Paradox: Unhealthy food is often easier to track.

segacs

The calorie counting paradox is that the easiest food to log and track is often the food that is less healthy.

For instance, packaged and processed food has the nutritional info printed right on the label, and can be logged with a simple bar code scan. Fresh cooking with real ingredients takes a lot more effort to log.

Ditto with restaurants: The only ones with nutritional info on their websites are the big fast food chains, which are obviously far less healthy than the local restaurants which provide zero information about their menus.

Do you ever find yourself making unhealthy food choices simply because they're more convenient to track than healthy ones? What are your strategies to deal with this?

PRMinx

No, not really. Pre-packaged foods, like chips, should still be weighed for accuracy.

Recipes can be annoying, but once it's in your recipe files it's there forever.

giggitygoo

I understand what you mean. I fell into a "pre-packaged snack" rut because of this a few years ago. To make healthier homecooked food easier to track, I make meals and recipes on here. I also tend to buy the same things over and over. I figure the easy way never did much good for me, so I am willing to put in the extra effort to ensure I am getting the exact nutrition I need for my goals.

**typo

BernadetteChurch

Guilty! But as it doesn't happen all that often, in the interests of being more accurate with my calorie counting, because I don't see the point of estimating, I prefer to eat a Big Mac than something with unknown nutritional info.

TheBigFb

Or you could go the other way, dont eat anything that has a bar code, then its all healthy

PRMinx

Also, just because something is easier to log, doesn't mean it's accurate. The nutritional information on restaurant sites and even packaging can be as much as 20% off.

melimomTARDIS

I weigh stuff.

stonegirldancing42

What I do is guesstimate my healthier food choices. For instance, I was at a drafthouse the other day and ordered their greek salad w/tofu. So, I found something similar to this in the database. I'll also sometimes track item by item using this system. Not ideal, but even if I'm a little off, beats not logging or going overboard w/my choices.

SmartAlec03211988

Pre-packaged food is inaccurate. It also has to be weighed and measured.

I'm finding it much easier to track home made meals from raw ingredients.

RunWinterGarden

Not so much making unhealthy options as choosing restaurants differently. I generally won't go to one that doesn't publish this information unless I'm left with little other choice.

jamilynn_8890

Exactly what Paige682 said. I tend to make recipes more than once, so once I log it, it's super easy the next time. You should still be weighing your pre-packaged food to make sure you're getting the correct serving size. Even then, they're allowed a certain degree inaccuracy on the nutrition label.

Hornsby

You should still weigh pre-packaged stuff and there are no unhealthy/healthy foods. There is just food.

klkateri

I totally know what you mean. But I have found that since I tend to eat the same things fairly often, even home-cooked stuff, once I get the recipe into my foods I'm ok. As for the local restaurants... I can usually find the foods (Maybe from other places, but it's still the same food for the most part). But I go for things like bacon and eggs, Greek chicken salad, so finding those things is pretty straight forward. You might have to search or play around a bit with the logging but that takes a bit of time but once you build your food list you are generally pretty set.

jrline

Over estimate on calories consumed and underestimate on calories burned.

rafkam

I agree. And it tends to make your diet more repetitive. Case in point: went to a wedding last week and almost gave up on trying to track all the different foods I was having.

1992mittens13

Paige682 wrote: »

No, not really. Pre-packaged foods, like chips, should still be weighed for accuracy.

Recipes can be annoying, but once it's in your recipe files it's there forever.

If I need to log a meal I've made.. I just have my phone with me and weigh and log as I go, or a notebook to right down each time I add something and how much.. Helps to just jump on the computer and log it all after

segacs

I do usually weigh pre-packaged food as long as I'm at home. Ditto with recipes I cook myself. Obviously, if I'm out and about, or eating at someone else's house, that's harder to do. But I try.

But it still rubs me viscerally the wrong way, though, to think that any weight loss scheme would lead someone to choose McDonald's as opposed to a healthy local bistro.

sbarella

I do eat processed foods, but I'd rather eat my grandmother's lasagna than a crappy frozen lasagna just because the latter has a label. This means I'm not 100% accurate with my logging, but I'm fine with it and I'm still losing weight.
I usually look for something similar in the database and don't sweat it.

segacs

sbarella wrote: »

I do eat processed foods, but I'd rather eat my grandmother's lasagna than a crappy frozen lasagna just because the latter has a label.

Exactly! You see my dilemma.

TR0berts

Eat part of a bag of chips - I don't know how much to log.

Eat one chicken breast of 6 (all similar in size) in a package that weighed 36 oz. Log as 6 oz.

So, no, it's really not.

PRMinx

segacs wrote: »

I do usually weigh pre-packaged food as long as I'm at home. Ditto with recipes I cook myself. Obviously, if I'm out and about, or eating at someone else's house, that's harder to do. But I try.

But it still rubs me viscerally the wrong way, though, to think that any weight loss scheme would lead someone to choose McDonald's as opposed to a healthy local bistro.

If someone is choosing to eat at a McD's instead of local bistro, I think it goes beyond ease of logging.