# "Using Ensure in a way that was not intended" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 27, 2009, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-ensure-in-a-way-that-was-not-intended/487678 "2009-02-27T16:50:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Rapier42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/90db22/32.png) [@Rapier42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rapier42)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-ensure-in-a-way-that-was-not-intended/487678/41 "2009-02-28T00:15:10Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Soome ways Ensure was Not Intended to be Used: > > … > > \*\*“You’re Soaking in It” > \*\* Madge! I soaked in it! ---
**Author:** ![Waffle\_Decider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/77aa72/32.png) [@Waffle\_Decider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waffle_Decider)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-ensure-in-a-way-that-was-not-intended/487678/42 "2009-02-28T01:14:35Z")
I misread the title as “Using Ensue in a way that was not intended”. I was disappointed that penis did not ensue. ---
**Author:** ![rock\_party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@rock\_party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rock_party)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-ensure-in-a-way-that-was-not-intended/487678/43 "2009-02-28T01:27:03Z")
Ensure is awful…cloyingly oversweet and artificial. Slimfast isn’t much better but it has less sugar and contains some fiber. ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-ensure-in-a-way-that-was-not-intended/487678/44 "2009-02-28T05:16:54Z")
> [@rock\_party](#): > > Ensure is awful…cloyingly oversweet and artificial. Slimfast isn’t much better but it has less sugar and contains some fiber. Ensure Plus and Ensure Fiber both contain 3 g of fiber a can/bottle. The Ensure website is not only advertising their product as a “meal on the go” that’s healthier than skipping meals or eating snacks, it’s got a promotion going on requesting people to replace meals or supplement them with Ensure in order to feel healthier. I find that it’s also popular among body builders and athletes as a convenient RTD protein shake that’s cheaper than EAS, Weider, etc. Mead similarly began targeting otherwise healthy people who are on the go and/or body builders in their Boost and Boost Plus advertising. Nestle Nutrition owns the brand now, but has kept that message out there. (And they now have smoothies!) As for the college student angles, many dorms _still_ ban hotplates and microwaves in rooms, and most campuses don’t have easy access to groceries to buy fresh daily or even weekly; if students want meals, they have to have shelf stable ready-to-eat foods that require no cooking on hand, eat out of vending machines, or spend a lot of money on cafeteria food that is either unhealthy or overpriced, in cafeterias whose hours often don’t match the needs of students. Ensure addresses the shelf-stable/no-refrigeration/no-cooking need for food kept in dorms, is competitively priced with vending machine and cafeteria food (cost per can at Target or Wal-Mart is $1 to $1.50, less for generics, which are often also Abbott products), is available for consumption 24 hours a day, and is probably much healthier than a meal of Snickers bars or cheese breadsticks. ---
**Author:** ![Vox\_Imperatoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Vox\_Imperatoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vox_Imperatoris)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-ensure-in-a-way-that-was-not-intended/487678/45 "2009-02-28T05:19:35Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > But the point is, Ensure is farking disgusting. If it’s really true that American college students have to stoop to eating it because they “don’t have the time” to get anything else I am afraid there is little hope for this country. The chocolate Ensure isn’t too bad. I mean, I wouldn’t drink it over regular milk just for the taste (not to mention the cost), but it’s acceptable. Valete, Vox Imperatoris ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-ensure-in-a-way-that-was-not-intended/487678/46 "2009-02-28T06:26:06Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I really thought this was going to be a 14-page grammar argument about “ensure” vs “insure”. You’re not alone. Maybe Insure will be the next competitor in the market, followed by Unsure - for those who think they might need more nutrition, but don’t want to overdose on the minerals. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Cymbeline](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_cymbeline/32/9244_2.png) [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-ensure-in-a-way-that-was-not-intended/487678/47 "2009-02-28T07:29:20Z")
I’m willing to bet that the use “not intended” is as a hangover remedy… ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-ensure-in-a-way-that-was-not-intended/487678/48 "2009-02-28T09:42:37Z")
I’d drink a few cans a week as a college student. I thought I had invented this idea! Why? It’s a no-brainer thing that I could drink on the way to class. As a college student I didn’t keep a regular sleep schedule, so I’d often find myself not really eating at normal times. And all too often I’d find myself waking up just ten minutes before a 1PM class and needing something to set my stomach that I could eat on the go. Grabbing a can and chugging it on the way to class seemed to work. It’d tide me over better than a granola bar and is easier to eat while walking. And it was easy for my stomach to handle when I woke up jittery after a coffee-fueled all nighter (or an alcohol fueled one). You don’t even need to think about chewing. It’s not that college students don’t have time to eat. It’s that they keep irregular hours (classes are at different times each day, and all-nighters are common) and aren’t great planners. So “hungry time”, “free time” and “meal time” often don’t line up. ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-ensure-in-a-way-that-was-not-intended/487678/49 "2009-02-28T15:46:17Z")
I used to have four classes in a row twice a week - straight from 10 am to 4 pm. And when I say straight, I mean I’d have time to run from one to the other. The only way I was going to be getting any sustenance without disrupting the class was SlimFast. I’d actually pour it into an empty water bottle, so I could just take a sip whenever I had a minute. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-ensure-in-a-way-that-was-not-intended/487678/50 "2009-02-28T17:06:38Z")
How is this an improvement over stuffing a box of granola bars into your backpack? Cheaper? Better tasting? Easier to eat? I don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-ensure-in-a-way-that-was-not-intended/487678/51 "2009-02-28T17:28:39Z")
Most bookbags have some sort of waterbottle holder on the side and even if they didn’t, it’s the rare college student on my campus who doesn’t have a soda bottle or water canister with them. A box of granola bars will get crushed by heavy textbooks and leave crumbs all over the inside of the bag as well as make a mess when they are eaten. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-ensure-in-a-way-that-was-not-intended/487678/52 "2009-02-28T17:45:47Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > A box of granola bars will get crushed by heavy textbooks and leave crumbs all over the inside of the bag as well as make a mess when they are eaten. Yes, crushed to a fine powder, too. You must be joking. Assuming a college student too clueless to figure out that he or she can put the granola bars into one of the several discrete compartments on most backpacks, far, far from the dangerous food-grinding books, each granola bar is 1. inside a cardboard box, which is 2. inside an impermeable wrapper, which is 3. extracted from the cardboard box, then extracted (while outside of the backpack) from the impermeable wrapper, and eaten. Should any toxic crumbs be pried loose from the granola bar, they can often be eaten by pouring them out of the wrapper into one’s hand. The backpack itself can often be removed from the vicinity so that no crumbs find its way into the pack itself. In the extremely unlikely event that a crumb does wend its insidious way into the pack, however, there are cleaning companies that can be engaged to detoxify the college student’s pristine backpack, often for less than the cost of a brand-new pack. Some radical thinkers have suggested that the college student might remove the crumbs in the discrete compartment himself by means of a technique described as “holding the pack upside down and shaking it for a few seconds” but this may be extremely dangerous. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-ensure-in-a-way-that-was-not-intended/487678/53 "2009-02-28T18:34:29Z")
I really thought someone was going to come in here and say that if you distill it down you get a really potent mood-modifier. Just drinking it, fo what ever reason, seems like using it as intended. Or maybe the anorexics are using it. I think someone needs to hunt down the girl in the OP and make her explain herself! ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-ensure-in-a-way-that-was-not-intended/487678/54 "2009-02-28T19:20:14Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > How is this an improvement over stuffing a box of granola bars into your backpack? Cheaper? Better tasting? Easier to eat? I don’t get it. The Ensure is supposed to be a healthy meal replacement (according to the company) while granola bars are basically just cookies. There obviously are some people carrying bar type snacks, or fruit or those little bags of chips, etc. though. It’s also be more subtle to take a quick sip of a drink and screw the cap back on, than fumbling around with wrappers, and crunching on something. ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-ensure-in-a-way-that-was-not-intended/487678/55 "2009-02-28T19:51:05Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > How is this an improvement over stuffing a box of granola bars into your backpack? Cheaper? Better tasting? Easier to eat? I don’t get it. If I’m not remembering wrong, you teach at a college, yes? I’m sure you know how disruptive it can be to have a student actively eating in class. The unwrapping, the shuffling, the crunching, etc. I hated disturbing class like that. Taking quiet sips from a water bottle was definitely preferable. ---
**Author:** ![bink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/439d5e/32.png) [@bink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bink)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-ensure-in-a-way-that-was-not-intended/487678/56 "2009-02-28T20:30:50Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > But the point is, Ensure is farking disgusting. We tried to get my dad to drink the stuff when he was sick. He called it “Endure” ---
**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-ensure-in-a-way-that-was-not-intended/487678/57 "2009-02-28T20:36:49Z")
I’ve never tried Ensure. I tried SlimFast once and couldn’t stand it. That said, I can see the advantage of a liquid meal replacement. If you consume enough granola bars to actually fill you up, you’ll also be wanting a drink. Sipping a shake would be more convenient in that sense. I’m guessing weight loss is the unintended use. Unless, how flammable is that stuff? ---
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-ensure-in-a-way-that-was-not-intended/487678/58 "2009-02-28T20:55:24Z")
I’m pretty surprised. I never had problems finding time to eat in college. And that was with three small part-time jobs. I guess I just made eating decent meals a priority, though. Another thing that helped me was going to bed/getting up at a consistent time every day regardless of what time I had class. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-ensure-in-a-way-that-was-not-intended/487678/59 "2009-02-28T22:29:40Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > Assuming a college student too clueless to figure out that he or she can put the granola bars into one of the several discrete compartments on most backpacks, far, far from the dangerous food-grinding books… Wrong. Have you ever owned a backpack? Things get crushed from the weight of the books regardless of which pocket they’re in. At any rate, I don’t particularly care to argue you point by point. I thought you actually wanted an answer to your question but now I realize my mistake. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-ensure-in-a-way-that-was-not-intended/487678/60 "2009-02-28T23:35:04Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > It isn’t so much not having the time to physically eat, it’s running out of food in the fridge and then just not having time to get to the store or the cafeteria to acquire more food. > … Does everyone go to Sims University now and there’s no such thing as weekends? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-ensure-in-a-way-that-was-not-intended/487678.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-ensure-in-a-way-that-was-not-intended/487678.md?page=4)