I’m a perfectly healthy male (according to my doctor), lean and move regularly, and am in my early thirties. I’ve been a big spender and consumer of Huel for about half a year.
I’m currently consuming the Gluten free version of Huel.
My question is, does anyone else also feel tired after consuming Huel, and even feeling like wanting a snack afterwards? Maybe it’s too much to ask, but I wish Huel made me feel more energised and healthy during the hours after consuming it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still happy to have Huel as a backup in my everyday life, but just wish it would replace a super healthy meal. I have faith in science, that this will eventually be possible
Secondly (and this should maybe be it’s own topic and unrelated to tiredness), but I’ve read a lot about gut health recently, and how fermented foods are good and important for our health. It makes sense. But if say I was only eating Huel 100%, and never any fermented or organic food, wouldn’t that cause issues with my gut health in the long run? I kinda get the vibe that “natural” foods is something I need to mix in with my Huel, to maintain a healthy diet, and that Huel (sadly) doesn’t cover everything related to a healthy diet?
Hope anyone got any comments on these two insecurities?
Hey, related to the first issue, I have something similar.
After you drink it you go into a semi-sleepy post-meal state but you don’t get the sense of fullness/uplift you tend to get after a meal. The hunger just switches off for about three of hours. I also feel like snacking after Huel, which is why I originally put on weigh with it: I drank a shake and then ate a normal meal to get the satisfaction factor.
Over time I just got used to consciously controlling my appetite. I think the reasons for the problem are the following:
You do get some sense of please from experiencing different tastes, smells, textures and the weight in your stomach, which has probably evolved to encourage a varied, plentiful diet. With Huel you don’t get those stimuli and maybe don’t get the sense of being rewarded. I think this is why I still need at least one normal meal a day to get the pleasure out eating.
Something easier to measure is the fact that Huel has a really low glucose index, meaning you don’t get the sugar rush, which also contributes to the rapid sense of fullness/satisfaction. But your body still has to work hard, to digest the stuff. A friend of mine who switched to slow carb diet described something similar for the first couple of weeks after the switch. After that you get used to not being artificially boosted by tons of sugar.
Thank you for your response, good to hear I’m not alone. I’m now starting to question if this is ideal for Huel or if they should consider modifying the recipe to make the experience after consuming it, feel more pleasent and rewarding for you body?
I just ate Huel and feel like going to bed or going to the store to buy some snacks
Just brainstorming here, but maybe the problem is, that even though the product contains all the basic nutrients the body needs, it does so in a way that is harder for the body to digest, and with a relatively low amount of calories, it leaves you tired and drained, instead of fulfilled, healthy an refreshed?
The catch is, it is meant to feel less rewarding than you feel from snacks/sugar drinks, which were designed to overkill your senses. If you were to live in the forest you would probably never get that much sweet stuff in one go, so you have an inbuilt mechanism to insensitivese an endless search. In a sense, a bit like dogs which would until they die because they would never get that much food in the wild.
So I think detoxing from sweet stuff and getting used to a sugar-free diet is a better idea. I consciously calculate the calories I’ve eaten to convince myself that I have eaten enough and plan low energy activities for about 30 minutes after drinking Huel.
A cheeky thing I sometimes do is have a little bit of coke/crisps after a portion of Huel. Not in a large quantity to disrupt the healthiness too much but it gives you a burst of taste+chewing or taste+quick sugar to help you in the short term. In the long term, I find the feel pretty similar to normal meals.
Yeah I wasn’t thinking of snacks/sugers when talking about feeling “fulfilled, healthy an refreshed”. Unhealthy foods usually leaves you feeling bad as well, unless it’s the necessary burger from a hangover (Huel btw is quite nice to counter hangovers ). No I was comparing the after eating feeling, to when you consume a healthy meal.
Yeah, I was thinking about doing the same; finding a good snack to accommodate Huel, to avoid these “slumps”. If I bring Huel for lunch, at my university, I can’t run around feeling depleted after lunch (and then arguing that Huel is a smart alternative).
Another theory I had, was that the issue was caused by the gooey texture of Huel. Notice how easily it sticks to the bottle or your mouth if you don’t mix it well enough with water? Imagine this sticking to areas of your gut. That could be a cause for bloating as well.
I don’t drink coke and very rarely any sugary brewages, and already don’t consume a lot of candy. My main goal of using Huel, is to save time, while being healthy and feeling energised!
I also get tired after drinking Huel. I’ve started adding Agave to it, which seems to help and counteract the sleep inducing effect. There’s a thread about this here: Does Huel make you tired?
I used HUEL for the first time today and i fell asleep immediatly after 3 scoop and 500ml of almond milk !
maybe they put something to counter act the guaranine which is like cafeine ?? but it is not workable for me ! i cant work after having the fuel !
I find smaller portions spread throughout the day helps, and simply whenever I feel hungry, I can have a 1 or 2 scoop boost, but I can only really do this on the weekends, so during the week snacks can enter their way into my belly :((((
Another tip I found was to mix up flavours and bases: try adding a banana, or making huel with milk occasionally and it might help your body thinking it’s had a different full meal.
I do go to bed hungry on most nights when I don’t do the intermittent hueling method but I’ve gotten used to the feeling and the results I’ve got are keeping me motivated. The tiredness does hit me after huel lunch and huel dinner, to the point of dizziness sometimes but its rare enough that I can ignore it. A cold glass of water and/or chewing gum freshens me up.
I felt a bit hungry initially, but I now sip Huel over a longer period and it works for me. I don’t snack at all between meals now and can have two Huel meal replacements a day and no hunger pangs.
