I can't find what I'm eating

agiusiana
agiusiana Posts: 2 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hello all,

I'm pretty new to the program so I'm hoping someone out there can help. I'm having trouble finding some of the foods I'm eating, so I can't always track my calories correctly. For example, I just tried to find carne asada enchalada and couldn't find anything. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Replies

  • Crochetluvr
    Crochetluvr Posts: 3,345 Member
    If I cant find what I need in the database, I will check online to see if I can find the nutritional info and enter it into the MFP database myself. If thats not an option, I find something in the database that is pretty close to what I had. Its not an exact science but it seems to work in a pinch. :)
  • ea101367
    ea101367 Posts: 175 Member
    If you search a food and it is not there, you can add it in using the nutrition label on your food package , or use the Quick add calories tool
  • melfitnesspal13
    melfitnesspal13 Posts: 378 Member
    If you eat a particular food often, I would suggest to create a recipe in the food section. You put in a title, all the ingredients, the number of people it will feed and it will tell you in the end how many calories it is per portion. You can also share this with the database to help others who maybe want to make or will eat the same dish. I have included recipes for Caribbean chicken soup, arroz con gandules, etc....Hope this helps. :smile:
  • gonnamakeanewaccount
    gonnamakeanewaccount Posts: 642 Member
    If you're cooking it yourself, just use the recipe calculator.
  • hooligansmom
    hooligansmom Posts: 122 Member
    Did you spell enchilada correctly? You misspelled it in your post, so you may have done the same when looking in the database.
  • healthyKYgirl
    healthyKYgirl Posts: 272 Member
    Double check your spelling and/or google the item. (I mistype words all the time and have to check the spelling, and when others enter the items they often misspell the words too.) When I typed in "carne enchilada", I got several entries. Here are some tips on searching on food:

    1. the food search engine looks for partial words and spelling too. If you don't know how to spell the whole word, but part of it then type that in. You'll have more entries to look through, but it helps. Example: ench instead of enchilada
    2. If you have the phone app and it's a packaged food, try scanning the bar code.
    3. If it's from a restaurant, try searching just for the restaurant;s name.
    4. If you are looking for whole foods, type the name of the food and raw. Example: apple raw
    5. If you cooked it, try building the recipe in the recipe builder and using whole food ingredients to calculate the calories.

    I am sure that others may have some good tips too.

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