In this thread I’m going to explain my diet to you and how to be healthy and cost efficient at the same time. It’s a huge pet peeve of mine when people complain about how expensive and hard it is to eat healthy.

This is a picture of some of the sustainable long shelf life healthy foods that I eat almost daily.



Items and Quantities -

1. 44 6oz bags of raw mixed nuts (pistachios, almonds, and cashews) - 1045kcal each 46,000kcal total
2. 30lbs of raw brown rice – 49,000kcal total
3. 25lbs of mixed beans – 39,400kcal total
4. Extra virgin olive oil – 60,000kcal total

Costs –

1. Nuts - $130 – online vendor
2. Rice - $45 – local ethnic grocery store
3. Mixed beans – $30 Wal-Mart
4. Olive oil - $70 Wal-Mart

In total that’s almost 200,000kcal of healthy food for $275. Based on a 2,000 calorie/day diet, that’s 100 days worth of food or $2.75/day. Now, I realize that it’s unrealistic to live off of just these items and rest assured that I don’t.

My other sources of food are basically fruits and vegetables (with an emphasis on fruits) and minimal meat (organic, free range, etc). I don’t eat any processed foods.

Fruits and Vegetables and other that I eat daily/weekly include:

1. Organic apples
2. Avocados
3. Bananas
4. Oranges
5. Cantaloupe
6. Spirulina (buy in bulk)
7. Spinach
8. Watermelon
9. Organic shitake mushrooms
10. Beets
11. Organic sweet potato
12. Organic Asparagus
13. Organic strawberries
14. Organic blueberries
15. Squash
16. Garlic
17. Homemade hummus
18. Pineapple
19. 100% pure chocolate
20. Mung and alfalfa sprouts
21. Organic free range chicken

Those are the main ones but there are a lot more. I spend about $40-50/week on fruits and vegetables of this nature.

My water source is a spring and it’s free.

All-in-all I spend roughly $7/day on high quality food. That’s only slightly more than $200/month…

It’s also worth noting that I’m big-time into cross fit and bodybuilding. With this diet alone I have gone from 130lbs 9% body fat to my current 175lbs 5% body fat. I’m 5’11’’. Unlike most body builders trying to gain lean muscle I don’t have shitty cholesterol levels and high blood pressure. My BP is steady at 110/70. Here are some of the cholesterol stats from a recent test:

Thank you for posting this, good stuff!

Could you post where you get your nuts in the suppliers section please??

Nice! You've really got this down to a T, eh?

Sounds good. got pics??

i look at my body like a nice hot-rod that can bone.

i make sure the fuel going into it is great because otherwise i cant bone. thus my attitude is that food = fuel. taste doesnt really do much anymore. i use black pepper andthats about it. a little salt on most rice dishes since i dont really eat anything with salt in it.

Melodic Catastrophe - Ill pm it to you.

universecannon - Its a nonstop evolution. I'm always experimenting. I'm thinking about trying a few months with no grains or beans and see how I feel. I also plan on going a few months with no meat at all and see what that does. I might just go raw vegan for a bit. I'm open to different things.




Yes but not for this website lol

Here is a website page dedicated to the vegan bodybuilder Derek Tresize


proto-pax - Even though I totally vibe with the notion of food as fuel and nutrition rather than "fun"... I'm a big fan of spices. Lots of health benefits to things like turmeric, cayenne, habanero, garlic, cinnamon... the list goes on

cheers

Purple_dye, that is awesome! Just what I've been looking for I've been wanting to kick my pasta habit and I'm gluten intolerant so it gets really expensive buying alternative flours as well as not being so good for you. Do you think you could shoot me that nut supplier as well?

I'm sorry I missed this thread when it first came out, purple_dye you are dead on rock solid on this post, I hope more folks read it, Thank you for sharing this one. Great information here!



LMFAO!


Atta boy proto!!! You remind me sooo much of a young Ice House. LoL

Very informative thread, I have to agree with the information here.

But man, those nuts are really cheap! Can you also shoot me a PM with the link, please?

I think your idea is good. Personally i live off food from the local supermarket and use a cheap whey protein supplement off the net in addition to my meat diet. Meat is the only item that's costly so i buy 3 chickens for $15 and they last me a week-etc. So i don't need to make any particular big changes to keep costs down.

I've stopped drinking wine and this makes a LOT of difference to shopping bills. I don't smoke tobaccco, drink fresh milk, or eat bread. I do eat fruit and vegetables, but admit i could eat more. These are very expensive so i buy them as i feel the need.

What's good about meat is that i feel fuller for longer.

>>I think saving costs has to be something based more as a lifestyle analysis, rather than food aimed. It's your whole expenses per month/year that matter. No point eating really cheap if you have an expensive hobby or fuel bills instead!

..Also, if you're happier, you're more likely to last/progress in whatever job you do, so spending a bit more on food treats may be more worhwhile than scrimping. Another thing is that when you spend more money you automatically are motivated to find better ways of making more. Therefore, scrimping may lead more to a surviving rather than "thriving" lifestyle.
> Carefully planned cost cutting works best as long as you have all these aspects factored.