Blending & overnight - Fiber & Nutrition

Nutrition
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Hey All,

Background

First post here and I’ve been on Huel now for 2.5 weeks, with 1 solid food meal per day. I’m still refining how I Huel, but what is the most convenient for me right now is this:

Blend 200g Huel at about 9 p.m. with cold water + ice cubes, let it sit overnight in the fridge in insulated containers (Klean Kanteens), transport to work in an insulated lunch bag with an ice pack, and eat 1 serving for lunch at about noon, and then a second serving at about 4 p.m. or on my way home at 5 p.m. It stays cold very well throughout the day, so it seems to work great.

Here are my questions:

1) Does sitting overnight adversely affect the nutritional value of Huel?
I’ve read about the effects of leaving smoothies in the fridge or not consuming them right after blending, and the general consensus seems to be that there IS “nutritional loss” (I am not a dietician or chemist) that occurs, possibly via oxidation. Is Huel any different? If so, how is it different?

2) Does blending Huel “destroy” any fiber or cause other adverse effects.
The general sentiment in the forums and in the Huel instructions seem to be that blending Huel is fine. I have noticed some distinct differences in texture that make me wonder if I’m destroying any of the fiber that is in Huel. Again, I am not a dietician or chemist, but I know that there is a difference between eating a whole banana or a whole nut/seed vs eating them blended. Is this something worth considering for Huel? If not, why does it not also apply to Huel?

I know Huel is already “powered” but I can tell that my blending IS definitely breaking down some of the gritter bits even further. If I use a blender, should I try it on lower-medium settings intead of max? I do have a pretty beefy vitamix.

Thank you for taking the time to read this!

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I doubt blending ahead of time has any clinically significant loss of nutrients.

Whole food is indeed a good option. But once it’s chewed and swallowed and mashed up by the stomach, there’s not much difference (IMO) than consuming the same food ingredients already ground into powder and mixed with liquid and drank.

From my year and half use of Huel, there seems to be plenty of fiber in it as evidenced by it’s effects on my body.

IMO, these are issues you don’t even need to remotely worry about.

There is only one consistent nutritional problem in America: nutritional excess. Nobody needs to worry about their cooked food or blended foods losing significant nutrition. Noone is developing an isolated protein deficiency. There is no such thing as a clinically significant DHA/EPA deficiency. Noone needs to take fish oil. Scurvy is almost never seen these days. Nutritional deficiency is a fictional boogyman in modern America.

People are, however, eating far too much saturated fat, trans fat, and added sucrose/HFCS.

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  1. These effects are likely to be minor at best, I wouldn’t worry.

  2. Fibre can be a lot smaller than you think. The bits that you are noticing before/after blending is small bits of flaxseed usually. Nutritionally, again I really wouldn’t worry about this.

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