I’ve seen that there are plenty of posts on Huel and headaches.
And I am not fully done reading them all.
So far I have not found an applicable solution – besides stopping Huel – in them.
I add this new post here also as feedback for the product team of Huel. I have the impression that they really listen to the community.
I replace breakfast and lunch by Huel.
I like the taste and it fits my work schedule very well.
I am only eating/drinking Huel Black.
I started with unflavored, and I finished the whole bag without any headache.
To bring in some variety I had Vanilla as second bag. At least after the second meal of Huel per day I experienced headaches. They were mild and I experience similar headaches from drinking diet coke. Therefore I would expect it is related to the sweetener.
Now I am with my 3rd bag of Huel and back to unflavored – no headaches at all.
So as it seems so far only Vanilla is causing headaches for me.
I am going to test the other flavors too and might update this post.
I am happy that unflavored Huel causes no “side effects” for me.
I really want to continue with Huel, as for me it is the perfect food for the office.
Hi Peter, thanks for sharing your experience and sorry to hear you’ve run into trouble. It maybe that you don’t get on with the stevia in Huel but it’s difficult to say. You could try upping your fluid intake to see if that helps.
If you really don’t get on with the Vanilla flavour then there are loads of things you can add to your UU flavour to get the most out of your Huel. My favourites are blended frozen fruit, peanut butter or the flavoured syrups you can add to coffee.
Huel black and Diet Coke use different sweeteners I think. But if I were you I wouldn’t test any further and just stick to U/U and add your own extras to it if you want to mix it up a bit! At least you know that one doesn’t affect you and means you can keep using it.
I learned that Huel Black Edition and Diet Coke (called Coke light and Coke zero where I live) use different sweeteners.
So even if the headaches would be related to the sweeteners it is not because the same sweetener is used. Also, I found little to no evidence that Stevia causes headaches.
I’ll try some more Huel flavors. If the headaches persist - I am going to flavor Huel UU on my own as @Dan_Huel and @Herbivore suggested.
I changed my diet around a month ago and I’ve been almost, but not quite, exclusively on Huel for a month. Shakes during the day and H&S in the evening with some veggies.
Yesterday, for the first time in five years, I had a migraine with aura (scotoma). This only happens when my electrolytes get too low. I used to get them weekly as a teenager, but only had four or five in the past 30 years because I’m careful to get the electrolytes in whenever I exercise or play sports.
I’ve not played any sports this past month. I suspect my potassium levels have dropped. It seems to be the one thing that cronometer shows as insuffient on what I’m currently consuming on Huel.
Few people are quite as sensitive to the electrolyes as me, so this won’t apply to everybody, but making sure to get electrolytes might help if you’re getting headaches on Huel. I’m going to try adding coconut water to my daily menu - probably in my Huel shakes to replace the water.
I’ve been back on the Huel black for week and waking up with headaches every morning pretty much. I sauna after the gym to so i purposely drink large amounts of water during the day.
Can’t really up my water in take much more I’ll be in the bathroom half the day! Really don’t want to give Huel up but looking that way. Will try adding electrolytes to water first though. Flavour has been coffee.