Apologies this was based on the old, smaller scoops. It will depend on what works for you but give 70g of powder per meal a go and see if that helps.
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My friend, I hate to say it but I believe I know the culprit. It’s the oats or the uncooked oats to be more exact. Why do I know that? Years ago I used to prepare my own mass gainer with a ton of ground oats. All went well but after a couple of weeks I had started having serious issues with heartburn, acid reflux and moderate stabbing pain seemingly out of nowhere. It’s worth noting that I’ve never really had any heartburn before. Took me a while to figure out it’s the uncooked oats. Now, years after that dilemma I’ve run into the same issues and guess what it’s after a couple of weeks on oat based Huel powder! Now, there’re two solutions for this reaction to raw oats. A) Cook it. It deactivates the substance causing the discomfort. B) soak it overnight in the fridge. Back then when I used my own oat based mass gainer the cooking solved the problem instantly. That’s not really a satisfactory option for huel so I guess you’re left with the soaking option which would definitely reduce hurl’s practicality but at least it’s doable. The key point is: The quicker you drink it after mixing cold the worse the symptoms will be.
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I’m replying to myself. Neither the overnight soaking nor the diluting has helped in this case. It’s very frustrating. Sure I could sip all day on a two spoon shake to make it less torturing but…come on at some point it seems to be one heck of long production only to consume a measly 400cal meal. The point of Huel to me last least was the time saving. Thats gone down the drain though. Even if it did help, soaking doubles, triples the thickness and time needed to consume it, same with cooking. A lot of people seem to be affected yet there’s no solution. I mean, even if I somehow managed to reduce the heartburn / irritation to a more bearable level - there’s still something very wrong and longterm effect can only be highly detrimental. I’m still convinced it’s the raw oat powder. Why the company hasn’t looked into an alternative to oats yet, with all these sensitive/intolerant or god knows what people having problems, is beyond me. Even the nastiest, unhealthiest commercial weight gainers or meal replacements never gave me symptoms. Nothing does actually, not even alcohol or fat. Oat based shakes do though, come on Huel please at least try to do something about this. I really want to keep buying your product but we need a little more help here than the recommendations to dilute & delay. The problem isn’t solved with that, at best it just obscures it.
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Well, unfortunately for you the oats are what set Huel apart from most competitors and one of the reasons many of us choose Huel over Soylent. Lower glycemic index than maltodextrin and the fact that oats are a whole food while maltodextrin is merely a processed extract from a plant. Many people, including me, find the oat based formulation of Huel to be very easy to consume. I have acid reflux as diagnosed by an endoscopy with BRAVO study. I used to be on twice daily proton pump inhibitor. Since going plant based and especially eating Huel as the last meal before bed, my reflux has improved so much that I cut down to once daily proton pump inhibitor.
I tried overnight soaking and diluting and still seem to have the issue. I also think it’s the raw oat powder causing the problem. I am only able to use Huel now in recipes, such as pancakes. That eliminates the heartburn but adds so much time that it defeats the purpose.
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It’s definitely the raw oats which are btw debated in terms of health benefits. Cooked or at least soaked seems to be way easier on the body and is recommended. I can eat oatmeal all day without problems and looking at the present trouble of using Huel it’s prob best to go back on that instead. I’ll give it one more shot with the unflavored version but if that goes wrong too I’ll call it quits. Other than that, I’d hate having to consume soy but I’d rather try Soylent than having my esophagus eaten away because of Huel.
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Yeah, you don’t want constant reflux. Inflammation and possible histological changes to the lining of the esophagus, plus all the symptoms. The burning, coughing, irritation, throat clearing.
To be honest, and @Dan_Huel please look the other way (I’ll deny it if you repeat this), strawberry and cocoa Soylent taste pretty good. I know they cheat by adding some processed sugar. It’s not as healthy as Huel, but Soylent is still better than many fast food options away from home. And to be honest, I don’t see any consistent evidence that whole soy products are bad for human health. (Although Soylent is using soy protein isolate.)
Spinach is my main trigger food. Even a half leaf of that and I’m paying a price for the next 24 hours. I have to avoid it like the plague. There must be some component of oats that is doing the same to you. It’s just the bad luck of the draw, my friend.
Apologies if you have a known issue with oats. Oats over several other carbohydrate sources are low GI, contain naturally occurring vitamins, minerals. phytonutrients and fiber.
The vast majority of people do not have issues with oats. Reflux is individual and which foods result in symptoms can vary massively. Have you tried Huel RTD, maybe that would suit you more?
No I haven’t but might look into this. I have a feeling it might actually work much better since the RTD probably won’t thicken in the stomach as the powder does. I haven’t checked it but I’d also assume it’s pricier.
At the moment I have reasonable success by drinking 1/2l of water after about 1h of consumption and another 1/2l after another hour. That seems to keep the heartburn at bay. The 1h mark seems to be the sweetspot for effectiveness. Now, say I had 1 Huel in the morning and another one at midday it would require me to consume 3 L of water by 2pm. (Each Huel session takes 0.5L for the shake and 2x 0.5L after the shake) That’s quite a bit which is why I currently tend to have the morning one only which helps but still wasn’t really the idea. I have some unflavored Huel on the way. Let’s see how that goes. Failing that option, I’ll try the RTD.
RTD is more expensive yes.
I’m glad you’ve found an option that works for you even if it is a bit tedious.
I’m at the tail end of a 2 week trial using unflavored Huel only. Daily, 3 cups in the morning and 3 cups for lunch. What a difference! As long as I drink enough water I have virtually no issues anymore. That’s my oats theory down the drain so I investigated deeper into it. Looking at the common denominator between flavored Huel and my old home made mass gainer there’s only one left: Sucralose. I’m currently doing test with little mints that are mainly made of Sucralose. I was able to give myself heartburn with these if I took more than 3. This all seems to feed into my strong mistrust towards artificial sweeteners.
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Hello D_Liz3
The reason for your heartburn is associated with lack of water intake on a daily basis. The water you drink on a daily basis is insufficient to handle your nutrition needs. You should drink up to half your weight in fluid ounces of water with the corresponding amount of sea salt. Water should be consumed with 1/4 tsp of sea salt per every 32 fl oz of any kind of water except distilled. Do not drink distilled as this will leach the electrolytes and minerals out of your system. This may cause high blood pressure amongst other things.
The oats in the formula are hard on the body to digest. The oats require more stomach acid than usual to digest the huel. The body is dependent on water to produce the right amount of stomach acid, You should drink 64 fl oz daily as a rule, but sometimes this is never enough. Most people need 96 to 128 fl oz of water daily with 3/4 to 1 tsp of sea salt mixed in. Real Sea Salt is a really good brand to buy if you are looking for a sea salt that is pure without chemicals.
I qualify my answers as a student naturopathic doctor ND who is on sabatical. I will return back to my studies next year, but sufficiently trained in this area. You will will notice all heartburn regardless of what you eat disappear with this recommended approach.of drinking more water.
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Hi Cstewst,
I realize the importance of water consumption and salt to replenish electrolytes. I drink a minimum of 80oz of water of day, sometimes more depending on the heat and humidity level, with 1/8th of a teaspoon of salt every 8oz glass. I know this because I’ve been keeping track for a long time.
I appreciate the input, but unfortunately this case of heartburn with Huel is unrelated to my water intake.
Hi D_Liz3,
The oats used in Huel are really heavy to digest. It takes more water than usual food for the body to process the nutrients. You may want to take digestive enzymes with Huel. The enzymes will make it easier to digest Huel and be easier on the stomach in terms of heartburn. I hope this helps.
Hey Carey, welcome to the forum!
Just thought I’d clear up your point about oats. They are not heavy to digest and more water is not required. With a high fibre diet, more water may need to be consumed because fibre acts like a sponge, binding water but this varies from person-to-person.
Oats are high in fiber, so what you say does make sense. Thanks for clarifying.
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im a little late to this conversation, but are you drinking enough water? it is recommended that a person drink at LEAST half of their body weight in ounces of water a day, and that is to just stay hydrated and to help keep your insides lubricated so that your organs can function properly.
drinking more or less that your body weight in ounces of water would depend on how active you are. even with moderate activity you should be drinking slightly more than half of your weight in ounces of water every day.
STAY HEALTHY. STAY FRESH. check with your doctor
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Unfortunately, after 4 weeks my symptoms came back with a vengeance despite using unflavored Huel 3 scoops with great results for the first two weeks. It seems to creep up slowly and then gets to a point where my stomach becomes really sensitive to it. I almost feel I need to have breaks every week or two. A lot of people recommending to up the water intake. Well, I’m currently at a point where I’m probably drinking too much water to still call it healthy. I would even go as far and say that the excessive water consumption is detrimental and makes my heartburn worse. It’s kinda controllable with antacids but that’s obviously not a good long term plan. On the other hand I’m not keen on developing a chronic issues like Gastritis etc. For the time being I will start adding 1/2 tsp of baking soda to my shake until I come up with a better idea. Diluting, sipping, time of the day, dancing naked around a 200 year old oak tree during full moon etc all this has little effect und frankly speaking it completely defies the point of using Huel in the first place. Also the 2 scoop situation is unsatisfactory since a) it doesn’t seem to make a huge difference anyway and b) I’m not interested in making Huel a Hobby my entire day is revolving around. Drinking 400cal portions would require me to drink at least 4-6 shakes and to consume copious amounts of water during and after - all that while sipping sloooowly over the entire day LOL - I’ll be known as the crazy guy who always has a Huel shaker in his hand. No thanks. I need to get to 3,700cal every day (incl real food, usually dinner and snacks) and the idea was to cover around 2000cal with Huel. Right now it’s almost more complicated to Huel than to just eat real food. Let’s see. I have 5 bags left so I have plenty of opportunity to try different routes I guess…
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Really sorry to hear this. There is not much more I can suggest except reducing your Huel intake to a level you feel comfortable with.
Ok so I have been adding 1/2 tsp of sodium bicarbonate to each 3 scoop Huel shake. It works. Concerned about the prospect of consuming bicarbonate daily for the foreseeable future I did a bit of research and cane to the conclusion that a consumption of 1 1/2 tsp/day is supposed to be beneficial. Been doing this now for nearly two weeks and as long as I keep adding the baking soda there is no heartburn whatsoever. 1/2tsp is the sweet spot. Less is not as effective and more doesn’t make a difference. The taste fies suffer a little but since I’m using UU anyway taste is not my priority. This is fuel. If I want something tasty I eat delicious food. Never understood why people are freaking out over the taste. Why does everything have to taste sweet? I’d find it disgusting to drink 2-3 shakes a day that taste like cheap sweets. Also not a fan of artificial sweeteners. But then again, many people are unable to drink water and have soda instead. Each to their own.
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