Joylent review: days 7 to 9 #HealthAndFitnessWeek

Shiny’s Holly and Sadie are doing 10 days on Joylent, the EU equivalent of Soylent, which is a powdered complete food for humans. Find out more about the project here, and read Holly and Sadie’s write-ups of days 1 to 3 here, and 4 to 6 here.

Holly – day 7

I started today with a 7.30am breakfast meeting at a very fancy members’ club in Mayfair. The thing about breakfast meetings is that they usually come with breakfast, so there wasn’t much I could do – I don’t think the besuited waiters would have appreciated me chugging from a plastic flask in their dining room, and nor would the person I was meeting!

This is a very long-winded way of telling you that I had pancakes, bacon and maple syrup for breakfast. It was beautiful. One thing I’ve noticed with Joylent is that it makes you notice the taste of ‘real’ food much more – it tastes better and more nuanced. I’m definitely enjoying my occasional solid meals much more than I did when I only ate food. I had Joylent for my other two meals, and happily found that having had some solid food didn’t make me miss it at all. I still like the oaty, slightly porridgey taste of Joylent – chocolate has definitely emerged as my favourite flavour, though!

Sadie – day 7

Because I’ve got a lot going on this weekend, it means I won’t be able to stick to the Joylent routine as I have been – so I’ve decided to end my trial after one week. My final day of Joylent has been really pleasant. I’ve stuck to my solid lunch plan, which seems to work best, and I’m enjoying my breakfast and dinner of Joylent. One thing I feel I’ve been missing though is fruit – so I had a tangerine, an apple and a pear after dinner, as well as a couple of chocolates, and that felt sweet.

I officially love the chocolate flavour, still am not keen on the vanilla, and feel neutral about the banana and strawberry. Read my final verdict tomorrow!

Holly – day 8

Back to Joylent for breakfast today. I’ve noticed I prefer different flavours of it at different times of day: I tend to have banana for breakfast and it’s really satisfying.

I met a PR agency for lunch so as with yesterday, I couldn’t really have Joylent instead of food. I had a burger and chips at a really nice café, but couldn’t finish it (or anywhere near, really). I think my stomach has shrunk because it’s got used to smaller volumes. Also, I thought I’d really enjoy the burger but it felt kind of greasy and, weirdly, almost inefficient compared to my Joylent shake. I was back on Joylent for dinner, and it was a bit of a relief.

Holly – day 9

Another PR lunch today, so another missed Joylent shake! I tried for something smaller this time after finding the burger too much yesterday: I had a brie and cranberry sandwich with chips. I ate most of it but it was a bit of a struggle. I’ve got used to taking in my entire meal in a couple of minutes in a milkshake, so (as daft as this sounds) biting and chewing and cutting up all seems a bit of a faff when you’re trying to hold a conversation!

I had my Joylent for breakfast and dinner as usual, and again it was a relief. I also forgot to say yesterday that I ate some sweets while I was feeling nervous about something, and a Creme Egg for my Creme Egg article. The nervousness thing is interesting – Joylent does a lot of things food can do, but it can’t be comfort food. I probably wouldn’t even have noticed I was emotional eating if I wasn’t doing Joylent, so that was useful to learn.

Also, for the second time, I made Joylent with too-hot water this morning and it exploded on me. D’oh.

It’s #HealthAndFitnessWeek on ShinyShiny! We’re here to help you keep running, swimming, and nourishing your way to the healthier, happier self you imagined when you wrote your new year’s resolutions. See all the posts here.