My 2500 kcal $6 a day meal plan

[esteban]

I eat around 2500 kcal a day and spend around $6 a day getting 135g protein, 55g fat, and meeting all of my micro nutrient needs. Thus, my macro ratio is 62% carb, 18% fat, and 20% protein.

Here is my diet. Everything is weighed in it's raw form.

240g $0.58 Bananas

240g $1.43 Red lentils

40g ??? Shiitake mushrooms (I grow myself)

70g $0.83 Almonds

145g $0.16 White rice

480ml $0.83 Soy milk fortified

110g $0.48 Spinach

$0.73 25g of protein from protein powder

$0.56 1 Algae pill serving

Total: $5.60 + cost of shiitake mushrooms.

Obviously prices vary depending on where you are, but anyone in the United States should be able to grab all of this for less than $10 a day.

Now I will break down why I chose every single item listed for my meal plan.

Red lentils: This is my main source of protein clocking in at 60g of protein. They are also a good source of many different vitamins and minerals.

White rice: My calorie filler and amino acid protein compliment to the lentils for very cheap. Are you really poor? Then load up on the rice as it's the cheapest food on this list. The rice also is one of the items along with the mushrooms that helps meet my selenium and niacin requirement.

Almonds: This is where I get my fat. Why almonds for fat though and not avocados? Because they have vitamin e and their calcium content is a nice bonus. They are also very cheap compared to other fat sources. Yeah oil is cheaper, but oil is empty fat calories, don't use oil to meet your fat needs. The only issue with almonds is they have a lot of omega-6 content. Oh well, I need the vitamin e and fat.

Shiitake mushrooms: I choose shiitake specifically because of their niacin, pantothenic acid, vitamin d, and selenium nutrients.

Bananas: Cheap calories that help round out my vitamin b6 and potassium, and make my smoothie taste better.

Soy milk: Has complete amino acid protein and fortified with B12, calcium, and vitamin D. Also used to make my smoothie delicious.

Spinach: My vitamin a, c, and k power house while still being very affordable. This is the one ingredient you can really swap out for almost any variety of vegetables and fruits that you like as long as they meet your vitamin a, c, and k requirements.

Algae pill: I need this for my omega-3 DHA and EPA content. Some people choose to just get omega-3 ALA content from flax, chia, and so forth, but ALA pales in comparison to DHA and EPA for the body. Additionally my algae pill is supplemented with a full serving of vegan vitamin D3. Get it here: https://www.vegetology.com/opti3-omega-3-epa-dha

Protein powder: Not needed, but helps raise my protein and round out my amino acids more. I use naked pea protein because it's cheap, but if I had more money I'd buy a higher quality protein powder.

Bonus supplement: Vegetology Joint-Vie.
I recently started using this because I am a boulderer and am very concerned about my joint health. I'm not sure how effective it is, but I figure it's worth a shot. https://www.vegetology.com/joint-vie-advanced-bone-joint-formula

I also take a creatine supplement as well.

So how do I eat all this? I make a big shake out of the bananas, soy milk, protein powder, and creatine. I take the algae and joint pills with my shake. I snack on the almonds whenever I feel like it. Lastly I make one giant dish out of the lentils, rice, mushrooms, and spinach + spices that I don't factor into price since they are an extra non-needed expense.

Hope this helps some of you out there!

 

[dawn16]

@esteban You grow your own mushrooms? Care to elaborate?

 

[jenohio55]

@dawn16 Yeah that also piqued * my interest. Teach me how to grow my own mushroom farm bro

 

[teresalaw77]

@jenohio55 *piqued

 

[mikeymike48]

@jenohio55 /r/mycology
also /r/shrooms but they don't really focus on shiitakes.

 

[esteban]

@dawn16 There is a guy at my local farmers market that sells shiitake mushroom blocks. I think it's like $20 for the block and it produces a ton of mushrooms. You just have to keep the block constantly damp by spraying it with water and leaving a plastic bag over it.

 

[freakymrq]

@dawn16 They have indoor window sill boxes on Amazon that let you do this for very cheap.

 

[fulfiled]

@dawn16 /r/mushroomgrowers not very active sub but you could dig through it. It's meant to be reasonably simple to grow your own, I haven't given it a go yet.

 

[neliii_br]

@fulfiled Here's a sneak peek of /r/MushroomGrowers using the top posts of all time!

#1: [Gourmet] pink oysters in peak color. | 11 comments

#2: [General] First farmers market.. my setup is sad, but its mine. | 48 comments

#3: Our silly goose found some chickens. | 11 comments

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[dawn16]

r/withoutcontext

 

[julietcasablancas]

@esteban No chickpeas?!? (from a Chickpea hippie)

 

[esteban]

@julietcasablancas Hummus is pretty much my go to snack food when I feel like being luxurious lol.

 

[jenohio55]

@julietcasablancas Lentils have a lot more protein than chickpeas.

Soy Beans > Lentils > Split peas > Pinto/Black/Kidney Beans > Chickpeas

 

[starfire28]

@esteban If your omega 3 supplement has a lot of EPA and DHA, but not a lot of AA, then those fats that you do get will stop the conversion of plant-based omega 6 sources. Omega 6s are still very necessary for the body, so you should be aware of this. I honestly don't know if algae is also a good source of omega 6s.

And even though you already get omega 3s, I'd suggest adding some flax seeds. They are extremely high in antioxidants and things good for your health. They are extremely cheap as well, and contain decent protein and calories.

 

[esteban]

@starfire28 Algae is for omega 3s and I already get more than enough omega 6 with the almonds.

From my research you want about 1 to 1 up to a 1 to 2 omega 3 to 6 ratio. You only want around 500-1500 mg of omega 3 a day. My meal plan brings my omega 6 up to 10,000 mg so it's already quite high.

I do take flax seeds sometimes. Only to help balance my omega 3's to 6's though. I find antioxidants benefits to be dubious. Research doesn't seem to back up the validity of antioxidants.

 

[starfire28]

@esteban I don't think you understand my point. The omega 3s and 6s from plants must be altered in the body to get the highly unsaturated fats like those you get from animals or algae.

The "1 to 1 up to a 1 to 2" ratio is only useful when you're talking about plant fats. This is because the first enzyme in the elongation process (delta 6 desaturase) prefers ALA to LA. This means that even if you consume more LA than ALA, the ALA will still be converted in a nontrivial amount. The whole 1:1 or 1:4 ratio is based on the chemistry of Delta 6 desaturase, so if you're getting your fats from algae or animal sources, and delta 6 desaturase becomes unneeded, that ratio no longer matters at all, you will just absorb the preformed omega 3s and 6s. Buf if you only get the fats from plants sources, and you get 10x more LA than ALA, the delta 6 desaturase will be blocked up by mostly LA and the ALA won't be converted very much at all.

Your body will actually sense the omega 3s from the algae, and stop this transformation. So, if you eat long-chain omega 3s and short chain omega 6s, the omega 3s will vastly slow the process of converting the short chain omega 6s. The problem is that your body is used to getting omega 3s and 6s at the same time, so it can't distinguish between the two. If you only get omega 3s it won't care, and will shut down the conversion process for plant-based omega 6 fats even though you still need them.

So, to reiterate, the omega 6s you get from almonds aren't being converted very much. Maybe that's OK because you already get so much, and so even if the conversion is limited, you will get enough.

As for antioxidants, there are definite health benefits. They help reduce free radicals in the blood and tissues. Particularly when talking about polyunsaturated fatty acids like EPA and DHA, which are especially unstable and can easily be destroyed by free radicals, it's important to eat antioxidants to protect these fats while they are transported to the tissues where they will be protected.

Especially when considering atherosclerosis and the problems due to cholesterol, a major negative factor is actually polyunsaturated cholesterol, which can become oxidized and then can collect in the arteries. Antioxidants are important for preventing heart disease and strokes, for the same reasons that tobacco smoke has been proven to cause these things: it's the free radicals from the smoke which oxidize the cholesterol.

There is absolutely no reason to avoid antioxidants whatsoever. If you study ancient diets from tens of thousands of years ago, our ancestors diets had much much higher amounts of antioxidants in their diet, perhaps even 5x more than the average person these days or more.

An important example is vitamin E, which is itself an antioxidant. EPA and DHA are both omega 3s, but EPA is shorter and thus more stable. This means it is more resistant to being broken apart and destroyed by free radicals. EPA is converted into DHA, but only in certain locations in the body. This means that omega 3s are transported within the blood mostly as EPA, and delivered to other parts of the body, because the blood is also where a lot of free radicals end up. In the connections between neurons, which carry the electrical signals of our consciousness, ~30% of the mass is the omega 3 DHA. When vitamin E is present within the brain, the process of transforming EPA to DHA is increased. This means that the body waits for there to be a decent amount of this antioxidant before it will risk transforming the omega 3s into the more unstable form. This is just a simple example of why antioxidants are important and how they relate to omega 3s.

 

[esteban]

@starfire28 So you are saying that long-chain omegas absorb automatically and don't need to be converted. If your body detects omegas being absorbed then it shuts down the omega conversion process. Which is to say if I ate my almonds and took my algae pill at the same time then the omega-6 LA from the almonds won't be converted and absorbed into my body.

I already take my algae supplement at a different time in the day than when I eat my almonds. Does this mean then that my body won't shut down the omega-6 conversion when I eat my almonds later in the day?

I'm not avoiding antioxidants I'm just not going out of my way to eat them. Aren't antioxidants just certain vitamins like B vitamins and vitamin E? I already am getting a 100% or more of what is recommended daily for all my vitamins and minerals. Which is to say I already get enough antioxidants in my diet.