain that the mesolimbic dopaminergic system of our brain encompasses the experience of pleasure and the motivation to obtain and consume appetizing food. "This man must be completely devoid of taste and pleasure, or else he is being gratified in some other way".
Indeed, many nutritionists and doctors agree, the more fruit and vegetables one eats, the lower the risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Moreover, researchers have not yet been able to demonstrate any protective effect from vitamin preparations. What is certainly lost with the 24-year-old's concoction is the joy of sitting at the table, the pleasure of looking at and savouring dishes, of smelling them, of biting into and appreciating the food in front of you. A point that might make Rhinehart himself waver. The young man admits, in fact, that he can certainly imagine going back to eating more often in the future: «If I had more money or a girlfriend».

Nevertheless, Rhinehart is convinced that his cocktail could be the solution to obesity problems in highly developed countries, as well as a help against world hunger, since Soylent could "provide healthy, affordable meals, produced largely with the products of local agriculture".

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