Paradox: Unhealthy food is often easier to track.

segacs
segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
in Food and Nutrition
The calorie counting paradox is that the easiest food to log and track is often the food that is less healthy.

For instance, packaged and processed food has the nutritional info printed right on the label, and can be logged with a simple bar code scan. Fresh cooking with real ingredients takes a lot more effort to log.

Ditto with restaurants: The only ones with nutritional info on their websites are the big fast food chains, which are obviously far less healthy than the local restaurants which provide zero information about their menus.

Do you ever find yourself making unhealthy food choices simply because they're more convenient to track than healthy ones? What are your strategies to deal with this?
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Replies

  • PRMinx
    PRMinx Posts: 4,585 Member
    No, not really. Pre-packaged foods, like chips, should still be weighed for accuracy.

    Recipes can be annoying, but once it's in your recipe files it's there forever.
  • giggitygoo
    giggitygoo Posts: 1,978 Member
    edited October 2014
    I understand what you mean. I fell into a "pre-packaged snack" rut because of this a few years ago. To make healthier homecooked food easier to track, I make meals and recipes on here. I also tend to buy the same things over and over. I figure the easy way never did much good for me, so I am willing to put in the extra effort to ensure I am getting the exact nutrition I need for my goals.

    **typo
  • BernadetteChurch
    BernadetteChurch Posts: 2,210 Member
    edited October 2014
    Guilty! But as it doesn't happen all that often, in the interests of being more accurate with my calorie counting, because I don't see the point of estimating, I prefer to eat a Big Mac than something with unknown nutritional info.
  • TheBigFb
    TheBigFb Posts: 649 Member
    Or you could go the other way, dont eat anything that has a bar code, then its all healthy
  • PRMinx
    PRMinx Posts: 4,585 Member
    Also, just because something is easier to log, doesn't mean it's accurate. The nutritional information on restaurant sites and even packaging can be as much as 20% off.
  • melimomTARDIS
    melimomTARDIS Posts: 1,941 Member
    I weigh stuff.
  • stonegirldancing42
    stonegirldancing42 Posts: 76 Member
    What I do is guesstimate my healthier food choices. For instance, I was at a drafthouse the other day and ordered their greek salad w/tofu. So, I found something similar to this in the database. I'll also sometimes track item by item using this system. Not ideal, but even if I'm a little off, beats not logging or going overboard w/my choices.
  • SmartAlec03211988
    SmartAlec03211988 Posts: 1,896 Member
    Pre-packaged food is inaccurate. It also has to be weighed and measured.

    I'm finding it much easier to track home made meals from raw ingredients.
  • RunWinterGarden
    RunWinterGarden Posts: 428 Member
    Not so much making unhealthy options as choosing restaurants differently. I generally won't go to one that doesn't publish this information unless I'm left with little other choice.
  • jamilynn_8890
    jamilynn_8890 Posts: 48 Member
    Exactly what Paige682 said. I tend to make recipes more than once, so once I log it, it's super easy the next time. You should still be weighing your pre-packaged food to make sure you're getting the correct serving size. Even then, they're allowed a certain degree inaccuracy on the nutrition label.
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
    You should still weigh pre-packaged stuff and there are no unhealthy/healthy foods. There is just food.
  • jrline
    jrline Posts: 2,353 Member
    Over estimate on calories consumed and underestimate on calories burned.

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  • klkateri
    klkateri Posts: 432 Member
    I totally know what you mean. But I have found that since I tend to eat the same things fairly often, even home-cooked stuff, once I get the recipe into my foods I'm ok. As for the local restaurants... I can usually find the foods (Maybe from other places, but it's still the same food for the most part). But I go for things like bacon and eggs, Greek chicken salad, so finding those things is pretty straight forward. You might have to search or play around a bit with the logging but that takes a bit of time but once you build your food list you are generally pretty set.
  • rafkam
    rafkam Posts: 1
    I agree. And it tends to make your diet more repetitive. Case in point: went to a wedding last week and almost gave up on trying to track all the different foods I was having.
  • 1992mittens13
    1992mittens13 Posts: 65 Member
    Paige682 wrote: »
    No, not really. Pre-packaged foods, like chips, should still be weighed for accuracy.

    Recipes can be annoying, but once it's in your recipe files it's there forever.

    If I need to log a meal I've made.. I just have my phone with me and weigh and log as I go, or a notebook to right down each time I add something and how much.. Helps to just jump on the computer and log it all after :)



  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
    I do usually weigh pre-packaged food as long as I'm at home. Ditto with recipes I cook myself. Obviously, if I'm out and about, or eating at someone else's house, that's harder to do. But I try.

    But it still rubs me viscerally the wrong way, though, to think that any weight loss scheme would lead someone to choose McDonald's as opposed to a healthy local bistro.
  • sbarella
    sbarella Posts: 713 Member
    I do eat processed foods, but I'd rather eat my grandmother's lasagna than a crappy frozen lasagna just because the latter has a label. This means I'm not 100% accurate with my logging, but I'm fine with it and I'm still losing weight.
    I usually look for something similar in the database and don't sweat it.
  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
    sbarella wrote: »
    I do eat processed foods, but I'd rather eat my grandmother's lasagna than a crappy frozen lasagna just because the latter has a label.

    Exactly! You see my dilemma.
  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
    Eat part of a bag of chips - I don't know how much to log.

    Eat one chicken breast of 6 (all similar in size) in a package that weighed 36 oz. Log as 6 oz.

    So, no, it's really not.
  • PRMinx
    PRMinx Posts: 4,585 Member
    segacs wrote: »
    I do usually weigh pre-packaged food as long as I'm at home. Ditto with recipes I cook myself. Obviously, if I'm out and about, or eating at someone else's house, that's harder to do. But I try.

    But it still rubs me viscerally the wrong way, though, to think that any weight loss scheme would lead someone to choose McDonald's as opposed to a healthy local bistro.

    If someone is choosing to eat at a McD's instead of local bistro, I think it goes beyond ease of logging.

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