I am brand new to Huel and excited to get started. I have a couple of questions and would love feedback.
I am looking to body recomp by losing about 10 pounds of fat while maintaining or gaining muscle. Controlling a delicate balance of calories and protein will be essential.
I know the current position of Huel is not to use it to replace every single meal. The reasoning appears to be more around concerns about people burning out on it and quitting than anything being nutritionally wrong that would make a 100% Huel plan physically unhealthy. Can someone confirm this? For the record I’m not planning a 100% Huel diet, but if there is something nutritionally incomplete about Huel I would like to know so I can know what foods to supplement it with.
Pea protein is considered an “incomplete” protein so I was considering using a whey protein shake as the base instead of water or milk. Premier Protein shakes have a nice balance of 140 calories with 30g whey to supplement Huel. Has anybody tried this and has feedback? If so, any good flavor combos that work?
I am looking forward to having 1-2 of these per day for breakfast and lunch, a couple of protein shakes before and during workouts and a Freshly dinner.
Hey @Dad - welcome to the US Huel forum. Great questions too!
Yes! I can confirm that Huel is nutritionally complete, meaning it meets daily value recommendations for essential nutrients per 2000 calorie intake so you can consume Huel alone if you wish and there are certainly people that do.
The only caveat I would make here is that this is for individuals who do not have prior medical conditions that may affect dietary recommendations. As an example of what I mean here, take someone who has kidney disease. They will likely have different recommendations to the general population, depending on the stage. In that case, you’d want to be sure you follow recommendations given to you.
More generally though, the reason we do not recommend consuming Huel alone as 100% of your intake is due to the fact that variety is important to ensure you are making changes you can sustain longer term too.
Yes - exactly this! It can become monotonous when consuming the same thing over and over. You are not likely to maintain these changes as a result. Huel is another food option that is nutritionally complete to have as frequently or infrequently as you would like. Whether that’s once every few days or multiple times daily, it’s up to you!
Pea protein on it’s own is incomplete; however, when it comes to plant-based proteins you can combine them to get all 9 essential amino acids. We’ve combined plant-based proteins in Huel products (ex. pea protein and brown rice protein) to ensure they’re complete. There’s no need to have a base of whey from that aspect.
Let us know how it goes and if you have any additional questions or concerns too!
