MFP Encourages "Convenience" Nutrition

Jenn842512

Does anyone else fell like this site lends itself to prepackaged foods and/or commercial dining? It's easier to get nutritional information from those sources but you're really doing a disservice to your health!

melsinct

I guess it is easier because all you have to do is scan a bar code or look up a chain restaurant's nutritional info. However, after using MFP's recipe tool for some time and building up my own database of recipes I keep in regular rotation, I find it just as easy as it would be to log a frozen meal. Cooking for yourself will always take more work, whether it is the actual prep or logging!

hbrittingham

I don't feel that way, but I did feel that way about WW. That's why I quit WW and came over to MFP.

JTick

Is it MFP's fault, or is it the USDA's fault for not requiring nutrition info printed on all produce?

maz504

That hasn't been my experience, but I'm only one person. I guess it's a tiny bit quicker to scan in, say, sabra hummus than it is to scan in a can of chickpeas and the jar of tahini and enter in some garlic and lemon but I think anyone in the right mindset doesn't mind taking those extra few seconds.

eganita

I think that's just the nature of calorie counting in general, rather than this site specifically. I have been able to find a lot of recipes that I've made on various sites such as Skinny Taste, at least. I agree w/one of the other posters... I've started creating recipes for the dishes I make often, and that has definitely helped.

marsellient

I don't find this at all, quite the opposite. Searching for raw foods is easy. Put a dash, comma, or USDA after the name of the food and usually an item with multiple measurements comes up first. Also, as the previous poster said, the recipe tool (the old one) is useful.

EvanKeel

I think everyone's health is a very individual topic, and I'm not qualified to make statements about what is and is not a disservice to one's health--at least in this regard.

I find hard to believe that anyone would feel that they have both the background and data to justify a such a claim for anyone here, let alone everyone.

3dogsrunning

Does anyone else fell like this site lends itself to prepackaged foods and/or commercial dining? It's easier to get nutritional information from those sources but you're really doing a disservice to your health!

Unfortunately non packaged food doesn't usually come with a barcode.

Keep in mind, the vast majority of food in the database is user entered. MFP has quite an extensive list of non packaged foods, although I do admit the search function is terrible. Once you learn how they are listed, its much easier. Hint, they are the same the ones listed at http://nutritiondata.self.com/, if you search the same term, you'll come up with it. They are listed without an * in this database. Even just using the word "raw" helps to find this products.

I also don't believe that packaged food is necessarily doing a disservice to your health.

SmartAlec03211988

Hasn't been my experience. I eat less convenience/packaged food because of MFP.

bcf7683

Not at all. MFP is what you make it. It all depends on the work you're willing to do for your health/weight loss goals. If you don't feel like taking the time to log individual foods/ingredients, that's on you. The bar code scanner is there for convenience, if you want it- I have personally never used it. There's no one here telling you to eat pre-packaged food rather than fresh. That's your decision.

crazymama2both

i think the benefits outweigh what youre saying...

im also eating almost no prepackaged foods because of this place.

ItsCasey

Does anyone else fell like this site lends itself to prepackaged foods and/or commercial dining? It's easier to get nutritional information from those sources but you're really doing a disservice to your health!

And that's what this whole weight loss thing is really about, isn't it? Doing what's easy.

MFP doesn't encourage me to do anything. It's a tool. How you use the tool is up to you.

Jenn842512

Is it MFP's fault, or is it the USDA's fault for not requiring nutrition info printed on all produce?

Agree! Meat department would be helpful too.

deksgrl

Does anyone else fell like this site lends itself to prepackaged foods and/or commercial dining? It's easier to get nutritional information from those sources but you're really doing a disservice to your health!

No, I don't feel that way. Once you have your foods in your frequent meals, or customize your frequent foods into "meals" and "recipes" section, logging is very quick and easy.

vjohn04

You get what you put in.

What you decide to get out of this tool is completely up to you.

So, I disagree with your OP.

Maybe you should reevaluate your use of the calorie counter and what you choose to put in your log.

runfatmanrun

Pretty sure I have never heard that it was easy to get nutritional information for commercial dining on here. And lets be honest, if it's not easy people are more likely to give up. People already have a hard enough time logging their food or paying attention to what they eat. If reading food labels and recording intake based on that gets people to start paying attention then I say have at it.

I will admit that fruit, veggies, and other items have more varied inputs on here likely due to having no food labels or barcodes to scan. But even with barcodes and labels, people still screw up entering them here.

carinthea

I will often use the barcode scanner to scan the individual ingredients for my recipes (e.g. the bag of lettuce or the package of chicken breasts...I find that the information from those is a little easier to use sometimes because there are so many individually input versions of things like potatoes, chicken, etc...I then use these individual items to make up a recipe.

I guess it's what you make of it - there is some 'convenience' involved in putting in ingredients using the barcode scanner but it doesn't only have to be used for pre-packaged convenience foods like pizza, lean cuisine etc.

ShannonMpls

Disagreed. The recipe calculator, once you get the hang of it, is very easy to use, especially on an iPhone (so you can edit an ingredient's weight when you make the recipe a subsequent time). The database has everything I eat on a regular basis - chicken, vegetables, fruits, etc. I eat foods with labels too, but I cook my own meals from scratch 99% of the time and though it takes a couple minutes, that's well worth it. this FREE tool has helped me lose a lot of weight and keep it off, never once logging a frozen burrito or Lean Cuisine.

seltzermint555

I guess it is easier because all you have to do is scan a bar code or look up a chain restaurant's nutritional info. However, after using MFP's recipe tool for some time and building up my own database of recipes I keep in regular rotation, I find it just as easy as it would be to log a frozen meal. Cooking for yourself will always take more work, whether it is the actual prep or logging!

I agree with this.

I don't use a smartphone, so the bar code scanning thing is out for me. I am also among the minority it seems, that I don't have too much problem with guessing, eye-balling, etc, when I dine out in local (non chain) restaurants or with friends at their home. I feel like it would only be a problem if I was eating 2 meals every day that had to be "guesstimated".

thisdeluxelife

I don't feel that way. I'm glad to have the information for when I do dine out but I eat most of my meals (Breakfast Lunch and Dinner) from things that I have prepared. I scan the bar codes of the items on my ingredients list that have them and look up the rest in the database. I build recipes and calculate portions. I think it's a great service. It's a lot of work to do that but tracking calories is not easy, in general. And I get the added benefit of tracking sodium, fat, sugar, etc. Once my main food are in there, it's a lot easier.