After several weeks on the Huel… most of the windows in my flat remain open.
…That is all.
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My aforementioned straining has now resulted in my first hemorrhoid, and hemhorridectomy. This was a painful, bloody and frightening experience and I never want to go through it again. Since I’ve never had any problems like this before, and I’ve been eating 95% huel I’m wondering how much the huel is involved. I am recommended to consume high amounts of fiber, and have been given stool softening medicine for the moment, but I thought huel was supposed to be pretty high in fiber already? One thing I don’t do much is drinking water (3 cups coffee, and maybe a glass of water a day). I read now that increasing fiber intake but not increasing water intake can lead to difficult bowel movements. As mentioned, my poop wasn’t particularly hard, but I certainly had to strain to get it out. This is no longer a sustainable activity for me.
So, how much water is required? I assumed (perhaps incorrectly) that i was getting enough water IN the huel, so I didn’t need to add more. If more is needed, maybe you might wanna add some information about this to the general huel instructions, since right now huel claims its complete. If additional water is required, then that needs to be communicated.
I drink about 3 - 4 litres of water separate to Huel and have always done so prior to buying into the product.
Habit (forced) that I picked up from my old gym instructor, he never missed a beat in extolling the virtues and importance of being hydrated. There were even ‘pee’ colour charts in the toilet cubicles in the gym (honestly who’d have thought we’d be discussing poop and pee) showing how the colour related to your hydration status - google images have plenty to refer to.
I think water and hydration have been mentioned in other posts.
Personally I now recognise the signs of becoming dehydrated and always have water to hand. I increase my intake even more so if I’ve been exercising.
Hope that helps
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That is indeed a lot more water that I was consuming. I think some more attention could be brought to this point. Some huel users (like myself) just want to refuel and not have to think about nutrition at all, so its important to give them info like increasing water intake, before they damage themselves.
3-4 litres of water a day is excessive if you don’t mind me sayng? - you’ll literally and actually be leaching nutrients out of your body. Even with hard exercise that amount of water is excessive. Top runners can run a marathon on very little water. It’s a complete myth propagated by the bottled water industry and fairly recent at that - 6 to 8 cups of water a day is fine, or drink when you are thirsty. In the history of competitive running plenty of runners have died from hyponatraemia but not one has ever died from dehydration
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I’ve been Hueling for nearly 3 weeks but my gas and toilet problems are getting worse.
They were bad before but the huel has taken them to a new level. I’m going to take a break now which is a shame as I was starting to lose weight and was generally happy with going 100% huel.
I’ve made an appointment with the doctor but it’s not for a while so will see what happens between then and now.
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So I should discount my own personal observation? My age, height, weight and daily exercise??
The Institute of Medicine determined that an adequate intake (AI) for men is roughly about 13 cups (3 liters) of total beverages a day. The AI for women is about 9 cups (2.2 liters) of total beverages a day.
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Being the sceptic that I am, I just looked into this. Holy crap! It’s true, runners (and other athletes) don’t die from dehydration, although that is what the media widely reports.
Personally I’ve been dehydrated in the past and ended up on fluids in A&E, it’s not the most pleasant (or severely unpleasant) experience I’ve had, but one I’d not like to repeat. 2 ltrs of fluid pumped in via IV - nice…not. I am happy with my hydration, my bloods and sugars are fine (well man check). Hyponatremia is normally associated with far too much all in one go. Spread through the day? No.
I too have been having quite bit of trouble with huel-poop this last week.
A lot of the time I’ll very suddenly need the loo and I’d better go within 5 minutes of feeling uncomfortable or else face the consequences. It’s been very runny for the most part and so far doesn’t seem to have been getting better (am eating around 6 scoops a day at the moment).
I’ve also been pooping a lot more (i know there’s a lot more fibre in there than i normally get). I had to poop 4 times within 90 minutes the other morning!
My husband is also about ready to lock me out of the house before I kill him with farts 
I really hope this gets better, as I’m finding Huel very useful for work. Has anybody else has poop-trouble and found it gets better?
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@squiddy577 for me it’s been more like I need to go quite often, but not much comes out, on a fairly regular basis.
Plus the bad gas I’ve mentioned before. I was about 2-3 weeks in but have taken a break from today.
This isn’t meant as a critique, but I think Huel should contain less fibre. Especially for people who consume 50-100% Huel; I personally believe that people on an all-liquid diet require less fibre.
Especially insoluble fiber, which moves waste through your intestines. In a diet with solid foods, that’s what keeps you regular. But with only liquids, you don’t need that help.
That is why some Huel alternatives have moved to less fibre.
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I find I’m less regular on Huel so does that mean there is, or isn’t enough fibre? 
Well thank you, I have not laughed so much on a Sunday morning for a long time.
It is of course a serious matter though for anyone with adverse experiences. In general I found my body has adjusted well and I went for two Huel meals a day from the start although at the weekend I find that difficult to maintain.
However, I had an emergency experience on a morning run and found I had a divert into some bushes for relief which was rather off putting and I now try and make sure I am properly prepared befor e venturing out for a run.
In addition I struggle with making good food choices when out at weekends and evening meals in the week and this mix of Huel + poor diet seems to confuse my system which has had the result of me finding it difficult to go for a few days last week
My personal conclusion is to accept my body reacts to the food changes but it does settle down after a while and that being consistent would be much better for me.
How long are you going to give it?
I gave it about 2 weeks then had to pause.
I’ve been Huel free for 3 days and am now going to slow try and re-introduce it, since I’ve still got a few bags left.
If you drink too much you pee it out. If you drink too little you get thirsty and pee less. It’s all exquisitely well-controlled in the same way that your intake of oxygen is well-controlled.
Saying that you should drink more water than your body asks for is like saying that you should consciously breathe more often than you feel like because if a little oxygen is good for you then more must be better.
I’m happy to read your reference materials on the subject - especially with regard your conspiracy theory.
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Reference materials? Google is your friend, plenty of research evidence and articles available online. Conspiracy theories? Read Ben Goldacre’s book ‘Bad Science’ - check this article on ‘Brain Gyms’ - pseudo scientific nonsense passed off as fact and actually taught in schools - unbelievable
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I seem to experience this lately and I have been on Huel for quite some time. Not sure what changed.
Though I guess the increased fibre in combination with not enough water may play a role in that.
This could mean that there might be a thin band of optimal hydration that someone on near 100% Huel has to match to avoid suffering from the effects of this high fibre+low hydration problem and on the other end of the spectrum, not ending up spending a lot of time on the loo peeing.