Philosophical Vegan Forum

https://cronometer.com/

I'm in the process of making my diet less shitty, so I've started using cronometer. If there's anyone here who uses it, can you show me a screenshot (or list the items) of a sample day that does all of these things:

- meets 100% of the requirements (or close to)
- is cheap
- has as few different items as possible
- has as few calories as possible


thanks!

You either need to eat a really large amount of veggies/sesame seeds (I can recommend the former more than the latter, but it's really hard to do), or supplement on calcium through fortified products, a supplement, or something like molasses.

Here's an example with a more moderate amount of veggies, and supplementing on calcium with almond milk: Nutritional yeast can also help with some B vitamins.
What have you been having trouble with?

All of that, by the way, should cost about $3.50 a day.

Here's another example.
I used blackstrap molasses (it's important that it's blackstrap, not sweet) instead of fortified almond milk for calcium. I also had to add in sunflower seeds for vitamin E, and reduce the amount of pasta (because molasses is high in carbs too).

Thanks<3 My main problem seemed to be calcium and vitamin D (don't go outside much). But I was also just looking for ways to do it as efficiently as possible to save time, money, energy/resources

knot wrote:Thanks<3 My main problem seemed to be calcium and vitamin D (don't go outside much). But I was also just looking for ways to do it as efficiently as possible to save time, money, energy/resources

D you just have to supplement on if you don't go outside. There's no very practical food source.

Your main source of calories should come from whole grains and beans, and then some from nuts and seeds for your fats and fat soluble vitamins. You only need a few veggies each day for misc vitamins and more fiber/antioxidants.

Trying to get enough calcium from veggies would mean being more particular about your sources (collards will give you all your calcium in 500 g), or eating a much larger quantity (up to a few kilograms in some cases -- 3 kg for broccoli).

Here's another example, using collards (which are, I think, probably the best source of calcium you'll find in a frozen veggie)

brimstoneSalad wrote:You either need to eat a really large amount of veggies/sesame seeds (I can recommend the former more than the latter, but it's really hard to do), or supplement on calcium through fortified products, a supplement, or something like molasses.

Here's an example with a more moderate amount of veggies, and supplementing on calcium with almond milk:

cronoexample.jpg

Nutritional yeast can also help with some B vitamins.
What have you been having trouble with?

All of that, by the way, should cost about $3.50 a day.

How important is the nutritional yeast? I don't think that's available in the NL.

miniboes wrote:How important is the nutritional yeast? I don't think that's available in the NL.

I've bought nutritional yeast in Amsterdam in a health food store.

miniboes wrote: How important is the nutritional yeast? I don't think that's available in the NL.

Plants are unfortunately not very good sources of B vitamins. Fungi are much better. Whole grains are OK, but nuts are particularly bad for B vitamins, and since I included a lot of nuts for the good fats, B vitamins need to be compensated by a very rich source.

Marmite is an option (also yeast), but very salty.
You can probably find nutritional yeast online; order in a larger quantity (several kg) for a decent price.

Otherwise, mushrooms are an option, but less affordable.
That's quite a few mushrooms. Viable, but could be pricey. Might increase your budget a couple dollars a day.
I would recommend nutritional yeast, or just taking a B complex or multivitamin at that point.

Here is without mushrooms.

Note how you have to be a lot more careful about your foods. Lentils are healthier than chickpeas (I chose chickpeas before because they're a pretty average bean, and could be relatively easily subbed by other beans).
Collards also had to be increased a bit.
Walnuts had to be replaced by flax for Omega 3 and Sunflower seeds (a good source of vitamin E) had to be increased.
Whole wheat pasta was also increased based on the calorie savings from switching to lentils for more B5.