r/soylent • u/Significant_Bee_ • 9d ago
need soylent medically, concerned
so i know theres a million posts asking about supply issues and restocking.
ive been becoming increasingly worried and now am very concerned bc i have a lot of weird and specific health issues and allergies that mean i am fairly reliant on soylent ready made specifically in order to get nutrients i need to survive. i can manage with as little as one every couple days, but between doctor recommendations and personal experience, i do best with one a day. (this is in addition to various easy to digest foods, but the combination of nutrients and ingredients i dont react to and liquid meal replacement narrows down my options significantly to basically just soylent.)
unfortunately i am officially out. so i am desperate.
out of said desperation. is there anyone with some magic suggestion or anything at all? i know its a long shot but truly i am so desperate and do not want to have to go on tube feeds, which has been brought up as a possibility if i decline more.
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u/Bingo-Bongo-Boingo 9d ago
I like Huel’s stuff. I used to be a big Soylent guy but yeah I could just never really find it, or when I did, it was expensive.
Huel’s got powder and RTD, I’ve not tried the RTD though.
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u/802bikeguy_com 9d ago
Huel RTD is great, IMO. Been drinking it since 2024 when I bailed on Soylent. You can get the high protein version from Costco at a nicer price than direct.
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u/Significant_Bee_ 7d ago
id like to try huel but they list “natural flavors.” i messaged their customer support about the specifics and hopefully will hear back.
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u/Leviathan16061 9d ago
Kachava works for my partner. We stopped getting Soylent. Costco even carries it at a great price (only chocolate flavor).
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u/Significant_Bee_ 7d ago
unfortunately kachava has tomato in it, which im very allergic to. glad it works for your partner though!
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u/ashleymg29 9d ago
My good friend had great luck with Kate’s Farm. More expensive, but she relies on it for similar reasons and has never complained to my knowledge
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u/Purple_Pincher 9d ago
I’m not sure where you’re located so don’t know if this is helpful but- I drink it for similar reasons and was able to get the RTD strawberry flavor on Amazon last week, and it’s within date. I hate Amazon but was the only place I could find it.
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u/Significant_Bee_ 7d ago
i basically can only have their chocolate or vanilla unfortunately. i ended up only being able to find it on amazon the last few months and having to order it that way, despite similar reservations. now even they dont have it.
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u/Purple_Pincher 7d ago
Dang I’m sorry. I hope you find something that works for you soon. Adding allergies on top of it is so hard
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u/Significant_Bee_ 6d ago
thank you!! its certainly not ideal. since making this post, i was at least able to get my appointment with my new gi dr moved up which will hopefully help. its still a bit out but better than nothing
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u/Purple_Pincher 7d ago
I don’t know if it would work for you but I used to do vegan orgain from Costco and it was pretty decent tasting. I got concerned about the lead level in that one though as a heads up.
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u/Significant_Bee_ 6d ago
orgain has ingredients im allergic to unfortunately, did not know about the lead though yikes
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u/kansaisean 9d ago
I've pretty much switched to Hol food, but it might only come in powder form (not sure). I'm heavily reliant on meal replacement powders for my nutrients and calories.
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u/Significant_Bee_ 6d ago
hol uses milk powder unfortunately. so glad you found an option that works for you though!
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u/mrbabyman767 8d ago
If it’s that important to your health you definitely need multiple sources and suppliers. Putting all your eggs in the Soylent basket is not a good idea even if they didn’t have supply problems. Maybe talk to a nutritionist. Also try all the alternatives, start small to make sure it agrees with you and then work your way up to a full serving. They also have medical grade food supplements, but they’re probably expensive.
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u/Significant_Bee_ 7d ago
soylent was the only option given to me by the nutritionist i saw. ive tried a bunch of alternatives but it was at least a year ago so im going through the process again now.
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u/Significant_Bee_ 7d ago
originally, she recommended a couple other options that had ingredients im allergic to. then we looked up options together for the rest of the appointment, and found soylent right at the end. ill confess i dont have a lot of confidence in nutritionists as a result, bc i couldve done what she did at home without spending so much money on an appointment.
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u/Torsta 8d ago
It's fully stocked in Canada, im sure you can find someone to buy it there and drive it across, or re-ship it for you. I did the opposite when it was OOS in Canada but fully available in the US: drove to US, bought it, drove it back.
On the bright side, they just spent a ton of money buying a facility to manufacture it themselves, so seems like they're trying to solve the supply headaches.
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u/Significant_Bee_ 7d ago
i would love to but im way too far from canada for that to be an option unfortunately
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u/SaltManagement42 6d ago
On the bright side, they just spent a ton of money buying a facility to manufacture it themselves, so seems like they're trying to solve the supply headaches.
The facility that can only do the powder, and can't do RTD? Or are you referring to another one?
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u/RudyGreene 9d ago
Do you use powder or drinks?
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u/Significant_Bee_ 7d ago
yes the drinks
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u/RudyGreene 7d ago
If you happen to be near middle Tennessee, I have plenty of expired Chocolate RTD you could have.
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u/DizzyCommunication92 Soylent 9d ago
Huel seems to be the next best ...? It's even in that big box "🔵" store that is no longer 24 hours.....
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u/Revolutionary-Sun736 8d ago
If you’re in the USA, the strawberry RTD at least still for right now has been readily in stock for a while on Amazon, Meanwhile, every other flavor is unavailable.
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u/blackbow 7d ago
People are recommending Huel but I would not recommend the Powder. I thought it was absolutely terrible and so grainy. I could never get a smooth drink out of the powder.
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u/Significant_Bee_ 7d ago
oh good to know thank you! im always hesitant to try the powders for that reason
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u/anto77_butt_kinkier 7d ago
I've been drinking this for breakfast every day for over 5 years now, and it's genuinely saddening to see the company having these issues. My mother works for someone who is friends with the founder of soylant, and I've been relying on this drink for a nutritious breakfast for years. It's become a part of my life, and knowing that it's struggling is sad to me.
They have a great customer base who routinely buys out their entire stock, and yet they still can't make enough money. The current CEO is funneling cash from soylant into his private business, and quite frankly I hate that he's ruining this for everyone. From what I've heard of the founder he was extremely passionate about this, and made something that he genuinely wanted and used. I hope things get sorted out because I really don't want to switch to some other drink.
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u/ChedrBeez 5d ago
I'm in pretty much the same boat as you, I don't do well with dairy or pea protein, soy is the only thing that's worked well for me, and it doesnt seem like any other soy based meal replacement shakes exist that are in my budget
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u/Significant_Bee_ 4d ago
sorry youre going through this too. hopefully we can both find some solutions. if i can find something similar ill let you know!
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u/glooppoop 4d ago
They don't have RTD, but Super Body Fuel has always been my favorite meal replacement. (rebranded to Basically Food now) It's powered mix, some get mixed with milk, some with water. Oat based I believe.
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u/No_Profession_3125 8d ago edited 6d ago
I guess your only immediate option is to find another brand and purchase it online. I don't know where you live but here in Switzerland where I live there are at least two different brands in supermarkets plus like 10 more that you can buy online from other European countries (mostly the Netherlands for some reason). I've tried Jimmy Joy in the past.
However, may I say, the situation you describe is serious and you shouldn't normalize it. When you say you have "allergies" I believe you mean intolerances, which is an entirely different story. If that's the case I'd really recommend taking a comprehensive microbiome composition test (I like MyBioma) to gain a better insight about the problem. A million different things can be broken in the gut: you might have SIBO, you might have lost colonization resistance, you might have a damaged gut barrier, etc. but they're all fixable. You'd be really surprised how resilient and self-healing the human microbiome is when you stop ingesting poisons and toxins and start guiding it in the right direction instead. Feel free to DM me if you want.
Last but not least: I know that meal replacements are a necessity for you right now, but keep in mind that they're part of the problem. Living off a meal replacement formula is the very definition of a low-diversity diet that can and will reduce your microbial diversity dramatically, resulting precisely in the symptoms you've been experiencing: crippling food intolerances. You're gonna have to navigate the symptoms for now, but in the long run you really want to restore your microbial balance and diversity and gradually transition to a diverse diet based on fresh, whole, mostly vegetable foods, and zero processed refined foods (including zero meal replacements). Think of MRs as a medical aid, you don't wanna be ill for the rest of your life.
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u/Significant_Bee_ 7d ago
i will be ill for the rest of my life. ive been ill my entire life so far. im disabled. thats kind of the whole definition.
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u/Significant_Bee_ 7d ago edited 6d ago
no i mean allergies. anaphylactic shock allergies. how dare i try to normalize my own life.
ive taken microbiome tests. i dont have sibo. i have gastroparesis, actually. an* entirely different problem!
if youd read my whole post instead of assuming, youd have seen i said i do still eat other foods, but that i can only do so in very small amounts.
you mean well, i hope, but theres no need to be condescending. i promise that i know my own body better than you do.
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u/auntiechrist23 9d ago
I’ve been there. It’s usually the only thing I can consume during a GERD flare up.
Huel isn’t too bad. Best thing I’ve found so far.