Huel: The Future of Food ..

[RossG]

Very tempted to pull the trigger on this and give it a try. I've lost some weight recently by being mindful of calories but my overall diet could still be improved.
I can never be bothered to make breakfast in the morning and since I drive for a living it's usually a tesco sandwich for lunch. It's unnecessary money I'm spending.
This seems like a sensible option for me since I can take some powder and water out with me and make it up on the go.
It would just be nice to know my exact calories I'm consuming, without having to think about nutrient content. And for me knowing the meal is there ready to go puts me off buying any old crap for dinner or whatever.
I do have a few questions though. I'll probably have these twice a day but I'm wondering how the stomach and body in general gets on with what is essentially a liquid diet. Surely the body is expecting solid food to digest?
Additionally, is it advisable to drink it slowly? I can't imagine bombarding your digestive system with essentially a whole meal within 10 seconds if you down it is the best thing to do.
Finally, anyone got any referral codes?

 

[Rannoch]

Expect your farts to become frequent when starting

 

[Razor-BladE]

Thanks for this, hope you don't mind if i used it!

Not at all! It's a shame you can't stack the money off!

I do have a few questions though. I'll probably have these twice a day but I'm wondering how the stomach and body in general gets on with what is essentially a liquid diet. Surely the body is expecting solid food to digest?
Additionally, is it advisable to drink it slowly? I can't imagine bombarding your digestive system with essentially a whole meal within 10 seconds if you down it is the best thing to do.
Finally, anyone got any referral codes?

They basically cover that in their FAQ, but to copy/paste them:

Spoiler

The skepticism of liquid diets is often due to lack of chewing (therefore leading to incomplete digestion). Digestion does begin with chewing; it starts the breakdown of solid food to increase the surface area and there's also one enzyme, salivary amylase, which breaks down the polysaccharide starch into the disaccharide maltose.

However, with liquid diets, this has already been done for you and salivary amylase has very little effect on total starch digestion; it merely kick starts carb digestion as, in the stomach, it itself is broken down (remember, enzymes are proteins). Its sister enzyme pancreatic amylase, which acts in the intestines, has a more pronounced effect where even previously solid food is liquid chyme. Huel has fine milled oats as the carb source and these are a lot easier to break down further than whole oats.

Also peristalsis remains active throughout the alimentary canal, as we've addressed this with good levels of soluble and insoluble fibers in Huel: 34.9g per 2000kcal.

It's advisable to start off with maybe 2 scoops, for a few days, before bumping up the amount per meal, as your body can take a while getting used to it. As Vargas has said, you'll probably notice increase flatulence and possibly smelly ones at that (and they can be BADDDDD ) But that'll wear off over time. I can down 1000kcal worth and doesn't seem to affect me any more than a 'normal' amount.

 

[Rannoch]

Mine were so bad in the first fortnight I had to go outside

 

[RossG]

Cheers for that. I've been drinking homemade smoothies recently and that hasn't been too bad. Maybe not directly comporable but it must be similar.
Hope you don't mind but I used your referral code.

 

[RossG]

Well it came this morning and I'm impressed. Had my first one for lunch. 2 scoops and a 400ml water blended in my nutri ninja. Was quite nice to be fair. Had the consistency of pancake batter. Tastes a bit like porridge. The vanilla flavour is nice though a bit artificial tasting. Next time I'll probably get unflavoured and use different things like fruit etc to get some flavour.
I actually find it surprisingly filling too. But in a clean way if that makes sense.
My stomach is a little rumbly right now so I may have some smellyness to deal with soon

 

[mid_gen]

Think the worst of the room-clearing sulfuric gas has passed now after a couple of weeks....thank Christ.

Definitely going to stick with the Kaffee flavour...love being able to just stick it in tbe fridge in the evening and have breakfast ready to go in the morning.

Will probably get unflavoured after that though. Mint chocolate is a bit meh....vanilla I feel like gives the worst gas.

 

[robj20]

Well it came this morning and I'm impressed. Had my first one for lunch. 2 scoops and a 400ml water blended in my nutri ninja. Was quite nice to be fair. Had the consistency of pancake batter. Tastes a bit like porridge. The vanilla flavour is nice though a bit artificial tasting. Next time I'll probably get unflavoured and use different things like fruit etc to get some flavour.
I actually find it surprisingly filling too. But in a clean way if that makes sense.
My stomach is a little rumbly right now so I may have some smellyness to deal with soon

Try making it a good few hours before you want it and putting it in the fridge, texture improves massively. Also no need for the blender that way either just use the shaker.
They do two vanillas might be worth trying the other one, guessing your got new vanilla, try original.

 

[Spuddy]

Sorry if these are stupid questions.

The "scoops" people refer to, how much is that in grams? Im looking into buying Huel to replace lunch at work as A) its damn expensive, B) its not that great and C) not that great nutritionally.

So what I'm really asking is, how many meals do I get per bag? I can't seem to see that information on their website.

Can this be stored in a cupboard or does it need refrigerating? Latter would be a problem.

 

[robj20]

Approx 38g per scoop.
The number of meals in a pouch depends on how many calories you use as a meal. It doesn't need to be refrigerated.

It is on there website by the way. They suggest an average of 28 meals per bag, or 14,000 calories.

 

[ubern00b]

Starting my Huel journey today. Currently drinking a shaker full of new Vanilla. It's not awful but it's not anything to get excited about either. I have choco-mint for lunch. Hopefully that's a little more exciting to my palate hehe.

 

[robj20]

Starting my Huel journey today. Currently drinking a shaker full of new Vanilla. It's not awful but it's not anything to get excited about either. I have choco-mint for lunch. Hopefully that's a little more exciting to my palate hehe.

What don't you like about it. I think it just tastes like porridge with vanilla in it. Which I like a lot.
The mint one is my least favourite, berry is the best.

 

[ubern00b]

What don't you like about it. I think it just tastes like porridge with vanilla in it. Which I like a lot.
The mint one is my least favourite, berry is the best.

I didn't say I disliked it, I just don't find it anything that I'm going to go "oh boy, can't wait for my next one" lol. I do feel incredibly full now after drinking a whole shaker full but not uncomfortably so, which is good.

 

[neoboy]

I didn't like the vanilla version but that was over a year ago. Got both new vanilla flavours now and will be trying soon when I'm done with the coffee bag which I like.

 

[d_brennen]

Anyone got a referral link if that's allowed?

 

[JamieH]

*DELETED*

 

[robfosters]

How does this differ to Fortisip?

 

[mid_gen]

Different recipes. There are various different sources to get your nutrition from, all the different food replacements use different ingredients to achieve the same thing.

 

[robj20]

I'm going to go 100% Huel next week just for curiosities sake. Anyone else tried it did you crave solid food?

 

[Razor-BladE]

Not tried 100% but on days that I'm busy, I usually have about 2000cal of Huel during the day, and really craving solid food when I get back in the evening.