Warning: Potato nutrition information

dhaemon

So we scan everything, including the potato bags. One bag from Costco It states that a potato is 80 calories! So I would have 2 and would be happy and amazed that the calories were so low.

We got suspicious when we bought a different brand of potato and noticed the calories was substantially higher.
So we investigated and by Looking closer, it states for a 130g potato, it is 80 calories. Thats a SMALL potato, smaller than most in the bag.

So, we broke out our scale and me and my wife were shocked at the ACTUAL weight and calories in my "average" potato (300+ grams).

So be careful and weigh the damn thing, potato bags with nutritional information post the SMALLEST size and most likely the least likely size you will find in the bag.

BTW: MFP Potato listing (Most of them) list the potatoes via size and not actual weight. For example, 3" round Large Potato". This is not the way it should be, as a small potato could be short and still have a 3" round and a large potato could be long and have a 2" round as well...even less.

Anywho, food for thought. (Excuse the pun)

_Zardoz_

Most of the potato listings I see are always in grams anyway. It seems to be a very American thing to list them by size not weight. As always if it's not a liquid it needs to be weighed

Francl27

Another reason why I love my food scale.

sakuya3834

This is just an illustration of why we should weigh everything with a food scale and not just blindly believe the nutrition labels.

bfergusonii

I mostly eat sweet potatoes. With their usual crazy shapes I have just become accustomed to always weighing them.

In general I just try to avoid any of the measurements that are not weight based.

DellaWiedel

Awwww, don't burst my bubble. I like eating a huge baked potato and logging it as 80 calories!!! LOL

But seriously, all fruits and veggies need to be weighed for accuracy. I see listings in the database for things like "small apple" and I'm like "What does that mean?" My idea of small could be pretty different from someone else's.

sympha01

For produce ALWAYS use the USDA entries (no asterisk and they currently say "generic"). And those entries always have an option for logging in grams.

TheVirgoddess

This is true for pretty much all foods though - like what is a medium banana or a large plum? It's why I always use weight - even for prepackaged things. Like McDonalds small fries are over 71g 100% of the time in my experience. And "about 11 chips" is so not 28g (it's actually usually more than 12 in my experience).

I also generally stick with the food entries on MFP that have no * on them - those always have grams in the drop down menu (and they are "official" entries, not user submitted).

elprincipito

Potatoes have a high glycemic index though. So our blood sugar shoots up when we eat it :O

doctorsookie

Always weigh. Never go with the per unit on the package. That includes bread; if it close enough to the weight stated on the bread package I let it it stick but the end pieces can be either lighter or heavier. I don't want to short myself calories either. And I live the potato bags that lane 20 chips. Really? In what universe is every potato chip in the bag of equal size?

lemurcat12

BTW: MFP Potato listing (Most of them) list the potatoes via size and not actual weight. For example, 3" round Large Potato". This is not the way it should be, as a small potato could be short and still have a 3" round and a large potato could be long and have a 3" round as well...even less.

The good entries in the database have weight (100 g) options. I'm glad you decided to weigh it and saw the real calories, but potatoes are something that OF COURSE you have to weigh. They vary in size quite a lot, and how do I know what a medium potato is supposed to be?

itsbasschick

i've seen SO many different calorie listings for potatoes, and not just on MFP, either. i've never seen another food with so many different calorie claims for the same weight of that food.

lemurcat12

Corn has the most widely disparate ones I've seen.

kayemme

For produce ALWAYS use the USDA entries (no asterisk and they currently say "generic"). And those entries always have an option for logging in grams.

do you know if rhere's a way to filter to ONLY the USDA entries? it takes me longer to log my food than to make it because i have to scroll through a sea of mistakes. haha

kayemme

just remember, not all potatoes are the same. there are probably hundreds (at least one hundred) varieties of potatoes; your local grocery probably only sells two and fast food dictates the primary production.

a serving of potato should be about the size of your fist or a bit smaller.

janatarnhem

Yep...weigh everything! Add anything to the database that is not logged in grams...or ounces! The amount of times I have been caught out by small, medium, large and average! Argh! Self sabotage! :grumble:

Ninkyou

Select the entries (when possible ) without the * in it and select the option for 100g. There's several for potatoes; raw, cooked, boiled, microwaved, etc. Choose the one that's appropriate for your cooking method.

kayemme

Select the entries (when possible ) without the * in it and select the option for 100g. There's several for potatoes; raw, cooked, boiled, microwaved, etc. Choose the one that's appropriate for your cooking method.

and 100g is a bit less than 4oz (28g = 1oz)

dhaemon

From now on, I will weigh just about everything.

lemurcat12

To find the good entries, search for "potatoes raw" and you will see a variety of non asterisked potato entries (the good ones). Pick the one that fits your type of potato (although I haven't noticed the types I eat being remarkably different in calories).

If you are weighing cooked obviously replace "raw" with "cooked" and find your cooking method, but I always weigh potatoes raw. If I'm sharing them I just portion out the resulting ones and adjust for the percentage I'm eating.

I don't know what the "generic" entries are, but they have asterisks and I've seen some that are way off, so I'm skeptical of them. (If anyone knows, I'd love to find out.)

lemurcat12

your local grocery probably only sells two and fast food dictates the primary production.

I get my potatoes from my CSA, usually, but I still see them in my local grocery, and it sells WAY more than 2 types.

ForeverCharlie

I used to be pretty Nazi when it came to weighing food. I would weigh and measure everything. I can guesstimate with 99% accuracy now as a result. I researched food and calories ion the internet often as items tend to be incorrect on mfp. Things are mislabeled all the time. I'm glad you've caught on to it good luck on your fitness journey!

neanderthin

Potatoes have a high glycemic index though. So our blood sugar shoots up when we eat it :O

Yeah but I don't count potatoes, so that doesn't matter.

3laine75

From now on, I will weigh just about everything.

Yup. If I'm short on calories, I'll have a 100(ish)g of potato - it's depressingly small.

Don't know how much difference it makes but I usually look for the exact variety I'm having too.

nerdymathgrrl

In this case, I would search for USDA potato 100g (would specify type of potato), and that gets me several accurate entries. I search for USDA 100g for all fruits and veggies, so I get the most accurate logging possible.

kayemme

your local grocery probably only sells two and fast food dictates the primary production.

I get my potatoes from my CSA, usually, but I still see them in my local grocery, and it sells WAY more than 2 types.

yes, wonderful, but even still by account of the varieties of potato that exist, it's a very small fraction, even if they sell 10 varieties. it's not a criticism, just a starchy-good fact.

TheVirgoddess

For produce ALWAYS use the USDA entries (no asterisk and they currently say "generic"). And those entries always have an option for logging in grams.

do you know if rhere's a way to filter to ONLY the USDA entries? it takes me longer to log my food than to make it because i have to scroll through a sea of mistakes. haha

It's not full proof, but when I search, I always do: carrots, raw, or plum, raw, etc - it usually gives me the results I want.

sympha01

I don't know what the "generic" entries are, but they have asterisks and I've seen some that are way off, so I'm skeptical of them. (If anyone knows, I'd love to find out.)

"Generic" doesn't always mean the same thing. I agree that UNTIL QUITE RECENTLY generic was reliably a flag for extremely poor data. It typically used to mean user-submitted. However, this summer the MFP people seem to have modified ALL the usda entries and added the word "generic" to them. So you have to look for the entries that DON'T have an asterisk, but you can find them faster by including the word "generic" in your search.

I agree with the poster above who said it's very helpful if you include the word "raw" in your search too. Just make sure you weigh the produce raw, too! Search for

generic potatoes raw
generic carrots raw
generic apples raw
generic oranges raw

etc. and the "good" entries will show up higher in your results. But always always always look for the entries without an asterisk. They're the only truly reliable ones.

FoxyLifter

Awwww, don't burst my bubble. I like eating a huge baked potato and logging it as 80 calories!!! LOL

But seriously, all solid foods need to be weighed for accuracy. I see listings in the database for things like "small apple" and I'm like "What does that mean?" My idea of small could be pretty different from someone else's.

FIFY :smokin:

_SantaClause

Alluminati

Sherlock moment