Accurate entries

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ksmommy5
ksmommy5 Posts: 142 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I weigh everything solid in grams as much as I can when logging and liquid in cups or tablespoons. If I use the entries with the green check is that an accurate entry? I am losing. 15 lbs in 4 weeks so I'd say I'm pretty accurate. I use the green checks as much as I can.

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  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    Not necessarily. The check means a certain number of users have agreed that the nutritional information is correct, so MFP marks it as such. But they can still be very incorrect. Whatever entry you choose, ALWAYS double-check it against the package's nutrition label or the USDA's database for whole foods.
  • CafeRacer808
    CafeRacer808 Posts: 2,396 Member
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    Not necessarily. I sometimes find inaccuracies in verified entries. For fruits, veg and meat/fish, I use USDA entries whenever possible. For packaged foods, I always compare the food label with the checkmarked entries.
  • ksmommy5
    ksmommy5 Posts: 142 Member
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    Possibly a dumb question but Canadians can use the usda entries? Lik3 our stuff is the same ?
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,964 Member
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    ksmommy5 wrote: »
    Possibly a dumb question but Canadians can use the usda entries? Lik3 our stuff is the same ?

    Certainly for whole foods you can (fruits, veggies, legumes cooked from dried, whole grains like plain oats for oatmeal/porridge, plain raw or dry roasted nuts and seeds, meats/fish/poultry if terminology for meat cuts and fish species are the same or you know what the equivalent name is in U.S. English). You're generally going to be OK with basic dairy foods like butter, milk and cottage cheese (so long as you match the % fat), and you'll probably be safe for plain yogurt (just be sure you're using a USDA entry that matches your yogurt on fat % and Greek v. traditional). If you have cheese that didn't come with nutritional information, you're probably OK using the generic USDA entries for the type of cheese (e.g., cheddar, parmesan, feta, etc.). You're probably OK using generic USDA entries for plain canned beans and veggies, except for the sodium variation from one brand to another, but if you're not worried about your sodium intake, that shouldn't matter.

    But the USDA database also contains some brand-name products, and manufacturers sometimes use different "recipes" in different countries, so you're better off checking the entry against the data on your package label.

    Just because an entry says USDA in the MFP database is no guarantee that it's correct (although I think my unquantified experience has been that they're more likely to be correct than the average MFP entry). You might want to compare MFP "USDA" entries with the real thing.

    https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list

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