Hi all,
I am new to the forum. I Came here to talk about my experience instead of whining publicly on Twitter. I know the title sounds a bit shocking. But that’s more or less my experience, except for one positive aspect that is unfortunately not worth all the negative ones. I searched through older topics and I don’t think any of them corresponds to what I am about to describe.
A couple of months ago, I have placed my first (and unfortunately last) Huel order: a starter kit with 1xVanilla + 1xBerry both V3.0 (+ a good quality T-shirt and a shaker).
Like many of you, I have an office job but I am trying to stay in shape. I don’t always have the time to have breakfast. So, Huel was a great option to not skip this very important meal. I started my first week with 1 shake (two big scoops with just water as described in the official video) for breakfast or pre-workout in the afternoon. I rarely took more than one Huel a day. Typically took two the days of my workouts. But I definitely drank Huel everyday. I quickly realized a very interesting positive side effect: my sperm production increased dramatically! I guess it makes sense since Huel is packed with super-foods and nuts. I will spare you the details 
During the first week, I have started experiencing some weird cramps in my stomach. But I can’t describe them as pain. That was kind of expected since it is a totally new diet. My trips to the restroom also became more intense. But that was also expected. However, I started also gaining weight, and not in a nice way. My body fat seemed to increase. So I cut more carbs from my other non-Huel meals.
However, quickly these weird cramps turned into stomach pains that kept getting worse to the point that I started skipping workouts just because I was feeling unwell. And whenever I forced myself to train, my usual workout routine became much harder to execute. I felt down on energy and found myself avoiding any exercise that involved jumping as it made me feel more unwell. By the way, I always took Huel at least 2 hours and half to three hours before the training.
Things got worse when these stomach pains turned into lower abdomen pains. It seemed like the lower right side was hurting more than the left side, but definitely both sides. This pain somehow extended to my back. This affected my sleep for days because I was both worried for my health but also having pains that woke me up sometimes. At that point I started seriously suspecting Huel and stopped using it.
After stopping Huel, the pain continued for days. I skipped my regular training and only kept running because it was the only workout that didn’t bring back the pain. Little by little, I started to feel better. I was back to having a normal sleep. I also felt better mentally because I was feeling less worried for my health. At that point, I decided to never order Huel again.
Being left with half a bag of Huel. I said I would use it to make some solid food just to avoid throwing it away (it was a very bad idea). I followed one of the simple pancake recipes shared here in the forum by the admins. I had them for breakfast, two days in a row. Guess what? The lower abdomen pain came back! Now there is no doubt about it. Huel was the source of my problems.
Fast forward to today, the pain is now almost fully gone as I am writing this post. I have been running 2 x 7 miles a week for the last 4 weeks + some yoga stretches, push-ups and squats at home (no gym because of the current lock down). No Huel left in my system.
I am sharing my experience because I have seen many reports about health issues that could potentially be caused by Huel. I think this topic should be seriously looked into by Huel. This could lead to serious consequences. It was nothing severe with me (I hope). But it could turn ugly with someone who refuses to stop taking the product after the first alarming symptoms. Huel is supposed to help us achieve a healthier life style, not destroy our organs.
By the way, I am 33, weight 171 pounds (before Huel), regular runner (10+ miles a week) and lifter without any known health issues if that helps the discussion.
For the forum moderators, I can provide my bill and everything you need if you want to verify the authenticity of my purchase.
Stay healthy and stay safe everyone 