With the 5, 7 or 10 a-day discussion hitting the news media recently in the UK, I’m interested in what a regular Huel diet provides compared to portions of fruit & veg.
Using a 2000 / 2400 kCal, 100% Huel diet as a reference point, are us Huelers eating the equivalent of our 10 a-day?
In practice, most days Huel is 2 meals / 800 kCal of my diet. But working backwards from what a 100% Huel diet would be would allow us all to work out our equivalent fruit & veg intake.
I’m wondering if the question should actually be:
Would 10-a-day of fruit and vegetables provide the equivalent of 100% Huel?
Even at 10 portions of fruit and veg per day, there’s no guarantee you’ll get enough of all nutrients. Every fruit and vegetable is different, food tends to be less nutritious these days due to over farming and transportation, so even 10-a-day is just an arbitrary goal to go for.
Sure, people who eat 5 or more portions of fruit and vegetables per day will tend to be healthier than people who eat none, but it’s still not a guarantee you will get everything at optimum levels.
Agreed. “portions of fruit and veg” is a very crude way to measure nutritional intake. But it’s also a very relatable one and one that is now widely used and recognised.
Whenever I’ve described my Huel diet to anyone, the fact that a 100% diet would not have any fruit of veg in it (I know the ingredients include such) is one of the things that people can’t get their head round.
I know what you mean. But the reason people need to eat fruit and veg is because of the nutrients in them. Although Huel contains all the vitamins and minerals, it doesn’t contain phytonutrients such as those contained in berries.
It’s worth pointing out Huel does contain lycopene (as found in tomatoes, red carrots, watermelon, papaya amongst other things) as well as lutein (found in spinach, kale, yellow carrots amongst other things) and zeaxanthin (found in broccoli, peas, courgettes amongst other things).
However it is difficult to make a comparison between Huel (or any other meal replacement product) and the recommended five a day of fruit and veg, simply because there are many thousands of phytonutrients we are thus far unaware of that natural foods can provide, whilst at the same time natural foods are not as well balanced as a product like Huel. In an ideal world, it would be best to consume both.
@IcyElemental in addition to the added phytonutrients (lutin, lycopene) don’t forget Huel is rich in phytonutrients
from the oats and flaxseed in particular. https://huel.com/pages/nutritional-information-and-ingredients#phyto
More info here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4152533/
and https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3658901/
I quietly enjoy the look on people’s faces when I tell them this after they’ve been complaining about the amount of work involved in chopping vegetables for their food prep. I like that Huel has turned preparing vegetables into a pleasurable activity rather than a necessary chore for me 
I agree with @Marcus version of the question:
“Would 10-a-day of fruit and vegetables provide the equivalent of 100% Huel?”. From what I have seen of the Huel team so far I am confident that the formula will continue to evolve as more research becomes available about the subtlety’s of the nutrition in fruits and vegetables.
I’ve been on 100% huel for 7 months. Never felt healthier. People don’t get it but it’s so convenient & I know I’m getting what I need & no crap. It’s a no brainer.