Cup used for weighing food?
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Hi
I'm new to this forum. If this question belongs to another forum please accept my apologies and point me to the right place.
I do not understand the cup measurement used for describing weight. I asked support and they said “A cup is 8 fluid ounces, 236. ml, 226 grams”.
Now, every secondary school educated person knows that volume and weigh are not interchangeable and there certainly is no set conversion factor between them as it depends on the item's mass. Where do they come up with that 226 gram then?
I step into this issue when trying to calculate calories for some foods like cucumber, carrot, parsnip.
There is a database entry of 1 cup parsnips at 100 calories. According to support this would be translated to 226 grams, which means 100 grams of parnips is 42 calories. Meanwhile, the database has an entry for 1oo grams of Asda British parsnips at 123 calories. That is 2.9 times discrepancy on a vegetable which only a single variety exists. Can you see the problem? I think this caused by using wrong unit to measure items.
Besides, can you see yourself measuring a physical cup of parsnip, or cucumber, or carrots?
I like MyFittnessPal, especially the iPad app is great, but if the database is wrong the USP is gone and it becomes just a calculator.
Riza
The MFP database has a lot of incorrect entries.
Get a food scale and weigh your solids. Grams are preferable, but I also will use ounces sometimes for meat. Measure your liquids in a measuring cup (I use my glass one that goes up to one cup, not the individual plastic ones).
To make sure you are choosing the correct entries from the database, you need to do some research. Read packages, research foods at the USDA website. When it comes to meats, weigh raw when you can, but if you choose to weigh cooked make sure you are using the correct entry for cooked (grilled, fried, steamed).
You might find yourself creating you own food entries because you can't find one in grams in the MFP database. If I can't find a food in grams, I do the research, create the entry in My Foods with my initials next to it, and enter the macros, log it, and it's there to use the next time.0 -
What I learned from this thread that MFP made a pig of managing the database.0
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Yep, and there are other databases where the Site owners control the entries. Some people have reported switching to those because it fits their personality and needs better. I myself prefer the MFP format where I can find just about anything on the planet because someone else already entered it. In a sense, it really embodies teamwork to me.
In about 2 years of logging, personally I have just the 13 items in the "My Foods" tab
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Yeah, if something has a barcode, I scan and use that. If it doesnt, that means its meat or vegetables so I add usda to the search and use that. I find it to be a fairly simple process.0
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I think it's an opportunity for improvement. I'm sure there is a better way but they apparetly have better things for their coders to be working on.0 -
Well, no, you can't really expect MFP to manage a big database where users make entries, because that's all they would be doing.
They do not have to manage it. All they need is to put the methods and systems in place and police that. Like Wikipedia does it. They do not manage content, public does it. The problem now there is no method and systems in place nor any editors assigned.0 -
maybe offtopic, but the using of cups in almost ALL OF American recipes makes me lose it. and not weight, but interest in trying to make even the yummiest looking things
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janejellyroll wrote: »You should be using a scale, not a cup, to measure solid item.
I'll second this.
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HappyCampr1 wrote: »wick3tgirl wrote: »maybe offtopic, but the using of cups in almost ALL OF American recipes makes me lose it. and not weight, but interest in trying to make even the yummiest looking things
I know. I take the recipe, measure the cupful or the tablespoon and then weigh it and use the weight when I enter the recipe. If professional cooks use scales, you' think the recipes would list weights too.
Also wanted to mention, since A lot of the items I use will have both the cup and g measurement on the label, even if the recipe calls for cups, I can still weigh the flour in grams.
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Well, no, you can't really expect MFP to manage a big database where users make entries, because that's all they would be doing.
They do not have to manage it. All they need is to put the methods and systems in place and police that. Like Wikipedia does it. They do not manage content, public does it. The problem now there is no method and systems in place nor any editors assigned.
And how do you suggest people "police" information that constantly changes and can be different based on region alone?
Here's an example for you:
Diet MTN Dew Canada -
My Diet MTN Dew label -
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ncboiler89 wrote: »Hi
I do not understand the cup measurement used for describing weight. I asked support and they said “A cup is 8 fluid ounces, 236. ml, 226 grams”.
Now, every secondary school educated person knows that volume and weigh are not interchangeable and there certainly is no set conversion factor between them as it depends on the item's mass. Where do they come up with that 226 gram then?
This is why the metric system runs circles around the US standard weights and measures because, to an extent, volume and weights are interchangeable. In the metric system one milliliter of water is one gram! It's the definition of a gram.
Your "to an extent" caveat applies to only one substance which, ironically in this context, has zero calories and rarely has to be precisely measured. It is also funny that your example undermined the support response in the OP wherein a cup had different volumes and weights.
The US system is silly, arbitrary, and horrendously outdated. The metric system is logical and scalable. Even if you're in the US, you should go metric for food measures.
Base 10 is silly, arbitrary, and outdated.
Imperial system is scalable if you are capable of multiplying and dividing.0 -
All I've got to say is that I pray for the day that America catches up and starts using the metric system. They stopped using lbs and ounces etc here before I was even born!!
I reckon I've stuffed up a few times on here when posting my weight in kgs and also adding in lbs in ( ) to make it easier for the US folks, it's just nobody has picked up on it yet!
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HappyCampr1 wrote:As you can see, even the official government page uses cup servings, and things like small, medium and large. The government does it and yet you don't want anyone else to be able to access these serving sizes? It may not be as accurate, but it should be my choice if I choose to select 4 medium potatoes instead of
800g worth (or whatever it works out to be).
I don't understand your ire...actually what I see is that the USDA shows exactly how many g is considered a cup (.5C =75g or 150g per cup), as well as clearly shows the value per gram, and also includes how many grams are considered a small (92g), medium (231g) and large (369g) potato. So if you choose to select 4 medium potatoes, as long as it actually is 4 medium potatoes worth (which works out to be 924g as per the graph you have here) then yeah, go ahead and put that down.
And if you decide to log a cup, as long as its 6.16C (924g divided by 150g) then yeah you can log by the cup instead too. Log it in however you want, but the USDA, as you show in your example, makes it very simple to do the math between cups and grams.0 -
christinev297 wrote: »All I've got to say is that I pray for the day that America catches up and starts using the metric system. They stopped using lbs and ounces etc here before I was even born!!
I reckon I've stuffed up a few times on here when posting my weight in kgs and also adding in lbs in ( ) to make it easier for the US folks, it's just nobody has picked up on it yet!
As an American..I thank you LOL! Really, when I see kgs and stones, my brain goes blank...its just not something Im familiar with! But I have to say, I am learning..like I know by heart already that a stone is 14lbs..after looking it up a million times to figure out what it means when someone says they lost 2 stone 3 lbs. LoL! But I still have to look it up when I see weight in kgs...
Likewise though for grams... I was taught and know best measurements by volume, but ever since I started weighing my food, grams is making more and more sense to me. Its just a matter of learning and getting used to it. And to be honest, the more Im exposed to it, the more sense it makes!
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christinev297 wrote: »All I've got to say is that I pray for the day that America catches up and starts using the metric system. They stopped using lbs and ounces etc here before I was even born!!
I reckon I've stuffed up a few times on here when posting my weight in kgs and also adding in lbs in ( ) to make it easier for the US folks, it's just nobody has picked up on it yet!
Being from New Zealand, I do this too. But I've found that I've actually started thinking in pounds now as I'm so used to seeing it all over MFP and a lot of the calculations need converting from kg to lbs.0 -
HappyCampr1 wrote: »HappyCampr1 wrote:As you can see, even the official government page uses cup servings, and things like small, medium and large. The government does it and yet you don't want anyone else to be able to access these serving sizes? It may not be as accurate, but it should be my choice if I choose to select 4 medium potatoes instead of
800g worth (or whatever it works out to be).
I don't understand your ire...actually what I see is that the USDA shows exactly how many g is considered a cup (.5C =75g or 150g per cup), as well as clearly shows the value per gram, and also includes how many grams are considered a small (92g), medium (231g) and large (369g) potato. So if you choose to select 4 medium potatoes, as long as it actually is 4 medium potatoes worth (which works out to be 924g as per the graph you have here) then yeah, go ahead and put that down.
And if you decide to log a cup, as long as its 6.16C (924g divided by 150g) then yeah you can log by the cup instead too. Log it in however you want, but the USDA, as you show in your example, makes it very simple to do the math between cups and grams.
Which was the point I was trying to make, sort of. The OP was complaining that there were entries listed as cups. It was his opinion that MFP is not doing due diligence in policing entries that got my ire up. I was trying to show that even the government has listing with cups, and questioning why he thought it unreasonable for MFP to have the same.
ETA - but, I'm over my ire now. I'm moving on.
Ahhh! Got it!!! Yup. I concur LOL!!!!
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As you can see, even the official government page uses cup servings, and things like small, medium and large. The government does it and yet you don't want anyone else to be able to access these serving sizes?
I'm sorry but haven't you seen the 95g on that entry? They may use the 'layman term' cup but immediately qualified it with the exact weigh in grams. I can't see your counter argument.Base 10 is silly, arbitrary, and outdated.
Imperial system is scalable if you are capable of multiplying and dividing.
LOL How can you say that to the French? They saved you from the British imperialist forces and set you free.
Joke aside, I assume you were joking too...
PS. How do you quote with the author's name showing? The BBCode I'm using is not showing the auther. Thanks.0 -
You can click the "Quote" at the bottom of a post after the date and Flag. That puts something like this into the input box....
PS. How do you quote with the author's name showing? The BBCode I'm using is not showing the auther. Thanks.[quote="sarumbear;32177047"][quote author="HappyCampr"] PS. How do you quote with the author's name showing? The BBCode I'm using is not showing the auther. Thanks.[/quote]
If you don't care about the link you can just type:[quote author="Da guy whut said it"]Whut he said.[/quote]
Ok I messed that by leaving out an end quote somewhere but you probably get the idea.0 -
christinev297 wrote: »All I've got to say is that I pray for the day that America catches up and starts using the metric system. They stopped using lbs and ounces etc here before I was even born!!
I reckon I've stuffed up a few times on here when posting my weight in kgs and also adding in lbs in ( ) to make it easier for the US folks, it's just nobody has picked up on it yet!
I'm 49 year old and when I was in elementary school we were being taught that the US was changing over to the metric system and it was only a matter of time. We were being taught the metric system and even some road signs had km/hr on them. I guess that plan died somewhere. Our current system is stupid but it's what we have and would probably just cost too much to change over. There is probably no value in it to us.0 -
Earlnabby, thank you! Using "usda" along with the food name does indeed shows correct entries.
If we can enter into the MFP database, why can't we edit it? There already a system that works pretty well, Wikipedia. MFP can copy the system of editors and have their database sorted.
You can edit other's entries!0 -
TavistockToad wrote: »
........and this is why entries should not be taken at face value. There are plenty of inaccurate entries.
This is a great thread with lots of information:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p10 -
The only time I use a cup for weighing solids is when I put it on the scale to zero it out and only the food I put in it is weighed.0
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TavistockToad wrote: »
........and this is why entries should not be taken at face value. There are plenty of inaccurate entries.
This is a great thread with lots of information:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1
Already posted.
The OP started out with "I'm new and probably..." and it seems they switched to I know everything about how the MFP tools work and they suck
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The OP started out with "I'm new and probably..." and it seems they switched to I know everything about how the MFP tools work and they suck
Not about MFP tools but physics. It's elementary that units for volume (cup) cannot be used for solid items. Besides, I was only suggesting a tried and tested public maintained database example (Wikipedia).
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Not about MFP tools but physics. It's elementary that units for volume (cup) cannot be used for solid items. Besides, I was only suggesting a tried and tested public maintained database example (Wikipedia).
I already posted that I find the cup measurements useful for estimating when weight isn't available. I and others also already posted that the MFP database is a "public maintained database" like Wikipedia because it has public entries and public editing.0 -
...the MFP database is a "public maintained database" like Wikipedia because it has public entries and public editing.
The MFP database is a quasi public "editable" database. It is not "maintained" by public like Wikipedia is. Editing and maintaining are two very different processes.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Editorial_oversight_and_control0 -
...the MFP database is a "public maintained database" like Wikipedia because it has public entries and public editing.
The MFP database is a quasi public "editable" database. It is not "maintained" by public like Wikipedia is. Editing and maintaining are two very different processes.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Editorial_oversight_and_control
Alas, in Wiki scenarios there is one right answer. Whereas you've been repeatedly told (with screen grabs, might I add) that in this case there are often multiple right answers to the same question "what is the nutritional content of X item". In the case where a banana is a banana is a banana, there's an official MFP entry available. Your proposed solution could result in deleting or modifying entries that are perfectly legitimate for the users who created them
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I give up!0
This discussion has been closed.
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