I personally need less than 2000 cals a day to stay the same weight cos I’m a shortie. But I figure that the RDAs are very generalised, and seeing as I am smaller than an ‘average’ person, I probably need less of everything anyway.
It does get tricky to not become deficient in anything when dieting however - but this is probably even harder when dieting with ‘normal’ food. At least with Huel we know it’s a well balanced and nutrient dense diet.
Personally I think the RDAs are not perfect science anyway, and you’d have to be consuming considerably less for a long period of time, to become deficient in any particular vitamin or mineral.
Probably the safest / simplest thing to do is stick to a small calorie deficit (500) and include plenty salad and veg in your diet which is low in calories but high in vitamins / minerals.
And if you are dieting long-term ie longer than 3 months, get a blood test at the GP to see if you are becoming deficient in anything, and then supplement only with what you need to.
I’m 100% Huel at 3.000 kcal, to maintain or even gain a bit of weight.
Would this mean I’m overdoing it on vitamins and minerals ?
You actually got me a little interested in further explanation, thanks @Ian42
Hi @Ian42 - I think you are thinking about it too much
The ‘RDAs’ (NRVs) are set at amounts that are just a little bit more than the amount needed to prevent deficiency and allow for a bit of storage. Sure, they cover the amount for 97.5% of the population, but they are just a guide. You really need to go some to over-do it. Indeed, there is the effects of antinutrients to consider as well, eg iron and zinc.
What will be of interest to you is the article on the safe upper limits we have being written by @RebeccaOfficialHuel - due out by the end of March latest/
Would I be correct in saying that many of the vitamin/mineral amounts we would get from 2000 calories of huel are actually more than the RDAs so if consuming less than 2000 calories we would still probably be getting 100% of many of the vitamins & minerals.
@JamesCollier thanks for that.
So if I am just having the 3 Huels a day, 1500 calories, your saying there’s still enough vitamins in that each day without the need for extra vitamin tablets?
Lol I am still none the wiser, I guess blood tests would need to be done to know for sure.But in the mean time, where 2000 calories are guaranteed to meet the NRV, I think 1500 calories probably doesn’t then. So maybe a slight top of vitamins is needed.
Meaning that at 100% RDA, one would have barely more than the minimum needed.
So, I guess ‘overdoing it’ is a challenge in its own
A little question though.
Too much Vitamin C wouldn’t do harm, other than a slight laxative effect.
Any idea how much that would be?
Compared to RDA in percentage, for example?
Some would but others like vitamin A can be toxic in high doses as apparently it’s stored in the body for future use if the body doesn’t need it at the time. So with Huel, consuming the full 2000 calories gives you 800ug’s which is 100 RDA, me having 3 Huels for example is 600ug’s, so if I take a multivitamin which has 800ug’s of Vitamin A in it, that’s 1400ug’s . After a lot of googling some say adults Vitamin A levels, 900ug for men and 700ug for women each day and some like the NHS say 700ug for men and 600ug for women. They say some research says taking more than 1.5mg ( 1500ug ) over many years may effect your bones making them fracture more easier when your older. But old people tend to fracture bones easier anyway from what I have seen .
So from what I have read there, taking under 1.5mg’s a day as a maximum should be ok, I think. But I also read taking more than the recommended RDA over several months can be toxic.As I said as it’s a fat soluble vitamin it’s stored in the body .
It’s definitely a bit of a head fuck this, then there are the other fat soluble vitamins to look at. I think I won’t bother with multivitamins for now, the NHS say 700ug’s of Vitamin A for men and I am getting 600 from 3 Huels so it’s near enough for me.
Also relevant to this is the form of vitamin A. It is far harder to overdose and encounter problems with high intakes of beta carotene than it is with pre-formed retinol. This is because retinol is the active form of vitamin A, whilst beta carotene has to be converted to the active form by the body. Incidentally, this is why it isn’t dangerous to consume a lot of carrots (which have a huge amount of beta carotene in them).
Reckon I’ll stick with my 2 Huel meal replacements and a veg rich third meal.
