Logging dried spices?

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midpath
midpath Posts: 246 Member
edited March 2017 in Health and Weight Loss
I have never logged dried spices like garlic powder, curry powder, black pepper, cayenne, red pepper, etc but I got curious today and logged my seasonings for my eggs and it tacked on over forty calories.

Do you log these? Is it even worth it? I don't even measure my seasonings so it'll be eyeballing it anyways and I'm not going to weigh my food, I have a history with eating disorders and I don't need to get back into old habits.
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Replies

  • Gallowmere1984
    Gallowmere1984 Posts: 6,626 Member
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    I do, but it usually only ends up being like 15 kcals.
  • StealthHealth
    StealthHealth Posts: 2,417 Member
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    I've got these built into several of my own recipes, but as @Gallowmere1984 says - it's a very small number of cals.

    for non-recipe stuff, where I'm logging individual items for a meal, I rarely bother.
  • annacole94
    annacole94 Posts: 997 Member
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    I add it to my recipes, but it's generally pretty negligible. I doubt you've got it right if you added 40+ cal. Should be more like 4.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,488 Member
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    Those must have been some spicy eggs!! What did you add?

    I only log them when I'm using the recipe builder.
  • Seffell
    Seffell Posts: 2,222 Member
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    Thyme for example seems to have around 2.5 cal per teaspoon (1gr).
    16 teaspoons of thyme to anything seems a but excessive.
  • Erotyka
    Erotyka Posts: 82 Member
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    Spices are one of the few things I don't log. 2 calories of oregano is not worth my time.

    Those sorts of things, in my experience, are areas where the MFP database is wildly inaccurate. I got 2500 calories for 15g of fresh garlic once (which is like... several cloves). It's nothing like that, at all.
  • OhMsDiva
    OhMsDiva Posts: 1,074 Member
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    I have not in 2 years.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
    edited March 2017
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    midpath wrote: »
    I have never logged dried spices like garlic powder, curry powder, black pepper, cayenne, red pepper, etc but I got curious today and logged my seasonings for my eggs and it tacked on over forty calories.

    Do you log these? Is it even worth it? I don't even measure my seasonings so it'll be eyeballing it anyways and I'm not going to weigh my food, I have a history with eating disorders and I don't need to get back into old habits.

    pretty sure you're using erroneous entries from the database. The calories that will come from spices are going to be pretty negligible.
  • jennybearlv
    jennybearlv Posts: 1,519 Member
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    I think you may be over seasoning. I add them sometimes, just because they end up getting weighed mindlessly with the rest of the ingredients. They never add a worthwhile amount, and I cook with a lot of spices and herbs. If you aren't weighing the spices you are completely inaccurate. An eyeballed teaspoon is not a unit of measurement.
  • angel7472
    angel7472 Posts: 317 Member
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    When in doubt I use this: https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    edited March 2017
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    midpath wrote: »
    I have never logged dried spices like garlic powder, curry powder, black pepper, cayenne, red pepper, etc but I got curious today and logged my seasonings for my eggs and it tacked on over forty calories.

    Do you log these? Is it even worth it? I don't even measure my seasonings so it'll be eyeballing it anyways and I'm not going to weigh my food, I have a history with eating disorders and I don't need to get back into old habits.

    I don't log them if it is a sprinkling of pepper on my burger. I always enter them when doing a recipe in the recipe builder. I have one seasoning that includes cheese, so I do log that one when I use it on something like steamed veggies.

    Basically, herbs and spices tend to have negligible calories. Seasonings can have calories depending on what they are made of. Seasonings also often have salt so if you are watching your sodium, you want to log them for that reason.
  • estherdragonbat
    estherdragonbat Posts: 5,283 Member
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    I log them in the recipe builder. I'm too lazy to check now, but I think some of the blends like chili powder and curry powder have more calories/tsp than single seasonings like thyme or oregano, but we're talking about something like 10 calories vs 2 (and my recipes are typically 4-6 servings, so on the one hand... five times as many calories. On the other hand... 10 calories split 4 ways? Not going to stop using chili powder.
  • Afura
    Afura Posts: 2,054 Member
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    Regular spices I don't add, I think it's negligible enough not to bother.
  • zdyb23456
    zdyb23456 Posts: 1,706 Member
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    I was surprised at the calories in pepper, granulated garlic, and cumin. I always thought it was close to zero calories. I usually log garlic fresh or dry.
  • markrgeary1
    markrgeary1 Posts: 853 Member
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    I haven't. Maybe I should given I found a database entry for a 600 calorie garlic clove.
  • VintageFeline
    VintageFeline Posts: 6,771 Member
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    I don't log fresh garlic and herbs or dried herbs and spices. If I buy a rub or seasoning I check to see if there's a an impactful number of calories (more than say 20).

    40 calories though, yikes!
  • ritzvin
    ritzvin Posts: 2,860 Member
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    40 calories is pretty high, unless it is a spice blend containing cheese and/or a lot of sugar.

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