I have switched over to 100% meal replacement shakes and I might never switch back to food.
I’m writing this because…
- i want to get all my thoughts in one place about it
- I know that many great creators who read this want to be able to dedicate more of themselves to their creativity
- I want a shortcut when someone asks me about this
I’m pumped about technology and still I’m a late adopter. I like things to work well and be effective for what I need. I feel that shakes are this.
I might do alcohol and food sometimes to have some fun with people. It will come with the cost of feeling worse.
The cost of food
here are some things i’ve noticed i can cut out…
✁ Mood fluctuations
✁ Cooking
✁ Cleaning
✁ Shopping
✁ Food waste
✁ Eating animal products
✁ Thinking about nutrition ( including counting calories, balancing macros )
✁ Making food choices
✁ Meal breaks
✁ Listening to cravings
✁ Energy spikes
✁ Diet regret
✁ Nearly all trash
If my family joined me in this journey, we could cut out…
✁ dishwasher (hand washing is easy)
✁ stove
✁ refrigerator
✁ airfryer
✁ microwave
✁ pantry
✁ pans, dishes, etc
✁ basically, a whole room of the house
Probably saving me about 90 min a day of time.
I don’t have to dedicate time to sitting down at a meal. I can drink a shake while I’m in a meeting. It would be kinda disrespectful to have a salad.
Probably reducing my depression and anxiety by 40% to 70% from where I was ( i have other tools that help me with a lot of dep+anx)
The cost of shakes
2000 calories per day is $53 / week for Huel Essential. I get a box of powder and mix it with water. I started with Soylent ($69 / week… nice) they had supply chain issues, so i switched to Huel.
*I like the taste of both for all day drinking. Soylent is more chemically tasting and Huel is more chunky (like cereal milk)*.
Shakes cost me the short pleasure of chewing something interesting. My sense of smell is intense.
The powder travels well, but if I don’t plan it out, i’ll be back to eating food – which i did during Christmas and Wildfire evacuations. Lack of sleep + no shakes leads me to eating a little yucky. I tried to drink a half a day worth of soylent before a flight and I was very disappointed! Felt dizzy and like i was going to puke for a few minutes.
The social cost is lower than I expected. Most of our family meals are asynchronous. When they happen, and I was eating food, I would eat faster than everyone else and watch them eat anyhow. People do want to talk about it a lot, that’s part of the reason I’m writing this.
The health
I’m trying to live a long life and an enjoyable life.
It seems to be healing my foot and eye things I’ve been dealing with for a long time. I am working to lose weight, so the calorie counting is really simple.
2025-01-31 my foot thing was with me for years. it was plantar warts. They’re all gone. anecdotal and coincidental maybe.
My major blood markers are better than before according to my doctor. I’ll probably get more tests done and improve my tracking of health.
As I mentioned, mental stability is better.
Two people asked me about jaw strength. My jaw still works for talking and making facial expressions. When i’ve eaten food, it still works for chewing. Maybe I’m gritting my teeth at night. Somehow my jaw hasn’t fallen off.
Mom asked about teeth. Saliva could be helpful maybe with teeth and digestion. I’ll go to the dentist soon and check that out.
I’ve lost about 10lbs. I attribute this just to the fact that I decided how many calories I needed per day to lose weight at a healthy pace. Then, I calculated how much of the shakes i would consume in a day. Then, I figured out how mix up that much for one day. I don’t have to schedule my meals or keep track. I can drink them any time I want, and when I am out of shake, I know I’ve eaten enough to lose weight, yet maintain health.
2025-03-11 I lost more weight. Got down to my target weight. Now, I’m going to keep losing fat and gain more muscle – strength training is recommended for longevity and I’d like to look more athletic. Weight loss is more than having the right foods, it’s majorly about “Will I do it?” The shakes are a great way for me to make it a low-labor process. It’s like having a nutritionist and a personal chef to me.
I picked Huel Essential because of the macro balance
| Product | Calories | Protein (g / %) | Carbs (g / %) | Fat (g / %) |
|---|
| Huel Essential | 400 | 20 g / ~24% | 42 g / ~51% | 9 g / ~25% |
| Huel Powder (v3.1) | 400 | 30 g / ~30% | 42 g / ~42% | 12 g / ~27% |
| Huel Black Edition | 400 | 40 g / ~45% | 24 g / ~27% | 11 g / ~28% |
| Ideal Longevity Diet | 10–15% | 55–60% | 25–30% |
What else i consume
I asked chatGPT to help me pick supplements. Right now, I’m eating Magnesium, Vitamins D and K, Omega 3 capsules, Zinc, Resveratrol — a combo ChatGPT suggested for Soylent.
Coffee and water. I try to drink one cup of water for every cup of Huel. A lot of pee, but keeps me feeling good. I poop less.
A probiotic is recommended, so i might start doing a 1/2 cup of raw sauerkraut every day.
2025-01-31 I’m going to switch to creatine, d & k, Omega, choline, and sauerkraut and see how that works with Huel
2025-03-11 ☝️ that’s the supplement pile i’m using. Going great. ChatGPT said i could possibly notice cognitive improvements from many of the things. I can’t tell. I cut down on the water. I just drink water when i’m thirsty. I was thinking that I was constipated and that’s why i was drinking a lot. Most likely, I think I’m only eating as much as I need, so I don’t need to use the bathroom as much.
2025-03-11 calorie restriction has lead to hunger at night. Like animal hunger. I can go without eating and in the morning, i’m not feeling hungry. I skipped coffee one day and didn’t have that hunger, so maybe i’ll cut out coffee.
2025-03-18 cut out coffee. way better. Now it’s…
Pills
In the shake
- Choline 1g
- Creatine 5g
- Huel 500g
now that i’m transitioning to more muscle, i’m thinking i’ll add …
- pea protein 30g
- oats 40g
- sea salt 2.5 g
- Potassium chloride 1.5g
- chia seeds 7g
- calcium citrate 1.5g
☝️ man, this is getting kinda complicated 😀 yet still simpler than going to the grocery store and trying to figure out what peanut butter to buy
The logic
Shakes may not be the perfect food. Even exactly what comes out of the bag I feel is better than I was eating before nutritionally.
I was careful about my diet. Mostly eating lean meat, legumes, veggies and grains. Trying to avoid things that contain sugar and high glycemic index. or more than 12g of sat fat per day. Tried to avoid high sodium foods. I had high blood sugar (pre diabetic), blood pressure, and blood cholesterol at one point.
I would still have one or two days of wildness. So, i might have a bunch
Without will power
Having rules is way easier for me than trying to have will power. I don’t want will power. I want to live long and well.
It is way easier for me when cravings arise several times a day to drink more Huel or water. The question is easy to answer… questions like
- do i eat the rest of arlo’s pizza?
- am i going out for a drink?
- what snacks are around?
- how much did i eat today?
- how many days did i eat junk food this week?
- what are my calories for today?
These questions are pretty boring to me and laborious to answer.
*2025-03-11 the past few days, I ran out of the mix and shipping wasn’t working. I’m going to order extra to be ready for a sitch like this. I ate and drank and I got very depressed. It was shocking how much of an effect it had on me. It might have given me a few cold symptoms too.
2025-03-18 last week, had pizza on a date. it lead to a bunch of candy and stuff later in the day. Maybe it’s a blowback from being so rigid? Maybe it’s just that food is really delicious and crunchy and chewy. I felt emotionally yucky while doing it and worse the next day. I’m getting to be very anti-food. I didn’t notice how much it was affecting me before. I’m not judging people that eat food in any way. Like I wouldn’t judge people who have a palm pilot. I’m grateful I’ve found this technology and I hope others who want it are able to find it too.
State Changes
A growing awareness I have is noticing how much I crave a state change. I want to eat something, drink something, change my environment, move my body etc. This is healthy I guess as long as my state changes are healthy.
I’m noticing my cravings and my temptation to destabilize my body system. Those cravings were probably always there and they go away about as fast as if I indulged.
Staying aware
I am a little suspicious about this tack. My general doctor said it’s probably okay. Nobody’s really recommending it – not even the shake companies (probably to prevent liability). I’m going to keep monitoring stuff and see where it goes.
The major stated downsides to the nutrition of it seem to be
- getting dependent on shakes (who cares?)
- each individual has different needs, so it isn’t perfectly balanced ( am i still better off than I would be without it?)
Freedom of brain
My favorite part of all of it is the mindlessness. I was worried about losing weight, thinking about better ways to organize the kitchen, annoyed if I couldn’t find a certain dish, having to clean up the kitchen before making food, wondering if i’m eating a healthy diet. etc. Because I’m 100% huel, all that stuff goes away.
My brain is free to memorize animal sounds, or whatever.
Pretty great!
No-food-management saves me time and energy. Consistency and reduction of food waste saves me money. Mood stabilization and mindless consumption saves me energy and makes me a more dependable person.