General / Off-Topic Huel

[Robin of Spiritwood]

This is weird, like the most generic form of sustenance one can imagine.
https://huel.com/
Anybody here ever tried it? What's it like?

I drink the odd shake here and there, but I like my real, actually grown food. I can see people eliminating gastronomy from their lives if they are monks or doing Zen or something, but why would humans give that up voluntarily? For the same reason they gave up conversation for screens? Or sex for po(simulated fake video stuff) rn ?

What about the happiness of cooking? Growing some stuff and turning it into a meal? Nobody has time for that?

It might be something to look at for emergency food supplies, or a fast meal at work, though.
And it's enormously easy to titrate calories when everything is in liquid form- just pour off 5-10% by volume to lose weight over time.
What do you think?

 

[Morbad]

Tried Soilent once...tasted like a milkshake made out of chalk, or maybe that white liquid antibiotic (amoxicillin?) I remember taking as a kid.

I don't really eat for pleasure (I rather resent the biological need to eat at all), but as long as I need to eat, I'd prefer it be pleasurable. If these sorts of things it were the cheapest or most convenient way to maintain optimal health, I'd not object to making such my primary nutrition. However, these things are not that cheap and I am not at all convinced of the long term viability of these diets.

In an emergency scenario, I could see a nutritionally complete mix like this being useful, but I'd have to be really busy or desperate to rely on something like this otherwise.

 

[Caramel Clown]

But...why? Their reasoning is - if you are away from kitchen and need to eat. Yea. Eat a banana, or an apple. And if you want big calories that require 0 cooking AND taste good - nuts, no competition. It just looks so utterly pointless to me.

 

[Speedcuffs]

I've seen some of the advertising for this. The people are less than convincing. A solution looking for a problem.

I've just made an omelette. I enjoyed making it, I enjoyed eating it. Nice.

 

[Voracity_T]

Tried Soilent once...tasted like a milkshake made out of chalk, or maybe that white liquid antibiotic (emoxycylin

I don't really eat for pleasure (I rather resent the biological need to eat at all), but as long as I need to eat, I'd prefer it be pleasurable. If these sorts of things it were the cheapest or most convenient way to maintain optimal health, I'd not object to making such my primary nutrition. However, these things are not that cheap and I am not at all convinced of the long term viability of these diets.

In an emergency scenario, I could see a nutritionally complete mix like this being useful, but I'd have to be really busy or desperate to rely on something like this otherwise.

I mean thats great and all but have you tried soilent green?


In all seriousness though. No pleasure in eating? Resenting the need to eat?! Morbad = Thargoid. Confirmed.

 

[Voracity_T]

But I'm against eating anything that sounds like an retching noise.

Huel does not an appetising name make.

 

[Patrick_68000]

For my part, every day, I eat 250 grams of plain yogurt and I mix with a real banana cut into pieces.

 

[Stigbob]

I read an article about huel the main attraction seems to be for people who can't cook or decide to what to buy or eat and regard having to consider it as an imposition.

They seemed a bit odd frankly.

 

[Vasco Sapien]

I figure if you dont make time in your day to eat something cooked and nutritious, whether you cook it yourself or not... then something is very wrong with your life.

Food should be one of the days great pleasures in life and done right will ensure good health and long life going foward.

Stuff like this panders to the lazy and disorganised.

 

[Patrick_68000]

I figure if you dont make time in your day to eat something cooked and nutritious, whether you cook it yourself or not... then something is very wrong with your life.

Food should be one of the days great pleasures in life and done right will ensure good health and long life going foward.

Stuff like this panders to the lazy and disorganised.

It is hoped that the future of humanity will not be a diet based on pills.

Food should be one of the days great pleasures in life and done right will ensure good health and long life going foward.

Yes, however it is important to remember that it is necessary to eat to live and not to live to eat.

 

[Morbad]

Stuff like this panders to the lazy and disorganised.

Sounds like it's got a huge potential market then.

 

[Chris Simon]

I never really trusted these miracle drinks/meals. "All you need for a day in one glass".
Yeah, no thanks, what I really need is the feeling of actual food in my mouth. And variety, too. I couldn't eat one type of food for any longer period of time, even if it were my favourite food.
Substance and variety > sustenance and ease of use

 

[Rick6549]

Sounds kinda gross tbh

 

[Vasco Sapien]

Yes, however it is important to remember that it is necessary to eat to live and not to live to eat.

Indeed

 

[Patrick_68000]

Indeed

Horror !

 

[jasonbarron]

For my part, every day, I eat 250 grams of plain yogurt and I mix with a real banana cut into pieces.

Sounds yummy. Good yogurt (currently enjoying some Greek style Wallaby brand) with banana's & mixed berries is the treat of choice in my household.

On the topic of Huel, not really my bag. Looks kind of gross, tbh. Some sort of concentrate might not be a bad idea to have tucked back in the pantry for an emergency or something, but I can't picture making it part of my diet.

 

[Robin of Spiritwood]

Ultra-processed foods are made entirely or mostly from substances extracted from foods, such as fats, starches, hydrogenated fats, added sugar, modified starch and other compounds and include cosmetic additives such as artificial flavors, colors or emulsifiers. Examples include soft drinks, ........(snip)........ and many items often marketed as "convenience foods."

Researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that for every 5% increase in calories from ultra-processed foods a person ate, there was a corresponding decrease in overall cardiovascular health.

It comes as no surprise, of course, that after millions of years of eating actual food from the environment we do not handle the food from the factory quite as well.
I would not be surprised to see studies on Huel drinkers that exclude real food that showed rapid deterioration in their arteries and heart.

 

[Caramel Clown]

Sounds yummy. Good yogurt (currently enjoying some Greek style Wallaby brand) with banana's & mixed berries is the treat of choice in my household.

On the topic of Huel, not really my bag. Looks kind of gross, tbh. Some sort of concentrate might not be a bad idea to have tucked back in the pantry for an emergency or something, but I can't picture making it part of my diet.

Interesting, that's what I do with my unflavored yogurt. I know some people add salt and pepper to theirs to make it a savory thing. I find it strange.

 

[Chris Simon]

It comes as no surprise, of course, that after millions of years of eating actual food from the environment we do not handle the food from the factory quite as well.
I would not be surprised to see studies on Huel drinkers that exclude real food that showed rapid deterioration in their arteries and heart.

I have a friend who was trying these things for some time (Not this one specifically but things like that. I think his was called "Mana" (lol)). He's a pretty health-savvy guy who has fitness as his main hobby. He was "surviving" on this crap for several months until he admitted he had to throw some vegetables, steaks and eggs in, several times a week, because it simply wasn't enough even after increasing the rations to several times the "daily dosage". Eventually he abandoned it altogether because when he had to add real food on top of it, it was incredibly expensive.

I mean. It might be a good thing when you're hiking for a week, for example. A couple pounds of powder is easier to carry than tin cans or you can avoid hunting for food. But as a replacement of real food long term? We're not there, yet.

Plus I think most people are like me. Like I said, for me, the food must not only work like normal food, but also look and taste like normal food, otherwise it's not food.