Black Beans - ridiculous question

hgillesp
hgillesp Posts: 46 Member
edited September 26 in Food and Nutrition
So, if you read the back of a can of black beans, it will say that there are three servings, let's say 105 calories each (1/2 half cup). If you weigh the whole can with the liquid it weighs what the can says. But there are usually never 3 1/2 cup servings of beans in there unless you were to include the liquid. But does the liquid have any calories? And I never use the liquid, I always drain it off. I know this sounds ridiculous but I can never get the weight to work out properly and I always weigh all my foods. Does anyone know what the actual calories for the beans only would be, not the beans and liquid? I don't think that I can use the calories for dry beans, either as the weight would be very different. I may not be explaining this very well, but I am really not an idiot.... unless I am just a black beans idiot. Thanks for any help!!

Heather

Replies

  • janagrace7
    janagrace7 Posts: 4
    I am curious about this too....I drain my beans b/c I'm sure a lot of the sodium is in the juice....
  • TheGoktor
    TheGoktor Posts: 1,138 Member
    I'd have thought that 'per serving' means per drained serving. No one would eat them *with* the liquid...would they?!
  • HeatherMarie1174
    HeatherMarie1174 Posts: 355
    Hmmm ... that is a very interesting question. I'm curious to hear what everyone has to say because I would like to know as well. I have black beans all the time ... they are my favorite!
  • SheehyCFC
    SheehyCFC Posts: 529 Member
    I would assume without liquid. But I don't think it really matters.
    You said that it is 105 calories/serving, 3 servings total. So the most you'd be dropping if you ate the entire can at once is probably 50 calories - I wouldn't sweat it.
  • iq5203
    iq5203 Posts: 17
    I believe that's just for the beans. I wouldn't deduct anything for not using the liquid.
  • utes09
    utes09 Posts: 561 Member
    What I do is measure out the amount with the liquid to get the serving amount and then i drain off the liquid from that amount. So I drain following measuring, not before. That way I know how much beans would be there when including the liquid. Then when I track it I know in my mind that my sodium for that day is probably slightly lower than it's showing.
  • ad_deutsch
    ad_deutsch Posts: 5
    The liquid definitely has some calories. The way to find out the proper calorie count is to check calories for dried black beans. The calories are usually given for both the dry weight and hydrated volume. I looked it up and found that 1 cup of black beans have around 227 calories (sans liquid of course).

    Make sure your can contains only black beans & water. Any additional ingredients will influence the calories.
  • Angie80281
    Angie80281 Posts: 444 Member
    I've found similar problems with canned fruits, and even canned tuna. I'm curious as to the answer.
  • Hearts_2015
    Hearts_2015 Posts: 12,031 Member
    .
  • BeckyKSmith
    BeckyKSmith Posts: 212 Member
    Type in black beans - rinsed and drained into the database when you enter your food in your diary. That will be accurate.
  • 12skipafew99100
    12skipafew99100 Posts: 1,669 Member
    I don't really know the answer to your question but .......
    this came to mind............
    A cup measurement is by volume, not weight ,so I don't know how you could weigh the beans to find the calories.
  • kyodi
    kyodi Posts: 376 Member
    Personally I don't drain them when I prepare them. I mince some onion, garlic, cilantro, add some red pepper flakes, and add the beans with juice in and simmer for 10-15 minutes.
  • Pandorian
    Pandorian Posts: 2,055 Member
    That's one thing I dislike about the nutrition labels. They can make the label info be for a given size... say your 1/2 cup example but the package contains 1 and 1/4 cups of beans so without some quick math you can't "portion" 3 portions out of it, not if you want to use their 1/2 cup size anyway. My solution is to split it into 1/3 portions and just track it as if it was 3 full 1/2 cups over estimating the calorie intake a bit. That said try buying dried beans, you can cut way back on the sodium that way and just have to "plan" ahead by knowing the night before you want to use them to set beans to soak.
  • Hearts_2015
    Hearts_2015 Posts: 12,031 Member
    I don't really know the answer to your question but .......
    this came to mind............
    A cup measurement is by volume, not weight ,so I don't know how you could weigh the beans to find the calories.
    a food scale?:tongue:
  • Mindful_Trent
    Mindful_Trent Posts: 3,954 Member
    I don't really know the answer to your question but .......
    this came to mind............
    A cup measurement is by volume, not weight ,so I don't know how you could weigh the beans to find the calories.

    Most solid foods give serving sizes in both volume and weight. So, the peanut butter I use is 2 Tbsp (volume) or 32g (weight) per serving.
  • wendyleach
    wendyleach Posts: 23 Member
    Compare to dried.
    My label for dried black beans says 345 calories for 100g or 1/2 cup 16g fibre and 22 g protien. hope that help beans actually have a lot of calories but they are high in fibre and protien
  • JesaGrace
    JesaGrace Posts: 799 Member
    I don't really know the answer to your question but .......
    this came to mind............
    A cup measurement is by volume, not weight ,so I don't know how you could weigh the beans to find the calories.
    a food scale?:tongue:

    If you used a food scale, you would look at grams......not cups, ounces...etc....
  • Mindful_Trent
    Mindful_Trent Posts: 3,954 Member
    If you used a food scale, you would look at grams......not cups, ounces...etc....

    Actually, ounces (oz.) is weight, as well, for solid foods. It's only a volume measurement (fluid ounces) for liquids.
  • hgillesp
    hgillesp Posts: 46 Member
    One would think not. but the weight of the can includes the weight of the liquid which is where the problem lies for me. :smile:
  • hgillesp
    hgillesp Posts: 46 Member
    I'd have thought that 'per serving' means per drained serving. No one would eat them *with* the liquid...would they?!

    Whoops! Forgot to include this in my post above - sorry.... neophyte poster...
  • hgillesp
    hgillesp Posts: 46 Member
    Type in black beans - rinsed and drained into the database when you enter your food in your diary. That will be accurate.

    Whoever put those in didn't weigh the beans after they drained them. They just assumed that the liquid wasn't included in the weight per serving. This is really the craziest thing. I will eat black beans tomorrow and measure everything out so I can provide more accurate information...:ohwell:
  • sam456
    sam456 Posts: 52 Member
    I had wondered the same thing.... not sure about that-- on a side note, I found some yummy black bean spaghetti-- made only from black beans and water. Anybody looking for lower carb options might be interested! If you cant find them at a local health food store, you can def. find them online :)




    -sam456
    http://happyheartrecipes.blogspot.com/
  • GypsyWagon
    GypsyWagon Posts: 82 Member
    That's one thing I dislike about the nutrition labels. They can make the label info be for a given size... say your 1/2 cup example but the package contains 1 and 1/4 cups of beans so without some quick math you can't "portion" 3 portions out of it, not if you want to use their 1/2 cup size anyway. My solution is to split it into 1/3 portions and just track it as if it was 3 full 1/2 cups over estimating the calorie intake a bit. That said try buying dried beans, you can cut way back on the sodium that way and just have to "plan" ahead by knowing the night before you want to use them to set beans to soak.

    I cook and then drain and freeze in "can sized" portions now. They thaw pretty quickly. Not as convenient as cans...but, no sodium or BPA to deal with.
  • verysmallrocks
    verysmallrocks Posts: 9
    I wasn't even worried about this before, but I sure am now... lol
  • Cytherea
    Cytherea Posts: 515 Member
    Here's how I see this... taking into consideration that since the weight only works out accurately when you include the liquid when measuring the contents of the can (as you stated), assume that the liquid is included in the calories/serving size. If you do use the liquid, then what you record is accurate. If you don't, then you'll just be a little bit under what you recorded that day- which is really no big deal. Chances are, it will only be by a few calories, since the beans (or tuna or whatever) themselves are what have most of the calories in them, not the liquid. Even if it is 50 calories in a can, like someone else suggested, being 50 calories or less under is not going to hurt you. Personally, I'd rather overestimate and record MORE than ate than fool myself by trying to deduct the liquid and end up underestimating and eating too much. There will be days where you do underestimate and go over by a few calories, and days where you know you've gone over- so the times when you are under because you drained the beans you can just look at as helping to counteract those days. :wink:
  • JunkFoodJane
    JunkFoodJane Posts: 150 Member

    I cook and then drain and freeze in "can sized" portions now. They thaw pretty quickly. Not as convenient as cans...but, no sodium or BPA to deal with.

    Was going to suggest this.


    Read the label- if it's something caloric they're stored in, then measure and deduct that amount. If it's water, the calories should be negligible. Like, -4 per serving. Just whatever bean material gets washed away. Beans have a good deal of calories. It's ok :)
  • Tonys619
    Tonys619 Posts: 1
    This is funny, because it has stumped me for a while. I rely on black beans when I diet because they fill me up and are rich sources of proteins when combined with rice. The confusion is lies with the fact that the entire bag of beans dry has a given number of calories that you can easily count. When you cook these beans your volume changes depending on how much water they soak up. If I measure the cooked product out by cup and go with the nutritional content, the math simply does not add up, It would appear that I am able to create energy out of nothing! (Kcal). What has worked for me is to cook the whole bag, weigh the entire finished product (drained) and divide it into equal portions based on weight. Then divide the entire nutritional data of the dry product by the number of equal finished portions for my final count. Failure to do this has left me starving and with an unexplainable number of servings left over. Cheers!
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