Liquid-y foods!

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  • CrankMeUp
    CrankMeUp Posts: 2,860 Member
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    you should use splenda, then you wont have to think about the calories cause there arent any.
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
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    I understand your concern... I used to work in the nutrition office at a hospital. There can be a huge difference between a recipe including a marinade or liquid and the "consumed portion" of that recipe. MFP assumes that if you are eating 1/4 of the recipe, you are also consuming 1/4 of the liquid, which may not always be the case. I'm not sure I have a solution, but what comes to mind is this:

    Yes enter the recipe. However, you might want to list the liquid/marinade ingredients as a separate recipe - then you can control how much you think you may have consumed in your portion along with the other vegetables. For example 1/2 cup cucumbers & 2Tbsp marinade.

    I find that guessing at someone else's recipe for something I've made homemade is a total crap-shoot. I have also looked up recipes at sites like Allrecipes.com to find one very similar to mine and I will use that if they have nutritional content listed. As time consuming as it is, I have started entering all my recipes, but not uploading them to MFP. The biggest problem is I don't do a ton of repeat recipes - I like a lot of variety.

    I hope this helped!

    yes, thank you.
    It's the closest thing to an answer I've received, and it's well thought out, which I appreciate!

    Her answer is the same method as mine. *is butthurt* She must have explained it better. :laugh:

    lol

    not my intent to butthurt you, it's simply that in terms of chicken, when i marinade it, the calorie density of the chicken far outweighs that of the marinade, so i can usually ignore the marinade ingredients (if there's something with lots fo calories I log it)

    when it comes to cucumber salad, the marinade far outweighs the cucumbers both in calories and in volume.
    there's like 2 cups of liquid and maybe 1/2 of cucumber and the sugar alone is 200 calories, whereas the cucumber is like 30.

    I'm not sure why it would matter if you're logging them separately though. You log the amount of cucumber or chicken by itself. Then you enter the marinade in the recipe builder and only log the portion you used. Simple.
  • whierd
    whierd Posts: 14,025 Member
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    I understand your concern... I used to work in the nutrition office at a hospital. There can be a huge difference between a recipe including a marinade or liquid and the "consumed portion" of that recipe. MFP assumes that if you are eating 1/4 of the recipe, you are also consuming 1/4 of the liquid, which may not always be the case. I'm not sure I have a solution, but what comes to mind is this:

    Yes enter the recipe. However, you might want to list the liquid/marinade ingredients as a separate recipe - then you can control how much you think you may have consumed in your portion along with the other vegetables. For example 1/2 cup cucumbers & 2Tbsp marinade.

    I find that guessing at someone else's recipe for something I've made homemade is a total crap-shoot. I have also looked up recipes at sites like Allrecipes.com to find one very similar to mine and I will use that if they have nutritional content listed. As time consuming as it is, I have started entering all my recipes, but not uploading them to MFP. The biggest problem is I don't do a ton of repeat recipes - I like a lot of variety.

    I hope this helped!

    yes, thank you.
    It's the closest thing to an answer I've received, and it's well thought out, which I appreciate!

    Her answer is the same method as mine. *is butthurt* She must have explained it better. :laugh:

    lol

    not my intent to butthurt you, it's simply that in terms of chicken, when i marinade it, the calorie density of the chicken far outweighs that of the marinade, so i can usually ignore the marinade ingredients (if there's something with lots fo calories I log it)

    when it comes to cucumber salad, the marinade far outweighs the cucumbers both in calories and in volume.
    there's like 2 cups of liquid and maybe 1/2 of cucumber and the sugar alone is 200 calories, whereas the cucumber is like 30.

    I'm not sure why it would matter if you're logging them separately though. You log the amount of cucumber or chicken by itself. Then you enter the marinade in the recipe builder and only log the portion you used. Simple.

    Not complicated enough. Needs an algorithm.
  • TigressPat
    TigressPat Posts: 722
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    I love overcomplicating my food.

    I have a very low boredom threshold, thanks!
  • RllyGudTweetr
    RllyGudTweetr Posts: 2,019 Member
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    Legitimate question here, OP: how do you log the calorie count on prepackaged food, should you choose to eat it? I ask because those listed calories are estimates, and suggestions in-thread that you estimate would lead one to believe that "estimating" is insufficiently exact for your personal peace of mind.
  • AleciaG724
    AleciaG724 Posts: 705 Member
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    Don't I get a cookie for explaining it better?? HAHA! j/k
  • TigressPat
    TigressPat Posts: 722
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    you should use splenda, then you wont have to think about the calories cause there arent any.

    does not work. I've tried.
  • Mother_Superior
    Mother_Superior Posts: 1,624 Member
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    It's so simple!
    tumblr_mnx2y9K0l01srtxr8o1_500.png
  • notyouraveragetalia
    notyouraveragetalia Posts: 223 Member
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    when it comes to cucumber salad, the marinade far outweighs the cucumbers both in calories and in volume.
    there's like 2 cups of liquid and maybe 1/2 of cucumber and the sugar alone is 200 calories, whereas the cucumber is like 30.

    200 calories of sugar for 1/2 a cucumber? Maybe I am misunderstanding, but this seems crazy!
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
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    Don't I get a cookie for explaining it better?? HAHA! j/k

    Nope you stole my thunder. :angry:


    :laugh: Just kidding. Swirling chocolate for you.

    tumblr_mfwged4zN21s1zyafo1_500_zps0b622bca.gif
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
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    you should use splenda, then you wont have to think about the calories cause there arent any.

    ShockHorror--- but the cancer, Jules, the cancer!
  • TigressPat
    TigressPat Posts: 722
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    Legitimate question here, OP: how do you log the calorie count on prepackaged food, should you choose to eat it? I ask because those listed calories are estimates, and suggestions in-thread that you estimate would lead one to believe that "estimating" is insufficiently exact for your personal peace of mind.

    you're assuming I'm nit-picking calories, which I'm not.
    estimates are great, but the point of one is that you are in the right ballpark.

    I'm not quibbling over 5 calories, I'm quibbling over several hundred per serving.
  • LiftAllThePizzas
    LiftAllThePizzas Posts: 17,857 Member
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    Pour the sugar solution back into something and evaporate the water, then weigh the remaining sugar. Or you could build a calorimeter and burn the remaining sauce to see how much energy it contained.
  • magerum
    magerum Posts: 12,589 Member
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    Pour the sugar solution back into something and evaporate the water, then weigh the remaining sugar. Or you could build a calorimeter and burn the remaining sauce to see how much energy it contained.

    I would have to go with this method. It's the most accurate so far.
  • AleciaG724
    AleciaG724 Posts: 705 Member
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    http://media.photobucket.com/user/exacerbating/media/gif love/_licking.gif.html?filters[term]=licking gif&filters[primary]=images&filters[secondary]=videos&sort=1&o=1
  • TigressPat
    TigressPat Posts: 722
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    when it comes to cucumber salad, the marinade far outweighs the cucumbers both in calories and in volume.
    there's like 2 cups of liquid and maybe 1/2 of cucumber and the sugar alone is 200 calories, whereas the cucumber is like 30.

    200 calories of sugar for 1/2 a cucumber? Maybe I am misunderstanding, but this seems crazy!

    *sighs*
    the entire reason i started the thread in the first place is you don't actually consume the liquid with the sugar in it.
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
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    NVM
  • TigressPat
    TigressPat Posts: 722
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    Pour the sugar solution back into something and evaporate the water, then weigh the remaining sugar. Or you could build a calorimeter and burn the remaining sauce to see how much energy it contained.

    :drinker:
  • iulia_maddie
    iulia_maddie Posts: 2,780 Member
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    so maybe this is a stupid question, but I'm a bit stumped as to how to gauge the calorie content for foods with a lot of liquid.

    and no, I don't mean soups etc, I mean foods in which you do not consume the liquid.

    for example, bean salad.
    I don't eat or drink the liquid, so If i weigh it, should I weigh it after and subtract the liquid weight? Or is this already done in the calorie counters?

    or even better, marinated cucumber salad.
    I make my own, with a large cucumber, onions, vinegar, and sugar.
    Now I'm sure someone will say "add it to the recipe counter"

    but no, If you add it as a recipe you are counting the huge amount of calories for the 1/4 cup sugar that goes in.
    sure, some of that you consume, so you cannot log the salad as a cucumber, but surely you don't consume the entire caloric value of the sugar if you throw out all the liquid after eating the cucumber.

    does this make sense to anyone?

    has anyone found a solution to it?

    thanks!

    This is why as a rule I log the ingredients and not the end product.
    It is a lot more accurate imo to log 1 cucumber of so-and-so many grams, a certain amount of chopped onion, a spoonful or two of vinegar or lime juice, 1/4 cup of plain yogurt etc.
    If I make a lot and eat tomorrow from the same batch I put down " left overs, calories already counted ", or if it is the kind of food I can accurately weight or measure then I do that. So far for me it works for me to just post the ingredient.

    thanks, but does not solve my dilemma.
    if I log the 1/4 cup sugar that goes into the marinade that's 194 calories.
    I'm not actually CONSUMING them, only SOME of them.

    I want to know HOW to determine what is actually consumed.

    I suggest lab tests.
    Seriously. They will be able to tell you exactly how many grams of sugar are left in your salad once you get rid of the excess marinade.
    Us poor MFP people don't have the means to do so, and I profusely apologize for our inability to tell you exactly how much sugar you are ingesting.

    In fact, I am so ashamed and disappointed in our lack of knowledge that I am going to start a thread and try to raise funds for the labs tests, sugar be damned!
  • notyouraveragetalia
    notyouraveragetalia Posts: 223 Member
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    [/quote]
    *sighs*
    the entire reason i started the thread in the first place is you don't actually consume the liquid with the sugar in it.
    [/quote]

    I love to marinate and cook. I find that the food absorbs all the great flavor in the marinade/rub and makes the meat//vegetables taste more tender and flavorful. I would also say that with only half a cucumber, there would be quite a bit of sugar "absorbed" into the cucumber.

    I really am not a food scientist so I truly do not know, it just honestly seems strange to me. Lets just put it this way, if for some reason I made your recipe to consume, i would log it all unless I rinsed off the salad before eating it.

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