April 10, 2023

Huma Energy Gel Review From an 80 Mile-per-Week Runner

As a distance runner with a high metabolism, I use products like Huma to hit my nutritional needs. Here's my take on Huma and how it fits into my lifestyle and nutrition regime.

Yowana Wamala

Huma Energy Gel Review From an 80 Mile-per-Week Runner

My use for Huma is simple: getting in extra calories. I've used it before runs, during runs and even before hitting the gym for a lifting session. As a distance runner with a high metabolism, my goal is to eat around 4,000 calories per day in peak training season. Using products like Huma helps me get there. Here's my take on Huma and how it fits into my lifestyle and nutrition regime.

Background on The Reviewer

I'm an amateur athlete, train heavy and eat a lot. I run anywhere from 30 to 80 miles in a typical week, while hitting the gym 3 to 5 times per week for crossfit-style strength and conditioning workouts. I'm in my late 20s, and I compete in road and trail races for fun. I've run every popular road racing distance—5k, 10k, half marathon full marathon—and some weird distances as well like 4 mile (4 on the Fourth in Charlotte) and the 15k (my proudest PR).

How I Found Huma

Before using Huma, I tried Spring Energy Gels and Gu. Spring was my go-to for months—it tastes great, has solid ingredients and is easy to get down, but it's hard to find in stores (they're often out of flavors) and is on Amazon but not available for quick delivery via Prime. Late one night, I realized I needed gels for a big workout and saw that Huma was available for overnight Amazon delivery, so I gave them a try.

Pros and Cons of Huma

Benefits:

Chia-based: I generally try eat as healthy as possible. For me, this means being conscious of the foods I'm putting into my body and eating as many whole foods as I can. I do also eat and love processed and packaged foods (BBQ Kettle Chips are my favorite), and as a working parent, greatly benefit from convenience. So I appreciate that while Hu is packaged and processed, they've built their product on a quality fuel source like Chia seeds, which, side note, is a great oatmeal topping.
Friendly to range of diets: Huma is keto, vegan and gluten-free. Most gels are though, so this isn't a huge differentiator.
Tastes good: Of course this is subjective, but I like the way Huma tastes, especially compared to Gu gels and Maurten's drink mix.
Easy to get down without water: I don't carry water on most of my runs, even the 16 milers, so this is super important for me. I find Gu tough to swallow without some liquid, and Spring can be pretty thick as well.
Convenient: The main reason I even tried Huma is the same-day delivery on Amazon. As someone who struggles with advanced planning, this makes it my top choice. Marketers and product managers from other nutrition companies out there take note: sometimes it's more about your distribution strategy than your product. As I like to say, the best ability is availability.
No stomach issues: I'm not going to beat around the bush here: I've never needed to stop to poop during a run after using Huma. Take that as you will. There's only one way to find out how it will work for you.
Veteran-owned: I didn't know this until I did the research for this article, but that's a huge plus to me. I love supporting American-owned business, and even better if it's veteran-owned.
Variety: I appreciate the range of flavors and that they have both caffeinated and non-caffeinated options (and within the caffeinated range they have low and high caffeine options). Some of my favorite flavors are strawberry, raspberry (caffeinated), lemonade (caffeinated) and chocolate (caffeinated). Don't tell anyone, but sometimes when I'm traveling I'll have a brownie and the chocolate caffeine gel for breakfast instead of a coffee.

Drawbacks:

Price: This is more about the category than the product itself, but if you're training heavily and going through a box of these a week, you can add $100+ a month to your grocery bill. I used to take a lot more of these, but it's budgeting season here (two kids and business school will do that to you), so I'm being more conscious of only taking these when I need to. A spoonful of peanut butter is the same number of calories and much more cost-effective.
Calories: For me, 100 calories per gel isn't enough sometimes. For example, during my marathon and my peak training runs, I would take 4 or 5 Spring Energy gels, which would add up to 1,000+ calories over the course of the morning. I would need to take 8 or 9 of these (no way I'm actually doing that) to get the equivalent calories. As someone with high caloric needs, I would love if Huma came out with a 200 calorie gel.
Heat sensitivity: These melt super easily and can be cloying (overly sweet) in the heat. Though they are easy to swallow without water, sometimes I'm wishing for a swig of something to wash them down.

Huma Ingredients

The ingredients in Huma are generally quality, especially compared to Gu. As it says on the Huma website, "You don't need a PHD to pronounce the ingredients in Huma products."

Huma Ingredients - Strawberry: Strawberry Puree, Evaporated Cane Juice, Filtered Water, Brown Rice Syrup, Milled Chia Seeds, Strawberry Concentrate, Sea Salt, Citric Acid

For comparison, here are Gu Ingredients for the "jet blackberry" flavor: Maltodextrin, Water, Fructose, Natural Flavors, Leucine, Citric Acid, Sodium Citrate, Green Tea (Leaf) Extract (Contains Caffeine), Potassium Citrate, Calcium Carbonate, Valine, Sea Salt, Malic Acid, Gellan Gum, Isoleucine, Sunflower Oil, Sodium Benzoate (Preservative), Potassium Sorbate (Preservative).

Huma Chia Energy Gel

Real food energy gels for endurance exercise. Variety 12 pack

$ 30.00 USD

Alternatives: Huma vs Gu vs Spring Energy Gel

Gu Energy Gels: This one is found everywhere. I typically only used these if I can't find anything else (which either means I'm traveling or really didn't plan ahead). Get used to taking these every once in a while, because they're everywhere from Dicks Sporting Goods to your local vitamin store. If you can't wait for Amazon delivery, these will have to do in a pinch.
Spring Energy Gels: Found in your local running store or on Amazon if you can wait weeks for delivery. I love their flavors and ingredients, and that they're higher in calories. They're just a lot harder for me to get my hands on, so the tie-breaker goes to Huma, the reliable Lebron James of the energy gel world.
Maurten: Found in your local running store or online. I've tried the liquid version: it works fine, but the taste isn't great. Think melted flavorless Jello and you get the idea. I understand the theory behind only putting in the ingredients thst you need and not using extra flavors and colors, but it's no fun. Everything about the brand lacks joy, from the way the packaging looks to their black and white journalistic-style instagram photos of sponsored athletes. Yes, if it's good enough for Kipchoge it's good enough for you. But I'm not Kipchoege. I'm a dad doing this for fun. To me, Maurten a bit too self-serious for what I'm going for with my own running. Give it a shot if you want.
No Gels: No, that's not the name of the next trendy performance nutrition brand (not sorry for the dad joke). I often run without gels, either running fasted (I don't recommend this during a peak training season) or carbing up heavy beforehand. My favorite pre-run meal is a cinnamon raisin bagel with almond butter, sliced banana and local honey drizzled on top. An efficient and delicious carbohydrate delivery mechanism. When running with no-in flight fuel, I also especially make sure to get in calories immediately after running with some orange juice, a protein shake (usually Aloha) or a specialized recovery drink like Tailwind.‍