I’ve been using Heul(only) for about a week now, everything else is just about perfect, I don’t crave for cooked food that much as other mentioned, my stomach feels really well. But my brain is off almost 50%(to exaggerate a little bit). I felt like I had a pint of Guinness almost every few hours, can’t concentrate, dropped 250 points at chess.com in just one week since I changed my diet, where my rank used to be stabled around 1200. Don’t want to spend time on my thesis all of sudden.
I’ve done some research yesterday and this looks like b12 deficiency symptom to me, so I ordered some methyl b12 and vitamin b complex online. I will see how it goes.
Interestingly I’ve had this situation before, that’s when i was trying to switch to vegetarian, had very similar symptoms, I see no one else posted anything related to brain functioning after changing to Heul so I assume this i have experienced must be rare, just want to know what could be the cause, and any suggestion would be hugely appreciated!
I’m by no means an expert but are you sure you’re eating enough of it? Just because you feel satiated doesn’t necessarily mean you’re getting all of the calories you need.
Hey Bilb, well I had less in the first few days, miscalculated the amounts I need in the beginning, but gradually increased, now I do 5 scoops per meal and four times per day, that should give around 2700 cals, I guess perhaps I need a few more days to see any changes. But thanks for the advice!
I’m quite lazy, play squash once a week, walk up and down a big hill about 20 minutes per day avg. Apart from that, mostly sitting on a sofa
Yes I sleep like a pig.
Not sure about this, I have about 2700 now, but for first few days I had only about 2000 cals.
Quite unhealthy, skipping breakfast was usual, normal lunch at university, I don’t eat much, normal dinner, usually fish and some rices/bread.
I remember not coping well with coconuts, not sure if it’s allergy or not though.
I checked NHS website, wikipedia etc, it seems b12 deficiency can develop rather soon after changing to Vegan diet, follow a fad diet or have a generally poor diet for a long time? Also, although this is not a reliable source, but I’ve seen people posted very similar things after changing to vegan diet. I’m not sure if this is indeed the cause but seems too soon to exclude it out.
Could it just be a sugar thing? I have horrific brain fog for about two weeks after i go sugar free. It should be enough to keep me sugar free but I go back to the hard stuff and then have to go cold turkey again!
It could well be that, I suspected fluctuation in blood sugar level. The only reason I prefer to think it’s something to do with vitamin b is that the symptoms resembled so well with what I experienced two years ago, when I was trying to be vegetarian, and it seems brain fog in vegan/vegetarian diet is usually caused by b6 and b12 deficiency from what I researched.
But anyway, do you think adding some sugar to it would help? Or mix it with banana? I’d love to have a try tomorrow and see if it change anything.
Looks like several factors could likely be the cause and I can’t pin down to a single one, I guess i should try all at once, if it works i can reduce each to see which is actually helping. Not very scientific but the only method i could afford with time at stake. Thanks for your replay!
The amount of B12 in Huel is very tiny, but that’s because the NRV is tiny. If you are deficient, it probably won’t be enough to correct that deficiency. I read that the NRVs (previously known as RDAs) are just basic levels set by governments to prevent the average person from developing severe deficiency diseases such a rickets or scurvy.
But here’s the issue: everyone’s nutritional needs are different. Some people require significantly more of some nutrients. I was speaking to the owner of a health shop a few years ago, and he said the reason why many people end up deficient in B12 is because they have a problem absorbing it in the duodenum. This can be the case even if someone eats a lot of animal products (this happened to a work colleague of mine who was NOT vegetarian). This is why sublingual B12 tablets or injections from your doctor can be so effective at correcting a B12 deficiency.
So, buy yourself some high strength sublingual B12 tablets, they almost certainly won’t do you any harm. Or if you are very worried, get tested by your doc and then maybe you’ll get a B12 injection. One of my brother’s friends had a B12 injection years ago and said he felt amazing for weeks afterwards.
Fair, I thought my previous unhealthy diet might have brought me to the edge of b12 deficient, and when I changed to Heul, maybe my stomach needed sometime to get use to it to fully absorb everything in it.
Thanks to the vitamin b complex and b12 yesterday, I feel a lot better now, worked like magic. Still a bit off occasionally but definitely much better, I will see how it goes. I’m not sure if it’s increasing the calories or b12 intake that actually helped but will stick to it for a while since there’s no harm. I hope this thread would help others who’s having the same problem
I get this foggy head after I’ve had a binge day and had too much sugar. Sugar has addictive tendencies same as nicotine, both affecting the brain. It usually takes a few days to overcome the ‘down’.
Staying away from refined sugar helps your body regulate your blood sugar level better, sugar from fruit is better for you as it is in fibre and therefore slower to digest.
After a while what you find is, that your body no longer relies on carbs as its main source of energy but uses fat instead (Keto Diet) which has strong success and simulates the diet that our ancestors would have had, and they lived well enough…
