New to Huel - looking for advice

#1

Hello, after reading about Huel and comparing it to other meal replacement shakes, I have finally decided to make the plunge. I am a couple days into my first two-bag order, and I was hoping some veterans might have some advice or critique for how I am using it.

Prior to Huel I was eating a very unhealthy diet. I ate 1-2 meals a day, usually high calorie, highly-processed foods, including a lot of fast foods. I hate cooking, and in the past few months health issues have led to me dropping from 40 hours to 20 hours of work a week, so I have limited funds. Shopping around for grocery deals, and micromanaging perishable foods before they expire is too much of a hassle for me. Additionally, I deal with IBS, so this diet was causing me constant intestinal distress.

I read that it is better to ease into Huel, so currently I am drinking 1 shake a day at lunch, with a more “normal” (for me) meal in the evening, and a coffee in the morning. Eventually I plan to cut out the “normal” evening meal and replace it with a second shake.

I mix 2 scoops of Huel with 2 cups of Oatly full-fat oat milk, half a tablespoon of BioSchwartz Greens Superfood powder, some Himalayan pink salt, whatever Huel flavor boost I want (I picked banana, chocolate and peanut butter - the former is great, but the latter two are very disappointing) blend it all together in my blender, then let it chill in the fridge overnight. It is very thick, but to me the taste and texture reminds me of overnight oats, so I don’t mind. I chose to use Oatly to increase the calories of each shake, because while I am trying to make each bag go as far as possible to save money I also want to make sure I am getting enough to eat. I chose to add the greens powder for a similar reason - to make sure I am getting enough fruits and vegetables. Because the flavor boosts have been underwhelming, I am considering using frozen strawberries and bananas, and cacao powder/peanut butter powder instead.

I have read a lot of conflicting reports on whether or not it is safe to replace all of your meals with Huel. My personal feeling was that if my current diet was fast food and processed junk, surely replacing it with Huel couldn’t be WORSE. I’d appreciate any responses from people who have successfully used Huel as a meal replacement long term.

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#2

If you haven’t already seen this here Nothing But Huel For 60 Days Straight (Ongoing: Day 35 Of 60)

Never felt better, rapid changes, energy in the gym is way up, all around improvements and I’ve yet to see any downsides. Everyone’s different though. I highly agree with you where one could be eating pizza, Hardes, McDonalds - Huel is automatically way healthier.

I’m not sure how it would be with IBS - but there has been a massive reduction in intestinal inflammation quickly after going 100% Huel, at least with myself.

Personally I did not ease into Huel, went straight from a High Fat-Fast Food-High caloric diet and the next day 100% Huel x3 a day, 1500~ Calories with no issue besides cravings for poor food choices :smile:

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#3

You could have Huel for all your meals but a balanced wholefood diet is best and most people like the variety and flexibility. If you’re going from a high calorie fast food diet then Huel will most likely be better than this diet (I say most likely because I don’t exactly what you’re eating).

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#4

I liked huel as a replacement for office lunches - it’s so much easier to leave a bag of huel at my desk with a shaker bottle than trying to pack a lunch/fight for fridge space and microwave time. Having huel just for lunch everyday would get boring, and not seem very appetizing and I’d start fantasizing about takeout. So having a solid-food dinner was an important part of having huel for lunch, I could have my huel and save time, money, etc on lunch while still having a satisfying dinner.

What I wound up doing is using huel most days and then, sometimes do half portion with something small but satisfying (like a handful of cashews). Or, just outright have a non-huel meal.

I would suggest looking at the recipes people have posted - adding some other things to change it up helped too. I usually get U/U, so U/U with coconut sugar, turmeric, and cinnamon was pretty good (basically, a turmeric latte), also U/U with coconut sugar, cocoa powder, and maca powder. I’ve also added cinnamon to chocolate huel. I ordered the packets of flavor samples and wasn’t really impressed with them, which is why I add my own.

I chose to use Oatly to increase the calories of each shake, because while I am trying to make each bag go as far as possible to save money I also want to make sure I am getting enough to eat.

I have only ever used water with huel and have never felt like I wasn’t getting enough - like I said, I was always full after having it. As much as I like the Oatly brand, but I found that they’re pretty pricey compared to other non-dairy milks. Planet Oat is available at a lot of places (I believe it’s even a $1 off this week at Acme) and pretty good if you will only consider oat milk. Trader Joe’s and West Soy both offer organic soymilk that is shelf-stable and only soybeans and water. The Trader Joe’s brand in particular is very cost-effective (soy-milk is similar to oat milk in being less resource intensive than almond or cow milk and getting organic soymilk means you’re avoiding any potential issues with GMOs).

Hope that helps!

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#5

I went all out when I first started, huge mistake. I wanted to immediately replace all food with Huel (I’m an all or nothing kinda guy), and didn’t want to be screwing around making and drinking shakes all day. So my first day, I just drank as much as I could until I was so full I couldn’t have another drop. That was about 6 scoops. My stomach was destroyed. After that, I took it back to the basics and did 1 scoop per day, then 2, then 4, and then 8, which is where I’m at now. I still have 2 regular meals per day, and replace about half of my calories with Huel, and only ever have 2 scoops at a time, I space them at least 2 hours apart, with a meal in between every 4 scoops.

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#6

I’d also recommend taking a daily probiotic when on Huel. I just get the Walmart stuff, about $20 for 50 capsules, the extra strong stuff. Haven’t had any GI problems since.

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#7

Hi, and good luck with your new diet! I think you are on a good track, and it is pretty close to what I do. Most days I eat normal, healthful breakfasts and dinners. Only rarely will I have fast food, usually when there is nothing better around. For lunch I have Huel or Soylent, and I have played around some with the recipes. I suppose you could eat only Huel, but wouldn’t that get boring? I would also worry that my body is missing out on something. They say good meal replacement shakes contain everything you need, but I have my doubts.

I like the natural, simple flavor of plain Huel, and my favorite is just mixing it up with water and a little miso. I think it is good to sip it slowly rather than gulping it down, especially when your stomach is first getting used to it.

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#8

And btw I have bowel problems also, and have found that Huel and Soylent both are pretty easy on the gut. I have had no problems with them. I can’t say that about milk products, lardy animal products, and alcohol.

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#9

I am worried about getting bored, because I like to eat and I like a wide variety of dishes. I used to go out for sushi or Indian or Ethiopian all the time, and hopefully the money I save with Huel will allow me to eat that at least once or twice a month. It will make me appreciate and enjoy those dining experiences even more, too.

In terms of missing nutritional value from Huel, that’s why I add some greens powder. It has fruits and vegetables in it, including leafy greens, so I’m hoping it will catch anything Huel is missing.