Hi everyone,
I keep getting adverts for huel on my timeline, and am thinking it looks interesting both for me and my youngest child, who has a genetic condition and has a feeding tube. I currently blend food for her, as opposed to using standard medical formulas which claim to be nutritionally complete but lots of tube feed people have issues with (e.g. see https://youtu.be/WofYeBYVmp8 - not my kid but definitely my story minus the bit about setting up a business…)
Anyway, I have two questions- I use quite a lot of calorically dense foods in the blends as my daughter needs extra calories. I usually aim for between 1.2- 1.5 kcal per ml. I read the guide on how to use Huel which suggested 100g of powder in 500ml of water which would work out to 0.8 kcal/ml. Is it possible to add more powder to the same volume of water? Will it still blend?
Secondly, is there any guidance on using Huel for kids? The whole point of blending real food is that I can give her a variety of fresh foods so I wouldn’t use it as her only source of nutrition, but as a replacement for some of her meals to ease my workload. I should also say there are no medical issues with allergies or malabsorption- the feeding tube is due to a neurological issue with swallowing.
Advice would be appreciated. We see a dietician twice a year but they are massively overloaded with work and not much use anyway…
Thanks!
I think the ingredients Huel use are fantastic, and I’ve seen it said elsewhere in the forum that experience with huel is much better than esure and so on, so you might be on to something that’ll slot into your little ones diet nicely and ease the pressure for you.
The only red flag for me is that huel is aimed at adults really, so the nutritional profile targets RDA’s for a 2000kcal a day diet. I’ve got two little ones myself (aged 3 and 4) and they love huel and always want to have a sip when I’m drinking some. I’ll let them have a bit as a snack/treat, but I’ve yet to replace a full meal of theirs with it, even when I was using huel as 100% of my daily food intake (did 60 days of this and felt fantastic on it).
I don’t see any reason it wouldn’t work for them though, so long as they had the right amount for a child sized meal. If you give the label a look it should be fairly easy to figure out amounts - perhaps show it to your dietician or doctor at your next appointment?
Yep, more huel just means a thicker consistency. I’ve had it from easy to drink right up to something more akin to cake batter. You just need to experiment a bit to get the right consistency that works best for you.
Have you seen the sample pouches?, maybe grab a couple of those and mix some up for you both to try so you can get a better feel for it?
One extra thing worth mentioning, a few forum users have experienced excessive wind in the first few days after switching to using Huel as a high % of their diets (I definitely did). It passes in a few days and isn’t really anything major, but worth knowing about. Seems like it’s down to the increase in fibre that some people wouldn’t have been getting prior to huel.
Just spotted this on the nutrition page
Children - Huel is not suitable for children under 3 years of age. However, older children may include Huel as part of a balanced diet that includes a variety of other foods but Huel should not be their sole source of nutrition as they have different nutritional requirements to adults; for more information see our Beginner’s Guide to Nutrition.
Hi - the issue of using Huel in Tube feeding has come up before. If there are no contra-indications for using Huel relating to the medical condition, Huel could work through a tube via the bolus / syringe method of administration. As Huel can be quite thick and has the ground flaxseed particles here are a few essential points:
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Flush the tube with at least 50ml of (sterile) water before AND immediately after administering the Huel boluses.
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Blend Huel well in plenty of water (as opposed to useg then shaker). I’d stick with the 100g in 500ml and wouldn’t risk any thickerl; I realise it’s not very energy dense compared to some feeds, but Huel is more nutritious.
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Any doubt, check with your dietitian
Huel in kids - see the link above, but I’ll ahve an article on this issue out in a week or so.
Thanks everyone for the info, much appreciated. In researching this further I came across a company in the US who make a real food formula optimised for pediatrics: http://functionalformularies.com/products/nourish
Like Huel it’s based on peas /beans and brown rice. I need to look into this further though because it would cost 4-5x more than Huel when factoring in shipping from the states, so I need to figure out if the difference in micro and macronutrients is worth it. Especially as like I said I don’t intend this to be her only feed. (Liquid) food for thought anyway!