Stop mucking up our food database!

JillyBean819

I agree! I read a post on here the other day. Someone had order a sandwhich at a resteraunt not realizing the entry on MFP was one that the person made for themselves. She thought she was eating 550 calories and later found out it was 1440. I wish it could be more controlled!

That would be a nightmare. I always double-check the calories posted on MFP against other calorie sites or I just go directly to a food company's site to check their nutritional facts.

melodyg

I SO agree after I just spent way too much time putting my lunch in here (from a national chain restaurant that does NOT have varying nutrition information!) I do understand (but find annoying) that there are regional differences in products and in nutrition information from grocery stores, etc. What I don't understand are the people who only put half the nutrition information in! I found entries with no sodium (which is clearly on the nutrition information from the restaurant's web page).

Personally, I don't like it when people do custom orders and share them either (i.e., McDonald's Big Mac, 1/2 bun, no cheese, double pickles). I think it is easier on everyone to put in the generic entry and then add/subtract what you did to change it instead of putting in yet another database entry.

So that custom order would be
McDonald's Big Mac
- 1/2 bun
- cheese
+ pickles

Assuming McD's has that info available of course, I just picked that out of the air.

Another thing I have discovered is that you can edit the nutrition information, but I don't think that changes the information overall. I *think* that is just for you.

If someone wants to check that... search for Chili's Whole Wheat bun. There was an entry that said 90 calories that I changed to 360 (from their website information) and added other information on. Wondering now if that would change for everyone or if it is just adjusted in mine now?

icandoityesican

true lol

BrianJLamb

I SO agree after I just spent way too much time putting my lunch in here (from a national chain restaurant that does NOT have varying nutrition information!) I do understand (but find annoying) that there are regional differences in products and in nutrition information from grocery stores, etc. What I don't understand are the people who only put half the nutrition information in! I found entries with no sodium (which is clearly on the nutrition information from the restaurant's web page).

Personally, I don't like it when people do custom orders and share them either (i.e., McDonald's Big Mac, 1/2 bun, no cheese, double pickles). I think it is easier on everyone to put in the generic entry and then add/subtract what you did to change it instead of putting in yet another database entry.

So that custom order would be
McDonald's Big Mac
- 1/2 bun
- cheese
+ pickles

Assuming McD's has that info available of course, I just picked that out of the air.

Another thing I have discovered is that you can edit the nutrition information, but I don't think that changes the information overall. I *think* that is just for you.

If someone wants to check that... search for Chili's Whole Wheat bun. There was an entry that said 90 calories that I changed to 360 (from their website information) and added other information on. Wondering now if that would change for everyone or if it is just adjusted in mine now?

What the What?!?!? Did you just say that a whole wheat bun from Chili's is 360 calories?

shallo

What the What?!?!? Did you just say that a whole wheat bun from Chili's is 360 calories?

I looked it up because that seemed like a lot and that is what it says on the website.

thelima

I am seeing this as well and I just started tracking my food two days ago. I don't get why there are like 5 different entries for strawberries. I would like to think that I am eating: Fruit-Strawberries, but I picked them up at a local farmers market, so I might actually be eating Generic-Strawberries.

HAHAHA! I was just thinking the same thing.

I love the "My foods" and "My recipes" section. IMHO, sharing a food with the database when it doesn't exist (e.g., a new product) is fine. Sharing someone's personal version of a food (see above comments) - totally unnecessary.

cardbucfan

So which are the entries that Mike put in when he started the website-with or without the asterisk?

DJJW

bump...everyone needs to read this.

melodyg

What the What?!?!? Did you just say that a whole wheat bun from Chili's is 360 calories?

I looked it up because that seemed like a lot and that is what it says on the website.

Yes... it is. Sorry to break the bad news.

The *really* bad news is that they butter their buns and I am sure that 360 calories doesn't include the butter!

wolfchild59

Well, I checked with the second account I had made to show my sister how to use MFP and none of my My Foods items came up. So it seems like the iPhone app default is not to share.

But, without going back and re-reading the whole thread, I thought I saw people mention using the entries with an * next to them because those were the ones that Mike entered. But according to the footnote when I searched it said that those were the ones that had been entered by other MFP users. (I'd never seen those asterisks before so I was checking that out too.)

kelligonzales

ha ha ha I really feel like this need to be shouted from the roof tops. It's hard enough to track let alone to find the right stuff with all the choices. Good Post! :drinker:

RiverWild

Bump

callipygianchronicle

Yes. And YES. With the My Foods, My Meals, and My Recipes options you have plenty of ways to store customized items like Coffee + 2 teaspoons of Splenda (and yes something that silly has been added to the database). There is no reason to create shared combinations like this or strange variations like “Cooks Illustrated Mashed Potatoes (my version)”. If you create a specialized recipe, or modify one to meet your needs, there is NO reason to share it in the data base. Simply save it for your own use.

mamagooskie

I hate that too.....but most often I have to mark my foods with CANADA or something like that because the same food will be in the data base 15x but all wrong according to me here......so I add my own and mark with the country since the same food all over the world varies in nutritional info.

ebgbjo

Some of the stuff listed in the database states "1 serving" and gives no indication as to how much 1 dang serving is. If I come across an item like that, and can not find something else for my food, I will make a new one. Serving sizes should be added by what is listed on the package (usually in grams) and not "1 serving size"

pragya728

bump

melodyg

I hate that too.....but most often I have to mark my foods with CANADA or something like that because the same food will be in the data base 15x but all wrong according to me here......so I add my own and mark with the country since the same food all over the world varies in nutritional info.

I don't mind that at all. Foods do have differences based on regions and countries and that doesn't bother me. I could be wrong but I don't think that is what concerned the OP. Actually, I like it when foods are marked Canada or AU or such because I can skip checking to see if they are the correct entry for me!

carriep2010

Hells to the yes!

"LIKE"

Tofuheart

I posted a topic about this a few years ago. It drives me batty! I just want to add the basic foods I eat and its almost always wrong. Especially the fat or the protein. I now just try to eat the same food so it keeps my recents on it. It's very frustrating to be off 200 calories or something worse because someone didnt put the right data in.


I now make sure I'm 75-100 calories under usually to make up for mistakes in the database if it's an item I don't usually eat and can't bring the item to the computer to add it myself.

superstarcassie

I honestly just look up the info on restaurant websites if I'm eating out. After logging for a year, I am pretty aware of the actual calories in the food I generally eat. I always am checking my labels, portion sizes, ect. I don't totally rely on the database. I think we all need to do our part to edit wrong entries and do our own checking of labels. You can't really blame the database for making you eat 1500 cals because you thought it was 500. You need to investigate because you are the one eating it!

Mads1997

I agree, I add lots of foods but never do I add it to the database or make it available for other users.

I also find it frustrating having to click on the nutritional panel of the same 10 named entries to find the correct one.

janel814

I am new to this whole thing but I didn't know that when I add foods it goes to the database. Plus I do a lot of scanning my foods so when it is scanned and the wrong food comes up so I turn the package over entering the information.

So sorry if it screws up the people that use the cpu site but having the wrong things entered screws up my scanning.

Sparklewolfie

Agreed X9000!!

Especially "homemade" entries. That's what the MY RECIPES tab is for, TYVM!!

I enter a LOT of foods, but keep them in my My Foods without sharing unless it is something fairly generic because chances are, unless you are here in Taiwan, you are not going to be finding these foods anyway So I'll save people the trouble of a messed up DBS. Wish there could be a DBS clean-up sometime...

MooseWizard

I am new to this whole thing but I didn't know that when I add foods it goes to the database. Plus I do a lot of scanning my foods so when it is scanned and the wrong food comes up so I turn the package over entering the information.

So sorry if it screws up the people that use the cpu site but having the wrong things entered screws up my scanning.

When you scan, if the wrong thing comes up, scroll down. There's a button to search for the right item. It will then re-associate for future scans of the same item.

Creating new foods only adds to the shared database if you click the check-box that says to share.

MooseWizard

I hate that too.....but most often I have to mark my foods with CANADA or something like that because the same food will be in the data base 15x but all wrong according to me here......so I add my own and mark with the country since the same food all over the world varies in nutritional info.

I don't mind that at all. Foods do have differences based on regions and countries and that doesn't bother me. I could be wrong but I don't think that is what concerned the OP. Actually, I like it when foods are marked Canada or AU or such because I can skip checking to see if they are the correct entry for me!

Nope, not at all. Certainly understand the need for differences to account for different locations. And it is not such much a problem for me if the description specifies why the entry exist--I'm really annoyed by those that are clearly custom, but do not say why.

janel814

I am new to this whole thing but I didn't know that when I add foods it goes to the database. Plus I do a lot of scanning my foods so when it is scanned and the wrong food comes up so I turn the package over entering the information.

So sorry if it screws up the people that use the cpu site but having the wrong things entered screws up my scanning.

When you scan, if the wrong thing comes up, scroll down. There's a button to search for the right item. It will then re-associate for future scans of the same item.

Creating new foods only adds to the shared database if you click the check-box that says to share.

Okay thanks but how do I change my setting so I do not share?

wolfchild59

When did the Recipes feature become available on the site? Because I know that for my app I got it many, many months into already having had the app and entering a crap ton of foods into My Foods after hand calculating out the nutritional info for a serving.

Plus there are questions on this forum every single day where the person clearly didn't know that the Recipes feature existed. So before blasting people for not always using the "right" way to enter a food, maybe take into account some of the less intuitive parts of this program. Honestly, if I'd had to use MFP on the computer rather than my phone app, I probably wouldn't stuck with it. Today when I was doing tests on the food diary I saw how horrorifically designed te online interface was. I would never want to have to click through so much stuff just to check the calories to start. On the app the calories are all laid out in front of you in the list, so if those are wrong, you don't even have to bother. It's no wonder the one person I told about MFP who doesn't have a smartphone has recently requested a tutorial on how to use the site. It's very bizarrely set up online.

So I don't really fault anyone that uses the website for not always getting things "right", I fault a poorly designed website.

toots99

Serving sizes should be added by what is listed on the package (usually in grams) and not "1 serving size"

YES! I hate that too! Just about everything is calculated by weight in grams, so please enter it that way! Unless I know that something is 100% correct, I'll enter it myself and keep it just for myself. I don't want anyone messing with my entries.

BrendaLee

I wish it was mandatory to add the country for all new entries. Unless you entered it yourself, you really don't have a clue if it's even accurate for your country.

__

AND, as far as servings go, please figure out how many servings are in the package. If I enter that I ate half the package of cream cheese, I seriously doubt that was actually 50 servings. :P

poisongirl6485

I agree. The only time I "Add" something is if it's a restaurant item that isn't currently in the database and I make sure to add all available nutrition facts. I do not add the random recipes I cook at home to the Database, that's just silly.