I’m well into my third day of Huel use (125g twice per day and a regular evening meal) and am finding the energy release, satiety and general usage excellent, despite the fine layer of dust that covers my kitchen each time I open the bag.
One thing that has disturbed slightly is the movement of one’s bowels. The first day was great, with a single, solid bronze sausage, less than usual, but to be expected with a lower amount of solid food.
Subsequent steamers have been somewhat messier affairs, reminiscent of a hot chili or curry experience, to the point where our downstairs thunder-closet may develop PTSD. Passing wind is now akin to Russian roulette. Now, being a recent father I am adept at dealing with this sort of thing, though usually I have a better view. I was wondering three things:
Is this a universal experience?
Does this settle down?
What’s the the slight “Chili” feel? The most exciting ingredient is peas, without a hint of Habanero.
I apologise wholeheartedly for some of the content, but hope this goes some way to opening the conversation around this topic and putting my mind (bowels) at rest.
This has brightened up my day haha! Unfortunately I can’t help with your ‘issue’ as I’m picking up my first batch later but thanks for making me chuckle
Ah, I thought 2 meals a day was pretty “sensible” at 125g. I find it much easier to peer at the scales through clouds of dust than to rely on filling a cup accurately.
Having now gone through these days I think I should probably stick it out, like ripping off a band aid. A change in diet doesn’t necessary explain all of the effects though.
I’ve been vegan well over a year, with Flaxseed (a common ‘purge assistant’) making up a goodly part of the meals, and much of the Huel fibre seems to come from Flaxseed. The dribbles is a known side-effect of Cyanocobalamin and a couple of other ingredients through, but these are common enough in most diets to not be stand out here.
I had my 125g meal at 715am this morning, and I’m still not peckish for a snack now; and still as alert as one can be after a morning of excel and conference calls. This is a massive improvement on my usual lazy grazing.
Must admint after a few days I made the mistake of dropping what i thought would be a slight parp, only to find that it was deadly silent but cleared the bank of desks around me. Most were disgusted but some were genuinely woried about my bowels.
My specific experience commenced with the intention of subtly releasing some unwanted gas, with the tried and tested “it must be one of the hounds” approach, only to find myself marching at a positively military 120 paces per minute to the throne room using just the lower half of my legs.
I must say Huel is working out very well, I have taken to preparing Huel the night before with a couple of shots of Espresso in the mix, then leaving it in the fridge overnight.
It really does benefit from advance mixing and chilling.
Haha Oli
I got mine yesterday , started with a normal lunch, then 2.5 scoops of Huel for dinner .
Had 2 scoops for breakfast and soon will have it for lunch too.
So far my body seems fine, no real gas apocalypse or similar, guessing everyone’s body acts differently.
Must say it gives me much more energy and feel more awake after fuel in the morning!
Good luck with the acclimatisation
just replying because it seems nobody is calming the waters, I had a similar experience the first time, but just the first time I used it, I felt on fire, however that stopped, and currently, the days I take huel for the most part my metabolism feels better and going to the bathroom feels much nicer than in a normal day, so yes, I recommend going through that first bad experience if you have it and give it a try for longer
It depends on how good your diet was before of course, but switching to Huel can be a major change. My, erm, ‘movements’ were unaffected but I had some pretty epic farts in the first week; to the point I had to leave the house for quick walks when I felt one coming.
I’ve not seen birds near my house since. Ha, I jest, but yeah, I definitely knew my body was adjusting to something. They went away after a few days though, thank god.
The immature child in me got such a good laugh from this I feel I have to come clean (no pun intended.) My bowel movements are infrequent but can be rather pungent. The gas issue however… well. I sometimes find myself with my colleague stuck in very small confined spaces (such as up a chimney stack in hot temperatures). Not that I’m particularly sadistic, but the only time he didn’t wretch was when we were painting with toxic three-part paints. And that wasn’t because the paints covered the stench, it was because the industrial spec professional paint masks were brand new and filtered absolutely everything!
Chilli feel… I can only assume that’s because everything is moving that little bit quicker as it’s not solid!
I jumped straight in with 3 scoops twice a day and it felt like i was about to mess my pants when waking! I had lots of gas and went through 2 rolls of toilet paper in work for 2 days and it settled down. I read its a normal reaction when making a drastic change to the diet though…just have to barrel through and be prepared if it does happen!
Coming to Huel after Joylent there was absolutely no change in my movements. But even when I switched to Joylent from regular food I can’t remember a time when my bowels had been markedly confused. Guess I’ve been lucky.
I’m glad someone else started this thread and it isn’t just me. I’m drinking 116g of Huel for my lunch every Monday through Friday. The first week was W/C 4th of Jan and all was going well but there was an awkward moment on the Friday when I thought I was just a bit gassy, but was very grateful to be able to get to a toilet at short order… not an experience I have ever had before and not normal for me.
I was skiing the following week so lunch mainly consisted of currywurst in the Austrian Alps. Back on the Huel this week, the Friday incident made me slightly nervous but not enough to put me off, and hopefully it’s just my body adapting.
I’ve replaced 2/3 to 3/4 of my food intake with Huel (alternating with other, similar products). I did it largely to combat an IBS-type (offensive) wind & bloating issue with my “normal diet”. To a large extent it has worked, depending on what else I eat for the remaining intake.
I did find a change to bowel movement as, at my best guess, my body adjusted to a decent amount of dietary fibre but that settled down very quickly. Now, I can honestly say my digestive system has never been so calm and “normal”.
Am I the only one having a negative experience with my huel poo? I am 100% huel and I find that often have to go twice in one day, instead of once a day or less. And when I do go, I have to strain and push for ages before a little bit plops out. Its not hard (consistency wise), its just that I have to wait around for the next bit, and then the next bit… gone are the days of just taking a decent mansized dump and being done with it. Now its just this seemingly endless line of small blobs with space in between, which I have to squeeze out from deep inside.
@ solid bronze sausage !
