Food macros. Anybody's Guess

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ghonish
ghonish Posts: 6 Member
in Food and Nutrition
The barcode scanning feature of MFP is great, but for foods like chicken or deli meats it can be hard to get a realiable count on macros.

Today I searched for chicken breast and there were 102 entries ,which didn't suprise me. One entry had a 100g serving containing 9.3g of fat (rather high). The next had a 100g serving with 4.3g of fat (ok). Finally the third was a 250g serving with 3.3g of fat (wha?).

I understand that the entries are community based and can't be perfect, but if you enter in a handful of foods throughout the day that value in either high or low by 50-100 calories of whatver it may be, you could miss your surplus/deficit target quite easily.

So my question is, do any of you have any tips or hints when seeking out macro information for meats, fresh vegetables, and any other non packaged foods? Things you look for to spot an entry that is simply out to lunch?

See ya in gym

Replies

  • CyberTone
    CyberTone Posts: 7,337 Member
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    Cross-check MFP food items with other more reliable databases.

    USDA National Nutrient Database. ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search

    Self Nutrition Data. nutritiondata.self.com/

    By the way, scanning a barcode just means that you have searched the MFP Food Database using a UPC number. All of the nutrition information has been entered by a MFP user from the package's Nutrition Facts label and may be incorrect. People make mistakes all the time. Always verify the full nutrition information for every barcode item you scan; the nutrition information may be wrong in the MFP Food Database.
  • ghonish
    ghonish Posts: 6 Member
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    Ya good call with the UPC scan. Bummer man.
  • ghonish
    ghonish Posts: 6 Member
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    Thanks for the links as well!
  • kwtilbury
    kwtilbury Posts: 1,234 Member
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    Items in the database with a green check mark have been verified. Try to use when you can. When searching for generic meat, include "USDA" in the search term.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    CyberTone wrote: »
    Cross-check MFP food items with other more reliable databases.

    USDA National Nutrient Database. ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search

    Self Nutrition Data. nutritiondata.self.com/

    By the way, scanning a barcode just means that you have searched the MFP Food Database using a UPC number. All of the nutrition information has been entered by a MFP user from the package's Nutrition Facts label and may be incorrect. People make mistakes all the time. Always verify the full nutrition information for every barcode item you scan; the nutrition information may be wrong in the MFP Food Database.

    Yes, use the USDA information when you can. You will learn to recognized them and can cross check with the database.

    It's also important to use raw or cooked based on the state of your food when you weighed it.

    The only other wrinkle for chicken breast is that some brands add water/saline, so if there is a specific brand and label information, that's the best thing to use. Mine never has it (and has no water added), so I use the USDA information.

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