How do you deal with calorie counting local food!

AthenaLolita
AthenaLolita Posts: 10 Member
Anyone else out there having this problem of calorie counting local food? Normaly I check what I think may be equivalant and hope my calories are not too off. HELP if you have a better method.

Replies

  • annascrapper
    annascrapper Posts: 132 Member
    I feel your pain... I live in the US but I was born on TnT. I eat Caribbean food about 2 x a week so when I started logging here's what I did... 1 look up dish in a West Indian cook book or google dish and then just quick add the calories or create a new food. Hope that helps
  • socajam
    socajam Posts: 2,530 Member
    I am from St. Kitts but living in the US, would like to join the Group. I have lost 6 pounds since joining MFP beginning of February. I haven't eaten a lot of Caribbean food since joining MFP (rice and peas and oven fried fish). I am off to NY for Easter, which will be a testing time for me.

    One suggestion, if we are going to work with each other, it would be helpful to have open diaries. My diary is open for viewing. I feel this way we could learn about each other's eating habits and maybe even incorporate some of the dishes that are being eaten.

    My exercise for today was walking briskly for 2 hours. Tomorrow I may do my bike and The Firm.
  • childrenrus
    childrenrus Posts: 55 Member
    Hey,

    My parents are from Trinidad (I was born & live in the UK) so I've grown up on great tasting food. Normally, I'd add foods to MFP recipe builder & it gives an accurate calorie amount per portion. I've sent you a friend request!
  • AthenaLolita
    AthenaLolita Posts: 10 Member
    Thanks! I am having a hard time finding calories in Cow heel soup.... so far i use Ox tail as a subsitute.
  • AthenaLolita
    AthenaLolita Posts: 10 Member
    Great idea! I haven't even started a diary lol - I only recently started back getting healthy.
  • socajam
    socajam Posts: 2,530 Member
    Are you really serious about counting calories in cow heel soup. That would be your calorie intake for the whole week. Please start you diary so that we can all give you the help and encouragement that you will need.

    I have lost 7 pounds since starting in February.

    How about making cow heel soup or something that you really love to eat your weekly treat meal, say like on a Friday night or Saturday. That will be something to look forward to.
  • tishglos
    tishglos Posts: 10 Member
    I find the best way to deal with local food is to simply eat what you can count. It makes it less frustrating and forces you to make better decisions.

    A lot of the time, you can google a dish and get the calories. There are a lot of websites that now carry the nutritional content of most caribbean dishes, I've even found it for sugar cake. If you can get your hands on a Naparima Girl's Cookbook even better because it has the nutritional content of a lot of local dishes.

    If you eat out at a major fast food place like KFC, simple use their online nutrition guide. A lot of major food outlets have them listed and they'll be applicable because what they serve out there...they typically serve here too.

    If that doesn't work, put the ingredients in a recipe builder and let it churn out the nutritional content for you.

    And if all else fails, post it here or send me a message and I'll try to help.
  • I am a Trinidadian living in Belize. I've just joined MFP two days ago and I really hope that I can continue to prepare and have some local food even if I have to modify the recipe somewhat.

    My Plan is to use (1) the Calorie Counter published by UWI Mona Campus' Food and Nutrition Unit that includes nutrition information for Caribbean foods (Trinbagonian, Jamaican etc); and(2) Naparima Girl's Cookbook.

    Both were available at UWI St. Augustine's bookshop when I last checked. That was over a year ago but it's worth checking. Naparima Cookbook is available all over Trinidad!