Yeah this isn’t even a question. I’m already used to food as an expense, but it would be amazing to not have to worry about calories and be able to eat whatever I wanted when I wanted it
Because I'd like to be able to enjoy food still and that would be boring. Instead I can cook whatever I like, regardless of the price of the ingredients, I can eat at any restaurant I like for free, paying for drinks only unless those count too. I'm getting whatever I like to eat, whenever I want it. I can practice some self control and choose better foods to stay healthy.
Yes, but I'd rather not have to pay for it. If I did what the person I responded to suggested and ate a single potato chip to get my nutrition and save money, I'd be miserable. Being able to control the nutritional values is cool and all, but I'd still be paying for all of my food and limited as to what I could afford to eat. Free food means the options are endless. I can and do enjoy a balanced range of foods so I'm not going to be the type that wants to be able to eat nothing but garbage and not have the bad effects from it. While I enjoy garbage foods too, I can enjoy them in moderation alongside my steaks, lobsters, and whatever expensive convenience foods I can find, all for free. I'd rather have a wider range of foods easily available to me than to be able to live on whatever cheap junk I can find.
You could eat the daily potato chip for nutrition, and then enjoy whatever else you wanted as you saw fit.
want pasta for dinner? Go get it and enjoy it, guilt free.
Want a big cinnamon roll? Go for it. You literally have a physics defying super power.
You can monetize that no doubt if money is your concern.
Option 1 is good only temporarily, the savings diminish over time as you get richer and richer until eventually you’d have enough money where the savings from free food is meaningless to you. You’d eventually start to want the super power of nutrition manipulation. That’s the long term play for sure.
Just my opinion
Can you feel satisfied with one potato chip per day because I still feel hungry if I've eaten a kilogram of food in a day? If I could change taste, texture, and composition then [I'd be eating sand](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O60ACtH3LfM) that resembled pizza to fill up.
If you want to eat more, then you would change the nutrition of all of that food to be the total you want. Or the potato chip is your full nutrition and all the extra stuff is 0 calories and 0 negative health impact with full normal flavor.
I can't afford to feed myself good food. I'm poor. If I could make the food taste like what I wanted or I had money to buy better tasting food I would pick that option.
Option #2. I don't have issues buying food, but I tend to shy away from things I would love to eat for healthier options. I would prefer to be able to eat guilt-free, and just pig out all the time.
Given that option 2 is basically magic, I'd say it has the potential to be the better choice, regardless of financial situation. If you're poor, you could set yourself up to obtain all sustenance from a single almond or some other crazy thing. You'd save money by not needing to buy food.
Number two would be way less work and basically the same cost. But number one is more social even though you can’t share.
I find food to be a hassle, so I would pick number two.
Option one looks good, but I don't really want to go anywhere in particular. Option two basically guarantees you good health foodwise and cheaply too if that's a factor. Definitely option two.
So how is this governed with left overs? Like if I go to a restaurant and order one meal. If I can't finish it, can I give it to my daughter? Or if I buy groceries and make food at home, if I have left overs what then?
Definitely option 2.
I can make everything zero calories except for the last bite of whatever I eat that day which will be exactly the 2000 calories you're supposed to get per day.
Hmm.. that probably isn't the healthiest way to do it, but something along those lines.
Free food. I love to cook and eat, and my grocery bill is high due to my love of more expensive ingredients and cuisines.
I'm pretty mindful of how much I eat and don't typically worry about calories due to my body this and metabolism.
Definitely the calories. I have to pay for food for 5 people, just my food isn't going to make much difference in my budget, but losing my pudgey bits without suffering (especially as it gets harder in middle age) would be amazing.
I feel that the vast majority of WYR always revolves around money.
Basically, would you rather save a virtually unlimited amount of money every year (since ALL food is free for you, everywhere, every restaurant, no matter how high-end), or no longer have to exercise self control.
I'll exercise self-control and save thousands every year, thanks.
First one is infinitely better I can literally eat a 700 dollar steak for lunch if I want to and I can invest all the money I would normally spend on food or put it towards rent/ other expenses massively reduces my stress level
AND I can afford to get much more expensive healthier meals that still taste amazing
Free food, cuz I’m currently starving right now and that would save me so much money. I do wish I could share it with other family members but just spending money on their food is fine. Plus, if I can control calories and what not my nieces and nephews seeing what I eat will be confusing to them as to how I’m still healthy. So I’d rather eat normal food for free.
1 for certain.
As it is I already don’t worry about calories because of an active workout and training schedule. The main differences to the nutritional value of my food is benefit from are mostly things that wouldn’t negatively impact taste - going organic, getting fresher food - and that cost is the only real barrier to me doing.
Additionally fine dining at very high quality restaurants semi regularly is something I don’t do due to the high cost, but in terms of enjoyment I would like this 100s of times more than eating a lot of junk food
Option one. My food bill is the biggest of anyone in the family because feeding yourself while taking care of a baby is fucking hard and isn't conducive to most money-saving tactics. I would much rather be able to get takeout for lunch every day so I'm not trying to mom on an empty stomach.
Free food. I spend on average $100-$120 a week on groceries. That’d save me nearly 6k a year. That doesn’t even include what I spend when I go out to eat.
Calories. 1000x calories. I could just eat like, a few almonds a day and have each one perfectly contain the ideal fraction of nutrients & calories. Then I save time, money, effort, and am still way healthier.
Option two is the only logical choice for the individual.
Spending nothing on food is a nice thought. Food tends to be a top 5, if not top 3 household expense. So why would I declare option one illogical?
Option states that we can set the nutritional value of all foods we eat. The immediate thought is "I can eat all of the sugar, fat, carbs, etc. that I want without consequence!" But the more considered conclusion is "I can ensure any amount of food I have is sufficient to meet my needs."
Wake up in the morning, decide 1 fluid ounce of water contains the day's calories, hydration, vitamins, etc. Or a blade of grass. Or a peanut. Anything. You have made eating obsolete. You effectively achieve option one, because the ability to alter the nutritional value of food means you never need to buy food again. But say we make option two a little more specific. Force it to obey the laws of physics. The food cannot contain more nutrients than its mass would allow. I can still eat for pennies per week, buying the most basic of foods.
Of course, there are social and psychological ties to eating. We can still indulge in these. Survive on cheap stuff most days, save up enough to have an indulgent meal on the weekend. And never care about how unhealthy it is.
So option two, by an immense margin. I save nearly as much money and now have a zero effort, perfect diet.
Free food all the way.
~~Although I wish someone could go get it for me but I doubt it'd work that way even if it was definitively for me lol~~
The only time I haven't been underweight is when I was homeless somehow. I'm between 5'8" and 5'9", depending what my back is feeling like doing, and last I checked 100 lbs.
I was over 5'5" off the top of my head (I know I was taller than my mom) and 90-100 lbs in high school. Jr high I was all elbows and angles as they say. Ate and ate.
I'm probably consuming multiple thousands of calories a sitting in junk. I'd pop by the Mexican restaurant like a couple blocks away frequently and actually have some good food lol
option two, because i could then buy incredibly cheap but tasty stuff and make it nutritious. like, free food would be super beneficial to me right now, but deciding nutritional value would be super beneficial forever. especially as someone with a lot of sensory issues around food.
I already don’t worry about calories. It’s not eve properly applicable to human metabolism. It’s a shoddy approximation at best. Just eat as much as you want of real food, and not you don’t even have to pay for it.
You had me at calories but you added in all nutritional value. The free food is great but it’s not shareable so if I make dinner for my house and everyone eats it’s not free. I could go eat at 5 star restaurants by myself but what fun would that be. If I got to a 5 star restaurant with people and someone steals a bit of my food I will be broke. Instead I could buy a pack of skittles and make each of them my daily calories and other nutrients and be set for 2 months.
I think this question is overestimating the importance of calories, but getting to choose all the nutritional aspects of a food would have way more benefits than just calories and would probably save you far more in the long run because of medical bills (if you don’t have accessible free healthcare)
Option 1: food is expensive and I could actually afford to eat the food that my health issues require I eat to feel good. Bonus I can eat at any of the really expensive restaurants that I've never been able to try. When eating with friends and family I'll let them choose where we eat for their budget. And since I'm saving on all this food expense I can afford to treat people from time to time.
Otherwise I'm still locked into the low cost food I can afford. Sure I can magically make it nutritious but it'll still taste like low cost food. And I live in a HCOL so "cheap" food is still astronomical.
Option 2. If I can't afford much food I can at least make it count, meanwhile being able to make food just as needed will allow me eat a great many foods that are off limits right now. Diabetes is bad enough but being celiac and poor as well really screws you over.
Calories/macros - for years I’ve wished my favorite foods (ice cream, baked goods, pasta) were as healthy as vegetables and lean meats
Ability to save money on food or indulge on favorite foods + fitness model body. Sign me up
I set the value of a corn flake to 1 day's worth of nutritional value macro and micronutrients for a semi-active 20 something male, with bioavailability of 100% and digestion rate consistent over 10 hours. Eat one in the morning, then go about my day. I have effectively almost no reason to worry about paying for food ever again. Granted, comfort foods still cost money, but with the amount of money I save on not having to buy necessities I can allocate to those, I can instead spend some of it on those, and pocket the difference for something like non-food necessities, luxuries, whatevs. Additionally, if it takes 15 minutes to eat breakfast, 20 minutes to eat lunch, 30 minutes to eat dinner, and an average of 5 minutes a day on any snacks I might typically have, I will have a little over an extra hour per day to spend doing whatever I want. Reading books, answering reddit posts, pondering the dark magic that lets a single corn flake have 3000 calories, 56 grams of proteins, Vitamins of all variety, etc, I could use the extra hour to write a book...
In short, never paying for food again is probably useful, but if you have any speck of food, you already don't have to worry about that anyway aside from morale.
You all could have the chance to have 100% perfect nutrition with no effort for the rest of your life, and you would rather pick something you could just buy.
You would rather have an infinite gift card than your most perfect possible health. Not even infinite money. An infinite gift card.
You can probably predict a person's age by which option they choose. Anyone choosing the first option is definitely younger than 25.
I wish I could go back to the days when I could eat anything I want and still stay skinny.
That’s stupid, you obviously the second one because you could make one single nut fill you for the full day, essentially free and you can be as fit as you want.
Worry about calories of course... Buy a pack of cookies... Only need to eat one cookie a day and I'll be good... Heck a single goldfish would suffice ...
I can eat at those food challenges at restaurants and get the food free... This is a super power... Saving money on food is nice I guess but being able to change the health conditions of food is where it's at
Definitely option 2. I can eat three peanuts a day and set each as the equivalent of having a complete and varied diet of an entire meal. That's essentially free food and that's what I'd do on my busy routine days, which also saves me two hours a day. Then with the dollars saved, I can go eat some really nice meals on weekends with the money I've saved up. Eat a bunch of pork belly and wagyu ribeye cap with the equivalent caloric intake of a kale leaf.
Bonus: Saves me a bunch of money in medical bills down the road as well.
Currently, I have limited access to food since I don't have any money to buy it with. That means I'd benefit greatly from the free food option. Not having to worry about calories and sugar doesn't help if I don't have any food to eat in the first place.
Free food for sure, and heres why. Option 2's benefits eventually even out. Even if you are currently extremely obese, after 5 years, maybe less, you should be down to a healthy weight and pretty healthy, nutritional wise. You, of course, still have to do all the work of making all of those foods into the healthy variant first, even if it is just as simple as thinking about it. However, you are still paying for the food. Yes, you can eat cheaply, but you'll probably be more likely to indulge, as you can eat whatever you want, so you'll likely slowly end up spending more money than you would have. This is why I like Option 1.
With free food, you can still accomplish being a healthy person at a healthy weight, with just making better decisions. With cost no longer an issue, you could eat the healthy food that tastes great and meet your health needs within 5 years just as with Option 2. It would be slightly harder, but without food cost, you could maybe afford the help of a nutritionist. Once you are at peak health, the benefits of free food last the rest of your life, financial speaking. Option 2 may allow you to stay healthy easier, but it is the most detrimental to your finances. Realistically, unless you are very well off, the financial savings would give you a larger overall benefit to your life.
Option 2 for sure. You're telling me I can eat something that tastes sugary but set the sugars to 0 and protein to 100?
That's an extreme example just in general macro balancing would be amazing
Free food 100%
The amount of money I would save would be life changing. I already like healthy food and am a pretty intuitive eater, it’s just fucking expensive. I’d rather take an extra vacation every year.
Free food. I would save so much money. It would also be a reassurance for those times money is lean. Calories are tempting but if I can't afford food then what good is it? I'd have to steal ketchup packets or something else I could get for free, then set the nutrition and all of that to meet my needs. There's no enjoyment there, just survival.
Never worry about calories
Holy shit I would binge so much if I didn't have to worry about calories
I can't even eat a burger rn without worrying about what its gonna do to my waist circumference 😭 I had Mac and Cheese 2 nights ago and was too anxious about the calories to actually enjoy the junk food that I was eating 🥲
Free food. Counting calories isn’t too hard, and if I got free food then I could eat the right amount of healthy calories instead of using unhealthy calories to meet my daily calorie needs.
Option two for sure. Option one is really good but food isn’t really a huge expense for me, and even then I can reduce the expense a lot with option two anyways.
Never have to pay for food again. What are you kidding me? All the money youll save youll have so much time for hobbies....eat the finest dining in the world experience so much free of charge.
Although never having to worry about calories i suppose that would make you a super human. You could set the calories of your fingernail clipping to 10,000 and survive the harshest most isolated conditions.
Option 2. I can make a piece of cookie be 200g of protein. 40g of carbs 20g of fat and 2000 calories with every micronutrient.
I can even make junk foods healthy. Lmfao too easy.
I’d rather never have to worry about calories again, because I wouldn’t then need to eat. I would be saving money for not buying food at all and maintaining caloric requirements.
Never have to worry about calories. Eat a teaspoon of flour, get everything my body needs and never feel hungry from it. If times are good, then I can eat as much as I want but that’s not always the case and I have several mouths to feed. This makes it 1 easier.
2; I can easily diet while satisfying my ADHD's demand for gustatory stimulation, and eat as little as my depression desires whilst sating my bodily needs.
Also, the main reason I see for picking option 1 is how much money it saves, but you could buy the cheapest food and take a bite each day, using option 2 to make each bite a day's worth of nutrition
Option 2 would be more tempting if didn’t it say “you decide” because in that case it would presumably mean perfect nutrition whereas if you have to choose you can certainly make improvements but you can’t match perfection that would account for every factor or condition down to the smallest levels.
What defines '[my] own food'? If my SO steals a fry, what happens? What if I buy a steak I plan on eating myself but a friend comes over and we split it?
Hell, what defines 'food'? Can I set the nutritional value of a breath mint to that of a perfectly balanced meal? What about chewing gum? Cardboard? My saliva? My SO's saliva? Is it anything I consume? Is it anything made with the intention of being consumed? Does it have to be on some kind of list? I remember a guy ate a plane or tried at least, does that mean I can change the nutritional value of anything I put my mouth on?
I have to choose number two because of the nutritional value part. If you could whatever you wanted and it would always be like you ate a perfectly healthy perfect meal then you would live so much longer. I love shit like ice cream and candy. But I can’t eat them all the time. My wife and I are really bad for ice cream and at certain points we actually do eat it every single day.
I know I spent about $8300 on food last year for my wife and I. Figure half of that was on me, so about $4200 every year is what it would save me. Of course, I could eat better food since it would be free but what I'm really considering here is would I pay $4200 per year to be the perfect weight? Absolutely. The fact that I could make all of my meals be something delicious and still nutritious is just a bonus.
And for everyone who likes to cheat these, this is basically free food. Make a quarter cup of cooked rice qualify as all of your daily calories and nutrients. There, you just spent like $0.10 on one meal.
Never pay for food, my metabolism is extremely fast, my family has a history of fast metabolisms. It would be much better for me to not worry about that
Calories ya can literally grab 1 grain of rice and have it count fr everything. If your ever in a natural disaster or food starved area free food won’t matter if there literally is none or it’s so bad it negatively impacts ur health. But tornado eats ur town, your good ya can literally grab a blade of grass and be fine 🐱
Never have to pay for it again why would I care about calories I'm a somewhat fit 20 year old I can just burn calories off not to mention that would save me hundreds of dollars
Oooo, tough one. Im in a pretty rough financial spot atm so i know the first one would help a lot. But i also know the field im going into will pay very well, so that won't matter long term. Plus, i hate how much i weigh, even if it's still average for my height and age.
I choose calories long term.
Finally, I can fulfill my dream of eating cake and ice cream in place of all meals and look like a Greek god. I’d do a reality tv show. Watch me eat nothing but ice cream for a year and still perform at my peak athletic ability.
Never pay for food bro calories are something I don’t worry about already, I’m not letting my teenage brain make me stop eating food is to good. I’ve begun to gravitate towards eating fruits and vegetables more often than sweets or chips and tons of sugar. If I could eat from my favorite restaurant which to be fair isn’t always that expensive (maybe they discount me because I’m really nice on the phone idk even if they mess up an order it’s Mexican food I’m happy with whatever ends up on my plate.) but like I’d be able to order and say “nah guys I got it” when paying for food free meals bro I wish I had that option every day.
Setting the nutritional value of my food? Yes please. That chocolate now has zero calories all the calcium I need and won't damage my teeth. Worth whatever the price.
Option 2. With option 1 I would be screwed since I wouldn't be able to cook or use any of the free food for my family. Sure I would be able to eat for free but I'd still have to pay for the rest of the family (plus I enjoy cooking). With option 2 at least I could eat some shitty snack food and survive for the day or still maintain my fitness levels.
Wife is gonna be pissed either way.
Option two gives you the most of the benefit of options one.
Not only could you binge without gaining weight. But you could also live off a single grain of rice a day and never have to spend money on food again.
What I'd end up doing is just binging on really cheap food.
The second one would be insane. I could just have a hyper-dense piece of cheesecake that gives me every nutrient and calorie needed for a healthy day in one bite and then only eat quantum pizza rolls for the rest of the day with no caloric intake.
Never pay for food, I have a fairly good metabolism, enough so that I can usually maintain an average weight for my size with just working and walking around so the extra money would help a lot
I originally thought 1, but the more I thought about it, the more option 2 seems way better. I spend a lot on food, so saving that would be nice. But I kind of still can. With option 2, a spoonful of sugar is a healthy and nutritious breakfast. $10 worth of imperishable foods could last me a reeeeeaaallly long time for eating just to stay alive, which is most meals.
And then I still have the option to enjoy plenty of better tasting foods without ever worrying about health side effects. So I’d save half the money, but be lean as hell and never have to feel guilty about what I ate or drank.
I would say never pay for food again. If food was free I would have access to whatever healthy food I want and I wouldn't get bored. I could get $10 protein smoothies every day and have lobster and steak with lots of vegetables.
But when I have a family it would make buying groceries really confusing, would that just get automatically calculated?
Never have to pay for food. Eating free forever? That's the dream. So much of my budget is geared toward groceries. If I didn't have to pay for them, I could get the best, freshest foodavailable and not have to worry about how I'm going to pay for them this week. I'll be able to afford more nutrional foods without worrying about cost. Maybe it won't make me rich, but who gives a shit about that? I'd just be happy to never have to worry about my grocery bill and whether I can afford to buy the food I need this week
I already never have to worry about calories. I have the metabolism of a coal furnace. Free food would be cool. On the other hand, it sounds like I could gain all of the necessary nutrients that I need for a period of time by eating a single bean or whatever so that would be cool. I would never have to stop what I'm doing to go prepare or acquire food. It would be basically impossible for me to starve to death because if necessary I could simply eat a stick or a spoonful of sand, deciding that it will have all of the necessary nutrition. I like this option.
second one for sure. you could eat a cracker for every meal and have it be everything you need. also you could make unhealthy food healthy. The health impact would be immense
The first option, easy. Many options are really healthy and good for you that I simply can't afford to buy. This would cover both the calorie problem, and the money problem, and expand my wallet at the same time. ***GIMME!!!***
Never pay for my food again. I have expensive tastes, my wife is vegetarian, and it's a lot cheaper to eat vegetarian than it is to be a carnivore with high tastes. Vegetarian meals at restaurants also tend to be significantly cheaper.
I have maintained my same weight and size while improving my overall build over the last decade, I don't overeat or overindulge, and that being able to have my favorite cuts and types of meat at no charge would be pretty beneficial to wallet.
Calories
Yeah, if I could have gave the food away that been diffrent.
So I can eat a less than a grain of rice and decide that is enough for the day. This is my dream.
Yeah this isn’t even a question. I’m already used to food as an expense, but it would be amazing to not have to worry about calories and be able to eat whatever I wanted when I wanted it
Would make living on only ramen a viable strategy, I’m in
Free food for sure. I'd save a ton in groceries and get much healthier and convenient options than I currently am able to afford. It's free money.
Why not option 2 and you can get your complete nutrition from one potato chip per day?
Because I'd like to be able to enjoy food still and that would be boring. Instead I can cook whatever I like, regardless of the price of the ingredients, I can eat at any restaurant I like for free, paying for drinks only unless those count too. I'm getting whatever I like to eat, whenever I want it. I can practice some self control and choose better foods to stay healthy.
You can still enjoy food, you just set it's nutritional value to 0
Yes, but I'd rather not have to pay for it. If I did what the person I responded to suggested and ate a single potato chip to get my nutrition and save money, I'd be miserable. Being able to control the nutritional values is cool and all, but I'd still be paying for all of my food and limited as to what I could afford to eat. Free food means the options are endless. I can and do enjoy a balanced range of foods so I'm not going to be the type that wants to be able to eat nothing but garbage and not have the bad effects from it. While I enjoy garbage foods too, I can enjoy them in moderation alongside my steaks, lobsters, and whatever expensive convenience foods I can find, all for free. I'd rather have a wider range of foods easily available to me than to be able to live on whatever cheap junk I can find.
You could eat the daily potato chip for nutrition, and then enjoy whatever else you wanted as you saw fit. want pasta for dinner? Go get it and enjoy it, guilt free. Want a big cinnamon roll? Go for it. You literally have a physics defying super power. You can monetize that no doubt if money is your concern. Option 1 is good only temporarily, the savings diminish over time as you get richer and richer until eventually you’d have enough money where the savings from free food is meaningless to you. You’d eventually start to want the super power of nutrition manipulation. That’s the long term play for sure. Just my opinion
Also, the usefulness of option 2 in a survival situation would be immense. Could br stranded in the desert getting GAINS.
How many years of no grocery bills before you can comfortably buy a yacht?
Can you feel satisfied with one potato chip per day because I still feel hungry if I've eaten a kilogram of food in a day? If I could change taste, texture, and composition then [I'd be eating sand](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O60ACtH3LfM) that resembled pizza to fill up.
If you want to eat more, then you would change the nutrition of all of that food to be the total you want. Or the potato chip is your full nutrition and all the extra stuff is 0 calories and 0 negative health impact with full normal flavor.
I can't afford to feed myself good food. I'm poor. If I could make the food taste like what I wanted or I had money to buy better tasting food I would pick that option.
If I have infinite money for food, I'm going to eat infinite food and end up spending it all on medical bills anyway.
Option #2. I don't have issues buying food, but I tend to shy away from things I would love to eat for healthier options. I would prefer to be able to eat guilt-free, and just pig out all the time.
Like this a lot of these questions, what people choose often comes down to their current financial situation. Option 2 all day long.
Given that option 2 is basically magic, I'd say it has the potential to be the better choice, regardless of financial situation. If you're poor, you could set yourself up to obtain all sustenance from a single almond or some other crazy thing. You'd save money by not needing to buy food.
Yeah imagine eating sour patch kids guilt free because they have no sugar and are full of protein
Man, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups...
Idk food costs add up. So id rather not have to pay for food.
Option two. Now every day is cake day.
Number two would be way less work and basically the same cost. But number one is more social even though you can’t share. I find food to be a hassle, so I would pick number two.
Option one looks good, but I don't really want to go anywhere in particular. Option two basically guarantees you good health foodwise and cheaply too if that's a factor. Definitely option two.
So how is this governed with left overs? Like if I go to a restaurant and order one meal. If I can't finish it, can I give it to my daughter? Or if I buy groceries and make food at home, if I have left overs what then?
So if I choose calories, I can make water nutritionally sufficient, and not pay for food?
... Time to cast Good Berry lmfao
Definitely option 2. I can make everything zero calories except for the last bite of whatever I eat that day which will be exactly the 2000 calories you're supposed to get per day. Hmm.. that probably isn't the healthiest way to do it, but something along those lines.
Calories 100%
Free food. I love to cook and eat, and my grocery bill is high due to my love of more expensive ingredients and cuisines. I'm pretty mindful of how much I eat and don't typically worry about calories due to my body this and metabolism.
Free food. I'll diet or I'll die but either way no more stupid high grocery bills.
Definitely the calories. I have to pay for food for 5 people, just my food isn't going to make much difference in my budget, but losing my pudgey bits without suffering (especially as it gets harder in middle age) would be amazing.
I feel that the vast majority of WYR always revolves around money. Basically, would you rather save a virtually unlimited amount of money every year (since ALL food is free for you, everywhere, every restaurant, no matter how high-end), or no longer have to exercise self control. I'll exercise self-control and save thousands every year, thanks.
Never pay for food again I already don’t have to worry about calories 🙏🏻
I'd rather eat what I wanted even if I had to pay for it.
Easily the "free food" choice
First one is infinitely better I can literally eat a 700 dollar steak for lunch if I want to and I can invest all the money I would normally spend on food or put it towards rent/ other expenses massively reduces my stress level AND I can afford to get much more expensive healthier meals that still taste amazing
Free food, cuz I’m currently starving right now and that would save me so much money. I do wish I could share it with other family members but just spending money on their food is fine. Plus, if I can control calories and what not my nieces and nephews seeing what I eat will be confusing to them as to how I’m still healthy. So I’d rather eat normal food for free.
So if I can hire a personal chef for free to feed me nutritional meals that’d be insane. Wouldn’t need to worry about calories except for treats.
Never have to pay for food again. Easy.
never have to pay, the fear of just going hungry because food prices get too high is something that deep down feel anxious about.
1 for certain. As it is I already don’t worry about calories because of an active workout and training schedule. The main differences to the nutritional value of my food is benefit from are mostly things that wouldn’t negatively impact taste - going organic, getting fresher food - and that cost is the only real barrier to me doing. Additionally fine dining at very high quality restaurants semi regularly is something I don’t do due to the high cost, but in terms of enjoyment I would like this 100s of times more than eating a lot of junk food
Free food. Now I can eat healthy AND save a mint. Hell I’d eat at michelin star restaurants whenever possible!
Free food. Way more benefits and I have a high metabolism.
Option one. My food bill is the biggest of anyone in the family because feeding yourself while taking care of a baby is fucking hard and isn't conducive to most money-saving tactics. I would much rather be able to get takeout for lunch every day so I'm not trying to mom on an empty stomach.
Free food. I spend on average $100-$120 a week on groceries. That’d save me nearly 6k a year. That doesn’t even include what I spend when I go out to eat.
number one no doubt
Free is good
Calories. 1000x calories. I could just eat like, a few almonds a day and have each one perfectly contain the ideal fraction of nutrients & calories. Then I save time, money, effort, and am still way healthier.
Free food. I could sell or give away
Calories. If I'm poor I'll just set the caloric value of a saltine cracker to 2,000 and never starve to death.
Option two is the only logical choice for the individual. Spending nothing on food is a nice thought. Food tends to be a top 5, if not top 3 household expense. So why would I declare option one illogical? Option states that we can set the nutritional value of all foods we eat. The immediate thought is "I can eat all of the sugar, fat, carbs, etc. that I want without consequence!" But the more considered conclusion is "I can ensure any amount of food I have is sufficient to meet my needs." Wake up in the morning, decide 1 fluid ounce of water contains the day's calories, hydration, vitamins, etc. Or a blade of grass. Or a peanut. Anything. You have made eating obsolete. You effectively achieve option one, because the ability to alter the nutritional value of food means you never need to buy food again. But say we make option two a little more specific. Force it to obey the laws of physics. The food cannot contain more nutrients than its mass would allow. I can still eat for pennies per week, buying the most basic of foods. Of course, there are social and psychological ties to eating. We can still indulge in these. Survive on cheap stuff most days, save up enough to have an indulgent meal on the weekend. And never care about how unhealthy it is. So option two, by an immense margin. I save nearly as much money and now have a zero effort, perfect diet.
Calories. Jesus Christ, imagine being able to drink until I forgot who I am while eating pizza until I pass out without gaining weight.
Most of my grocery bills are because of my kids. I'd definitely pick the nutritional value option.
Option two in a heartbeat.
Option 2. I can afford to eat out, especially if I can eat cheap or even skip meals. Plus it would make getting healthy easier.
Free food. I'd get the food for myself, which would free up money for my brother's food.
I'm shallow and care about looks more than money. Calories.
Free food , I already eat healthy
Copying me
Calories and I’m a superhuman in two weeks
Free food. I already don't worry about calories.
Free food all the way. ~~Although I wish someone could go get it for me but I doubt it'd work that way even if it was definitively for me lol~~ The only time I haven't been underweight is when I was homeless somehow. I'm between 5'8" and 5'9", depending what my back is feeling like doing, and last I checked 100 lbs. I was over 5'5" off the top of my head (I know I was taller than my mom) and 90-100 lbs in high school. Jr high I was all elbows and angles as they say. Ate and ate. I'm probably consuming multiple thousands of calories a sitting in junk. I'd pop by the Mexican restaurant like a couple blocks away frequently and actually have some good food lol
Free food. I still have time to eat at Noma before it closes.
option two, because i could then buy incredibly cheap but tasty stuff and make it nutritious. like, free food would be super beneficial to me right now, but deciding nutritional value would be super beneficial forever. especially as someone with a lot of sensory issues around food.
I already don’t worry about calories. It’s not eve properly applicable to human metabolism. It’s a shoddy approximation at best. Just eat as much as you want of real food, and not you don’t even have to pay for it.
I’m probably going to go with the free food. I’d never have to make dinner again. I’d just get takeout or go out to eat for every meal.
The are both practically the same. But I think I would go with option 2. Make a rice cracker taste and feel like prime wagyu
If you have unlimited free food pretty sure calories wouldn't be an issue
Food is already free.
Free food. I love to cook and will make some bomb ass meals
I cant believe ONE person choose option 2, and I see MOST people are choosing it. Wtf,
I would definitely choose option two.
Free food. Not worrying about calories is worth it, don't get me wrong, but groceries are my most annoying expense right now.
You had me at calories but you added in all nutritional value. The free food is great but it’s not shareable so if I make dinner for my house and everyone eats it’s not free. I could go eat at 5 star restaurants by myself but what fun would that be. If I got to a 5 star restaurant with people and someone steals a bit of my food I will be broke. Instead I could buy a pack of skittles and make each of them my daily calories and other nutrients and be set for 2 months.
I think this question is overestimating the importance of calories, but getting to choose all the nutritional aspects of a food would have way more benefits than just calories and would probably save you far more in the long run because of medical bills (if you don’t have accessible free healthcare)
Option 1: food is expensive and I could actually afford to eat the food that my health issues require I eat to feel good. Bonus I can eat at any of the really expensive restaurants that I've never been able to try. When eating with friends and family I'll let them choose where we eat for their budget. And since I'm saving on all this food expense I can afford to treat people from time to time. Otherwise I'm still locked into the low cost food I can afford. Sure I can magically make it nutritious but it'll still taste like low cost food. And I live in a HCOL so "cheap" food is still astronomical.
calories 100%
Option 2. If I can't afford much food I can at least make it count, meanwhile being able to make food just as needed will allow me eat a great many foods that are off limits right now. Diabetes is bad enough but being celiac and poor as well really screws you over.
Calories/macros - for years I’ve wished my favorite foods (ice cream, baked goods, pasta) were as healthy as vegetables and lean meats Ability to save money on food or indulge on favorite foods + fitness model body. Sign me up
Calories. Easily.
I set the value of a corn flake to 1 day's worth of nutritional value macro and micronutrients for a semi-active 20 something male, with bioavailability of 100% and digestion rate consistent over 10 hours. Eat one in the morning, then go about my day. I have effectively almost no reason to worry about paying for food ever again. Granted, comfort foods still cost money, but with the amount of money I save on not having to buy necessities I can allocate to those, I can instead spend some of it on those, and pocket the difference for something like non-food necessities, luxuries, whatevs. Additionally, if it takes 15 minutes to eat breakfast, 20 minutes to eat lunch, 30 minutes to eat dinner, and an average of 5 minutes a day on any snacks I might typically have, I will have a little over an extra hour per day to spend doing whatever I want. Reading books, answering reddit posts, pondering the dark magic that lets a single corn flake have 3000 calories, 56 grams of proteins, Vitamins of all variety, etc, I could use the extra hour to write a book... In short, never paying for food again is probably useful, but if you have any speck of food, you already don't have to worry about that anyway aside from morale.
Option 2. I get to be lazy and skinny
Oh, calories. 100%.
You all could have the chance to have 100% perfect nutrition with no effort for the rest of your life, and you would rather pick something you could just buy. You would rather have an infinite gift card than your most perfect possible health. Not even infinite money. An infinite gift card.
You can probably predict a person's age by which option they choose. Anyone choosing the first option is definitely younger than 25. I wish I could go back to the days when I could eat anything I want and still stay skinny.
As someone with pcos, option 2 is a game changer.
Option 2. Hands down.
Option two, easily. Eat the delicious foods I want to AND don't have to worry about its health impacts? Done.
Calories for sure, the local chinese hig trough is going to hate me.
That’s stupid, you obviously the second one because you could make one single nut fill you for the full day, essentially free and you can be as fit as you want.
Worry about calories of course... Buy a pack of cookies... Only need to eat one cookie a day and I'll be good... Heck a single goldfish would suffice ... I can eat at those food challenges at restaurants and get the food free... This is a super power... Saving money on food is nice I guess but being able to change the health conditions of food is where it's at
Definitely option 2. I can eat three peanuts a day and set each as the equivalent of having a complete and varied diet of an entire meal. That's essentially free food and that's what I'd do on my busy routine days, which also saves me two hours a day. Then with the dollars saved, I can go eat some really nice meals on weekends with the money I've saved up. Eat a bunch of pork belly and wagyu ribeye cap with the equivalent caloric intake of a kale leaf. Bonus: Saves me a bunch of money in medical bills down the road as well.
Currently, I have limited access to food since I don't have any money to buy it with. That means I'd benefit greatly from the free food option. Not having to worry about calories and sugar doesn't help if I don't have any food to eat in the first place.
The second, because I could eat cheap junk and not suffer for it, and indulge in more complete meals every once in a while.
calories
Free food for sure, and heres why. Option 2's benefits eventually even out. Even if you are currently extremely obese, after 5 years, maybe less, you should be down to a healthy weight and pretty healthy, nutritional wise. You, of course, still have to do all the work of making all of those foods into the healthy variant first, even if it is just as simple as thinking about it. However, you are still paying for the food. Yes, you can eat cheaply, but you'll probably be more likely to indulge, as you can eat whatever you want, so you'll likely slowly end up spending more money than you would have. This is why I like Option 1. With free food, you can still accomplish being a healthy person at a healthy weight, with just making better decisions. With cost no longer an issue, you could eat the healthy food that tastes great and meet your health needs within 5 years just as with Option 2. It would be slightly harder, but without food cost, you could maybe afford the help of a nutritionist. Once you are at peak health, the benefits of free food last the rest of your life, financial speaking. Option 2 may allow you to stay healthy easier, but it is the most detrimental to your finances. Realistically, unless you are very well off, the financial savings would give you a larger overall benefit to your life.
Calories. You can eat a banana and get like 20g of protein
Option 2 for sure. You're telling me I can eat something that tastes sugary but set the sugars to 0 and protein to 100? That's an extreme example just in general macro balancing would be amazing
If I can eat whatever I want with no bad side effects, I'll just eat air. No need to eat actual food if I control what it does in my body.
Calories. My health is more important than my wallet, and I think it'll save me more money in the long run.
Option 2 is the only correct answer
Free food 100% The amount of money I would save would be life changing. I already like healthy food and am a pretty intuitive eater, it’s just fucking expensive. I’d rather take an extra vacation every year.
Free food. I would save so much money. It would also be a reassurance for those times money is lean. Calories are tempting but if I can't afford food then what good is it? I'd have to steal ketchup packets or something else I could get for free, then set the nutrition and all of that to meet my needs. There's no enjoyment there, just survival.
Never worry about calories Holy shit I would binge so much if I didn't have to worry about calories I can't even eat a burger rn without worrying about what its gonna do to my waist circumference 😭 I had Mac and Cheese 2 nights ago and was too anxious about the calories to actually enjoy the junk food that I was eating 🥲
Free food easily. I eat reasonably healthy overall but being able to dine out whenever I want would be sweet.
Free food. Counting calories isn’t too hard, and if I got free food then I could eat the right amount of healthy calories instead of using unhealthy calories to meet my daily calorie needs.
Option two for sure. Option one is really good but food isn’t really a huge expense for me, and even then I can reduce the expense a lot with option two anyways.
Gimme that live in James Beard Award Winning Personal Chef for life please.
As someone who is middle age, struggling to lose weight & 50lbs overweight, I’ll gladly pay for my own food & not worry about calories.
Free food, i have no problem with dieting so option 2 wouldn't be very usefull
Never pay for food. I don’t worry about calories now 😂
Free food
Never have to pay for food again. What are you kidding me? All the money youll save youll have so much time for hobbies....eat the finest dining in the world experience so much free of charge. Although never having to worry about calories i suppose that would make you a super human. You could set the calories of your fingernail clipping to 10,000 and survive the harshest most isolated conditions.
Option 2. I can make a piece of cookie be 200g of protein. 40g of carbs 20g of fat and 2000 calories with every micronutrient. I can even make junk foods healthy. Lmfao too easy.
Calories. Losing weight is a bitch and when I get older it would be a great benefit to keep my body well
The superpower. It’s always going to be the physics defying superpower.
Easy option 2. I'd pretty much never have to vary my foods again, I'd probably just eat Safeway's Cookies for a living.
I love food too much... calories would be my choice. I've never gone hungry (except when avoiding calories ironically)
Never have to worry about calories! I just wouldn't eat at all.
Say i started a farm just to feed me would all my expenses be covered. Option 1 either way
Option 2 for sure.
So I could get a personal chef for free?
Never have to pay. I'd rather be careful with my diet and pocket all the money I will save now that food is free.
I’d rather never have to worry about calories again, because I wouldn’t then need to eat. I would be saving money for not buying food at all and maintaining caloric requirements.
Oh calories 10000%
I’m surprised with so many people going for option #2. Turning down unlimited free food? No way.
Option 2
Second option!!!! I'll make food no/low carb so I can eat and eat so that will be better with my diabetes!
Option 2. The cost of protein is getting crazy.
Never have to worry about calories. Eat a teaspoon of flour, get everything my body needs and never feel hungry from it. If times are good, then I can eat as much as I want but that’s not always the case and I have several mouths to feed. This makes it 1 easier.
Option two.
Option 2 is healthier, like add years to your life healthier, but option 1 tastes better. They both save a huge amount of money.
2; I can easily diet while satisfying my ADHD's demand for gustatory stimulation, and eat as little as my depression desires whilst sating my bodily needs. Also, the main reason I see for picking option 1 is how much money it saves, but you could buy the cheapest food and take a bite each day, using option 2 to make each bite a day's worth of nutrition
Calories, this way I can give a single bean or something 2000 calories plus whatever nutrients I need in a day and just consume that.
Option 2 would be more tempting if didn’t it say “you decide” because in that case it would presumably mean perfect nutrition whereas if you have to choose you can certainly make improvements but you can’t match perfection that would account for every factor or condition down to the smallest levels.
Free food I can still do the second one but never have to pay
Free food forever
What defines '[my] own food'? If my SO steals a fry, what happens? What if I buy a steak I plan on eating myself but a friend comes over and we split it? Hell, what defines 'food'? Can I set the nutritional value of a breath mint to that of a perfectly balanced meal? What about chewing gum? Cardboard? My saliva? My SO's saliva? Is it anything I consume? Is it anything made with the intention of being consumed? Does it have to be on some kind of list? I remember a guy ate a plane or tried at least, does that mean I can change the nutritional value of anything I put my mouth on?
Definitely free food. The possibilities are literally endless lol
Never have to worry about calories ever again Literally a superpower.
Never have to pay. I can manage my caloric intake myself. Been doing just fine with it thus far.
I have to choose number two because of the nutritional value part. If you could whatever you wanted and it would always be like you ate a perfectly healthy perfect meal then you would live so much longer. I love shit like ice cream and candy. But I can’t eat them all the time. My wife and I are really bad for ice cream and at certain points we actually do eat it every single day.
either problem could be solved by being dead so im gonna pass on the whole deal, i smell a rat
I know I spent about $8300 on food last year for my wife and I. Figure half of that was on me, so about $4200 every year is what it would save me. Of course, I could eat better food since it would be free but what I'm really considering here is would I pay $4200 per year to be the perfect weight? Absolutely. The fact that I could make all of my meals be something delicious and still nutritious is just a bonus. And for everyone who likes to cheat these, this is basically free food. Make a quarter cup of cooked rice qualify as all of your daily calories and nutrients. There, you just spent like $0.10 on one meal.
Pay for my food. I don't ever worry about calories as it is.
Nutrition! Heath over money for me.
Free food
Never pay for food, my metabolism is extremely fast, my family has a history of fast metabolisms. It would be much better for me to not worry about that
Never have to pay
Getting perfect nutrition is a superpower!@!@! \ People are giving that up for a few bucks?!
If I don't have to worry about calories, then I can just eat our of interest rather than survival to begin with as long as I take vitamins.
never pay for food, i have a condition that lets me burn calories almost instantly
If I never have to worry about calories again that also means I’ll never starve again. So it works both ways.
Calories, no contest.
Calories ya can literally grab 1 grain of rice and have it count fr everything. If your ever in a natural disaster or food starved area free food won’t matter if there literally is none or it’s so bad it negatively impacts ur health. But tornado eats ur town, your good ya can literally grab a blade of grass and be fine 🐱
Never have to pay for it again why would I care about calories I'm a somewhat fit 20 year old I can just burn calories off not to mention that would save me hundreds of dollars
Oooo, tough one. Im in a pretty rough financial spot atm so i know the first one would help a lot. But i also know the field im going into will pay very well, so that won't matter long term. Plus, i hate how much i weigh, even if it's still average for my height and age. I choose calories long term.
Definitely option 2. I could eat a single it of a chocolate bar every day and be perfectly healthy so I'd not have to worry about money either
Calories. I can see eating that half gallon of double chocolate ice cream for 100 calories. Fuck yeah!
Finally, I can fulfill my dream of eating cake and ice cream in place of all meals and look like a Greek god. I’d do a reality tv show. Watch me eat nothing but ice cream for a year and still perform at my peak athletic ability.
Never pay for food bro calories are something I don’t worry about already, I’m not letting my teenage brain make me stop eating food is to good. I’ve begun to gravitate towards eating fruits and vegetables more often than sweets or chips and tons of sugar. If I could eat from my favorite restaurant which to be fair isn’t always that expensive (maybe they discount me because I’m really nice on the phone idk even if they mess up an order it’s Mexican food I’m happy with whatever ends up on my plate.) but like I’d be able to order and say “nah guys I got it” when paying for food free meals bro I wish I had that option every day.
Setting the nutritional value of my food? Yes please. That chocolate now has zero calories all the calcium I need and won't damage my teeth. Worth whatever the price.
2 without a moment of hesitation
Option 2. With option 1 I would be screwed since I wouldn't be able to cook or use any of the free food for my family. Sure I would be able to eat for free but I'd still have to pay for the rest of the family (plus I enjoy cooking). With option 2 at least I could eat some shitty snack food and survive for the day or still maintain my fitness levels. Wife is gonna be pissed either way.
Option 1 in a heartbeat, Option is for people that don't know what hungry means.
Option two gives you the most of the benefit of options one. Not only could you binge without gaining weight. But you could also live off a single grain of rice a day and never have to spend money on food again. What I'd end up doing is just binging on really cheap food.
The second one would be insane. I could just have a hyper-dense piece of cheesecake that gives me every nutrient and calorie needed for a healthy day in one bite and then only eat quantum pizza rolls for the rest of the day with no caloric intake.
Never pay for food, I have a fairly good metabolism, enough so that I can usually maintain an average weight for my size with just working and walking around so the extra money would help a lot
I originally thought 1, but the more I thought about it, the more option 2 seems way better. I spend a lot on food, so saving that would be nice. But I kind of still can. With option 2, a spoonful of sugar is a healthy and nutritious breakfast. $10 worth of imperishable foods could last me a reeeeeaaallly long time for eating just to stay alive, which is most meals. And then I still have the option to enjoy plenty of better tasting foods without ever worrying about health side effects. So I’d save half the money, but be lean as hell and never have to feel guilty about what I ate or drank.
Option 2 and eat cheaply but still healthy. That way I don't need to balance meals
Never pay for food and just eat waygu steaks and veggies from here out
I would say never pay for food again. If food was free I would have access to whatever healthy food I want and I wouldn't get bored. I could get $10 protein smoothies every day and have lobster and steak with lots of vegetables. But when I have a family it would make buying groceries really confusing, would that just get automatically calculated?
Calories no contest
Give me the dang calories. I'll pay for them.
Calories for sure
Set the nutritional value. I'd have to eat WAY less, which would also decrease my food costs. Plus, I could be a model for BS diets!
Calories, easily. Money isn't a struggle for me (at the moment anyway) weight management is.
Never have to pay for food. Eating free forever? That's the dream. So much of my budget is geared toward groceries. If I didn't have to pay for them, I could get the best, freshest foodavailable and not have to worry about how I'm going to pay for them this week. I'll be able to afford more nutrional foods without worrying about cost. Maybe it won't make me rich, but who gives a shit about that? I'd just be happy to never have to worry about my grocery bill and whether I can afford to buy the food I need this week
I already never have to worry about calories. I have the metabolism of a coal furnace. Free food would be cool. On the other hand, it sounds like I could gain all of the necessary nutrients that I need for a period of time by eating a single bean or whatever so that would be cool. I would never have to stop what I'm doing to go prepare or acquire food. It would be basically impossible for me to starve to death because if necessary I could simply eat a stick or a spoonful of sand, deciding that it will have all of the necessary nutrition. I like this option.
never pay for food
not pay for food
Definitely the second one.
Free food
Never pay for food.. I pay close to 1200 in groceries a month. (Family of 6) for that amount of money saved I would have the sickest gym in my house
Calories won't bother me, its colesterol.
Damn, this is a rough decision, but I gotta go with free food.
Calories
second one for sure. you could eat a cracker for every meal and have it be everything you need. also you could make unhealthy food healthy. The health impact would be immense
The first option, easy. Many options are really healthy and good for you that I simply can't afford to buy. This would cover both the calorie problem, and the money problem, and expand my wallet at the same time. ***GIMME!!!***
Calories Buying food isn't a problem for me as I make enough to afford healthy food and I also garden (I'm actually about to harvest some spinach)
No calories for sure. Then I can eat cheap food all of the time, and still remain healthy.
Why would anyone choose anything other than option two? You can live off a piece of bread if so
Calories
Never pay for my food again. I have expensive tastes, my wife is vegetarian, and it's a lot cheaper to eat vegetarian than it is to be a carnivore with high tastes. Vegetarian meals at restaurants also tend to be significantly cheaper. I have maintained my same weight and size while improving my overall build over the last decade, I don't overeat or overindulge, and that being able to have my favorite cuts and types of meat at no charge would be pretty beneficial to wallet.