Sixteen years ago, I started an open source community and trained hundreds of thousands of China users for the Linux operating system.

The food brand I founded in recent years has provided a worry-free diet plan for hundreds of thousands of students from Internet companies.

Next, I'll share an entrepreneurial story about my cross-border cooking from a Linux programmer.

In a routine physical examination in 213, I had problems such as high blood lipid, bad stomach and even fatty liver. The doctor told me to have a balanced three meals and a light diet, otherwise my health will get worse and worse.

at this time, I realized that it was difficult to give consideration to the balance and regularity of diet because of many years of experience as a farmer, and I didn't establish the consciousness of healthy eating, so I always ate and drank indiscriminately. Moreover, the doctor's advice is so difficult to implement that I don't have that much time and energy to manage every meal.

So I embarked on a journey of exploring how to simplify my diet as much as possible under the premise of ensuring nutrition. Even I found a healthier diet than the traditional diet, which was widely recognized by doctors and nutritionists. This process is divided into five parts:

1. How to "ensure nutrition"

2. Simplifying the food plan

3. Who is in urgent need of this kind of plan

4. Potential bug

5. Write at the end

People need various nutrients to live healthily, some of which can be synthesized in vivo and some need to be obtained from outside. In 1928, the foundation of American Nutrition Society marked the basic formation of modern nutrition framework.

after nearly 2 years of development, modern nutrition has clearly known what nutrients are needed to maintain the healthy survival of most people and how much each kind of nutrition needs.

We refer to the Recommended Daily Nutrition Intake, that is, DRIs, as shown in the figure:

As you can see, the daily RNI (reference intake) of men is 65 grams of protein, and the carbohydrate and fat are based on the AMDR index, which is agreed by the ratio of calories brought by fat to total calories, that is, the energy supply ratio is between 2% and 3%. The intake of linoleic acid and α -linolenic acid is also agreed. In addition, it also involves the recommended intake of 14 vitamins and 15 minerals.

in theory, as long as we find ways to get enough of these nutrients every day, it will be healthy.

Of course, it also depends on individual differences (mainly differences in basic metabolism, nutritional metabolism ability and labor intensity), but it is much healthier to eat at this level than usual.

but the fact is that the nutrition you usually eat is out of control.

I don't know how many calories a takeaway contains, and how much carbohydrate, fat, protein and dietary fiber it contains, not to mention whether vitamins and minerals are lacking or exceeding the standard. Even with a simple dietary nutrition reference, different chefs and different ingredients will lead to huge differences in data.

The well-known dietary pagoda is designed to meet the nutritional intake of DRIs as much as possible based on the nutritional composition table of traditional food.

Therefore, in order to balance nutrition, the existing dietitians will be based on the dietary pagoda, suggesting that you should diversify your diet and increase the complexity by eating more foods. Essentially, it is to realize the random fluctuation of nutritional structure, and to realize the state of accidentally satisfying nutritional balance in an uncertain state. It is also possible to achieve the overall nutritional balance in a certain period of time by lengthening the time span.

most of the existing healthy eating suggestions are implemented in this way, and they can only be done at this level. The essence is that the nutritional data of daily diet cannot be quantified. Therefore, my first demand at that time was how to achieve a comprehensive, balanced nutritional output continuously, accurately, stably and conveniently through food selection.

With the continuous development of food science and technology, we have mastered a large number of nutrient extraction processes, and the nutrition detection technology has reached the microgram level. These are the foundations of our food program. It is equivalent to us just standing on the shoulders of giants and turning into nutritious architects.

Of course, many people may still believe in all kinds of "earth" and "original ecology" and always feel that there are some unknown mysterious substances in them. Fortunately, science and technology are always improving, and nutrition and consumer cognition are rising in a spiral structure. Otherwise, everyone is still eating willow bark instead of aspirin.

in the process of food simplification, we tried many schemes.

there are still serious errors in selecting various existing ingredients to match, such as a portion of coarse grains, several eggs, fish, and fruits and vegetables. It is still impossible to know what the nutritional data he provided, not to mention whether the food he ate today is 1 mg of vitamin C, and whether the fat-to-energy ratio exceeds the standard. Moreover, it is very troublesome to do so, and it is impossible to quantify production.

Therefore, we directly use all kinds of nutritional powders with stable nutritional data, which can be mass-produced in factories and tested with nutritional component data as raw materials. For example, it only provides whey protein with 8% protein and 2% carbohydrate, vegetable oil with 1% fat content, dietary fiber with 85% and resistant dextrin with 15% carbohydrate.

the next step is to achieve the ideal total nutrient data through various combinations. However, this process needs a lot of simulation calculation, so I have also developed various combined data convenience tools.

fortunately, I found that there are two ready-made ideas for reference, thus shortening the R&D path. First, in 213, a programmer in Silicon Valley in the United States created a similar scheme to simplify the diet and ensure nutrition, which is also similar to the enteral nutrient solution of the medical system. The other is to refer to the astronaut's space food. They have a concentrated solution of total nutrition and specially visited Beijing Aerospace City through a friend's introduction.

after the nutritional data meet the requirements, the next step is to continuously optimize the taste, such as replacing part of resistant dextrin with oatmeal and part of soybean protein with milk protein.

However, there are many limitations in the taste optimization of this kind of food, because there are both salt and sugar in the ingredients, and there are strict requirements for those ingredients that help to improve the taste, such as the relatively delicious mixture of oil and sugar. At that time, my daily task was to keep tasting and recording, and I couldn't focus on taste research and development like traditional food, and I finally decided how much nutrition I measured. Therefore, as long as our food is not bad, it is ideal enough.

At the end of 214, the first formula was finally completed. In order to openly accept the advice of nutritionists and continuously optimize the formula, I made this product an open source model, that is, I made the formula details public and made this food according to the concept of software engineering. I firmly believe that food should be like software. When delivering to customers, the software needs to provide the source code, and the food should provide the formula ratio, so as to eat with peace of mind.

I advocate the concept of open source, whether I make software or food. Another advantage of food open source is that people who have the same needs as me can purchase raw materials themselves and directly mix them.

For example, the formula of V2.7, which was open source in 218, is as follows:

The 18 ingredients look complicated, but most of them are actually adjusted for taste optimization. Let me briefly explain the above ingredients:

1. Soybean protein powder and whey protein powder mainly provide protein;

2. Oatmeal powder, pumpkin powder, brown rice flour, vanilla powder and crystalline fructose provide carbohydrates and play a role in seasoning;

3. Fat mainly comes from linseed oil;

4. Dietary fiber comes from the shell powder of Plantago asiatica;

5. The rest is mainly premixes of vitamins and minerals, which are developed according to the national standard 1488 for the use of food nutrition fortifiers. If you mix it yourself, the conditions are not allowed, and there are too many errors. After all, it is at the level of mg and microgram. The alternative is to directly buy relevant nutritional supplements and eat them alone.

in 215, when I put this scheme on the market, most people couldn't accept it and called it anti-humanity. For example, once in a program of Shenzhen Satellite TV, Lin Yilun, a food lover, told me directly that he couldn't accept it at all.

However, Yu Minhong, a teacher at the scene, is more receptive to the idea of ruofen, saying that it is very necessary when he is on a business trip.

I named this product "Ruofan". Like rice, it is a meal solution reconstructed from the bottom, which reduces the burden on the body through comprehensive and balanced nutrition, reducing food residues and other dimensions.

after six years' development and feedback from thousands of hardcore fans, if rice keeps the pace of updating a version every six months, it will continue to evolve.

considering that most of our diners are brainworkers or students, lutein ester eye protection, DHA and phytosterol are added to the current ingredients. In the aspect of energy supply ratio, the proportion of carbohydrates is reduced, all of which are in order to better meet the actual nutritional needs and mobilize a more efficient study or work state.

the latest stable version of ruofan powder version is V2.11 The product diagram is as follows:

Each can is one kilogram, which is ideal as a nutritious breakfast. I usually brew three spoonfuls (6g) with 2ml of cold boiled water or warm water, which is enough for lunch.

with the expansion of our market scale and the increase of cash flow, Denisk of the United States participated in the research and development of the new version of Ruofan, Uni-President Group participated in the production of Ruofan, and SGS of Europe and America was responsible for various nutritional tests of Ruofan.

In order to simplify the process of powder brewing as much as possible, Ruofan introduced a quantitative bottled liquid version in 218, using ultra-high temperature instantaneous sterilization without preservatives, and concentrated dozens of nutrients into a bottle of Ruofan.

The advantage is that the experience is more convenient, it can be stored at room temperature and can be drunk immediately after opening the lid. The disadvantage is that you can't quantify the brewing on demand every time like the powder version. However, the current liquid version has 35 calories per bottle, which meets the needs of most people to obtain balanced nutrition and control the total calorie intake.

In order to experience the chewiness of meals, we also released biscuits with balanced nutrition. So far, Ruofan has three product lines: solid version, powder version and liquid version.

in the process of starting a business, we also got a lot of recognition and honor. Last year, we won the Best Quality Liquid Meal Substitution Award from Tmall based on big data analysis.

in 219, it won the new power product award selected by FBIC, a well-known food industry media, and the brand of a better life in the future selected by Yiou.

In the initial stage of the venture, we also got seed investment support from provincial funds, and then successfully got tens of millions of angel round investments, so as to better improve product quality and service system.

If you want to classify Ruofan, the most suitable one is meal replacement. But if the meal is definitely not a meal replacement for special people to lose weight.

The logic of weight management in Ruofan system is that thin people gain weight by increasing their food consumption, while fat people control their food consumption to lose weight. If rice is also very suitable for supplementing energy and nutrition before and after fitness, it is a nutritional meal replacement that the general public can eat.

Our customer base is basically in first-and second-tier cities, and most of them are Internet companies. The biggest difference from other food substitutes is that we have nearly 8% male users. Basically, like me, I want to achieve "how to eat is convenient and healthy" through eating.

For example, Ji Shisan, the founder of the shell, recognizes and eats Ruofan, but does not think Ruofan can be accepted by the public. After all, it is not something that ordinary people can do to give up their appetite. For example, the network big V flower manager, who began to experience the meal in 217, mainly solved the first meal after getting up in a day, saving trouble and nutrition.

There are various nutritionists, doctors and doctors who have made free publicity and support for Ruofan.

Of course, the female group is also very unique among Ruofan users. They are rational, have independent thinking ability and are keen on sharing and communicating. This is their ruofan story:

Engaged in the research of computer network protocols, they will probably join the army of code farmers in the future.

I am a typical rationalist in life. I don't think the "nature" of food will be so noble, but the "human feed" which is accurately matched according to nutritional needs is very cool.

In scientific research, we should try our best to go to bed early and get up early or go to bed late and get up late. After all, this is mental work, and enough sleep time must be guaranteed. Only when catching deadline will I use Ruofan. On the one hand, it saves trouble, on the other hand, I don't want to stop what I am doing because of eating.

"I cried when I collapsed at work, so I didn't have much psychological burden, and other partners wouldn't look down on myself because of it." Regarding the differential treatment of women in the workplace, she said that she was biased.

If the work is too busy to eat normally, the meal can help her get back to work quickly. She thinks that eating alone is a good opportunity to practice mindfulness and eat well, and the evaluation of others is his subject.

She is an ordinary accountant, with a point of no return in research and a salary of starvation.

In her unit, girls basically have nothing to eat, and often all kinds of snacks replace coffee, drinks and bread. At first, I bought Ruofan out of curiosity. Later, she also pulled the leader to hoard a box. After all, the boss had more meetings, so he couldn't eat on time. At the intermission of the meeting, he relied on Ruofan to continue his life.

"easy to eat, easy to vomit." She is a mother-to-be, and she will drink if she can't eat in the early pregnancy.

She fills her spare time with travel, concerts and activities. If you take a meal by plane and train for a long time, you will have more rest time without looking for restaurants everywhere and queuing up.

She told me that civil servants actually work overtime as often as enterprises do, and some positions will be very, very busy in special circumstances.

For example, when the epidemic broke out in COVID-19, her company was responsible for stopping production at first, and then for resuming production. Eating rice saved her time, and she felt very safe at that time. After all, eating a meal for a relatively long time would make her more worried about the problem of droplets.

It can be seen that they understand ruofan cognitive level, and they choose ruofan in some scenes for nutrition and health. At the beginning of the outbreak, Ruofan also made a lot of donations, which was well received by busy doctors and nurses, and there were many friends who bought rice again.

I never want everyone to experience Ruofan, but I just want to find someone with similar ideas and needs. I even think that most people don't need a meal at all. Their time is not so tight, and their health needs are not so urgent. For them, a meal is far less worthwhile than a takeaway.

We mentioned many R&D ideas and goals of Ruofan. In theory, Ruofan becomes a real super food that can continuously replace three meals a day. However, the reality is not so perfect.

if it is not necessary, try not to eat only three meals a day. There are two main reasons:

First, due to food regulations, individual trace elements can not be directly added, such as vitamin K, biotin and other trace elements, which cannot be broken through.

another point is that the recommended amount of nutrition intake mentioned at the beginning is a recommended amount by the public, which cannot satisfy everyone 1%. Therefore, it is ideal to replace a meal in a day or two for a healthy diet and a minimalist diet. At least it is much healthier than eating casually at ordinary times.

for many people, irregular meals or frequent takeout can reduce their health by eating one meal at a time.