Switch from being fed up to being Well Fed

Huel says that ‘every fire needs its fuel’ and the brand’s ability to deliver has quickly made it a trusted go-to for the health conscious public – and not just here, but around the world. Pulse’s Sammy Jones talked with Huel co-founder James Collier as he revealed his latest delivery – the new book, Well […] The post Switch from being fed up to being Well Fed appeared first on MK Pulse.

Huel says that ‘every fire needs its fuel’ and the brand’s ability to deliver has quickly made it a trusted go-to for the health conscious public – and not just here, but around the world.

Pulse’s Sammy Jones talked with Huel co-founder James Collier as he revealed his latest delivery – the new book, Well Fed.

“Nine years ago we went on our Christmas meal and there were four of us,” James shares, talking about the burgeoning growth of his business, “There are 350 people who work across it now.”

The Huel story is pretty phenomenal – 10 years ago it was a one-man vision: Julian Hearn originated the idea before making a connection with James.

The brand debuted on the market in June 2015, and the food experts have been providing complete affordable meals and snacks to great acclaim ever since, going from a small e-commerce business, to a leading force on the market.

We’ll come to that, but James’s backstory explains his passion for food – the right food.

“Understanding nutrition was instilled into me quite young,” he said, “My motivation for going to Uni to study nutrition was twofold – my mother was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer when I was about eight. She changed the way she ate and managed to survive for 11 years. She did a lot of different strategies and a lot of that was nutrition.”

Understanding the role that food played in supporting his mother was a big thing, but he also had his own reasons for stepping up gym-side too.

“I was always bullied as a kid, a lot of lads are, right?” he says, answering his own question.
“It affected me quite badly, it wasn’t too physical because I went to a private school, but it used to bring me down quite a lot, and definitely affected my mental health.

“When I was 16 I found the gym and sprouted little muscles quite quickly, and then I had the chance to go to Uni and I thought, ‘Nutrition is integral to bodybuilding, let’s go and study this thing,’ and then knowledge is power, bigger muscles, right? Because that’s how it works…”

Later, James took his expertise into the NHS, and went on to work in the world of bodybuilding and fitness – setting up his own consultancy and the website, MuscleTalk, which quickly became a big hitter. One of the key aspects was nutrition.

“I am probably quite a resilient guy,” he figures, “Not that I haven’t had my demons throughout my adult life, I have had several bouts of depression, even as late as 2017 I had a really bad episode, but that was my last and that will be my last,” he says, with a real determination in his voice.

“I think resilience feeds into this – we all have our issues, but it’s how we deal with them.”
James is partly responsible for the rapidly expanding brand, but Corby is home, Tring is still where you find the Huel HQ and the firm recently opened a new unit in Milton Keynes.

They might have a New York office these days (“I’ve only been there once, I don’t travel much for work”), but Huel won’t be relocating from this area any time soon: “We’re a British company and there’s no need to,” James said, “We do manufacture in North America too, through co-packers and we still use those in the UK for some of our more technical products, but why move away?”

Huel is on the shelves of supermarkets and health food establishments everywhere. Clearly, the brand is delivering.

For the uninitiated though, how does James see it: “It’s a nutritionally complete food – everything is plant based and contains all the essential nutrients you need, while watching out for the less desirables – sugar, salt, certain types of fat – that people can consume in a convenient meal form.

“We have bottles, we have bars, we have powdered drinks, we’ve got a hot and savoury range in pots and pouches, and a few other products.
“We also look at the whole supply chain of procuring ingredients, making sure we have the right suppliers who have the right ethical codes of conduct that have the right environmental credentials.

“They also have to be financially secure themselves – if we haven’t got a stable supply chain because our suppliers aren’t sustainable as a business, then we haven’t got a sustainable product.”

And James has his own take on what that means…
“Sustainability is a word that I don’t think people use correctly, and I think it’s quite an important distinction, because we could have objectively the most nutritional product with objectively the best environmental credentials, but if we run out of one of the ingredients we have failed in that goal.”

Huel offers a smart choice when we’re faced with those meal deals and all of their hidden, unhealthy nasties.
“People are making bad food choices, based on convenience – and a lot of people don’t want to. They go and buy a meal deal which is a sandwich, bag of crisps or chocolate bar and a sweetened drink…”

The alternative, of course, is to grab a Huel, and go.

“If someone is growing their own vegetables or buying from suitable places, making a family meal every day, I don’t think Huel is for them,” James said, “But how many people are truly doing that?” he questions, “I certainly don’t want to take away from that, I want people to be doing that, but there are lots of meals in the week where people don’t have that opportunity and a lot of people aren’t privileged enough to have that opportunity, so what we offer at Huel is the best Plan B. I think that sums it up perfectly.”

Let’s be honest, that would be grand for your bank balance, too.

“Financially I’d be fine,” he agrees, “But I wouldn’t be happy in a world where everyone was consuming 100% Huel all the time.”

These days, the co-founder and Chief Sustainable Officer is able to take his foot off the gas a little: “Creating the product is quite technical and it was really hard to let go, but we are in a position now where I can, more or less, so long as I am aware of what is going on,” he admitted, “I have learned how to delegate really well.”

Which is just as well, because the man who says he is ‘running around like a headless chicken’ has also found the time to bag a book deal – Well Fed found its way to retailer shelves last week, through HarperCollins.

A January release seats it perfectly alongside all those other ‘new year, new you’ diet and happiness reads.

Except Well Fed isn’t another diet book. It isn’t actually a diet book at all: “Well Fed is a food theory book with reason at the core, but I want people to understand why they are making the choices they are.

“The key thing is there are some very actionable takeaways for people to do better.” This page turner dishes up generous portions of knowledge for good food practice.

James says many of us are making bad food choices under that aforementioned cover of convenience, and we certainly can’t deny that, but a healthy alternative is there for the taking by all of us.

“The strategy within it is called Contemplative Nutrition, there are five pillars, so eat for your own health, eat for your own mental health, sustainable nutrition, ethical eating and the fifth pillar is not what you eat, but how you eat and who you eat with, so it is about meals and community,” he explained.

“The goal? I want people to consider why they are making the food choices they are, and how they can do better.

“Those pillars are in that order for a good reason – because you have to look after yourself first. If you aren’t in good health yourself, how can you look after others? Physical and mental pillars absolutely do come first.”

Ask James what his motivation is for the book, and he replied: “I have been fortunate in so many ways, so if I can spread the word about good nutrition then I feel I should do. I’m in a great position here, where I can do this stuff without needing to earn money from it.”

James isn’t preachy with his points, either – Huel is a vegan brand, but it’s not marketed that way, and he doesn’t subscribe to that diet choice either.

“I’m not vegan and I never will be,” he promises, but he does think carnivores should be reducing their meat intake to no more than 10% of our diet.

“I avoid intensively farmed red meat and poultry, too. It’s a couple of days a week where you almost entirely avoid animal derived ingredients, and on the days you do eat it, you limit it to one meal a day, and bulk up with plant based foods.

“A small amount of properly reared chicken and bulk up the rest with chickpeas, metaphorically… you can have some really enjoyable food that is cost effective,” he said.

Food waste irks our man, too: “I’ve got no problem with people eating meat, but I find it really bad when people throw it away, because if you are going to exploit an animal, the least you can do is eat it.

“Are we so privileged and well off that we don’t even need to eat this animal, we can just throw it in the bin?
“It’s morally questionable and also impractical when there is a cost of living crisis.”

James is nutritionally savvy, but even he admits to reaching for the odd naughty packet of crisps…
“Absolutely. I do eat junk, but the bulk of my diet comes from good nutritious food – it is fine to have some other stuff, just in moderation…”
So the next time we plan on that chippy tea, or that second slice of cake…

“Just pause and consider for a moment why you are choosing the foods that you are,” James encourages, ‘Am I having this because I am feeling a bit peckish but don’t really need it?’ and also, ‘How does this food choice impact the environment’, which is a bigger question.
“HarperCollins are really backing me with the book, I really cannot say how amazing they are – they are putting time and effort and money into me,” James said.

“They obviously believe in me as an author, but also in the message I am trying to put across here. It’s quite humbling to be honest.”
If you want a book promising all crazy quick diet choices, with chapters that promise to shrink your waist and swell your confidence in two weeks, you’ll be disappointed.

But, if you want to eat smart for health and wellbeing, want to gain an understanding and appreciation of that which fuels you, and want to make a positive change that you can stick with, Well Fed is the book you need to devour, in a manner of speaking.

James leaves us with a quote from the book, which also provides plenty of food for thought: “’A diet isn’t sustainable, if it can’t sustain an individual’,” he added.

The post Switch from being fed up to being Well Fed appeared first on MK Pulse.