30 days of Huel

Experiences
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Yes its another one of those posts!

I am posting here for accountability.

I have been an infrequent Huel user for a while now, I usually have it for breakfast and lunch and feel great until I have a meal for dinner where I tend to crash. Despite loving the stuff I have a lot of food issues, I am intolerant to wheat, yeast and dairy and I have also recently been diagnosed with CFS/ ME. Woe is me waah. I’m also a vegan which narrows my food choices even more. It’s quite depressing to be honest.

I’m going to attempt a 30 day reset using HueI I figure I don’t have a huge amount to lose. I’d love to regain some energy and know that my body is getting the nutrition it needs.

I’ll attempt to come back here to track my progress, hopefully this won’t become one of those posts that dies off after a few days! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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Good luck!

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Hope your reset works out well. Good luck!

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Sorry I didn’t mean to flag that. I have fat finger syndrome

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Thank you! :slightly_smiling_face:

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I mean just to put it out there, that is a choice so can’t be that depressing?

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@GTIPuG I was referring to the general situation. But yes you’re right although, when you’re intolerant to dairy that only really leaves eggs :woman_shrugging:t3: I made the fatal mistake of watching Earthlings recently and I’m not sure I could go back!

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Surely a vegan diet wouldn’t contain either milk or eggs though?(?)
Personally I use mung beans as my main source of protein, along with pea protein, nuts, seeds and of course Huel

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@ChristinaT Yes a vegan diet doesn’t contain either but I cant consume dairy regardless of my ethics, my point was that only really leaves me eggs so veganism makes sense.

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Ah ok sure. Same here - can’t consume dairy. Wouldn’t want to even if I could though, so I don’t feel deprived. Being intolerant to dairy certainly moved me towards a vegan diet for a long time but I don’t follow it strictly currently. It becomes really complicated and restrictive if you are 100% about it and then I find myself wondering about foods that aren’t animal products but the harvesting of which cause devastation and harm: palm oil, quinoa etc
It’s pretty difficult.
I just try to minimise my own personal impact the best I can…

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It’s tricky isn’t it?! There are so many products you would assume are vegan that aren’t. The dairy industry is very cruel not to mention bad for the environment but when you are intolerant to so many other things it does make eating a bit of a chore, Huel is rather brilliant for that :slightly_smiling_face:

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You could make the choice because you know it’s the “right thing to do” and it still be a massive pain in the arse I suppose

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@RyanT absolutely!

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Day 1

So my current list of ailments are:

Lack of energy

Signs of vitamin deficiency (dry skin, rashes, weak nails and hair)

Pesky hormonal chin acne

Brain fog

Also being 20lb over my ideal weight

Water retention

I’m not expecting Huel to resolve all of the above I just thought it would be useful to list them so I can do a comparison in 30 days. I realise Huel is just food but what I like about it is that it’s very transparent re: calories and ingredients. It’s easy for slaves to food like me to ensure that we get what we need and no extras. For the next 30 days, for a bit of variation, I will be including a small measure of a low FODMAP fruit or vegetable along with my Huel meals.

Today:

Breakfast: 3 scoops of Berry Huel

Lunch: 3 scoops scoops of Berry Huel

Dinner: 3 scoops of Berry Huel + 1 cup of blueberries

In addition I’ve used 250ml of unsweetened almond milk with my two coffee servings of the day.

I am currently on the Berry flavoured Huel and I’m nearly finished with it after a month of sometimes having it for breakfast and lunch, I must say I am really looking forwards to moving back to the Vanilla and Chocolate versions. It’s not particularly palatable alone. I find when I am using Huel for all three meals that my thirst seems to increase. Does anyone else notice this?

One of my biggest hurdles is in the evening when my children go to bed. For some reason I have a strong urge to binge on junk food. I think in part it’s due to wanting a quick sugary fix to boost my energy although logically speaking I know its counterproductive. Having a three scoop measure of Huel mixed up to be quite thick (with a small addition of blueberries) seemed to help with that. As someone who is partial to binge eating it does feel quite alien sitting with the feelings that I usually squash with food (predominantly boredom, stress and exhaustion). Also noting the activities I usually associate with a cheeky snack, like watching TV or rewarding myself for making it through the day (woohoo go me now let’s eat everything!).

I like how Huel reinforces the notion that you should eat for hunger and not for recreational purposes, it’s tasty but not THAT tasty. I recently found out that those of us who suffer with intolerances tend to crave the foods that make us sick. I believe this is due to the body releasing endorphins to counteract the stress it is under whilst being subjected to foods it can’t handle (?) This is interesting because I am obsessed with cheese, bread, pastries and sweet stuff. It is a bit of a human design flaw if you ask me. God damnit I am fantasizing about cheese now.

I have had a bit of a headache today but I shall put that down to the slow and dreaded detox of refined sugar, to be fair I did eat an entire packet of Oreos last night as a ceremonial fare well to my bad habits starting today which was both ridiculous and hypocritical after making sure my children eat healthily. I think often we parents fail to practice what we teach! Self care is HARD when you only have one hour a day to yourself before you pass out.

Anyway, I made it passed day 1. Hurrah!

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Day 2

I more or less had the same as yesterday but with chocolate Huel which is much more satisfying.

I woke up feeling a lot less bloated and well rested but insanely irate, and with a terrible headache. I’m guessing this is due to a sugar detox?

I have also been craving anything I can chew.

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The Huel bars are great for making those cravings disappear. Good luck

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Agree @RyanT I love those bars :yum:

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I can’t consume dairy cos I’m lactose intolerant…intolerant of the dairy industry.

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Not a fan of diaries either. they are diarabolical.

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Good luck with everything I hope it all works out for you.
I eat my huel in a bowl a bit like a dessert.
I also eat once a day most of the time so I have 3 bowls of 3 scoops of huel with 200 ml of organic cashew milk and 200 ml water so it’s nice and creamy, along with a dessert spoon of organic cacao nibs and a third of a tin of mixed fruit. This gives me around 1850 to 2000 calories a day depending if I add more cacao nibs and this really suits me. It only took around a week to get used to having OMAD and if I do feel a hunger pang in the day I will have a piece of fruit.
This is while I’m away in the truck for 3 months. While at home for 2 weeks after each trip I have raw salads fruit Booja Booja ice cream (lots of it) and I have a real soft spot for vegan cafes & vegan cakes so every day will have 2 pieces of cake, raw if I can find it.
I am like you, vegan for ethical reasons and over the years have read and researched more and more about nutrition and since starting with huel 3 years ago it has made up the most part of my food. I have experimented all sorts of recipes and concoctions and different ways of eating huel and i think to be honest this has been because of craving savoury solid food at times so I have tried to make huel as enjoyable as possible to counter this as I love how full of good vitamins/minerals huel is and it really suits me with having quite a demanding job and trying to get as much fitness into my down time which varies enormously.
I personally avoid any oils or refined sugar as much as possible( I completely forget about this regarding the vegan cake obviously but we have to be a bit rational)and I think it is much easier today to be an unhealthy vegan with all the available vegan products today and what’s in some of them, I’m not saying this is a bad thing in anyway to have more choice as the more choice there is then hopefully more people will try it and not buy as many animal products but if you are avoiding processed oils etc then many of them have these in.
I feel I have got it about right at the moment as I really enjoy and look forward to my 3 bowls of huel every evening and the experimenting was worth it and I’m quite happy to have fruit and a raw salad if I do eat solid food away in the truck. I will however always have 2 pieces of cake😋 if I can find a vegan cafe somewhere in Europe wherever I end up, there is quite a few popping up now.
I am sure you will feel better with having huel make up a big part of your food and my advice would be from my own experience to try different recipes with it to mix it up a bit and make it as enjoyable as possible which will help with the cravings for other foods possibly. Good luck again.

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