Nutritional labels are wrong...great!

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tlblood
tlblood Posts: 473 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Just saw a news report that NI isn't always accurate, especially at restaurants and in frozen foods.

Frozen foods averaged 8% more calories than stated and restaurant meals averaged 18% more calories than stated. Guess I won't buy any more frozen lunches...

Recommendation: cook your own food at home

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  • kiffypooh
    kiffypooh Posts: 1,045 Member
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    I think the government gives food manufacturers and restaurants a huge margin for error. I went to the Olive Garden and it side the Stuffed Chicken Marsala (stuffed with 3 cheeses) with mashed potatoes was 800 calories. I don't think so!
    I guess one more reason to start cooking at home more for me.
  • tlblood
    tlblood Posts: 473 Member
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    I think the government gives food manufacturers and restaurants a huge margin for error.

    The story said it is illegal for the food to contain fewer calories that listed, but not for it to contain more calories than listed. This seems backwards to me.

    http://cbs4denver.com/health/nutrition.labels.calories.2.1412365.html
  • MacMadame
    MacMadame Posts: 1,893 Member
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    I always assume the labels are off and that my exercise isn't as great as I think it is or the HRM says (even the really accurate HRM can be off by as much 10%). I find for food I cook at home that I don't always get the portion sizes right or put in every little ingredient so they are off too.

    I build a 200 calorie margin of error into my journaling to compensate.
  • tlblood
    tlblood Posts: 473 Member
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    That makes me feel a little better about being 31 calories short of 1200 today (which they tell me is a bad thing for fear of putting my body in starvation mode)...I probably was over 1200 if my foods were underestimated.
  • iplayoutside19
    iplayoutside19 Posts: 2,304 Member
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    Like it was said above, all any of this is; is estimating anyway.

    Do you burn exactly what MFP said you burned each day? Does that stew you made have exactly the amount of calories you think it does? The answer is probably not.

    Depsite the media's attempt to scare you into watching their melodramatic newscast, counting calories is effective. In the end what a resterurant says their food is caloricly, should NOT be what's keeping from reaching your fitness goals.

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