I’m going to give it to you straight. I’m probably going to try a competitor. I have largely enjoyed the huel experience, and not just the product (this was probably the least enjoyable bit), but the service, the community have all been really amazing. This isn’t an advertisement for the competitor, I just though the feedback would be useful.
But I had a few growing pains with huel that just never went away. I have mild (and severe ‘episodes’ of) IBS. The growing pains were mainly bad reflux, headaches and my stomach never settling to it properly. It got better, but never settled. And in some cases during episodes of bad IBS they made it so much worse And with 2.2, nothing got better, in fact I’d say some of it got worst.
I’m going to try ‘Solo’, and it’s not something I do lightly. I love the ethos of huel and the head honchos are active on the forum and it feels like a close community. I don’t know if solo is any good, but I need something to help me get back to my old self, powdering, gyming and working and that seems like the best alternative.
When huel 3.0 is out I’m probably going to be the first to try it, because if I can come back to huel, I will. But for now, there is just too many barriers for me. I hope I taste the (strangely nice) earthy goop I once called breakfast and lunch again one day.
We’re obviously really sad to see you go. IBS is a tricky one and it can’t be easy for you to find foods that alleviate your symptoms - we’re just sorry that Huel wasn’t the one for you. All the best with Solo, hopefully it will treat your stomach more kindly.
Good luck with Solo. I tried it, gave me stomach ache and then the most explosive shits ever! They’ve released a newer version since but this still went through me.
Every post i see about Solo strikes me as a bit odd to be honest. From the brand new accounts that were talking to each other about how awesome it is in their first posts, through to the people saying they’ve tried it and it’s amazing / are switching.
Complete foods are largely experimentation, I get that, we’re all testing out the idea that nutrition can be simplified right down to a drink. But Huel is an easy thing to put trust in because I know what’s in it - I can look at the macros/vitamins/minerals/etc and decide if I want to eat it and could do so before I made a purchase.
With solo we get
Solo® contains 100% of nutritionist recommended levels of fibre and all 26 essential vitamins and minerals that you require each day. As it’s plant based, it’s suitable for vegans, is gluten and dairy free and tastes delicious.
And I’m left thinking, who’s going to trust a statements like that without more detailed information? Solo could be awesome, the team might be massively qualified in what they do, but their website just doesn’t get that across.
I also find it hilarious that the Solo team are posting fake reviews on their facebook page pretending to be customers whilst using the same names they moderate their own forums with.
I agree the solo website is pants and massively lacking in basic information. The only way to get to the actual ingredients is to go to buy the product and it’s on that page. It also jumped out at me that they have to add things like magnesium when Huel gets all of theirs from the food.
I’ll have to take your word on the reviewers. I deactivated my fb account because I got fed up with all the bs on there.
The growing pains were mainly bad reflux, headaches and my stomach never settling to it properly.
This sounds very similar to what I get, and it’s driving me insane. @joe93.smith, did you find the competitor product any different? Or did you ever find a way to consume Huel without issues? Any idea what was causing it? I’m mystified because as far as I can see Huel doesn’t contain any of the common sources of food intolerances or allergies (dairy, soy, gluten, etc.).
Thats such a shame My son bought Solo as they do a Salted Caramel flavour, its vile I’m sure I’ve seen ideas on here for the stomach problems, it would be worth a search on here x
I think there’s at least one thread talking about adding coconut oil to ease some of the flatulence related issues. Perhaps that could help if there are general digestive problems?
I basically didn’t get this with any of the competitors I tried (mana and Jake) but I found their products to be generally of lower quality. But I could recommend mana if you were seriously not into huel and don’t mind the soy.
I decided to come back to v2.3 a couple months ago and actually - I’m not having a bad time at all. My IBS is alot better now and I didn’t get the growing pains anywhere near as bad. I came into v2.3 with a strategy though. Immodium for the short term (only a few days) and tumeric for the tummy grumbles.
I found that the headaches were likely (for me) hydration related - I noted that after salty meal (like a huge pizza to myself) I got a similar kind of headache. I wondered if the bulk of porous food was sapping me of water, I have no idea of any sciende behind this of if I’m making this up, but the next time I pigged out on a pizza, I drank tons and viola, no headache. Same has been true with huel. Drinking about 300-600ml of water in addition to the huel mix (I take 2 scoops per 500ml, so its a little thin anyway) seems to remedy my headache.
I’m currently Hueling with v2.3 with very few issues.
I’m sure any of those are fine! I’m specifically taking:
Good luck, I hope it works out better this time! I’d also try using coconut oil capusules too if the tumeric doesn’t do the trick! Or perhaps Emu oil if you’re specifically struggling with IBS symptoms and huel, I don’t use this companies capsules, but I do use their skin stuff and its good! (https://loremcare.co.uk/product/emu-oil-capsules/)
Glad things are working out for you this time round. I too have suffered with IBS (bloating, pain and food intolerances) and have been using v2.3 for a little over 3 weeks now. There was a small amount of bloating initially but this settled down after a few days. Even at this early stage I feel so much better in myself than I have for a very long time.
My son bought Solo as they do a Salted Caramel flavour, its vile 
I’m sure I’ve seen ideas on here for the stomach problems, it would be worth a search on here x