I have had one delivery of huel (2x bags - my first consignment of huel ever) last month and didn’t feel sick.
I reordered my second consignment recently (same flavors, coffee and Berry) and have been feeling sick after consuming huel. Also, it only happens when I have huel. For even just one partial meal with 2x scoops only. After the first 2x scoops on the first day, I got sick and stopped completely, suspecting the Huel, and I was fine again. It makes me feel nauseous and gassy. Also troubling is that I have a really bad time in the bathroom afterwards. Both times I’ve consumed huel from this delivery, I’ve had severe diarrhea in addition to gassiness and nausea. What gives?
@Tim_Huel - I was referred to here by @Teresa_Huel
Hi @ttudd if you do a search in the forum here - search for terms like ‘digestive issues’, you will come across lots of advice and experiences from different users.
It seems some people do get some digestive issues when first using Huel, especially if the ingredients are drastically different to what they usually have in their diet. I personally didn’t get any issues at all luckily!
Generally the advice is to start off with a very small amount each day and build up slowly - but it sounds like you are doing that already.
Some people find they are sensitive to the sweetener (sucralose) although this is a generally well tolerated sweetener and it’s quite a tiny dose especially if you’re only having 2 scoops.
But have you ever reacted to sucralose in other foods? It might be worth testing this out (you could buy some sucralose fairly cheaply and see if you react to it), because if this is the cause it is easily solved by buying the unflavoured Huel and then adding your own flavour e.g. Fruit, instant coffee powder, cacao powder etc (see loads more ideas in the recipe category).
It’s also worth checking through the list of ingredients on the packet - have you ever had a reaction to any of these ingredients? It’s mostly oats, brown rice, pea protein, coconut and flaxseed and is lactose free, soya free, and doesn’t contain any major allergens (unless you are caeliac in which case make sure you buy the gluten free version), so it’s a bit of a puzzle what you could be having trouble with, unless it’s the fibre, if you are used to a very low fibre diet?
I have seen some mention in the forum of a very few people having reactions to the B12 (again do a search on this to find more info here on the forum about this).
What’s odd though is that you weren’t having any problems with your previous batch. Maybe it is something else that you are consuming in combination with the Huel? (I have my own very unscientific very unproven theory that Huel plus orange juice gives me terrible digestive issues! One other Hueller also noticed the same strange reaction!)
I guess there could be an issue with the particular batch you received but it seems unlikely that it would affect both flavours as they would be different batches - but if you give @Tim_Huel the batch numbers he could check this out for you in case they’ve had any other reports of a dodgy batch.
Other than that, I’m out of ideas…
Have a good read of the forum and see if you can find any threads that look like they could help.
I hope you find the reason and solution !
Keep us posted, and welcome to the forum
Hi, to be clear, I haven’t opened the Berry bag yet. Had the problem only with the coffee bag. I’ll wait for a reply from @Tim_Huel and will also check the ingredients in the meanwhile. However as I said before, I’ve had two bags of huel before (my first consignment) without any major digestive issues.
I’m not going to open the Berry pack since I’m considering returning at least one pack. It seems like it is a quality issue and that’s what worries me the most since huel replaces food for most of it users and the size of one bag is considerable - so it’s not like it doesn’t matter if it gets thrown out. If this continues then I’m getting off of Huel and returning at least the Berry bag, unopened.
Update: no sleep yesterday night due to stomach cramps and severe diarrhea today. I’m left stabilizing my stomach and drinking oral rehydration solution. I don’t dare to have even a teaspoon more of huel. What is the procedure to return opened and unopened huel bags and how much money can I get back?
The only thing I ate close to huel was bananas. I’ve actually made huel with bananas in the previous consignment (a smoothie) and it was totally fine. Also, I’ve had no issues on the past weeks to digest an array of “potentially harmful” foods including sushi, lamb (extra spicy, Indian style), chicken, beans, eggs, fruits that I accidentally ate unwashed. Two spoons of huel yesterday evening and it’s turned me into this.
Yes I’m sure because the exact same thing happened twice after consuming 2 spoons only, in the evening. Leads me to stay awake all night and shit rivers all morning! Thanks for your concern.
However, I’m looking for a real reply from huel @Tim_Huel with some sort of tracking/quality control of the batch I’ve mentioned earlier
Hey Devraj, thanks for raising this. We take reports like this very seriously and will launch an investigation, check past batches to check if there are any trends. I think it’s difficult though with these sorts of reports as there are so many variables.
Thanks for preempting this information. What I need you to do is send me the pouch of Huel. I know this is a pain, but it’s absolutely essential. I would say of the few people that report stuff that needs to be investigated we receive back about 50%. The Quality team cannot launch an investigation without the product.
Post the Pouch of Coffee Huel back to us, with a note explaining who you are and where you have communicated with us. Please don’t just send the Pouch back with no message, it will get lost as no one will know what it is in reference to. We will reimburse you for the postage of course.
The address is: FAO Tim Urch Unit 5 Midshires Business Park Smeaton Close Aylesbury Buckinghamshire HP19 8HL
Once we have that information we can start an investigation. Until then would you like us to replace or refund your Pouch you are sending back (same flavour or different) ?
We’re so sorry this has happened and looking forward to your correspondence so we can sort it out. I will DM you for any other information should we need it.
Are you consuming your Huel differently this time round? for example, are you consuming it with or near to anything else, for instance, a hot beverage like tea or coffee?
How much are you consuming and at what time of day?
How many times have you experienced this after consuming Huel?
@Tim_Huel : thank you, yes, it would be brilliant to have a replacement of the same. Can you track me and know what my address is etc. via my email id? I also wanted to ask how you generally send huel - the swedish post kiosk I visited today had a girl who was reluctant to take the bag and said she’d ask her superiors first. What do you use to send huel? I think it was UPS - do you want me to use them instead? I’ll try the post tomorrow again.
@JamesCollier : I didn’t have tea or coffee anywhere near the Huel. Both times, I had it around 1800 when I felt a bit peckish. The first time, I took ~2.5 “spoons” (of the Huel spoon) and the second time I took 2 spoons. Both times, I got queasy within an hour or so. I generally eat lunch around noon or 1300 so it was pretty far away from the time I had huel and I didn’t really have anything in between - perhaps a chocolate piece about an hour after lunch.
I have now experienced this twice. The first time I was suspecting something else (not the Huel) but now I think it’s the Huel.
When I had the earlier consignment, I was mixing huel with lots of stuff - skimmed milk, banana, cocoa, strawberry - actually it worked pretty well. I didn’t really care about how I consumed it, just grabbed whatever was available and mixed it in - and didn’t get sick. Also I was doing 3 spoons each serving by the end of the last consignment and primarily using it as a single meal substitute, for breakfast and dinner on alternate days.
Just joined this forum after searching for possible answers with me experiencing same issue with trying Fuel for first time. Took my first 2 scoop of the Black Edition chocolate flavor and after 2hrs started to feel nauseated and started throwing up like crazy. Not a good start for me! Starting to weigh if this was a good choice to try this product.