Problems with the nutrition data

theblondetrick
theblondetrick Posts: 192 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I'm having fried mushrooms and rice for lunch today and I wanted to log it now so that I know how much of it I can eat.
The problem is,the information about calories is different everywhere.

I entered 4 cups of mushrooms and rice and it turned out to be 1300 calories and of course,I was shocked,so I found a different information that said 560 cals.

How in the world am I supposed to know what information is correct?The difference between the two is obviously huge,and for what I know, neither of the two necessarily have to be correct.

This isn't the first time that something like this happened.Does anybody know what I'm supposed to do in these situations?

Replies

  • spamantha57
    spamantha57 Posts: 674 Member
    Did it have a description next to the mushrooms & rice? There are several types of rice out there.
  • msbunnie68
    msbunnie68 Posts: 1,894 Member
    Go to the recipe builder in your food tab and add in every ingredient you used to make your rice and mushrooms and then work out how many serves it makes (or cups of it or whatever). The recipe builder calculates how many calories are in each serve and you can then work out how many calories you can fit in.


    Rice can be a tricky one to work out - if you measured it cooked then look for the entry that says cooked. If you measured it raw then look for the entry that gives it as raw.

    FWIW I think the 600ish calorie reading would be more accurate than 1300 unless you used a heap of oil.
  • Hbazzell
    Hbazzell Posts: 899 Member
    If it is something yo ueat all the time measures amounts and build a recipe.
  • LeahRandom
    LeahRandom Posts: 34 Member
    It could also be a difference in prep, say, if oil or butter was used, and types of breading. If one is for fried mushrooms on fried rice, that would definitely be higher than fried mushrooms on steamed rice, but the description might not make that distinction. I often end up adding the ingredients separately, and guessing on the portion of oil/butter based on how much I started with, about how much is left, and what portion of the prepared dish I ate.
  • ChristineS_51
    ChristineS_51 Posts: 872 Member
    The nutrition date in the database that has an * next to it has been put in by an MFP member. Things without an asterisk are the MFP entries I think, and they usually have a range of ways to measure things - so look for things that don't have the asterisk for better accuracy. Some people (like me!) are very careful to enter all the data available from a reliable source. Some are not so careful.

    Also people put their own recipes into the database I think - and we don't know what they put into it. I would do what others have suggested, put your own ingredients into a recipe, or add them one by one eg mushrooms , rice, stock, whatever, into your diary and then click on "your meals" and it will add those things into a meal that you can name and then re-use.

    Also be careful of things like "large" "average" " medium" - I usually try and find things that have cup measures or weight measures, because one person's "small" serve could be another person's "large"!

    This is another diet site - Australian - but it might help? http://www.calorieking.com.au/

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