Some questions to start

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I’m sick of food and eating in general. It always makes me feel heavy and just gross in general. So I’m considering going 100% Huel. I just have a few questions first.

  1. For those of you who do 100% or even 90%, how much Huel do you find yourself consuming in a month? I think a full day of Huel is like 5 servings for a 2,000 calorie day, so that would be 150 servings or meals of Huel a month to be 100% Huel, right? (basing a month on an average of 30 days) Do you find yourself needing less than that to feel full? Or more than that? Or is that pretty spot on?
  2. Someone else in the forum mentioned that they thought the regular Huel is gluten-free as well, and that the gluten-free labeled Huel only goes through an extra vigorous production method or something. I didn’t see anyone address that claim, so I thought I’d ask here. Is that true?
  3. I plan to transition slowly to 100% Huel to avoid any gastrointestinal distress-- one shake for 1 to 2 weeks, two shakes for 1 to 2 weeks, and so on. Does that sound like it would work? And how many bags would you recommend I get to start? I don’t want to get a bunch at once in case I don’t like it but I have also heard that there’s been some restocking issues in the past and I don’t want to run into issues with that.
  4. I have texture issues with a lot of foods. I’m kinda really worried about that with Huel. I’ve seen some people mention they use a stand blender and others say an immersion blender. Which would be the best one to ensure a smooth shake?
  5. Do you have any tips for me?
    Thank you!
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  1. The nutritionist for Huel had talked about this. None of the components of any Huel formulation naturally contain gluten. Gluten is not in oats or peas or flaxseed, etc. However, in regular Huel, some of the ingredients are sourced from facilities that also process wheat, so there is a very small chance a few molecules of gluten could cross contaminate into their ingredients. Not a problem for most people. Only people with a measured gluten antibody, like Celiac Disease, should avoid all amounts of gluten. Hence, there is a separate Gluten Free Huel product where the ingredients are guaranteed to have no gluten cross contamination. It tastes exactly the same as the regular Huel counterpart of the same flavor. But gluten free is more expensive since the ingredients are more expensive.

Bottom line, if you don’t have a diagnosed gluten allergy like Celiac disease, then regular Huel is probably just fine and will be cheaper than gluten free Huel.

IMO, this gluten fear is far overblown. Gluten is the protein found in wheat and some other grains. Societies that have eaten whole grains along with fruits and vegetables are generally healthy. Gluten itself is usually not the problem. Eating lots of refined wheat like breads and bagels is the problem.

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  1. Yes. A gradual titration up of your total daily dose is the best way to let your gut ease into this. There is a good (normal) amount of fiber in Huel as well as some resistant starches. If you are not used to this, it will take a while for the gut bacteria and your own gut to become adjusted. Your titration schedule sounds just right for getting yourself used to an all-Huel regimen.

Each bag should be 17 servings of the 400 calorie doses. But many of us will alter our serving size. I often do more than 400 calories. But, as a good measure, start with the recommended 400 calories at a time, once a day, to see how it works for you.

If you did one serving per day for, say, 7 days, then went to two servings per day for 7 days, that’s 21 servings for the initial 2 weeks. A 2 bag starter kit should be good enough.

But give yourself enough leeway time. When you order it takes several days to ship out. And if you order on weekends it won’t be processed till Monday. So, I’d say, that ordering a 2-bag starter kit is good enough. But once you reach, say, day 5 or 6, and you are confident you want to proceed, then go back and start ordering the 6 to 8 bags at a time that you’d need for a full-on Huel plan. Order when you are approximately 2 weeks away from running out, to give enough lead time to get your shipment.

Amazon Prime does have a 2-bag kit with next day delivery, should you need a quick “fix”.

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  1. Absolutely start by blending. This makes it smoother. And consume it cooled. You can make ahead of time and store in the fridge for up to a day if wanted.

Don’t worry about any initial reaction to the texture. Remember this is a suspension, not a solution. It has oats and flaxseed. It will not be smooth like a smoothie from starbucks. Fiber is very good. It slows digestion and improves so many aspects of your health.

Most of us adjusted to the texture of Huel within a few doses. Don’t judge it till you’ve tried it for 5 days. You’ll be amazed at how long a 400 calorie dose of Huel lasts you before you feel hungry again.

Blending does allow us to add an ingredient or two to liven up the Huel. Blending with frozen blueberries is an easy way to add some extra flavor to vanilla Huel. I often add peanut butter to mine. There are a wide range of things people here have added to their Huel. Mixing with plant milks is another common thing. It’s still easy.

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  1. I am consuming 4 huel meals a day since past 2 weeks and i am doing better than ever. I also eat very light foods like chips(very few), bread with sauce etc.,I usually go to gym at evening times. take huel one hour before workout and 30 min after workout. I totally get 2000 calories from my huel everyday which should be very much sufficient to maintain my weight. I also stopped taking whey protein or protein shakes. Proteins i get through huel are roughly around 150g which is taking care of my muscle mass.
    So i would say huel 4 times a day makes your life easier, productive nd happy
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With that much Huel, are you experiencing any digestive side effects?

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I actually am not experiencing any digestive side effects. When I eat some other foods, I get heart palpitations as soon as I eat and I don’t know why, but not with Huel. It really fills me up. I would probably be mostly full with two of the 400 cal shakes and a small snack. If I decided that I was going to go 100% and not have any snacks at all, I would probably have three of the shakes. This is actually less than my calorie amount. Are used an online calculator and it said that I would need 1700 cal a day, but I wouldn’t mind losing some weight, so if I feel full before my calorie amount, I will take it. I have a bottomless stomach, so if it became very important that I make sure to have my entire calorie amount, then I could still have more if that makes sense. Actually, now that I have the different scoops, doing the 400 cal serving is better for me because the larger serving was making me feel really really full. Especially if you drink water or coffee after it like I do so that it can expand in your stomach, it really fills you up. However, I am a woman and I am very short, so what makes me full might not be the same for you. When you have it though, I would say to drink a shake or full of water after it so that it can expand in your stomach, and wait like 20 minutes before you decide to have more because it can really hate you, and you don’t want to be so full that you feel sick. I had two of them in a row before and it did that to me. It’s like how you feel if you ate way way way way way too much. I was like, I’m still hungry, so I’ll have another one. Then just as I finished the other one, the first one hit me, and then a while after that, the second one hit me, and then I was really full. It lasts a long time too. I would say that it can keep me full for around four or five hours. I start to feel a little bit hungry before bed, I’m not going to eat anything because I’m just going to sleep anyways and I won’t even notice when I’m sleeping. I tried muscle milk before, and I did not find that feeling at all to give you an idea. I just use a Metal blender ball in my shaker and it is great. I do not have a blender and I’m not going to get one because I don’t make a lot of money and they are expensive. In addition, they are loud, they are hard to clean, and I have a tiny kitchen with limited counterspace. My coffee maker, my microwave, and my crockpot are already taking up the entire counter. I don’t use the crockpot that much anymore, but I’m keeping it because I bought it, and it won’t fit in any of my cupboards, and I’m not about to keep it on the floor where it is going to take up space there, so it has to stay on the counter. Plus, the blender blades will be really annoying to have to clean. Plus, you have to plug it in and it is just really annoying just to make a shake. I don’t even know how much of an impact it really would have. I like the texture though. Like even if I’m having a smoothie, I don’t want it to be completely smooth. I want it to have little chunks of fruit in it and things. Or like I would enjoy an Eminem Mc flurry a lot more than I would enjoy a milkshake. Plus, plenty of people are now drinking things like overnight oats and they never complain about the texture. This is an actual food, so you have to expect that. People keep saying that the texture comes from the flaxseed, but I think there’s so little flaxseed in there that that probably isn’t the case. I think it more likely comes from the oats. The only thing I don’t like is that earthy aftertaste, but if I just add a few spoons of Greek yogurt or add some lemon juice to my shake, that fixes it. I like to add the yogurt though because it makes it a little bit more creamy. It also doesn’t add that many more calories. Like for the 400 cal one, I would say to add 2 tablespoons of Greek yogurt and that’s really all you need. A lot of people keep talking about their stools and the fact that they are passing gas and all of this stuff, but that has not happened to me. If it does to you, just take a probiotic and it should clear up. There is a good one called new rhythm probiotic that I use and it is pretty cheap. You can also do some fermented foods, but that adds calories, and you don’t really know what bacteria you are getting. Certain strains have been scientifically proven to do certain things, so you can look at the problems you are having and get one with the strains that you need. Huel doesn’t have these because it would raise the cost of the product, the probiotics might not even stay alive, and research is in its infancy in addition to the fact that different people need different ones. Also, if you get one, make sure that yours has good ratings because some manufacturers will just put them in a supplement without making sure that they can actually stay alive. Another thing you can do is you can get yogurt that is in Riched with probiotics and take a bit each day or put a bid in your shake. Maybe that is why I haven’t had as many problems because even though I don’t actually take a probiotic in pill form, the yogurt I add to my shake actually is probiotic inRiched. And also, don’t and just too many probiotics or you will get bloated or have diarrhea. The bacteria and most probiotics will not permanently colonize your digestive tract, so you only need them to correct a problem like I will take the new rhythm ones if I am having a problem where my stomach is constantly hurting a lot or something is wrong with my stool. Then, when I am back to normal, I don’t need it anymore. It probably won’t harm you to take it every day, but it would just be more expensive and probably not worth it. The fermented foods do you have larger doses and more strains and their survival is actually better, but the problem is that we don’t know what all of those do and so you don’t really know exactly what you are getting if that makes sense. Plus, since these fermented foods I’m talking about are pasteurized and are either just homemade or produced locally, The bacteria in the product can vary from batch to batch depending on the season and the temperature and a lot of other things.

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not until i drink 3 litres of water a day or in worst case i take 1 litre at least. I dont see any constipation or digestive issues

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I’ve never had anything close to constipation

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I was asking about the gluten because I have heard that people who are sensitive to gluten who also have skin issues have been able to clear up their skin issues by removing gluten from their diets. I’ve been wanting to try that to see if it actually works and I figured Huel might be the easiest way to test that.

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Hey that’s certainly worth a try. Get the gluten free Huel and see if you can notice any improvements. Can’t hurt to try.

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I am near >90% Huel. I eat 3 meals per day 127 g for each meal and with the math, I need 6 bags for every 4 weeks. I go for bigger amounts because then that means savings since each bag becomes cheaper in bulk. Just need to sit down and do the math to figure out how much you need. I started off with a trial of 2 bags to see how I would feel and do on Huel and increased from there. 127 g is about 500 calories. I put that into a little more than 15 oz of water. You can see on the bags or in the information how many grams are in each bag so it’s just math from there depending on how many days you want to cover. Granted, I have never gotten the amount to work out well with exact weeks so I just have a little extra than I need and occasionally I reduce the number of bags I get to even things out. A little complex, but not really. I am a short small guy that leads a sedentary life other than casual walks with my dog so I don’t need a ton of calories. I tried to use a calorie counter online to tell me a good approximation for my life in how much I would need, it said 2300 calories per day. I’ve felt content with what I have been at, granted I do get some other calories from tea drinks that I sweeten with honey so I’m consuming more than just 1500 Huel calories. It will probably just take some trial and error for you to find what works best for you.

My advice beyond the above is the transition to 100% Huel. I found I needed longer than 1 week to transition to adding more Huel. I still get gassy at times so it’s going to just depend on your digestive system on how it reacts to Huel. Listen to it and don’t be in a rush to get into 100% Huel unless you’re okay with experiencing some intestinal stew of strong gas and possibly (for me anyways) diarrhea. Of course, sometimes powering through it can help because eventually your body does catch up, but again it comes down to personal preference. When adding my 3rd shake, I had to just power through the side effects.

I will agree with Sabra_Ewing that it can take time it feel the Huel settle in your stomach. Often I drink mine pretty quickly. I’ll find myself feeling still “hungry” when I finish it, but 10 minutes later, I’ll start to feel content. Then I am good for about 5 hours before I start feeling hungry again.

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