Nutritional Info

You can also look up the values elsewhere to compare... or look for ones with lots of confirmations. USDA entries are good too.

If you are planning to eat something on a regular basis, it's actually easiest just to skip finding an accurate database entry and enter it yourself into your My Foods section.

alt5057 wrote: »

If I don't have a box or package to look at and am using a "generic" listing for fruits/veg/etc, I try to look for ones with the green check-mark and says that it is "verified".

And if listings for something seem wildly different, I will usually pick the mid-range one. Since you can enter your own, there will always people who are underestimating their calories in something and I don't want to fall into that!

The database has many inaccuracies, even the verified foods. If there are wild differences, there's no way to tell which is correct or even if any of them are close.

For things without a nutritional info box, search Google for your item plus "nutrition" and you'll almost always get a link or even basic or full nutritional information within the search results. With fruits and veggies, you can even use the pull-down menu to adjust the type and serving size.

Here's part of the right-side panel I get when I search "tomato nutrition":


I use the Google nutritional info for things that don't come in a box to make my own My Foods entries. I use 100 gram serving sizes to make the math easy.

For prepackaged foods use the MFP phone app, it has a bare code reader. It has been spot on for well over 90% of my stuff.

Good suggestions above. I usually go for green flag. I scan the foods. When in doubt, I search for USDA on anything standard. But after around two weeks, you'll find that the foods you eat all the time come up on top and appear in your 'Frequent' list. So take a little time right at the beginning finding the right entries.

I've been doing this four years. The first two weeks are the most annoying, because the system doesn't 'know' you yet. After that, it's easy.

RaspberryTickleChicken wrote: »

If there's a bar code I always scan it over taking what MFP has in the database.

If there's not, then as @VeryKatie suggests, go to other sites to check inaccuracies ie. Sparkpeople or CalorieCount or the maker of the food's website.

If you are looking at components of a dish I will scan the bar code of the ingredients and save it as a MEAL in MFP this way I only need to do it once.

Great suggestions. I always double check the barcode scans too though - I've had them be wrong before (not often, but it happens).

spacequiztime wrote: »

For packaged foods, I recommend using Wal Mart's website to verify an entry.
For eating out a place that provides nutritional info, I recommend CalorieKing.
For whole foods, I recommend the USDA's online nutritional database.

It's annoying to have to double check when I'm adding something new, but it's the what happens when anyone and everyone can add entries into the database!

That is such a great tip! I have been logging for 14 months and I had no idea that Walmart.com had all of that nutritional info. I learn such awesome things from these forums.

Good idea about the french fries. I usually entered them as McDonalds because I know the size and approximate weight. But I think that does describe it well. I only eat around 10 fries every other week, but it's the one thing I never know what to put. Actually, I lie. The once a month diner milkshake gets me too.

belimawr wrote: »

RaspberryTickleChicken wrote: »

If there's a bar code I always scan it over taking what MFP has in the database.

If you're using the MFP app, then the bar code is just being scanned and giving you the same information in the MFP database, whether it's correct or not. Anyone can enter nutritional data associated with a bar code, just like food entered any other way into the database.

I have Window Phone app, and when I use the bar code scanner, it shows the same information as what is listed on the package. I rely on that method quite a bit.