People who log your food should read this

13

Replies

  • invincible_summer
    invincible_summer Posts: 35
    To the people saying that nutrition info on packets changes over time:

    Add the date:

    i.e. VegiDeli: Meat Free Southern Fried Chicken Pieces (January 2013)
  • Babygirl928
    Babygirl928 Posts: 378 Member
    canigetanamen_zpsd1fa5127.jpg
  • issyfit
    issyfit Posts: 1,077 Member
    Good way to make sure the numbers are right on something you have packaged....scan the barcode using your smart phone! This helps me with even making something up off the fly because I can scan each individual item and then it's my brand/amounts according to what I'm physically making for that meal. Helps tons....OH BEAUTIFUL ELECTRONICS! :)

    Nope, I frequently scan products and end up with something entirely different. Example - jarred pasta sauce showed up as wine. Must be careful about that as well.....

    And you still have to check the amounts, because they can be off as well.

    Something similar happened to me but it was because I scanned the bar code upside down. Oops!

    LOL. I was checking out how to scan with my iPad and it scanned my fingers which were behind the camera, gave me a food, so I'm thinking it may not be too reliable.:noway:
  • marsellient
    marsellient Posts: 591 Member
    I posted this on another thread where someone was saying that the site was becoming unusable and thought it might be appropriate here, too.
    Please note: I agree that the database has become cluttered and multiple entries are annoying. I think that people being people, they share their personal entries when there is no reason to do so, and they don't always look to see if there's an entry already in the database for products they're using, but products do vary from country to country.I do hope that there will be some response to this in time.

    But...like any internet search, the more specific you are, the better your results will be.
    So, here are some search suggestions:

    1. Look for entries without the asterisks. They usually have multiple choices in measurement (grams and oz., for example) and are, I believe the original MFP entries. They usually check out with other calorie counters I have found online.

    2. Search for the raw food. In other words, look for "egg, whole, raw" rather than "fried egg". Log your added cooking fat separately. Look for "chicken breast, raw". The third entry is the one you want (this morning). Add the brand you are using to your search. "Milk, 1%, lactancia"

    3. If you've been here for awhile, look on your own lists first. It's much easier to check off there than search the database.

    4. Remember that calorie counting and calorie burns from exercise are never going to be exact, at least that's what I keep reading. If you avoid obviously wrong entries, you should be able to achieve your goals. Isn't that why we're all here?

    So until the database is purged or the search is fixed as per some of the excellent suggestions here, may you all eat well, exercise and be healthy.
  • saintspoon
    saintspoon Posts: 242 Member
    My name is saintspoon & I APPROVE this Topic!

    :flowerforyou:
  • Mom0819
    Mom0819 Posts: 77 Member
    This isn't so unusual. A lot of people do bite their nails ...
    [/quote]

    Like!
  • brower47
    brower47 Posts: 16,356 Member
    Great, now I have to go back and double check everything. I'm new here and didn't even consider that people intentionally entered things wrong due to personal opinions on different macro and micro nutrients. Oh well, that's what I get for using the free stuff. Still loving this site however. Thanks for bringing this up.
  • Mom0819
    Mom0819 Posts: 77 Member
    my favorite thing was when I scanned like, a pack of nails at a hardware store and they popped up as... I think it was like "organic pomegranate seeds". mmm nails. my favorite.

    This isn't so unusual. A lot of people do bite their nails ...

    LIKE:happy:
  • jlapey
    jlapey Posts: 1,850 Member
    I was entering a recipe for Buttermilk biscuits and, for the life of me, could not find an entry for JUST BUTTERMILK, straight from carton, all by itself. All entries were for other things that included buttermilk as an ingredient. So annoying.
  • LiftAllThePizzas
    LiftAllThePizzas Posts: 17,857 Member
    I've seen numbers that aren't the same as on my package but I don't know how often they change either. One was a brain fart, someone entered "calories from fat" as the grams amount so it was 45g fat instead of 5. LOL
  • chickenz
    chickenz Posts: 101 Member
    How the heck do users enter foods into the database? I did not even know this was possible, thought it was all done behind the scenes from mfp administrators.
  • WickedGarden
    WickedGarden Posts: 944 Member
    How the heck do users enter foods into the database? I did not even know this was possible, thought it was all done behind the scenes from mfp administrators.

    at the bottom of the food search results window it says, "can't find what you're looking for? Enter it here" and you can click on the button 'New Food'.

    I just wish people would enter the item correctly, and THEN figure out their portion. Like I looked up a food, and it was 100 calories per serving (1 cup), the person then put in that 2 cups were 150 calories. :noway:

    Counting calories is very simple, it's all basic math, I just don't understand how people come up with some numbers!

    STOP CHEATING YOUR DIARY! you are only cheating yourself!

    I would like it if entries included standard and metric measurements. 8oz/236.5mL
  • MsJayeKaye
    MsJayeKaye Posts: 155 Member
    I just scanned the frozen entree I had for lunch and what came up was a completely different item. When I went to the database and did a search, more than one entry came up so I had to go through and make sure I chose the correct one. Definitely be careful. Thanks OP for this post.
  • MsJayeKaye
    MsJayeKaye Posts: 155 Member
    I just scanned the frozen entree I had for lunch and what came up was a completely different item. When I went to the database and did a search, more than one entry came up so I had to go through and make sure I chose the correct one. Definitely be careful. Thanks OP for this post.
  • coolraul07
    coolraul07 Posts: 1,606 Member
    Let me start off with - yes, i agree with you to some extent. Although, something you may not have considered when posting this is that companies tweak their ingredients constantly. Just today, I found two individual packs of chips ahoy cookies with different nutrition facts on the back. One I bought a couple months ago and one I bought this past weekend. So, the new information came up incorrectly because it matched the old info.

    so, it may not be the person entering the information, just that the information is old.
    *THIS* For example, Low sodium V-8 juice has different numbers for potassium on different sized bottles that were probably manufactured in the same timeframe (e.g. have close expiration dates)
  • Duck_Puddle
    Duck_Puddle Posts: 3,237 Member
    I'll second or third of fourth the changing info based on manufacturers changing the product. I was looking for something yesterday (a pillsbury product) and there were 15,000 entries in the db already-most of which kind of matched-but none of which matched the box I was holding in my hand (including the entry that was "updated" last week). I am guessing my box was newer or older than the 15,000 already there? I don't know. I've seen "wrong" stuff before as well, but it's not always "wrong".

    Also things are different for different countries too (as has also been mentioned).

    Just check your stuff and fix it if you need to.
  • erinsueburns
    erinsueburns Posts: 865 Member
    I've actual posted about this in the website technical suggestions forum. What would be really helpful being able to see the asterisk or not when in the app.
  • eatcleanNtraindirty
    eatcleanNtraindirty Posts: 444 Member
    Well I'm glad I wasn't the only one who has come across this on numerous occasions!! Thanks everyone! With everyone correcting things we should be good!
  • farway
    farway Posts: 1,251 Member
    This bothered me today. With the packet in front of me, I went to list the food. I checked the database first and realised one of the two entries was wrong.

    The food weighed 150g. The person had listed the info for the entire box according to the per 100g calorie breakdown.

    The weight of the food is usually on the front, or side. 100g isn't the weight. That's just the system used to compare calories between different foods.

    I don't mean to be harsh here, but it bothers me when people with bad maths skills add food to the database without knowing how to divide it into servings or calculate the correct weight per container. Use a calculator! All computers have one.

    Another hate: when people only list the basic calorie count without giving details of fat, protein, sugar etc.

    I often add food info in grammes as given on container in 100g serving not as packet / tin contents. I do this because I weigh my food and find whoever added it in originally has used cup, serving, container etc and thus I have no idea what the weight is

    I do so agree about some fresh fruit and veg entries, the gala apple one is one of my favourite ones, I have opted to use the "generic" entry, and on that subject, I like the generic entry, not all bread, cakes, meat, sausages are branded or from a vast food factory, some are made by a single local butcher or baker and is any ones guess as the real calorie content, which I guess could vary daily anyway
  • rosieg1979
    rosieg1979 Posts: 99 Member
    Also people who clog up the database with their recipes. Ok, this might possibly be useful if the entry included say the recipe book the recipe was from, but what use is "homemade apple pie and custard, 1 serving", to anyone?!

    Also, I don't think you can correct entries in the app unless it has a bar code?
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,657 Member
    Well I'm glad I wasn't the only one who has come across this on numerous occasions!! Thanks everyone! With everyone correcting things we should be good!
    I questioned the weight on a product I wanted to eat. The container said 750g's and the actual weight was 600. Apparently a 20% discrepancy is allowable by law.
  • Italiano7
    Italiano7 Posts: 382 Member
    :drinker: :drinker:
  • bearwith
    bearwith Posts: 525 Member
    Here here
  • cole_ashleyy
    cole_ashleyy Posts: 104 Member
    This drives me crazy too!! I'm always double and triple checking to make sure things are right
  • oneworkoutatatime
    oneworkoutatatime Posts: 312
    I feel you, I only trust what I input only use the database if I have no other choice
  • keenesmom
    keenesmom Posts: 115 Member
    I wish MFP had a like button right now.

    me too! this irritates the crap out of me!
  • farway
    farway Posts: 1,251 Member
    Also people who clog up the database with their recipes. Ok, this might possibly be useful if the entry included say the recipe book the recipe was from, but what use is "homemade apple pie and custard, 1 serving", to anyone?!

    I actually find the home made entry useful at times, only yesterday I had some home made apple cake, but I never made it, so have no clue what it's calorie content was, but used someones entry for it.

    OK, not accurate but better than my guesstimate
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
    you can build up foods in your own personal database on this site, you just don't click the "add food to MFP database" option. The food is saved in "my foods" and only you can see it or find it when you search.

    For anyone who's doing things a bit different, like not counting fibre carbs or protein calories, then it's better to keep it in your personal database and not include it in the main database. You can build up your own personal database of foods with the values calcuated according to your way of doing it, without causing problems for everyone who's counting calories the regular way.
  • redladywitch
    redladywitch Posts: 799 Member
    Thanks for posting. I agree. :happy:
  • Shellsmiley
    Shellsmiley Posts: 323 Member
    YES YES YES!! I Agree - so many times I have looked up a Food in the Database, sitting here with the package in hand or nutritional info from the direct website for the specific food I am looking up, and it's wrong - I was thinking "Why did people enter it like 200 cals off with no fat when here is shows on this package there are 5 g fat and 300 cals"? WTF? I was thinking it's those people that like to cheat to ensure they are under on numbers.

    That being said - I live in Canada and sometimes the food nutritional value IS different from the exact same thing in the USA because of different food standards. So I was search for CND things in data base and compare - and also search specific stores too see if anything comes up.

    Thanks for this post - Very much appreciated!! :heart:
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