AHHHH! (A rant and a confusing popcorn situation)

elv1ra
elv1ra Posts: 146 Member
edited November 2024 in Food and Nutrition
First of all, I need to vent about how frustrating it is when nutrition labels don't make any sense, ESPECIALLY when it seems to be because of Canadian laws or something. I've run into 3 extremely frustrating examples in the past 2 days.

First was the ice cream. The label says a portion is a half cup. But I couldn't figure out how to measure that properly so I googled it. Thats where I found a bunch of links to threads in this forum from other canadians wondering the same thing. Turns out the american people that have the weight listed in brackets experimented with using a measuring cup and it was wayyyy more than the weight listed on the box for the half cup serving.

Second was today when I bought a can of cooking spray. Most of them state the serving size as something like "per .5 second spray". This one literally said "per1/8 teaspoon". Apparently, I'm supposed to spray the cooking spray into a measuring spoon? I feel like it should be obvious to the manufacturer that spraying it into a spoon defeats the whole purpose of using a cooking spray in the first place. If I wanted to measure my oil in a spoon, I'd use liquid oil.

Now I'm trying to make sense of this popcorn situation which is a whole bunch of messed up. The Canadian labels portion is 8.5 cups, or 50g air popped. I feel like I shouldn't have to guess about the amount of popcorn to throw in the pot so I can weigh out 50grams of it after I pop it, PLUS, I don't air pop, I oil pop. So how the heck am I supposed to get a proper weight on it?the kernels wouldn't weigh the same as popped because the kernels release moisture when they pop. Then on top of THAT confusion, when I searched it on MFP I was getting a completely different serving size and calorie count than my label said. So then I went to the american and canadian orville redenbacher websites and find out that the american bottle says "7.5 cups (40g unpopped) = 120 calories", while the canadian bottle of the same kernels says "8.5 cups airpopped (50g) = 200 calories". How does the exact same popcorn have 16 calories per cup in the USA, and 23.5 calories per cup in Canada?

Replies

  • snikkins
    snikkins Posts: 1,282 Member
    edited February 2016
    Microwavable popcorn is the worst. Why even give a count for unpopped in the bags? I mean, seriously? It's exactly opposite of your problem!

    I'm not much help, but I feel your pain!
  • leosmith66
    leosmith66 Posts: 69 Member
    Yup, pretty confusing. You could try this. Say there are 10 servings per can (box?). Dump it out, weigh it, and take 1/10. The nutritional values they provide should be pretty close for the serving.;
  • elv1ra
    elv1ra Posts: 146 Member
    snikkins wrote: »
    Microwavable popcorn is the worst. Why even give a count for unpopped in the bags? I mean, seriously? It's exactly opposite of your problem!

    I'm not much help, but I feel your pain!

    Its not microwave popcorn that I'm talking about. Its the orville brand popcorn kernels that you can pop in an air popper, kettle, or pot.
  • QueenofHearts023
    QueenofHearts023 Posts: 421 Member
    Usually in cases like these I take the nearest option on mfp regardless of the packaging. But I don't eat all my calories always, so I tend to have some cushioning incase I go over.

    Otherwise the above poster's idea is a good start.
  • elv1ra
    elv1ra Posts: 146 Member
    leosmith66 wrote: »
    Yup, pretty confusing. You could try this. Say there are 10 servings per can (box?). Dump it out, weigh it, and take 1/10. The nutritional values they provide should be pretty close for the serving.;

    Because the label doesn't give a count for how many servings per container, and the label just gives the weight for the serving size after its been air popped. But I use a pot and a tablespoon of oil to pop so that weight doesn't apply to my popped corn. And 50 grams of airpopped corn, would weigh less than it did as kernels because the popping releases moisture from the kernel.

    And I still can't wrap my head around the idea that the Canadian label claims 50% more calories than the american one :/ I actually took my questions to the orvilles facebook pages to see if they can offer some sort of explanation.
  • canadjineh
    canadjineh Posts: 5,396 Member
    Nutrition Facts labels really have a huge range +- what they state (legally). If you want to be on the safe side... you could probably be assured that the manufacturer will tell you a low end calorie count as they know most people who look at labels are mainly watching their calories.... Also you should know that just because it is the same product manufacturer, the suppliers and ingredients may be different in different countries. It can only be an estimate anyhow because popcorn kernels weigh differently depending on their moisture content and that also makes them pop lighter (more steam to explode them). Really it's not that much of a difference though to get your panties in a knot, lol.
    leosmith66's idea is the most liveable. Don't forget extra stress adds cortisol which adds fat to your cells. So try not to get too stressed about it. ;)
  • elv1ra
    elv1ra Posts: 146 Member
    Original-Gourmet-Popping-Corn.jpg
  • elv1ra
    elv1ra Posts: 146 Member
    Orville-Redenbacher-Popcorn-Kernel-Jug-5-LB-12-oz-0-0.jpg
  • elv1ra
    elv1ra Posts: 146 Member
    canadjineh wrote: »
    Nutrition Facts labels really have a huge range +- what they state (legally). If you want to be on the safe side... you could probably be assured that the manufacturer will tell you a low end calorie count as they know most people who look at labels are mainly watching their calories.... Also you should know that just because it is the same product manufacturer, the suppliers and ingredients may be different in different countries. It can only be an estimate anyhow because popcorn kernels weigh differently depending on their moisture content and that also makes them pop lighter (more steam to explode them). Really it's not that much of a difference though to get your panties in a knot, lol.
    leosmith66's idea is the most liveable. Don't forget extra stress adds cortisol which adds fat to your cells. So try not to get too stressed about it. ;)

    I get that it seems really silly, but i feel like a 50% difference in calories is a pretty big difference when you're trying to properly weigh your food :(
  • leosmith66
    leosmith66 Posts: 69 Member
    Thanks for providing the labels. If it were me, I'd just go with the values on the US label. I might be wrong, but I think the US is more strict about such things, which seems to be reflected in the amount of detail. To find the oil added, you can just weigh the pan + oil before and after popping.
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