Do you claim it's as good as fresh home made food?

NASA wouldn’t allow powder into their micro-g environment. Think of the mess when that terrible bag seal pops open and a weeks worth of huel floats out and into everyones eyes and lungs. By the way, is huel explosive as an airborne powder, like flour is?

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Not at all. If you have a particular severe food allergy, don’t you think you would already know? And if you were to develop a less severe food intolerance to one or more of the ingredients over time, the symptoms would likely pass within a few days of stopping it.

I disagree. There are studies that show how food might have major impact on life expectancy. This is not something you would notice over a year though. There are also studies about pros and cons of adding supplements and vitamins into your food. NHS claims that “taking too much or taking them for too long could be harmful”.

To be honest, I think you’re in more danger of suffering health problems from over-thinking all this

I don’t think there is any danger in gathering and analysing information. I can definitely see how trying out every new thing on the market or participating in every trend can be dangerous, when it relates to something that has critical impact on your life that is.

There’s more chance of something going wrong from NOT eating Huel than from eating Huel.

How do you know? Millions of people eat mostly fish for their whole life and live to 90-100 years feeling great along the way. In fact there are lots of studies around how fish has a massive impact on life-expectancy. Those are all statistically proven data backed with extensive research. So i would say you might end up being healthier eating fish and veggies than eating (v)Huel.

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Houston we have a solution. Send them @2958302 Huel men.

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Hi @1i3to, sorry if you have already answered this but but if I asked you what you consumed yesterday in terms of calories? amino acids (amounts for each of the 9 eaa), how much fat, protein, carbs you had, how much linoleic acid (LA – an omega-6 fatty acid) and alpha linolenic acid (ALNA – an omega-3), let alone the amount of each of the 26 essential vitamins and minerals would you know? If not are you not just taking the same approach as @Omc and will stop/change your diet when you feel bad?

That looks amazing!

Throw in some ginger and I’d be eating them all day. :yum:

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@Julian my typical day would contain
Dairy/yougurt/oats for light breakfast
Few handful of berries
Handful of nuts
Fish
Various vegetables / salads
Soup (that’s the only thing that i don’t cook, our office has a restaurant)

I try to be within 2000kcal but i am not too concerned about specific number.
I try to pick dishes that either require some quick mashing of veggies into a bowl or putting stuff into a baking tray and into the oven, so i rarely spend over 5 minutes on cooking anything.
I won’t be able to tell you the exact amount of amino acids though.

I can definitely see how i can save time and not go to a supermarket daily but i should be able to sell the idea to my girl-friend, otherwise i am not getting any benefits and just messing with my habits that took so long to establish.

My main concerns are —

  1. Taking supplements for extended period of time is probably harmful
  2. Being vegan is not proven to be healthier than pesco-vegetarian

@1i3to thank you for the information. I understand it’s tricky but you haven’t listed all nutritional information. Unlike someone using Huel who would have all the data. This is the fundamental issue, you currently don’t know if you are eating a nutritional complete meal plan or not.

If you don’t know what you are consuming in terms of protein, amino acids, amount of the 26 essential vitamins and mineral, etc, how do you know what harm you might be doing to yourself. You said this about OMC - ““i will stop if it will feel bad” is hardly a good approach, it might be too late or it will take you months to recover.” Surely you are taking exactly the same approach?

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@Julian I get your point about “it’s better to get everything you need from supplements than not get it at all” but are you claiming that supplements are good for a prolonged daily consumption? Because there re a lot of studies that clearly show that they are not.

Shouldn’t we work towards getting all the required nutrition from whole foods, instead of settling with something that is potentially dangerous in the long run?

@1i3to could you list some of these studies please.

It is also dangerous in the long run to be deficient in nutrients. Did you know?

According to the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, vitamin D deficiency is thought to affect at least half of the UK’s the white population, up to 90% of the multi-ethnic population and a quarter of children. Symptoms of the deficiency include muscle weakness and pain.

More than two billion people in the world have some degree of iron deficiency, according to the British Committee for Standards in Haematology. Can cause tiredness and lethargy (lack of energy), shortness of breath, heart palpitations (noticeable heartbeats), a pale complexion.

Iodine deficiency is the most common cause of preventable mental impairment worldwide, affecting a third of the world’s population. It also causes thyroid problems.

etc.

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A vague scare tactic to keep everyone taking prescription drugs instead. Hardly anyone ever dies from nutritional supplements, yet MANY people die from prescription drugs taken as prescribed. The most extreme example being chemotherapy, which kills more people than it saves. The pharmaceutical industry (whose main concern is profit, not health) has a massive hold over the NHS.

Okay, fair enough.

Unlikely, since Huel contains a more complete balance of macro and micro nutrients. If it’s true that some people live for many years eating mostly fish, then they will probably be just fine on something which contains a more complete set of nutrients than the fish.

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A vague scare tactic to keep everyone taking prescription drugs instead

I think it’s vague because not all supplements are equally dangerous. B-9 is absorbed better from fortified foods for example. Some supplements are quite dangerous though. For example calcium supplements, have been tied to an increased risk of kidney stones and various other bad stuff (http://www.gulfbend.org/poc/view_doc.php?type=news&id=176327&cn=72) To understand the risk you would need to go supplement by supplement.

Do you really think that trading something that works for you and let your ancestor live to hundred years for something that is not proven to actually do more good for you than bad is a good idea?

The more i read about supplements the more it seems like general consensus is that “you should take it if you are deficient, you should avoid it and get it from whole foods otherwise”.

Okay, I can do that…

What I have done is compared the amount of each nutrient in 2000 calories of Huel with the amount that the NHS says is the maximum. Here I give a percentage of each:

Vitamin A: 53%
Vitamin D: 60%
Vitamin E: 6%
Vitamin C: 30%
Thiamin: 3%
Riboflavin: 3%
Niacin: 4%
Pantothenic Acid: 4%
Vitamin B6: 2%
Biotin: 6%
Folic Acid: 25%
Vitamin B12: < 1%
Vitamin K: 9%
Calcium: 74%
Iodine: 30%
Iron: 87%
Potassium: 90%
Manganese: 232%
Magnesium: 153%
Zinc: 45%
Copper: 150%
Selenium: 30%
Chromium: 1%

So, there are a few that are over, but I suspect the NHS amounts are very conservative. Well, having read up on the subject a lot, I’m pretty sure they are.

If you applied that logic to other areas of life, you might say: walking is the best way to travel, because that’s what our ancestors did for many years. I love walking, but if I need to travel 20 miles to work, I’ll drive my car thanks.

As an intelligent species, we invent technology to propel our species forwards. Supplements and meal replacement drinks are merely nutrition technology. We are finding ways to outsmart nature. But it is still all a part of nature indirectly, because we invent these things, and we ourselves are a part of nature. Technology is part of the forward evolution of our species.

Life moves forwards because of our technology. I see absolutely no reason why nutrition should not be a part of that.

Just because something has been so for many years, does not mean it is the best way forward. Nothing would ever change if we thought like that.

That’s absolutely fine if you are certain you can get all the nutrients from food. How sure can you be that every avocado you eat, for example, was grown in optimally nourished soil? How can you be sure that the orange you eat contains the amount of vitamin C you think it does?

You see, humans have already interfered with natural food by over farming it and transporting it long distances.

But of course, you can try and grow everything in your garden if you like. If you manage that, I will salute you, I really will.

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Sorry, why are we talking so much about supplements compared to whole food?

Huel is mostly whole food, with any small quantities of “supplements” added to avoid deficiencies. If I was eating a diet of vegetables, fish, nuts, berries, etc. I might discuss it with a qualified nutritionist who’d advise I add a specific ingredient, or supplement, it they believe it necessary or better, to my regular diet to make sure I get what I need.

Instead of fish and berries, I could be buying oats, and peas, and flaxseed… I could essentially make Huel myself at home, out of whole foods, and blend it myself. However, I find it more convenient to pay for them to do that for me, then ship the dehydrated powder to me to add water to, plus they can measure it more accurately and have already checked dietary requirements with a nutritionist. I could read studies on nutrition and debate findings of studies, but quite frankly I don’t have the time - I have studies relating to my work to get through, and even devoting serious research time to the subject of nutrition I’m not going to get as good an understanding as someone like James who has knowledge and experience I probably can’t hope to match with my elite googling skills. Nutrition is James’ job and he says I can eat Huel, I eat Huel and feel better than I already did… & I didn’t go from fast food to Huel, I was on a very healthy diet (or so I hoped, given discussed lack of knowledge) of lean proteins, vegetables, brown rice (even though I hate brown rice, white rice is so much nicer) etc. but as well as saving time and money I’m more energetic than before, training better… I even (kinda) have abs now! I wasn’t even aiming for that. :smile:

And what my ancestors did is moot; I’m not content with what worked previously, I want what works better (time to inovate, grandpa!), and, for me at least, the past few months have demonstrably proven that it’s Huel.

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Talking about ancestors, probably the most staple food from the neolithic times to the Middle Ages was pottage. This is a kind of soup-stew made from oats. People made different kinds of pottage. Sometimes they added beans and peas. On other occasions they used other vegetables such as turnips and parsnips. . When people of higher economic rank, such as nobles, ate pottage, they would add more expensive ingredients such as meats.

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Thank you so much for your detailed replies. This is by far best user support and community i’ve seen ^^

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I do love this community.

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You still haven’t answered the “is it explosive” question. I’m a physics undergrad, I’d be happy to research that, with some funding of course :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

That’s the sort of research that would get an IgNoble.

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Our ancestors died at 30, nuff said.

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Hiya

You mentioned low b12 as a result of being vegan - how do you know? Did you get a blood test? What other problems were there?

My understanding is that lots of people are deficient in b12 regardless of being vegan or not (I have sources if you’re interested), and yes, more and more evidence is proving that a sensible plant-based diet provides everything you need, as does huel - although huel probably does it more precisely and more comprehensively.

So I wouldn’t worry about the vegan aspect, and instead worry about the consequences of consuming acidic animal protein and dairy products…

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I am a vegan - have been for 29 years…I have had my blood tested several times over the years for B12 and my levels are good. But individuals are different. At my age B12 deficiency is more common and happens to vegans, vegetarians and omnivores. The good thing is that vegans are more likely to be aware of B12 deficiency issues then omnivores and many do take food supplemented with it.