Supplementing for Huel

Nutrition
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I’ve been eating Huel for a few years now. And I thought I’d share my journey of all the supplements I’ve tried, mostly from discussions on this forum, to keep myself in a healthy feeling shape.

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Firstly I read, powdered greens are a good compliment, so I went for Elite Greens on amazon.
I didn’t notice any difference but felt good taking them, I’m guessing a nice placebo effect.

Secondly, I bought Psyllium Husk capsules again off amazon, this was to assist with a stuck tummy! This seemed to work! But does require a good intake of water.

Then came the change. I’m putting this down to the move to V3 formula, but I’m not certain in any way, and I know this issue is very person specific, and I’m just unlucky.
My farts became deadly! To others and myself!
So began the journey of anti fart!

I first of all tried bean assist, off amazon, and then Beano off eBay. Both designed to halt farts. Sadly these did not work for me (they may for others)

I then spent a few months testing my body out, changing whether I have huel for breakfast and lunch or just breakfast. And changing my diet alongside this.

What I found, was that alcohol is the devil, and it got things really worked up. Especially if it was a double huel day. So, as I’m not planning on cutting alcohol permanently, I slowly tested the different alcohols with my huel.

I found that beer is terrible, clearly the gases on gases are not great. Circa 3-5 pints.
Gin & tonic is not too bad as long as it’s only one or two.
Red wine is the best, of a bad thing.
PS. Alcohol is bad for you.

This is when I tried deflatine, and it does really work, but the next day everything is a bit stuck for me :wink:

So I now avoid alcohol and huel when I can.

Another slightly odd situation was having a whole week of huel for breakfast and lunch, and then heading out for a stag do evening on the Friday, and consuming irresponsible amounts of alcohol, my stomach did not feel normal for an entire week, and this is when I tried zero huel zero alcohol and pro biotics in the form of bio cultures. Which put me back to normal in 24 hours.

Sadly following all of this, I’ve had to reduce my huel to days I don’t drink and only once a day, to avoid the gas.

If anyone has any suggestions I’m all ears as huel is an amazing food for an active life and I don’t want to give it up.

Now none of this is scientific and for most people none of this is necessary, and I could argue maybe none of it is necessary for myself. So do your own research.

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The one I’m most curious about is whether there’s any benefit of ZMA with Huel. It used to really help my recovery back when I was lifting and had quite a positive libido effect too, which I always put down to promotion of testosterone production. Of course it could just be placebo. Maybe @JamesCollier could shed further light on this.

I have continued taking acidophilus tablets, vegan, just Holland & Barrett but i have suffered absolutely no gastrointestinal issues so far. That’s a few weeks of 1 Huel a day and now a few days of 2 Huel a day. Maybe I’m lucky, altho I do eat lots of fibre anyway, porridge most mornings and fruit & loads of veg with most meals. I have a severe spinach habit.

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Did the charcoal help with the smell?

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Hadn’t tried it yet! Was just another suggestion on the forum I’m ready to go with :wink:

5

why dint they just call it Fart

srsly tho

try good quality coriander powder

try herbal stuff

google it

1 Like
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I need something for the smell.

So might try the charcoal.

Anyone else tried it?

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Hi @Talort

I’ve mixed feelings on ZMA; anecdotally, there are varied reports ranging from beneficial to useless. The claim for increasing testosterone production is weak (and linked to a claimed scandal from around 15 years ago).

Huel contains the key ZMA ingredients: zinc, aspartate, magnesium and vit B6 though, naturally, at different levels.

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Hi @JamesCollier yes I have such a similar issue with ZMA.

Anecdotally I always really love it when I’m doing proper resistance training. But the science (including the study you mentioned) seems to tell us that’s it’s nonsense.

But like… I find it works. I’m going to statut lifting again. I’m at the 50 press-ups, 50 sit-ups stage but yeah, thinking I’ll go back to ZMA and BCAAs, -

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On BCAAs, Huel Powder, and Huel Black even more so, is high in the three BCAAs leucine, isoleucine and valine; see here and here, respectively.

3 Likes
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problem with charcoal is the normal absoption of nutrients issue. i read somewhere it binds stuff so its not used by the body…

try something else

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Hmm. I’m a Huel black chap…

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Thanks for confirming this. ZMA used to make me fly almost like a pre workout which was great. But have me interesting dreams and affected my sleep.

Charcoal in my pic tastes great - never thought I’d say that

I’m determining now if it’s making a difference :slight_smile:

1 Like
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So reading up on activated charcoal, like so many supplements, it seems like there simply hasn’t been enough scientific studies carried out on it to determine if it is wise to use as a daily supplement.

E.g.

Similar writings by the BBC from 2018.

Day 1 on the black pills was interesting but I cannot tell you if these symptoms were from the black charcoal

  • no flatulence
  • no bowel movements at all

Shall report back again (ps. Everyone is different so may not be relevant to you)

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I agree with Matt. Don’t add charcoal to your Huel because it likes to bind to everything so will decrease the absorption of several of the nutrients in Huel.

3 Likes
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Ok fair, shall refrain from charcoal on this advice in that case. Hmm FartGate continues…

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As an update to this.

I’ve switched back to RTD bottles, which means a professionally chosen amount of sweetener rather than probably too much

I’ve also stopped eating all forms of protein bar

My Gut is CURED

I’m just not 100% sure if it was only protein bars or if it’s also RTD helping out

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What about when you’re drinking? Still causing problems?

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Ah. I missed that you were also consuming protein bars.

Depending on the brand and how many you were eating this very well could have been a major part of your problems. Excess protein (Huel is already a high protein food) can cause flatulence issues for some people.

1 Like
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Drinking adds a little gas, but if I stay away from fizzy such as lager and opt for say red wine it’s much better :slight_smile:
Either way I don’t have death gas :skull:! It’s now a subtler odour :wink:

20

Interesting.

What protein bars where you having?

Some are quite high in sugar so it might’ve been that?

Or maybe it was the protein source in the bars? Such as whey, soy, etc?

Why not have a few bars and see if that was the problem? I’m sure no one would mind!