I don’t know about you guys, but increasingly recently I’ve been targeted by people pontificating about why I shouldn’t be on “that” stuff.
I feel like it’s almost like a religion I have to defend. The drinkers Vs non drinkers. Now, of course I could just ignore their statements and say that I’m not forcing them to drink it. But when they keep making inaccurate statements about it, I don’t think it’s fair to encourage their belief that these drinks are just “meal replacing diet foods” or that “their a money grabbing company that is playing the environmentally friendly card to earn money.”
They obviously haven’t done any research into the company or it’s product. But me telling them what I know to be true doesn’t help either.
How do you guys deal with the anti-hueligans? Because I have found that people are either for it, don’t know about it, or a dead against it. And it’s the last type of people that are the hardest to deal with.
How can you comfortably drink / eat something everyone around you is judging you for?
Think about something that society does think is normal, and which some normal-identifying, extroverted people might do. Especially something you might think should actually be considered weird – maybe eating meat at every meal, or insisting on greeting people with a kiss on the cheek. How would they most effectively defend what they do if they challenged you on it?
I think the trick would be that they’d shrug off the idea that there was anything to challenge. What they do is normal. Whatever you’ve said to challenge them just isn’t a serious comment deserving attention. They’re just going to ignore it and keep on being normal-identifiyng. If they actually get drawn into an argument on the merit, they’ll actually end up doing a less good job of defending their social norms because they’ll make it look like it’s up for debate.
Colleagues and family members mostly. My fiancé doesn’t like the idea of me having it all the time but isn’t opposed to it like others.
I get comments like “why don’t you just eat a good balanced meal if you want to lose weight”
Or
“Any food that you get from a bottle can’t be good for you.”
Or
“What a waste of money, just cut your calories and exercise more if you want to lose weight.”
Which it makes it very hard not to launch into an argument about how I’m not doing it to lose weight, I’m doing it because it’s healthy and I hate the traditional ways of getting the same nutrients, plus it is more convenient and I don’t want to eat animal products if I can help it. Not that I’m fully vegitarian. Just because I do lose weight while on the stuff doesn’t mean that’s the root reason I have it.
I don’t get why people care so much about something that isn’t affecting them in the slightest.
I think an issue is that many people do use it for weight loss and it gets seen as such. It’s good for weight loss as it makes it easy to calorie count. Plenty of people (like me) talk about consuming Huel just because it is healthy, but often gets lost in the noise of weight loss.
Just do a massive Huel fart and say “That’s why, mate. Can you ‘balanced diet’ produce that sort of sound and smell?” and leave it at that. Case closed.
Present the facts and if they still argue let them know that you’re a grown adult capable of making your own decisions… Harsh and probably the only way.
“why don’t you just eat a good balanced meal if you want to lose weight”
Answer, I could or I could use Huel and get a fully balanced meal with zero prep giving me more time to exercise
“Any food that you get from a bottle can’t be good for you.”
Answer, have you seen what goes into it?
“What a waste of money, just cut your calories and exercise more if you want to lose weight.”
Answer, It’s actually cheaper then a sandwich and far more nutritious. Plus because it doesn’t need cooking, I have more time to exercise and be healthy
A lot of people are set in their ways and maybe some will come around
Two colleagues that don’t even know me that well gave me a really hard time today where I felt I had to really defend my eating habits. I know the right thing to do is not care about it, but sometimes things like that just ruins the day. I feel like I should have Huel every single lunch now just to stick it to them.
I’ve had a huge range of responses from people at work when they see my lunch. Four colleagues have ended up writing down the website and have started using it, but a couple think I have some kind of terrible eating disorder.
If it helps anyone, my go to response when I’m questioned about it is “it’s made with oats and rice” and after that generally go “oh that’s cool so it’s good for you and filling then”
I think that helps people understand it’s not a “liquid” diet and that it has real food. I will add that I say this even if I’m using Huel black which has no oats. For me it’s just the easiest way to explain what it is. I get a lot of “is that a protein shake” and answering “no it’s made of oats” for some reason really helps. If I’m questioned further I go into more detail more, but “it’s oat based” is usually enough for people.
I got used to that in my pre-Huel days. As a long term vegan my lunches have been a source of intrigue to the meat and 2 veg fraternity. When I started Huel they just knew it was gonna be yet more “weird vegan crap*”.
I never really had people commenting on the food I do eat, but what has never stopped is endless comments when I refuse food that’s offered to me. Everyone’s chill with me eating a block of tofu, but refuse a slice of cake and it gets a reaction every single time. I’ve been vegan six years and still every time I visit my grandma she’s shocked that I don’t want any chocolate biscuits. Huel is the only time I’ve really been questioned on my own food.
I totally get what you mean (not at work clearly, but meeting new people and stuff I get this too). What I find helps is talking about Huel (Powder) as a really nutritious smoothie with oats and protein and flaxseed. Some people already make smoothies for breakfast, this is just that but even better.
The other thing that helped me recently when I was talking to people about it was to talk about Hot & Savoury or Bars. “It’s not just powder, this is my favourite, but I also have their Hot & Savoury. It’s like a really tasty, warm rice/quinoa bowl with herbs and spices, but also loads of vitamins and minerals and stuff.” Their response was much more receptive as they saw Huel for a wider purpose. As well as saying Huel is for your most inconvenient meal (but that’s quite salesy and might seem weird coming from someone who doesn’t work for them!)
But look, people really shouldn’t be so judgemental. They are, but they shouldn’t be. You don’t need to try and sell/justify Huel to them, so try not to worry. It’s just your lunch and you like it, they don’t need to worry.
Even family can be thoughtless at times. I have been vegetarian for years but my stepsister still served me a jacket potato filled with cheese and bacon a few years ago. I politely refused and reminded her I am vegetarian. She said ‘but it’s only a bit of bacon’ and was rather miffed that I wouldn’t eat it.
My general response is to compare what they see as normal food? So saying that normal food for people around the world is seen as disgusting to them. Its all a perspective of how you are brought up and brainwashed that their everyday meal is normal, yet other people are perfectly healthy from their so-called disgusting food.
Agreed. I try (mostly successfully) to not judge others food choices, especially from those overseas who have grown up with a whole new set of food identities
I have noticed a huge difference in their opinion since I started getting the korma hot and savoury. Although it’s comical because they’ll say “mmmm that smells good, what is it?” And I’ll say huel korma and they’ll go “yuk.”
I don’t mind, huel is a kind of super power. Time altering, mind bending and tasty power. It’s the first thing in my life I’ve been happy to say “I don’t care what you think”
