Accurate source for calories per gram for fruits and veggies

My food scale just came in the mail today from Amazon and I'm excited to start accurately tracking! My first food to weigh out and record is grapefruit. I've cut the skin off and am just weighing the fruit/juice inside. It comes out to 246 grams. So....I went into MFP database to add it to my food diary and I see a bunch of different choices for adding my grapefruit. The choices that offer grapefruit in grams seem to be all over the place (often creating different results by 30-80 calories). I checked out a few other calorie calculators by grams online and I got the same results- everything varied in calorie count.

Does any one out there have some good advice for a source of calorie per gram information for fruits and vegetables that is the most accurate? I'd like to be as accurate as possible, but even with weighing it seems that the calorie count will vary depending on the source of the info. I tried doing a search in the forums for this topic, but couldn't find one, so if anyone can link me to a forum that already discusses this, that would be helpful too. Thanks!

Replies

  • knra_grl
    knra_grl Posts: 1,566 Member
    Pick one that shows weight in grams - if you can choose 1 gram enter 246 in the portion - if you find one that says 100g enter 2.46 in the portion
  • Annie_01
    Annie_01 Posts: 3,096 Member
    You can also go to the USDA nutrition web site...

    http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list

    Then just create your own entry on MFP's database. I have started doing that on some things just to make sure that I am more consistant.
  • yolohunter
    yolohunter Posts: 79 Member
    Yes, I understand how to enter it into the diary as 246 grams, but my problem is that there are many options to add it to the diary in grams and each options gives a different amount of calories per gram...so which one is most accurate? Or is there an outside site from MFP that provides accurate per gram nutrition content for fruits and veggies?
  • yolohunter
    yolohunter Posts: 79 Member
    Ok- I'll try that website- thanks!
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    Google calories in _______________ and you get something that looks like this and the source is USDA...when I did it for grapefruit it said 42 calories per 100grams

    Then when you click on USDA it takes you to usda for the item chosen and you can see all the data...then create your own entry

    chicken_zpsdec19ffc.png
  • knra_grl
    knra_grl Posts: 1,566 Member
    Yes, I understand how to enter it into the diary as 246 grams, but my problem is that there are many options to add it to the diary in grams and each options gives a different amount of calories per gram...so which one is most accurate? Or is there an outside site from MFP that provides accurate per gram nutrition content for fruits and veggies?

    ha ha just clued in on that - sorry I see your point - I found a difference of 10 calories in 100g for grapefruit between the data base here and another one - I guess they are all estimations :indifferent:
  • yolohunter
    yolohunter Posts: 79 Member
    Yes, I understand how to enter it into the diary as 246 grams, but my problem is that there are many options to add it to the diary in grams and each options gives a different amount of calories per gram...so which one is most accurate? Or is there an outside site from MFP that provides accurate per gram nutrition content for fruits and veggies?

    ha ha just clued in on that - sorry I see your point - I found a difference of 10 calories in 100g for grapefruit between the data base here and another one - I guess they are all estimations :indifferent:

    Yeah and the macros vary too depending on the source. It is just by a little bit in most cases, but I bought the food scale to be accurate, so I just want to make sure I'm doing it correctly. The USDA site seems to be a good source. Thanks!
  • subsonicbassist
    subsonicbassist Posts: 117 Member
    My food scale just came in the mail today from Amazon and I'm excited to start accurately tracking! My first food to weigh out and record is grapefruit. I've cut the skin off and am just weighing the fruit/juice inside. It comes out to 246 grams. So....I went into MFP database to add it to my food diary and I see a bunch of different choices for adding my grapefruit. The choices that offer grapefruit in grams seem to be all over the place (often creating different results by 30-80 calories). I checked out a few other calorie calculators by grams online and I got the same results- everything varied in calorie count.

    Does any one out there have some good advice for a source of calorie per gram information for fruits and vegetables that is the most accurate? I'd like to be as accurate as possible, but even with weighing it seems that the calorie count will vary depending on the source of the info. I tried doing a search in the forums for this topic, but couldn't find one, so if anyone can link me to a forum that already discusses this, that would be helpful too. Thanks!
    I have found it helpful to search "USDA {name of fruit or vegetable here}, this way you will get an accurate baseline of serving size and how many calories are in it. Some fruits and veggies will actually come with bar codes that you can scan if you buy them in a bag, like potatos :)