MFP Food Entry Measurements

lmgoff232
lmgoff232 Posts: 277 Member
edited August 2021 in Food and Nutrition
When scanning or typing an item, I have found that so many entries are per slice or cup or some other measurement that I don't use. Some of them have the option to change to gram, but a lot don't, and I weigh all my stuff in grams. Is there a way to filter/identify the entries that have grams as an option? Or am I stuck doing conversion calculations forever?

Replies

  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,092 Member
    I don't think those are your only choices. You can manually filter by scrolling through the returns you get after your search looking for one that has a gram option.

    You can also try including the word gram or grams in your search, but I think that will only help you find returns where people included the word gram in the name of the food, and a lot of people don't put it in the name.

    A lot of package labels in the U.S. will list something like slice or cup first, with grams or milliliters in parentheses, and many people use the first information such as slice when they create database entries from the package labels.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    edited August 2021
    The issue is that most of the entries in the database are created by users, so you will find a lot of entries for the same thing, and not all of them are accurate. It's only hard at first. Once you have logged your food for a while, you'll be able to re-use the entries you like by either adding them to favorites or using the "Recent" option. Scroll down through the options until you find something you like that has an option for grams and add it to favorites.

    There is a certain naming structure that is almost guaranteed to include grams as an option. Keep an eye for things that look like this:
    - Tomatoes, red, ripe, raw, year round average
    - Chicken, broilers or fryers, breast, meat only, cooked, roasted
    - English Muffin, White
    ....etc.

    You could also use "USDA" in your search (example: search for "usda chicken breast"). These are entries by users who, like you and me, are annoyed by all the random entries and made their own accurate USDA entries. These are more likely to contain an option for grams, although you will still have to scroll through these as some are in oz or "piece".

    The curse of a database generated by the public. You can find almost anything, even the most obscure items (in other languages, too), but the price you pay is that you'll have to do a lot of scrolling at first to settle on entries you like. It gets easier once you learn how to use favorites, frequent, quick tools, recipes, and meals. I promise. If there is an item you eat often, add to favorites. If there is a group of items you often eat together, make them into a "meal" so you can add them all at once. If you cook something often, create a recipe for it. If you're eating leftovers or repeating yesterday's meal, use quick tools to copy that meal to today. The "Frequent" tab contains foods you ate recently or frequently. It's easier to scroll through those and quick pick entries without even using the search function.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,626 Member
    lynn_glenmont wrote: »
    You can also try including the word gram or grams in your search, but I think that will only help you find returns where people included the word gram in the name of the food, and a lot of people don't put it in the name.

    it does not. depending on the item it may, but I primarily use only 'whole' (i hesitate to use that word but its the only one I can think of at the moment) ingredients. fruits, meats, veg, etc. When I'm using something new, or something I haven't used in a long time, or even just rearranged my diary (like I did last night and so now things are all kinds of messed up and I can't find them lol) I'll put 'gram' in my search term and more often than not can find what I am looking for. it doesn't always work but usually it helps narrow the playing field. I don't use many prepackaged things.... so not sure how well it would work for THAT.
    amusedmonkey wrote: »

    There is a certain naming structure that is almost guaranteed to include grams as an option. Keep an eye for things that look like this:
    - Tomatoes, red, ripe, raw, year round average
    - Chicken, broilers or fryers, breast, meat only, cooked, roasted
    - English Muffin, White
    ....etc.

    You could also use "USDA" in your search (example: search for "usda chicken breast"). These are entries by users who, like you and me, are annoyed by all the random entries and made their own accurate USDA entries. These are more likely to contain an option for grams, although you will still have to scroll through these as some are in oz or "piece".

    The curse of a database generated by the public. You can find almost anything, even the most obscure items (in other languages, too), but the price you pay is that you'll have to do a lot of scrolling at first to settle on entries you like. It gets easier once you learn how to use favorites, frequent, quick tools, recipes, and meals. I promise. If there is an item you eat often, add to favorites. If there is a group of items you often eat together, make them into a "meal" so you can add them all at once. If you cook something often, create a recipe for it. If you're eating leftovers or repeating yesterday's meal, use quick tools to copy that meal to today. The "Frequent" tab contains foods you ate recently or frequently. It's easier to scroll through those and quick pick entries without even using the search function.

    All of those things. Good tips and tricks :)

    I've been here since 2012, and I imagine my recipes go back that far, or as far back as recipes will go (dont know when they started it or if its been here since I've been here). Ones I make all the time, I will recalculate every so often just to spot check (since I dont actually USE -ie read- my recipes when I make things, aside from baked goods) they can vary but usually not by much. it's more for my peace of mind than anything.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    lmgoff232 wrote: »
    When scanning or typing an item, I have found that so many entries are per slice or cup or some other measurement that I don't use. Some of them have the option to change to gram, but a lot don't, and I weigh all my stuff in grams. Is there a way to filter/identify the entries that have grams as an option? Or am I stuck doing conversion calculations forever?

    You are likely stuck doing conversion calculations forever, but just for some packaged foods. For single ingredient foods, get the syntax from the USDA database and paste that into MFP.

    https://fdc.nal.usda.gov

    Use the “SR Legacy” tab - that seems to be what MFP used to pull in entries.

    There are occasionally errors with these admin-created entries. Sometimes it will have a 1 g option that is actually the 100 g option. These are easy to spot because of the unexpected huge amount of calories. Another glitch with admin-created entries is that sometimes all the macros and micros are there, but not the calories. So you will get 0 calories pecans, for example. I wish!

    u9no52n74m73.png
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    PS - I use MFP on my desktop computer with two monitors. I leave my food diary open in one browser, the USDA database in another, and generally have the Calculator app opened as well.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    PS - I use MFP on my desktop computer with two monitors. I leave my food diary open in one browser, the USDA database in another, and generally have the Calculator app opened as well.

    I personally use cronometer to log, I hang out here for the forums.

Categories