drinking meal replacement shakes/soylent instead of eating?

[renerdrat]

So.. I seem to constantly hear this is ok to eat, this isn't.. I constantly am thinking am I getting enough of something? I also don't seem to do well when I eat too much of any certain nutrient. My body seems to have negative reactions to a lot of things.

My question is has anyone tried going on like.. meal replacement shakes? There's something called soylent which you basically drink a product that has all your essential nutrients in it. I would think this might help with symptoms I have and help make eating and meal planning in general much easier The base is usually maltodextrin and oat flour.. but I'd likely make my own since I've heard some not so good things about malto and I personally don't do very well with oats. So I'm thinking of making my own

Here's an example of what diy meal replacement might look like:
https://diy.soylent.com/recipes/people-chow-302-tortilla-perfection-with-olive-oil

I'd use my own vegan protein powder/ and use avocado oil instead. I'd also probably use this for most my meals but have 1 normal meal throughout the day. Has anyone tried anything like this? How did it go?

 

[undiagnosed]

I've considered it, but haven't tried it yet. I also saw this one called Ambronite that uses whole food ingredients but it was very expensive. As you mentioned, making your own would probably be the best bet. Right now I just supplement my normal eating with whey protein mixes. The cost of the recipe you pointed out wasn't bad. I'm not sure about some of the levels of vitamins present, some seem a bit high, not sure without researching it more though.

 

[Living Dead]

I tried a product called "Mana", but it felt like drinking sawdust. Wasted money.

 

[taniaaust1]

My specialist a long time back now tried this with me as I wasnt eatting well due to having trouble cooking. So he put me onto one which is apparently used in some hospitals for those who cant eat solids http://www.ntphealthproducts.com/pdf/IsoWhey_Complete.pdf

I started off going well with this and it actually had me feeling more energy and like my health was improving but then within 2-3 weeks I suddenly become completely bowel intollerant to it to the point it had me having to wear nappies!

I suppose I developed new intollerances with this due to having the same thing every day (eatting a very wide range of foods is apparently meant to help stop getting intollerances).

 

[Rick Sanchez]

From personal experience I would advise drinking shakes instead of eating when you are crashing bad and would have a hard time cooking something properly. You want to get a shaker that is easy to use / clean though.

I would personally recommend this one https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00KM15WKA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1.

1. Cheap
2. Easy to use
3. Extremely easy to clean, since you drink out of the shaker
4. Have used it daily for around 2-3 years and still holds up great.

I use it on sick days when I make something with oats and protein powder. If you have a bit more energy feel free to put some frozen fruits in there (bananas are my fav), or something like coconut oil. This way you can easily be looking at 800 calories or more from a meal which took no effort to make and eat, and you can go back to bed. The carbs from the oats are easy to digest, and the protein powder would be a good easy to digest protein source. The fruits add much needed nutrition, and the coconut would add easy to digest fats.

The only negative could be the noise, which I could see being a problem for severe sufferers.

Lastly, I don't feel like having gone to replacing foods with drinks has had any lasting energy benefit.So I have never made the switch permanently. Instead I just do it on bad crash days. For me, the positives of replacing foods with liquids is that it just saves so much mental energy, from the hassle of getting up and making the food, to actually eating it and to cleaning up afterwards. It also ensures that I get enough calories, which can be a real worry on crash days, and that I get the calories in a manner which is not extremely unhealthy (fastfood).

 

[flybro]

Thanks for this thread, I really need to find something that makes it easier to increase my calorie intake.

The only sweet shake I like tends to be chocalte,

and I have never found anything savoury i liked.

Anyone seens any prepacked nutritious snacks that can be eaten with-out utensils. Co-ordination is often problem for me when rough.

again thanks for thread.

 

[veganmua]

I've started drinking Huel instead of meals. I started out replacing one meal a day, now I'm up to two. I actually started it because I believe candida/SIBO or a combination of the two is causing my IBS, and as it is low FODMAP I thought it would be ideal to drink while I'm on supplements to combat the yeast/bacteria.

I like it, but it's much better when mixed in a blender, as it's a tad grainy from the oats otherwise. I got the vanilla flavour.

 

[flybro]

cheers @veganmua

my son uses huel, he says its great.

 

[Ellie K]

I saw a nutritionist for a while and pretty persistently asked about meal replacement shakes because I have no appetite and no energy to cook and eat anyway. She was clear that it is okay to replace about a meal and a snack a day, but there still has to be significant solid food for your gut not to mess itself up (I think this is what taniaaust1 was referring to above). I do all liquid in really bad crashes, but generally I have solids.

 

[Desertstorm]

Just found this thread. Interested because some fellow vets with CFS are drinking Huel and have reported far more energy suddenly. I don't like chasing 'cures', but has anyone had similar experiences?

 

[sb4]

I have been interested in this idea but I could never find a product that I was happy with the ingredients. For instance I am very uncomfortable with the vegetable oil in Huel and almost all of these drinks are high carb.

Years ago I decided to make my own. Tried all sorts of things. Bought expensive elemental diet powder and mixed in olive oil to increase fats. Used egg yolk powder, protien powder, cream / olive oil, and multi vitamin/mineral. I have also tried blending all food to mush. I didn't stick to any of these things so I must have encountered problems / no effect from them. Was a long time ago though so I can't remember.

If anyone has any ideas though I might just give it another go!

 

[Desertstorm]

Thanks. My guess is that most people try these things but quit pretty soon. Given nature created me as an omnivore drinking my nutrients seems wrong anyway. I might feel differently if I was an astronaut perhaps. But then again I suspect that sort of diet is what caused Major Tom to become depressed and lose his mind.

 

[overtheedge]

Used protein powders quite often for a while since I found that powdered nutrients of all kind made me feel good. was taking something like 60-80g's per day of whey protein powder and ended up gaining 30 pounds in two months or so. Also, too much protein may put an increased load on the liver and kidneys though I'm not sure about the ramifications of that, never had any issues develop on that end myself.