Diet meal shakes

[Ch3m1c4L]

Anyone use these?
I've been successfully using protein works extreme diet meal shakes, I went with them as they are permanently on offer to like half the piece of huel, but I've not actually tried any others or done more than a cursory search to check there nothing massively cheaper/nicer

Just want to check im not needlessly having rubbish ones or wasting money

 

[Raymond Lin]

While they are a good way to get a controlled calorie and on paper a “balanced” nutrition in a cup. My take is that they remove one important aspect of digestion which is the chewing part. Because it’s in a liquid form, the second it hits the stomach it is ready to be absorbed without the digestive system doing any work, resulting in a steeper glucose spike than otherwise would. (Yes I know the argument is they use ingredients that has a low GI, but the argument is had you eaten those real food instead, it would even be slower GI release) Also, on paper they provide many of the nutrients required but take fibre for example....what klnd of fibre does it have? is it cellulose, pectins, lignins, resistant starch, inulin, hemicellulose, beta-glucans? Which one? is it all of them or just 1 of them? A round balance meal has more than 1 type of fibre, they each do a different job.

They are better than eating junk food like a sandwich meal deal consisting of crisps and a coke for sure but the shakes are not something I’d eat as a habit.

Think of them as emergency rations, not something you should be "eating" on the regular.

 

[Ch3m1c4L]

While true in principal for liquid vs solid food, and there are likely many that are extremely bad, these ones im having are typically like the below table, which I think (Google tells me) shouldn't really matter. Protein buffer, enough fibre to gel the liquid in the stomach? And such low sugar anyway, with the other carbs coming from oats etc so being slower to release ones too that it shouldn't really be a problem.
then the fact that the entire shake is only 220 kcal with 21g carbs so it's very low gi load in total anyway.

I don't know that though, I know little beyond the basics so while Google sounds right to me, it might be totally crap lol.
Working for me though, lost loads of weight, hba1c has gone from 44ish to 37, other changes too, not only this.

I was mainly curious if other shakes out there are better/cheaper and if I've been thinking "these aren't bad tasting" but in fact they are the worst ones or something

Values based on:	per 100g	per 60g serving
Energy (kJ)	1537	922
Energy (kcal)	366	219
Fat (g)	5.7	3.4
of which Saturates (g)	0.8	0.5
Carbohydrates (g)	35	21
of which Sugars (g)	1.9	1.1
Fibre (g)	6.4	3.9
Protein (g)	42	25
Salt (g)	1.79	1.07

 

[Jonny69]

I’m sure you have your reasons for wanting to go the shake route, but I’m 100% of the opinion that real food is better than a processed product. These things are really processed.

Couple of nutritionally similar meals for example:
-1 boiled egg, 50g oats made into porridge
-2 eggs on granary toast
-1/2 can of baked beans on granary toast
-1 boiled egg, bowl of 100g Greek yoghurt, big splodge strawberry jam, 15g (ie a handful) oats

Chuck an apple or banana with any of those and that’s the sort of nutrition you need. Infinitely better than those shakes.

 

[tom_nieto]

Good for on the go or if you’re extremely time poor, but I would always view these as a dietary supplement rather than a replacement. Protein shakes are a much better way to snack than eating chocolate or crisps for example. Anyway, do what works for you. Checking the nutritional information is a huge positive step and worth doing for all your meals if you can.

 

[Kainz]

Anyone use these?
I've been successfully using protein works extreme diet meal shakes, I went with them as they are permanently on offer to like half the piece of huel, but I've not actually tried any others or done more than a cursory search to check there nothing massively cheaper/nicer

Just want to check im not needlessly having rubbish ones or wasting money

Huel Black (powder) does work providing you've got the mentality for a good diet and exercise in place.

I started using it every morning in 2023 after my father passed away and I ended up with high BP as I tackled all the paperwork etc myself. I had decided to cut out all processed food (pizzas was difficult af!) I was 16.5 stone at the time and come October 2023 I was told my one of my work colleagues that my work trousers made me look like MC Hammer. I later weighed myself and I was sitting at 13 stones. Throughout 2024 I was sitting at 12stones. The only workouts I had was literally walking/commuting to work - so that was approx 600calories according to my apple watch. I had gone from an XL shirt size to Small, and 36" waist to 30" and sat at 75-76kg.

In 2026 I decided to hugely reduce my huel intake and substitute it with an overnight oats mix and blueberry shakes made with Kefir and chiaiaia and pumpkin seeds. I sit at 80kg now at 50yrs old.

If the meal shakes work for you then you do you. At some point you'll probably realise that maybe investing time into making some foods that have similar nutritional benefits maybe cheaper.

 

[Ch3m1c4L]

Oh its certainly working. Ive so far lost 35kg since last year when I hit my peak weight of 147kg. I have introduced exercise and the gym in the last few months now as part of physio for my back problems. My BP is coming down, hba1 is down. the back problems and OSA are pre existing from whole life, so dont expect them to change much from weight alone.
I already cook/meal prep for my actual meal everyday, and always have as I love cooking.

My main weakness is... all food If I have food that is too easy to snack on, and that I very much love, I struggle a lot not to eat it/eat it instead of anything that I have to cook. But even when I have all food that needs to be prepped, I will eat it more often, or in larger amounts because I know how much I like it . So having a cupboard of diet meal shakes and light/healthy snacks pre portioned (sometimes home made) makes it a lot easier for me to stick to when while I do enjoy the flavour/they satisfy a lot of my cravings for other things, and they are somewhat giving me the nutrient/vitamin mix without me having to work it out (while having limited overall intake), it's an easy way to be in a large calorie deficit consistently.
Also, they are quire cheap. At full price, which ive never paid, they are £1.60 a meal but, normally I've paid 60-90p. Which bas been a big boon to me at the moment since I have been off work with the aforementioned back problems, I couldn't even sit at a PC for more than 20 minutes back in December.

It has helped my portion control too, since they are so small, it makes me want smaller portions of actual food/feel fuller with smaller amounts.
Generally I've slowly changed a lot of food habits while doing this, eating a lot more beans, pulses, fruit, seeds in stuff, yoghurt and more limited amounts of the things like meat/cheese etc. So hopefully when I settle back into "normal food" its already a habit/the things my body tells me to eat are the healthier options by default - This has already had an effect on what I buy/want to eat without me actively thinking about it nearly as much now, so I think thats working too.

 

[sigma]

35kg loss, nice work @Ch3m1c4L

 

[tom_nieto]

Amazing work @Ch3m1c4L. Sounds like incredible positive change

Don’t worry, I also understand the weakness to ALL food as well. I have to be pretty disciplined and it’s taken me a long time to adjust to the fact that it’s not a normal thing to eat all the mini pastries at a conference/meeting because they’re free