portion sizes

Options
emailsbmoore
emailsbmoore Posts: 1 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Does anyone know what size a "bowl" or "cup" is as listed when recording the diary.. is it literally whatever I think is a standard size of each?

Replies

  • westrich20940
    westrich20940 Posts: 876 Member
    Options
    If it says a 'bowl'...I'd think it has the possibility of being very iffy as far as accuracy.

    If it says 'cup' --- that's like a measuring cup --- which is good, but can still be inaccurate.

    Weight measurements are best. So, when available...I choose to log entries that include weight.
  • steveko89
    steveko89 Posts: 2,216 Member
    Options
    I avoid volumetric measurements whenever I can. The FDA is honestly doing us all a disservice by allowing such vague descriptions on food labels... among other things.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
    Options
    the only thing that should be weighed or measured in cups are spoons are liquids.

    anything solid should be weighed on a food scale in grams.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    Options
    I'd avoid anything listed as a "bowl" or "cup" if it's talking about a serving dish -- you have no way of knowing WHAT the person who created the entry had in mind. If we're talking about cup as a liquid measure, I would feel comfortable using that for liquid foods.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,964 Member
    Options
    sometimes I'll see entries for "bowls" for prepackaged items that come in bowls and that list 1 bowl on the package's nutritional labeling as the serving size. In that case I would use it if it matched the labeling (although I would weigh to double check if the packaging also listed a weight in parentheses after bowl, as U.S. labels often do).

    But if it's not something like that, I wouldn't use an entry that said "bowl."
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
    Options
    emailsbmoore wrote: »
    Does anyone know what size a "bowl" or "cup" is as listed when recording the diary.. is it literally whatever I think is a standard size of each?

    A "bowl" is meaningless...a "cup" is an actual measurement, but it's a measuring cup, not some cup you just pull out of your cupboard. "Cups" if used, should primarily be used with liquids...solids are iffy, though I do use them for things like oats or rice, etc as I don't really care if I'm down the very last gram of accuracy...but something like a "cup" of chicken is pretty meaningless as to how much chicken that would be...it would be variable based on the size of the cubes or whatever.

    71v2dK68NvL._AC_SL1500_.jpg
    Liquid measuring cup...

    96194.jpg
    Dry goods measuring cup
  • rosebarnalice
    rosebarnalice Posts: 3,488 Member
    Options
    If I find a "cup" or "bowl" measurement, I look for another entry that gives me the portion in grams or milliliters
  • girlwithcurls2
    girlwithcurls2 Posts: 2,259 Member
    Options
    rosebarnalice wrote: »
    If I find a "cup" or "bowl" measurement, I look for another entry that gives me the portion in grams or milliliters

    ^This.
    If you really want to know what something weighs or get an exact measurement, put grams or ml in your search.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,084 Member
    Options
    OP, don't forget that the serving size has a drop-down arrow. Some of the classic USDA entries (the ones MFP staff loaded at startup years back) start with a default 1 Cup entry. But when you click the drop-down on the Cups serving size, there will be many other options: weights, volume measures, sometimes inch sizes, and more. You can often spot these because they have names like "Tomatoes, red, ripe, raw, year round average" that only a bureaucrat could love. 😆 But other non-bureaucrat ones sometimes have multiple choices, too.

    But I agree with the others: Use weights, preferably grams (more precise), and weight foods on a food scale, for best accuracy. Even some liquids can be weighed (i.e., there are weight entries in the database already for a lot of common liquids, like milks, oils, etc.).

Categories