First (almost) week of mostly Huel

Experiences
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I tend to write a lot so I’ll break it down into parts…

Background: I’m an American expat living in Asia, so I ended up here. Local food is good, but I tend to eat western food a lot. Can’t make myself commit to eating rice all the time, and local restaurant food is often too oily for me, and it upsets my stomach. The western food tends to be both expensive and unhealthy. I don’t have a kitchen. I teach at an after school English training center, so I eat and sleep at odd times. When I work until past eight, my food options are limited to burgers and fries (aka chips).

After reading about Huel online, I decided to try it out. I was hoping it could do the following for me:

  • More energy during the day
  • Cheaper than what I can get here
  • Help manage GERD or whatever I have
  • Make my trips to the restroom more… healthy
  • Slim down a bit

So here are my experiences based on the above:

More Energy
This was a huge one. My busiest day of the week is Thursday where I teach for basically 5 hours straight with my craziest and most difficult classes. I realized a while ago that I wasn’t eating enough for lunch, and the reason I was so tired and pissy with kids was because I was crashing. Today has come and gone and I still felt fine. Feeling better during work, I’m convinced, will make my work life much more tolerable.

Cheaper
Living outside of the UK, I have to pay shipping and import tax. After doing some math, I found that 560 calories of Huel after shipping and taxes is still cheaper than my cheapest option: a subway 6 inch sandwich with a drink. Get more calories out of Huel too, but the energy I get from Huel is more complete/healthy.

Manage GERD
I don’t know if I have GERD. The local docs never said what it is. They probably don’t know since they never did any tests. They just gave me PPI medicine and said hopefully it’ll sort itself out. After changing my diet a lot, and avoiding foods that upset my stomach it has settled down a lot, but still flares up from time to time. So far, Huel has not caused me any trouble. No heartburn and my stomach feels calm.

Better Bathroom Trips
So far Huel hasn’t upset my stomach at all. Been careful to drink water. Have had mostly Huel but had some other solid food here and there because I want to (and my local gf doesn’t approve of me only consuming one thing all the time). Trips to the bathroom have been better, but still feel like it’s not all going through… smoothly. A doctor suggested that my problem is that my digestive system is pushing stuff up, not down, and that this can cause problems on the toilet. TBH I’m not sure if that’s even a thing or if it’s just traditional Chinese doctor stuff. Either way, hopefully after more time this’ll improve.

Lose a bit of weight
Too early to tell. This isn’t something I care too much about, and I don’t expect results after just a week. Been doing some exercises, and I guess it’ll sort itself out since I am keeping calories low, and have a way of avoiding junk food.

General thoughts
A good first week. No discomfort, more energy, healthier, better for the environment, easier to clean up, and cheaper. Like the taste, and I’d imagine that if I get bored I can always mix things up by adding stuff to the shake and get different flavors. Only negative experiences are that there was a problem with shipping and felt lightheaded the first day (needed caffeine so I added instant coffee to the shake, problem solved).

Thanks to the Huel team for an awesome product!

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Thanks so much for taking the time to share your experiences, so pleased that Huel is helping you eat healthier and cheaper. Great stat about your usual Subway meal. Keep us posted on the GERD symptoms and how Huel is affecting that.

Also adding caffeine to anything is a great thing in my opinion! That reminds me, time for coffee :coffee:

Great to have you on the team, let us know if you have any questions :slight_smile:

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I know you mean “my gf, who is a local” but it sounds so much like you were distinguishing your local gf from your US gf and I refuse to believe anything you say in protest :joy:

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On a more serious note, whether by coincidence or not, my GERD symptoms started a year or so after I started Huel. There’s a good chance it would have happened anyway but I do tend to notice it flaring on Huel days. I took esomeprazole once a day for two weeks and now I only very occasionally (once or twice a month) have one if I’m planning to have a lot of beer and greasy food

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It’s the opposite for me. I had to chomp Rennies like sweets since my mid-twenties, and was prescribed omeprazole when I finally went to the doc about it. But this year my symptoms have completely disappeared. Either I was allergic to something I’ve now stopped eating, or it was caused by my weight, or hUeL iS a MaGicAL cURe.

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You joke but Huel has healed some mental stuff according to this forum. Some of it literally mental stuff :grin: but I’ve seen eternal hand-biters save their skin, fluttering hearts finally laid to rest, the bedridden boosted, stomachs settled, stools softened, bowels calmed, and hair, teeth, nails and all sorts of orifices shining brighter than they’ve ever shone. Truly magical

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So Huel is basically Jesus?

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You heard it here first folks

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Losing weight can often help alleviate the symptoms.

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Yeah I think it’s that. My hideous booming snore went away too. I still snore, but apparently now it’s “adorable, like a little bird”.

I want my old snore back!

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@RyanT nobody was supposed to know! Now I’m going to have to send my UK girlfriend over to your place to deal with you.

Beer doesn’t seem to bother my stomach that much, but greasy foods, and sugary drinks really mess it up. I have some PPI drug but I don’t know the name because it’s all in Chinese. Works though, so I use that when it’s really bad.

I have read that losing weight can fix it. I gained about 40 lbs really fast, and the symptoms started around then. But also they started suddenly after prescribed medicine for a sinus infection. Local gf and Chinese doctors are convinced the GERD or whatever started because I took antibiotics on an empty stomach and drank coffee for the whole morning before eating lunch. Around that time I’d have Burger King pretty much every day for lunch (the cause of the 40 lb weight gain). I ate horrible food when living in China, and they’re known for using shitty dirty gutter oil in some restaurants so…

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That does sound very cute. I can only imagine. Perhaps @unwat can send his girlfriend found to check when she’s finished with @RyanT.

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Another week has passed and I thought I’d post another update. Haven’t been on the forum for a few days, and just saw the v3.0 post. I’m personally looking forward to it! Just my two cents. Anyway…

Manage GERD
Put this on top since it’s probably more important to me in the long run. I’ve had some flareups over the past week. First, I added a flavor pack a couple times so I could taste the other flavors, and my stomach suffered (no problem without the packs). Second, if I put too much instant coffee in my shake, I will feel the burn all day. I need caffeine, otherwise I’d probably strangle my students. Maybe I should try to find a new way to get caffeine in my Huel.

Lose a bit of weight
My local gf asked me where my boobs went. She’s probably joking. She has some kind of problem where she can eat tons and always looks anorexic so she likes me chubby. Before anyone says it, the “problem” isn’t anorexia, it’s some digestive thing.

Better Bathroom Trips
Besides the acid, my stomach feels fine. Couple of days ago I had a stomachache and couldn’t understand what was wrong with me. Turns out I needed to go. So weird. The actual call of nature was different. Now I’m confused and don’t know when I need to go, so I find myself vising the restroom, sitting for a while, then realizing “not yet.”

More Energy
Second Thursday has passed and didn’t have an energy crash. Feel awake all the time and I don’t look like a panda anymore.

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I’ve been using Huel as my primary food source for three weeks now! I finally subscribed, so I figured I’d update this in case anyone cares.

(maybe) GERD
Chocolate powder really messed me up. Just occurred to me yesterday that it has been the culprit for the past couple weeks. Opened a bag of vanilla yesterday and my stomach is settling. Never buying chocolate Huel again, despite it having a “more indulgent […] flavour with a creamier mouthfeel.”

GAS
Two weeks passed (or rather I didn’t pass) for two weeks. I mean, not the renown Huel bombs I’ve read about on here. At the start of week three to the day, like clockwork, my stomach started rumbling, and the gates of hell burst open. They’re constant and brutal, but for some reason only at night, which I’m grateful for since I’m a teacher. Imagine how that would go if the teacher let off an especially ripe one. I teach in a classroom that is, and I’m not joking, around 3 square meters with a low ceiling and no window for an hour every day.

weight loss
Barely any noticeable weight loss, but it’s happening. I should probably exercise so I can get rid of it faster.

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if you are wanting significant weight loss then absolutely yes - your body very quickly adapts to new diet regimes so need to keep changing it up regularly.

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Late to the party but I used to be a teacher. I taught reception and had a verrrrry farty child in my class one year. One time I let one slip and she straight away said Oops, sorry, I parped! I suppose it was fairly immoral to let her cover for me but I think she genuinely thought all farts were her by that point.

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