How do I get nutrition information from restaurants?

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meri2631
meri2631 Posts: 1 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I've been told I can get nutrition information from restaurants, but I can't see how to do that

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  • minniemoo1972
    minniemoo1972 Posts: 295 Member
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    If they arent a chain i believe They dont have to provide it...if they do it it will usually be Online
  • flaminica
    flaminica Posts: 304 Member
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    Short answer: If it's a chain, check their website. If it's not, you're not going to get reliable numbers, so use common sense when ordering.

    Rationale: People dump on chain restaurants and "junk" food all the time. I don't personally feel that any food is junk. Fast food chains, being lightning rods of blame for the obesity epidemic, are paradoxically the best places by far for posting clear and accessible nutritional information. "Joe's Diner" on the other hand might have great food, but I guarantee Joe doesn't know what the calories or macros are in his Blue Plate Special, because in most places the law doesn't require him to know. You can ask, but his guess is as good as yours.
  • laur357
    laur357 Posts: 896 Member
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    There are lots of chain entries in the MFP database. You can usually just type the name of the restaurant and dish in the food diary, and it will pop up. Some are incorrect (due to changes in the recipe or being entered improperly), so you can verify this by checking the website.

    You can google things like "olive garden nutrition information" or "wendy's junior bacon cheeseburger nutrition" to find the restaurant's website beyond the MFP database (make sure it's their branded website MFP and other calorie counting websites will also show up on google). Most chains over a certain size are required to post the nutrition information for their regular menu items. If you find restaurant info that's not in MFP, you can add it yourself with "create new food."

    For non-chain restaurants, I try to match what I ordered with something similar at a chain restaurant. If you have a small local pizza place, you could use Pizza Hut pepperoni pizza in place of theirs if it's a similar size and crust. Or P.F. Chang's or Panda Express for Chinese takeout.
  • flaminica
    flaminica Posts: 304 Member
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    laur357 wrote: »
    There are lots of chain entries in the MFP database.

    This is correct. If you are not in the United States be sure to specify the country when doing this. For example search for "McDonalds UK" or Denny's Canada" etc. This is because the same menu item may have a very different preparation and macros in other countries.
  • MiMi_5151
    MiMi_5151 Posts: 41 Member
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    I ate at a local restaurant this evening that doesn't have any nutritional information available. I had blackened shrimp tacos. I just searched for this entrée and logged what I felt to be a close approximation to what I ordered. It isn't perfect so I make sure to give myself a bit of a buffer in terms of my calorie deficit.
  • berolcolour
    berolcolour Posts: 140 Member
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    I follow a couple of rules (I made up, just what works for me) if there's a similar place I know, I'll use that. If not I'll have a look for similar things and pick the average looking entry for calories that has all the macros filled in if there's a range (by average either the most common if they hover around the same kcals or the middle-ish one if there's a range). My fall back is picking the top result. Sometimes it's a high one and sometimes it's low so I figure it will balance out.

    This stops me from picking the lowest one which is tempting!

    I try to avoid adding up raw ingredients because I think it's hard to estimate fats etc added in the cooking process.

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