Longtime 100 percent Huel

Nutrition
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Hello Huelers,

I realized I have been using 100% Huel for almost half a year now + before that Huel for breakfast and lunch, but for dinner a normal dinner. Before eating Huel I did already eat healthy, with twice fruit a day, no extra salt and sugar, and in general a balanced diet. However, after already having a bit experimented with Jimmy Joy, and after that with Huel, I decided to eat Huel for most of my food, and then half a year ago for 100%. I chose to do this, because now I can be confident that I get fully all my nutrients, it saves me a lot of time as a student, and it saves me money.

I am eating 2000 kcal (8000 MJ) a day of Huel. I eat Huel Powder (white) - Chocolate for 1600 kcalories: 800 around noon, 800 towards the evening (the timing varies a bit) and then 400 kcal H&S in the evening (to not get caffeine from the chocolate before sleeping + it feels like a nice warm meal). Besides water, I don’t consume anything else (so no tea or coffee or anything). Sometimes (on average one meal a week, but it can differ a bit, mostly when I’m cooking a nice dinner with some people) I eat something else. I’m feeling completely good and energetic with the consumption of Huel, and haven’t been sick since. (I was already healthy without any complications beforehand.)

I have never done any health test, but I definitely should sometime.

My question is: who else has been using (almost) 100% Huel for a while (months)? I know this has been on the forum a couple times, but I think it has been a while, and not that often for v3.0. How is it working for you? Did you do any health tests? I saw there was one official Huel test for 5 weeks with 4 people, I am also interested in people who did it for longer. Also: are there any long term health issues to be taken into account? From the official study I saw there was uric acid increase, is there anything else we should pay attention to?

Also, I want to add that Huel officially doesn’t recommend to use it for 100%, but for many it could be healthy to consume it as part of the diet.

Plus, I want to thank Huel for existing and their great work + this active community as well!

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Yes exactly!

For the average person, probably not.

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H&S makes 100% Huel more feasible because it adds much needed variety (and chewing!). It’s helped take me to 60% Huel right now.

I’m partly using it to lose the Lockdown 1.0 weight, and it’s working really well.

But my experience highlights my concern with 100%: How to get enough Huel calories inside me! According to the NHS BMI calc for my height and activity I need up to 2800 kcals for maintenance. I just find Huel too filling!

Looking at your diet, I wonder how you consume 800kcal in one sitting!

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Over 5 years 100% here. Details probably in my post history.

In short, no health issues, have had numerous regular blood/urine/physical tests and all was fine and stable over the years. My doctors approve of it. No dental issues either, my dentist approves.

By now, if there was something wrong with Huel, some people would have already sued them or it would have been heavily covered in the media (just like they cover every vegan failure).

Overall, the latest version of Huel is the best one. The addition of tapioca at the expense of oats annoys me a bit, because it’s empty calories, but Huel is a business.

Some quick tips:

  1. Get a blender.

  2. Consume enough water.

  3. Consider adding salt, it is the easiest thing to add if you find you need more salt than you’d get on 100% Huel. Be careful with it though.

  4. Consider creatine, it is the most well studied supplement with a good safety profile and has some advantages for those who do not get any/enough of it through diet.

Some additional tips: Exercise, get regular sleep pattern, manage stress, avoid alcohol/smoking. Wear the mask (Huel-branded masks with every order when? @Dan_Huel )

Not recommending something does not mean recommending against something. Huel does not recommend against using it for 100% of calories.

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I agree that Huel can actually make you feel really full. Often a question I get from people new to Huel is: do you feel full/saturated. To be honest, I am a bit too full after consuming Huel, would prefer it to be a bit less.

4 Huel Scoop scoops in a shaker (I actually still use the Jimmy Joy shaker, it’s bigger, doesn’t have the unhandy flap, and is easier to clean) + I think about 300-400 mL of water, so not too much, I like it thick. I am quite full after a meal yes, but it saves me time. (+ I have read that not eating too often/fasting a bit during the day can be healthy, not fully sure about it though)

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Hey @rikefrejut , thanks for your response!

I have seen you appear on the forum often indeed, however when I click on your profile now I see it’s hidden unfortunately, and when I search your name, not much appears as well.

Good to hear that for so long it works so well!

My routine of adding 200 mL of water, then 4 scoops and then more water again, and then shake actually works really well! I’m using the Jimmy Joy shaker. I noticed that for me the grade that’s included in the shakers actually makes chunks of Huel, because it gets stuck above it, so without the grade it works perfectly!

yep indeed important!

I’m good without anything extra, Huel + water is perfect for me

Do you think this is necessary besides Huel? If I remember correctly, isn’t creatine mostly used for when you are trying to build muscle mass?

I can underscore all of these indeed!

Good point indeed! Somehow I’m still a bit worried that there are some minor nutrients we don’t know about yet, that are essential, and on full Huel we don’t get, like the Choline that was only added not too long ago.

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Not sure why that happens, I don’t think I made any steps to hide anything.

Scoops are a problematic measure, because we never know if you’re using old scoops or new scoops, and if you’re packing the powder or if it is loose. 4 new scoops would certainly be hard to mix well for me if I were shaking it.

I used to do 400ml water, then 166g Huel, then top off with water to reach the 700ml mark and shake. It worked, and the bits did not bother me. The blender however makes it a texture that flows much easier and prevents the trapped air that then causes burps/gas in some people. Plus it makes me think that I am making it even easier for my digestive system to deal with it.

Definitely not necessary, your body makes all the creatine it needs, if you have good nutrition. However, extra creatine above what your body can naturally synthesize can be beneficial for muscle building/maintenance and possibly brain function.

There was a study about creatine supplementation in vegans or vegetarians (who don’t get any creatine because it is not found in plants) and its effect on memory and other cognitive functions, and it showed an improvement. Hard to say if it applies to Huel too, because those vegan/vegetarian diets are so often lacking in many other things that creatine could help mask.

Maybe it’s this one, but I can’t read it right now:

or this one?

It makes me feel good that I supplement with creatine, that’s all. Long time ago I investigated all sorts of supplements, and creatine is the only one that has at least some evidence of actually doing something. The other one was caffeine, and it’s easy to prove caffeine does something.

We have studies on a sufficient number of comatose patients, where we’ve managed to keep them alive for a long enough time to know we’re not missing any essential nutrients. Obviously the problem is that they don’t represent a healthy population. Personally, it gives me sufficient certainty that I’m not missing out anything.

Your body should be able to synthesize enough choline on its own, as long as you’re healthy and have proper nutrition. So I’d call it conditionally essential and not essential on its own. Lots of people have poor nutrition or are not healthy, so the addition of choline to Huel is a welcome one (especially for those who don’t eat Huel for 100% of their calories).

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Hi rikefrejut,

Hi can also confirm as @Dennis stated that your profile is hidden, so we cannot see your posts.

Could you please answer if still doing a 2000 Kcal OMAD meal?

Regards.

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Ah yes, I weighed that the way I scoop gives me 50 g. Interesting point to consider about the air trapped.

I’m gonna look into the creatine, thank you!

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I can also say that a full liquid diet works. Haven’t noticed any bad side effects, and I have done that for years now. The ingredients of Huel are “natural” and of really high quality, so I am convinced that 100% does work.

The reason why it is not officially recommended may be due to insurance issues. If someone gets ill who consumes 100% Huel the company might get more problems than if such a person occasionally used it. It’s always more secure to make relative claims, and I fully understand that. That shouldn’t make you worry, though.

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Yes, I still consume 2000kcal/day of Huel U/U within 1 hour, which in my definition counts as OMAD.

Some time ago I bought 2 bags of Huel Black U/U just to support Huel in releasing U/U versions of their products. I did some experiments eating it on its own, then in combination with regular Huel U/U, and then some minor tests with extra virgin olive oil and some plant-based drinks that had no sugar, no sweeteners, nor flavourings added.

I had no issues in those ~2 weeks, I did not do OMAD though. Now back to regular Huel with my regular eating schedule.

Perhaps. As far as I know, nobody sued Greenpeace, PETA, The Vegan Society or any other organizations for recommending vegan diets, where they strictly order 100% no animal products consumed. People very often end up doing it wrong and harm themselves or their children.

I might be wrong though, perhaps it was not public and they settled out of court.

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What? Honestly, where do some of the things you post come from? Apart from being total scaremongering it doesn’t even make sense what you have written.

Huel have done 2 studies on a 100% diet with blood tests and published the results. Both showed the health in the participants increased during a 100% Huel diet. Huel have complete confidence in their product. They don’t recommend 100% because it’s not something they need to recommend. Huel is just a food. If you want one meal a day, that’s your choice. If you want 2 meals a week, that’s your choice. If you want 100%, that’s your choice.

In terms of integrating Huel into the average lifestyle, breakfast and lunch are the most common meals where time is short so Huel makes the most sense here which is why it’s “recommended” (if you want to use that word) for those meals.

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Since 2017, most of the weeks I consume more than 90-95% of my KCal from Huel, with only some occasional non-Huel meals during the weekend. And before that, I spent 2 more years with competitors, also consuming most of my KCal from liquid diets.

I will never restrict me from consuming something else if I want to (and I don’t think Huel should be seen as a strict diet), but consuming it most of the time is very convenient to me.

I do regular health checks (like every 2 years or so), and so far everything is perfect (besides food, I try to have other healthy habits, like regular exercise, good sleep, etc.). I also feel I’m less sick than before eating Huel (i.e. since 2017, every time I got sick, it lasted less than 2 days, while before that I usually got sick for at least 5-7 days).

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@Dennis Thanks so much for this post, we’re so pleased to have you on the team. Thank you for your thanks, we love this community and the conversation Huel generates! I’m so glad Huel works for you.

On the other point, we don’t actively recommend 100% Huel because it’s alienating to most. We’ve had years of press latching onto this, which is fine for publicity, but what ends up happening is people say “Huel isn’t for me, I love food and wouldn’t want to swap all my meals.” Which is obviously a ridiculous statement! But we don’t talk about using Huel as 100%, Huel is food for your most inconvenient meal :slight_smile:

But you do you!

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Make this an official tagline, or invest heavily into marketing this phrase - it is perfect.

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For safe recommendations the evidence is still not enough. And the follow-up would have to be much longer.

On the other hand so many people have an unhealthy lifestyle with mostly junk food, without worrying about their diets…and they are still alive. Perhaps we tend to overthink this issue.

Making an official recommendation is a strong statement. And yes, there is no reason why it should be made. Huel only might really sound like a strict diet to some customers, sure. And it is not a dogma.
So I also think that the phrase rikefreijut mentioned is really good - I agree that you should invest into marketing it.

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