I agree that “varied diet” is a non-answer, because you didn’t tell me the exact distribution of food, but you are likely to blame me if I choose a wrong one.
Like, if I consume 1000 different kinds of sweets, is that a sufficiently varied diet? Obviously no, I am also supposed to eat some fruit and vegetables. Okay, then what about 998 different kinds of sweets, plus one apple, and one tomato? Obviously, wrong again, I am supposed to eat less sweets, more fruit and vegetables, plus some protein source, and a few more things.
So the point is that the person telling me to eat a “varied diet” actually had something more specific in mind, just didn’t tell me exactly, but still got angry at me for “misinterpreting” the advice, because I am supposed to know that this is not what they meant. Well, if I know exactly what you mean, then I don’t need to ask for an advice, do I?
(On the other hand, there is a thing that Soylent-like meals ignore, as far as I know, that there are some things that human metabolism cannot process at the same time. I don’t remember what exactly it is, but it’s something like human body needs X and also needs Y, but if you eat X and Y at the same time, only X will be processed, so you end up Y-deficient despite eating a hypothetically sufficient amount of Y. Which could probably be fixed by finding combinations like this, and then making variants like Soylent-A and Soylent-B which you are supposed to alternate eating. But as far as I know, no one cares about this, which kinda reduces my trust in the research behind Soylent-like meals, although I like the idea in abstract very much.)
I agree that “varied diet” is a non-answer, because you didn’t tell me the exact distribution of food, but you are likely to blame me if I choose a wrong one.
Like, if I consume 1000 different kinds of sweets, is that a sufficiently varied diet? Obviously no, I am also supposed to eat some fruit and vegetables. Okay, then what about 998 different kinds of sweets, plus one apple, and one tomato? Obviously, wrong again, I am supposed to eat less sweets, more fruit and vegetables, plus some protein source, and a few more things.
So the point is that the person telling me to eat a “varied diet” actually had something more specific in mind, just didn’t tell me exactly, but still got angry at me for “misinterpreting” the advice, because I am supposed to know that this is not what they meant. Well, if I know exactly what you mean, then I don’t need to ask for an advice, do I?
(On the other hand, there is a thing that Soylent-like meals ignore, as far as I know, that there are some things that human metabolism cannot process at the same time. I don’t remember what exactly it is, but it’s something like human body needs X and also needs Y, but if you eat X and Y at the same time, only X will be processed, so you end up Y-deficient despite eating a hypothetically sufficient amount of Y. Which could probably be fixed by finding combinations like this, and then making variants like Soylent-A and Soylent-B which you are supposed to alternate eating. But as far as I know, no one cares about this, which kinda reduces my trust in the research behind Soylent-like meals, although I like the idea in abstract very much.)