mkiojon

I think that if you crave starchy food that it is ok as long as you're eating things like oatmeal, brown rice...whole grains, potatoes, yams...as opposed to white rice, white bread, etc.. I find that if I work in a salad or some sort of vegetable focus into the meal, than I am not as hungry later. Also, eating small portions throughout the day is a good thing, especially if you are highly active. I have certain days as well that I can eat a ton of food. I find that drinking smoothies helps to solve some of my problems without adding a bunch of weight. Try making a smoothie with peanut butter, banana, and soy milk....maybe some flax oil in there too. This might make you feel more satisfied and not hungry for a while. *I am also on a budget and spend around $20-$30 on food per week. Natural peanut butter from Trader Joes is my savior. It costs about $1.50 a jar and I eat it with celery, apples, sprouted wheat bread, smoothies and it helps me feel full.

A great, cheap way to make pinto beans that won't cause excessive gas is by soaking them first for 8 hours "overnight," then cook them in a pot of water with carrot, bay leaf, onion, and some cummin powder. Once they are fully cooked, you can blend the beans, veggies and a little of the cooking water in a food processor or blender to make beans for burritos. I make this all of the time and it is the carrot and the cummin that help to eliminate the gas that beans would normally produce...also the soaking...very important. Then if you want to make the burritos more interesting, saute some onions, carrots, and potatoes with some chili powder, salt and pepper. Put in a dash of apple cider vinegar while this is cooking. When the veggies are cooked and ready, add the beans and wrap them in corn or flour tortillas. Try that one out.

oatmeal brown rice potatoes onions carrots bell peppers pinto beans corn tortillas salsa soy protein w/ soy milk & banana cabbage grapefruit apples lentils peanut butter 12 grain bread *I am on a budget as well, and the 99 cent store nearby is really good about stocking up on large bags of rice, beans, etc.. as well as fresh fruit and veggies. I honestly think it is cheaper to be vegan and eat like this than to be on a S.A.D. diet.

Thanks for the info on that. I'll give it a shot. If I need to break down the oats a bit more, I can put them in my coffee/spice/flax grinder. It turns everything into powder form.

When you guys put oatmeal in your smoothie, is it cooked first or do you just pour it in straight out of the box?

Thanks for the info! I'll have to give it a shot. I do have Teff flour as well but I am stoked to try this.

We've been talking about Ethiopian food in a different thread so it made me think of this. I have checked online for recipes for injera but I have failed at making the ones that I have come across. I am having difficulties with the fermenting process. Has anyone successfully made injera and if so, what's the secret? Thanks!

Hi Veganpotter, To answer your question about Teff, they have it at Whole Foods here in Los Angeles for about $4 a package, that is about a 24 oz...I think. You can also buy Teff in Little Ethiopia here in LA near where I live and it can be cheaper depending on where you get it. The stores sell the grain as well as the flour. Also, making Injera is difficult for me. I have tried some recipes online and haven't achieved the results that I get when eating at an Ethiopian restaurant. If I come across a good recipe, than I'll be sure to post it. Jon

Yeah, I am a big fan of Ethiopian food. There are some great recipes online to make Ethiopian greens and beans.

Right on thanks. It comes down to the classic "try to make your food colorful" idea to feel satiated. I just made a great pot of Ethiopian-style collard greens with lentils and brown rice.

I just made some Ethiopian style collard greens and they were quite good. I made a berbere paste "similar to Indian curry paste, but with cayanne and paprika as the main ingredients" and added that to my normal collard recipe with sauteed onions and tomatoes. This is great with injera "Ethiopian flat bread" made from Teff "a grain high in protein with no gluten" and the lentil dish that I made. Collards are really cheap right now because they are in season, so I am trying to eat a lot.

Right on, I appreciate the responses I have received here. I just need to load up more. I do have a very fast metabolism and I've been pretty much vegan for more than half of my life, so I eat fairly light, but I've been drinking more protein shakes and I have been eating more peanut butter, almonds, flax, etc.. I am constantly active and only since I've been lifting weights, have I gained some LBS. About six months ago I was 135 and now I am 145. Thanks for your thoughts!

Does anyone need to constantly eat, even more than 6 times per day? I feel as if I need to eat a ton of food to feel energized. I am somewhat new to weight training and I am about 148 LBS so I am not that big and 5' 10". I was a "3 times per week" guy for about 9 months and I have always been involved with a cardio work-out of sorts. Now I train 6 days per week. 5 with weights following a routine that alternates muscle groups in a 5 day period. The 6th day is just cardio for me. I also play the drums for 1-5 hours per day, depending on the amount of time I can devote to it. Here is a standard day for me. Meal one: Bowl of cereal w/ some sort of milk "soy or rice, etc." w/ banana. Meal two: soy yogurt with ground flax seeds and fruit..about a bowl full Meal three: protein smoothie, I drink about 3 per day and I switch up the ingredients a bit "juice, soy milk, etc w/ banana, papaya, etc.." but I add in protein powder Meal four: two sandwiches...either peanut butter and banana, veggie sub, hummus, etc.. Meal five: beans and rice, with veggies "a plate or two full" This is my large meal of the day. Meal six: protein shake Meal seven: more beans, rice and veggies...leftovers from meal five Meal eight: Protein shake or apples with peanut butter What are some of your thoughts on this amount of food? If I am not drumming, teaching or in the gym, I am eating. I think I may have a tendency towards eating a lot of veggies and fruit, but I have been eating a lot more protein lately and I feel like I have an insatiable appetite. If I am practicing with a band, I have to have a shake on hand or a sandwich to eat every hour.

Here are a couple of smoothies I make #Raw smoothie -two oranges, a lime, a few chunks of Mexican Papaya, banana, frozen berries, and spinach "omit spinach if you aren't down with the green." Start by blending the oranges and juice of the lime. That way you have more of a liquid base to blend the rest. #Protein smoothie -soy, rice or almond milk, a banana, a couple spoons of peanut butter, and protein powder "soy, rice, hemp, etc.." I drink 2-3 smoothies like this a day. This is my version of fast food.

This is what I am eating at the moment because I am in a transitional living situation and have to crash at my rehearsal studio. I have a dorm fridge and a hot plate and most of my pantry items aren't around except for a small sauce pan and a blender. This is a good example of living economically though because I am saving a lot of money eating this way. Meal 1 Oatmeal, and a smootie with protein powder, orange juice, banana, and spinach. Meal 2 Protein shake with protein powder, spinach, banana and soy milk Meal 3 brown rice and beans, cooked with onions, celery, and carrots and seasoned with salt, chili powder and large quantities of hot sauce. Meal 4 left-overs of the beans and rice mixture, or a peanut butter and banana sandwich Meal 5 apples and celery with peanut butter Meal 6 Pot of vegetarian ramen type soup with whatever vegetables I have on hand. I usually have carrots, celery, onions, collard greens and spinach. * I drink a large amount of water and I'll occasionally drink some tea as well.

Right on, cool article. Thanks for posting that.

I like to make raw wraps. For example, I start by soaking some brazil nuts, almonds, or walnuts in water for about 8 hours. I then blend those with cilantro, dates, carrots, celery, peppers, a little flax oil, some lime juice and some salt all in a food processor to make a paste. I then lay that a collard green and wrap it up like a burrito.

Kale is awesome...here is a raw recipe and a cooked one. I'll start with the raw... It is similar to VeganPotter's idea. Take a leaf of kale and fill it with avacado and some pitted dates. It does taste pretty good and your friends will think you are strange for eating kale, especially kale done up that way. The 2nd recipe goes like this. Chop up an onion and add it to a pot that is heated with a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil. Heat that up for about 4 or 5 minutes and then add the chopped Kale. At this point I add a dash of salt and pepper, along with some chili powder. Let that go with the lid on for a couple of minutes and then add about 1/8 cup of vinegar "I prefer the apple cider kind" and a 1/4-1/2 cup of water. Put the lid back on and turn down the heat. Let this cook for a little while. In about 5 more minutes you'll have some really good tasting kale. Enjoy! I usually do the same with collards, but kale is just as good. Add some baked beans and some corn bread and you're set...

Here is one that I do. I haven't tried the hemp protein yet, but I am sure it would blend well with this. Take a couple of oranges and blend that first. I usually blend oranges to get all of the fiber, instead of juicing them. I then add a handful of greens "spinach or collards." If your blender sucks, do the spinach because it will blend easier. If you have a VitaMix or some other sweet blender, the collards have some interesting character. Next I'll add either a banana, chopped papaya, or pineapple. Finally, I'll take some berries and add those two. This smoothie has it all in there. It looks like sludge by the end of it, but I think it taste pretty good.

I am somewhat new to working out as well, but I'd say the best way to tone up and not bulk up would be to circuit train. This basically combines a bit of cardiovascular training with muscular training. You go through the major muscle groups without taking long pauses between them, so that it keeps your heart rate up. You focus on an excersise for usually one to two sets of about 10 reps. You can work-out effectively towards your goal with this for about 30 minutes per session, 3 to 5 days per week. I hope this helps.

I have a couple of gallons of water that I just refill for $0.25 each time I go to the grocery store. The water goes through is filtered and goes through a reverse osmosis process. It seems to do the job.

BTW, that's cool that you have an Earth Crisis quote up there, CollegeB. It has been a long time since I last saw that name. I remember seeing them back in the day in Ohio with Ignite. That was an awesome show! I can't find my "All Out War" cd though..haha! I think my old room mate borrowed it but never gave it back. I've been jonesing to listen to some Earth Crisis lately.

Thanks for the tips. Yeah, being on the road is tough when it comes to stability. I have figured out how to eat well on the road, but working out has been something new to me in the past year. I will try doing these exercises that you suggested. I am learning more about the nutrition of an athlete or a bodybuilder, and really finding the six meals a day thing to work well with my energy levels. I used to be a "3 meals a day" guy and I was very active with the drums, but I was always tired and low-energy. I really think that working-out and spreading the meals apart has helped quite a bit. It will be a trial by fire to see if I can keep up with this lifestyle on the road, but I am willing to give it a go. That is one of the reasons why I am really glad that this forum exists. It is great to learn from the experiences of the people on this board. I'll have to share my experiences when it is all over to let others know how to make it work. Thanks!

Having recently joined a gym, I'd have to say that working-out there has been great for me. I really like the variety of machines and weights that I wouldn't be able to fit in my place. Plus, being in that type of environment feels good because you can learn new exercises from watching the personal trainers, etc.. Being there just adds to the overall motivation to stay in shape. The plus side to doing it all at home is that you don't have to pay for a membership. You can work-out 24 hours a day, something that my gym doesn't offer. The downside is that as I have been getting stronger, I've been outgrowing the weights that I have causing me to upgrade constantly. Overall, the gym has been the way to go for me. If I had an awesome set-up at home, I may go for that instead. I think the only problem would be distractions. I am terrible with distractions, at home the phone might ring, I might decide to jump online, or chat with someone. When I am doing work, I like to be in a work environment and leave home for resting.

Hi, I want to let everyone in Los Angeles know that I am currently teaching drum lessons. Feel free to email me at [email protected] if you're interested in taking lessons from me. I have several years of touring experience and studio experience as well as my BA in Commercial Music. I've been teaching for the past four years as well. My rates vary depending on the amount of time we spend in a week. If you have any questions, please contact me at my email address. Thanks, Jon