Bit of an awkward crash situation going on

So I got my first order of Huel last week (super fast delivery, well done!), and was super ready to go 100% Huel because my eating habits are AWFUL. I’m a third-year student with very little time - I usually leave the house at 8:30am, and come home anywhere between 8-11pm, and when I get home, I’m often too exhausted to cook. Breakfast is usually a quick bowl of cereal, and lunch is usually a sandwich or pasty bought on campus. On this diet, while it wasn’t great nutrition-wise, I was fairly stable energy-wise all day, and I’ve been at a fairly stable weight as well. My plan was to completely overhaul this and do a normal breakfast, then 1000 calories of Huel throughout the day, so that I wouldn’t have an excuse to not eat at night, because I’d have a readily-available, fast source of nutrition. HOWEVER it hasn’t worked out like this! I ordered vanilla and mint-chocolate, and don’t really like the taste of either, so instead I’ve been forcing about 500 calories of Huel down myself every day, and then one other meal (usually something carby because that’s all I’m craving), and I’ve been having AWFUL sugar crashes. I literally can’t stay awake past 2pm, and usually have to take a nap for a couple of hours just to feel okay again. I also can’t even make myself drink anymore Huel that day, I’m so put off by it, and I can’t be bothered to cook another proper meal either, because I’m just so tired.

Has anyone had a similar problem??! I think what I need is to make Huel more delicious (I’ve tried adding a whole scoop of hot chocolate powder to overpower the weird sweetener taste but that’s not really great for my sugar levels, and the simple effort of blending fruit into my Huel puts me off as well, especially because I know it’s not going to taste nice after that either). Does anyone have taste suggestions, and could the more nutritionally-smart people among you find some way of preventing these horrible crashes? I really need to be on top form as my dissertation is due in March and I can barely get through 3 hours of work per day at the moment.

I’d say the sugar crashes are probably due to a sudden change in diet - maybe try to transition over a bit more slowing. Actually 500 calories of Huel per day is a good starting point, but have you cut out all your usual snacks that could be causing sugar or caffeine withdrawal? And are you still getting the same number of calories per day as you were before?

As for the taste - if you find the artificial sweetener in it horrible, you could try ordering a bag of unflavoured and mixing it half half with your vanilla.
Or if you search the forum you will find loads of suggestions of how to flavour the UU with coffee, peanut butter, cacao powder, matcha powder etc so no need to have sweetener at all.
Also, have you tried making your Huel the night before and refridgerating it over night? It reduces the sweetener taste enourmousiy and improves the taste A LOT.
This may be tricky to then take with you however, unless you transfer it to a flask to keep it cool, or a screw top bottle and put it in a cool bag. I find the systema bottles handy as they have a very wide spout and they come apart into three pieces and are easy to clean. Or a thermos. But don’t try to pour it through the spout of a thermos cos you’ll never be able to clean it out after!!

Edit: Also try using raw cacao powder instead of hot chocolate powder as it really tones down the sweetness and doesn’t add sugar to your meal.

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I was slightly annoyed that this thread wasn’t about the Duke of Hazzard…Prince Philip…

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None of us would be that crass.

speak for yourself!

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Thanks for the advice - I’ll try returning to more or less my old diet, but having Huel at night as an evening meal, to transition more slowly. I’m definitely not having as many calories as before, as the original plan was to get about 1000 from Huel and then 500 from another meal, which is more or less what I was having before, but because I can’t stand the Huel, I’ve only been getting about 1000 per day. I have also cut out the random snacks throughout the day (usually very sugary things like m&ms and coke) which are probably contributing, but it’s for the best at this point.

I’ll definitely have a look for flavour ideas, and I’ll try putting it in the fridge overnight. Keeping it cool shouldn’t be an issue as I work outside a lot of the time so it’s kept pretty cold by the weather!

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does flavoured huel have sugar or other sweeteners in that unflavoured huel doesnt?

All the premixed bags of flavoured Huel contain sucralose but no other artificial sweeteners or sugar.
The flavour boost sachets contain Stevia but no sugar.

The unflavoured unsweeetened version is the best option if you want to avoid all sweeteners (although sucralose doesn’t seem to cause health issues - it’s just the flavour that some people dislike). You can add your own flavours to the UU if you find it too plain (it tastes like plain cold watery porridge and pea protein - lots of people dont like it but add fruit or coffee etc to their taste)

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@Esmaeralda I think probably cutting out all the sugary snacks and the big calorie deficit is definitely causing your energy slumps. But yes if you want to move towards a sugar free diet, just stick at it - you will feel terrible for a couple weeks but it’ll be worth it as you will feel amazing once you’re through the other side!

In the meantime you have a good plan to put more calories in to keep your energy up and just have one Huel meal. You will find over the next few weeks you will become quite fond of the Huel once you figure out how you like it (search the forum for different suggestions on how to make it e.g. More or less water / sub water for plant milk/ add other stuff / or different flavour or ratios of powder etc)

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Thanks for all the advice guys! Quick update:

  • the crashes have pretty much stopped. I had to go a bit cold turkey on all my favourite snacks which was HELL while it lasted but I feel great now. Sugar has turned into a treat rather than a daily staple!
  • I am currently getting about 1000 calories from Huel every day, plus a meal or two of actual food (usually just lots of roasted veg). It’s keeping me full all through the day, and I’m happy with the current routine as not having to cook every meal makes me want to cook more!
  • I’m unfortunately still having hot chocolate powder in my Huel as I still haven’t found anything I like to replace it with (tried cocoa powder as suggested… bleh…). However, I’ve found that I only need about 1/4 of a scoop to drown out the taste of the sweetener, so I’m cutting that down too. Unfortunately I ordered loads of vanilla, so I’m going to have to get through those before ordering any unsweetened bags.

Thanks again for your help!

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Wow, I guess there are actually people on this forum who know what they’re talking about… no offence guys :joy: glad it all worked out! If it’s the new and improved vanilla, and you’re based in London, I could buy them from you, or swap for berry/coffee (I will have to check my stock when I get home)

Edit: I just checked, I have one bag of coffee and one bag of berry (both unopened) I would be willing to swap for vanilla new and improved FYI