MEAL PREP ideas ... how do you count cals
standy73
Posts: 26 Member
Afternoon guys,
Some of you may see my struggle of working out calories & counting, ive lost weight many times B4, eating healthy is not an issue for me BUT meal prep & how to count all the ingredients??
What are your recipes & methods?
Please share🙏🏼🙏🏼 :-D:-D
Some of you may see my struggle of working out calories & counting, ive lost weight many times B4, eating healthy is not an issue for me BUT meal prep & how to count all the ingredients??
What are your recipes & methods?
Please share🙏🏼🙏🏼 :-D:-D
0
Replies
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buy a scale, weigh EVERYTHING
Read the backs of all packaging while shopping to find serving sizes
enter it all into MFP
and input all your recipes into the recipe calculator here
it works! that way you can make sure you are eating enough (females 1200 min cals a day)
Also, stay away from processed foods they are the worst! = sodium is one to watch & carbs!5 -
First part of the advice above is great.
But no need to avoid processed foods, as long as your diet is balanced (and that's for health, for weight loss it doesn't matter). Sodium is a concern for high BP mostly (and not all processed foods are high sodium). And nothing wrong with carbs at all.
For logging recipes:
- use the recipe builder
- weigh and enter the individual ingredients
- weigh the finished dish
- enter the number of servings sizes in the recipe (if it's more than one serving):
* If you're the only one eating that dish, just put the number of times you will eat from that dish
* if it's a shared meal, put the weight of the dish (not including the pot/pan) as the number of servings (for example 1500g =1500 servings). And then weigh the portion you eat and enter that as your number of servings to add to your diary (for example 400g -> enter 400 'servings' to your diary).6 -
buy a scale, weigh EVERYTHING
Read the backs of all packaging while shopping to find serving sizes
enter it all into MFP
and input all your recipes into the recipe calculator here
it works! that way you can make sure you are eating enough (females 1200 min cals a day)
Also, stay away from processed foods they are the worst! = sodium is one to watch & carbs!
You realize your diary is public, right? LOL.6 -
This content has been removed.
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I placed my diary as public today but how do you see ppls diaries??0
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I placed my diary as public today but how do you see ppls diaries??
Click on their username: a window pops up.
Click on their username again and you're taken to their profile. You'll see a green "view diary" button if their diary is public.
This only works on a desktop computer by the way, or desktop view on a mobile device.3 -
buy a scale, weigh EVERYTHING
Read the backs of all packaging while shopping to find serving sizes
enter it all into MFP
and input all your recipes into the recipe calculator here
it works! that way you can make sure you are eating enough (females 1200 min cals a day)
Also, stay away from processed foods they are the worst! = sodium is one to watch & carbs!
Where is the recipe calculator? I often wondered if they had one?1 -
buy a scale, weigh EVERYTHING
Read the backs of all packaging while shopping to find serving sizes
enter it all into MFP
and input all your recipes into the recipe calculator here
it works! that way you can make sure you are eating enough (females 1200 min cals a day)
Also, stay away from processed foods they are the worst! = sodium is one to watch & carbs!
Where is the recipe calculator? I often wondered if they had one?
https://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe_parser
how do i count calories?
a food scale.First part of the advice above is great.
But no need to avoid processed foods, as long as your diet is balanced (and that's for health, for weight loss it doesn't matter). Sodium is a concern for high BP mostly (and not all processed foods are high sodium). And nothing wrong with carbs at all.
For logging recipes:
- use the recipe builder
- weigh and enter the individual ingredients
- weigh the finished dish
- enter the number of servings sizes in the recipe (if it's more than one serving):
* If you're the only one eating that dish, just put the number of times you will eat from that dish
* if it's a shared meal, put the weight of the dish (not including the pot/pan) as the number of servings (for example 1500g =1500 servings). And then weigh the portion you eat and enter that as your number of servings to add to your diary (for example 400g -> enter 400 'servings' to your diary).
This is how I do all of my recipes, at least anything that is made in a batch or intended to serve my family. I had to look back a few days for the most recent example, but Wednesday's dinner was a crock pot meal done like that. If you look at last nights dinner, it was a sheet pan recipe where I had simply divided the ban I baked it on, and one side had my food (all weighed out in individual ingredients) and the other the portion for my husband and son.
2 -
buy a scale, weigh EVERYTHING
Read the backs of all packaging while shopping to find serving sizes
enter it all into MFP
and input all your recipes into the recipe calculator here
it works! that way you can make sure you are eating enough (females 1200 min cals a day)
Also, stay away from processed foods they are the worst! = sodium is one to watch & carbs!
You realize your diary is public, right? LOL.
oh, I know and I have days like everyone else, lol.
The thing is the week before last was my 16th wedding anniversary so my hubby and I spurlged and we had some leftovers into the following week or so.
So we have been trying to get rid of them
we don't eat processed foods all that often, just once in a while as a treat and we still pretty closely stay into our calorie goals.
Even though my diary says I am a bit over on some days my Fitbit tells me I am UNDER on a lot of days and I am not meeting my macros but I am still losing about 2-4lbs a week
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This content has been removed.
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tacolover10231989 wrote: »buy a scale, weigh EVERYTHING
Read the backs of all packaging while shopping to find serving sizes
enter it all into MFP
and input all your recipes into the recipe calculator here
it works! that way you can make sure you are eating enough (females 1200 min cals a day)
Also, stay away from processed foods they are the worst! = sodium is one to watch & carbs!
You realize your diary is public, right? LOL.
oh, I know and I have days like everyone else, lol.
The thing is the week before last was my 16th wedding anniversary so my hubby and I spurlged and we had some leftovers into the following week or so.
So we have been trying to get rid of them
we don't eat processed foods all that often, just once in a while as a treat and we still pretty closely stay into our calorie goals.
Even though my diary says I am a bit over on some days my Fitbit tells me I am UNDER on a lot of days and I am not meeting my macros but I am still losing about 2-4lbs a week
Then why tell OP to limit processed foods? Nothing wrong with them. As far back as I looked your diet is mainly heavily processed foods.
As of the last bit yes because Feb was our anniversary month.
But it's not normally like that what so ever
I usually make homemade ramen and other stuff but I got lazy this last bit when I went to the Asian market
But if you actually go back to when I was actually eating less processed foods I was under 2500 or 2000mg of sodium a day ;p
Plus my doctor always says to stay away from processed foods and I usually do for the most part and if I do have them I usually do pretty good staying under the sodium limit
it just hasn't been that way in the last bit =p
Now go pick on someone else unless you're that bored
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Co-signing everything that's been said about the recipe builder so far.
As far as meal planning - at the beginning of the year I sat down and picked six recipes to prep for lunches for the week. Mid-February I evaluated that list, made some swaps, and set up another six weeks. My original six-week rotation was as follows, with notes and links to the recipes I used as appropriate. My preps are 10 servings (5 each for 2 people).
1. Salisbury Steak with mashed potatoes and broccoli - I doubled the Salisbury steak recipe and made 20 small patties; raw, they were about 2" across and a bit less than 1/2" thick. I used a food scale to make sure they were all the same weight (about 160g IIRC). I also weighed out the gravy and put that in as a separate recipe; when logging it in my diary, I added 10g of gravy on top of what I measured into my prep containers to account for the amount clinging to the patties post-braise. I made mashed potatoes the standard way - cut up some taters, boil 'em, mash 'em, add milk and butter and salt, weighing everything of course. I bought frozen steam-in-bag broccoli for simplicity's sake, since the Salisbury steak was kind of involved.
2. Egg Roll in a Bowl - link to Reddit comment, I tripled this recipe since I was making 10 servings instead of 3. I also shredded my own cabbage and carrots rather than using bagged slaw mix, since I was making so much. My husband and I weren't super-impressed with this as a standalone lunch - it really needed some kind of carby substrate, like chips to scoop it up and eat it with, or I could have just made egg rolls (I would have baked them instead of frying, probably). It's tasty, though! Really benefits from a dollop of duck sauce and a hit of sriracha. For the second round I replaced this with cabbage rolls.
3. Kielbasa Pasta Primavera - same Reddit post as above. I just remade this for lunches this week - I oven-roasted the potatoes, broccoli, and zucchini; added mushrooms; and cooked the onions and peppers on the stovetop to caramelize them a little. Originally I tried to do it all on the stove, and since I was making 10 servings there was too much to get any good browning on anything, so everything just kind of steamed. It tasted OK, but it could have been better. I also did try chickpea penne for this and honestly I can't recommend it - I don't know if I overcooked it or undercooked it or if I just got crappy chickpea pasta but it didn't taste very good. This week I went a little heavy on the potatoes so I skipped the pasta, I guess it's just Kielbasa Primavera now?
4. Greek chicken and orzo - the recipe is the third image in the album, and I had to modify it some. I skipped the potatoes, since the pilaf was already doubling up on carbs with rice AND orzo, though I'm sure they're divine. This is up for a repeat next week and I think I'm going to use chicken thighs rather than chicken legs; I'm not sure if it's the ones I bought or if chicken legs are just Like That, but my husband and I found them unpleasantly gristly for this. The marinade was awesome and they baked up beautifully, though. Instead of the salad in the OP I served this with some Greek-style green beans - 45 oz of green beans is insane for a side dish, I had a pound (16 oz) and that still made way too many g-d green beans, you can safely halve or third this recipe and still feed the whole family.
5. Poor Man's Charcuterie/Adult Lunchables - no recipe here, it's very freeform. Good for getting the kids involved! I kinda freestyle this one depending on what I can find at the grocery. Most recently I did deli ham (cut into roughly 1" squares, ended up with 8 squares per box), cracker-cut gouda slices (4 per box), hummus and carrots (1oz spicy red pepper hummus and 4-5 baby carrots - I put the hummus in the bottom of a silicone muffin cup and stood the carrots up in it, lasted all week in the fridge no problem), and hard-boiled eggs (1 per box). In the past I've done chorizo, cheddar cubes, fancy crackers and bread and butter pickles; deli ham and turkey, cheddar and pepper-jack slices, cucumber-yogurt salad (love those silicone muffin cups for this).
6. Japanese curry and rice - my understanding is that this stuff is basically equivalent to Kraft Dinner in Japan - like, an easy weeknight dinner that comes together in half an hour and kids love it. There's different spiciness levels for different preferences. It also makes a good weekday lunch. I used chicken and added some shredded cabbage to my last batch in addition to the called-for onion, carrot, and potato; it's very flexible like that, you can use any protein you like or none at all, and use whatever vegetables tickle your fancy. I cooked the rice in chicken broth, to add that little extra bit of flavor, although the rice does soak up the curry sauce over time while it sits in the fridge waiting to be eaten so flavoring the rice in this way isn't strictly necessary.2 -
buy a scale, weigh EVERYTHING
Read the backs of all packaging while shopping to find serving sizes
enter it all into MFP
and input all your recipes into the recipe calculator here
it works! that way you can make sure you are eating enough (females 1200 min cals a day)
Also, stay away from processed foods they are the worst! = sodium is one to watch & carbs!
You realize your diary is public, right? LOL.
oh, I know and I have days like everyone else, lol.
The thing is the week before last was my 16th wedding anniversary so my hubby and I spurlged and we had some leftovers into the following week or so.
So we have been trying to get rid of them
we don't eat processed foods all that often, just once in a while as a treat and we still pretty closely stay into our calorie goals.
Even though my diary says I am a bit over on some days my Fitbit tells me I am UNDER on a lot of days and I am not meeting my macros but I am still losing about 2-4lbs a week
LOL. Ok. I went back a few days and I was like, "Wth? 3/4ths of this food is processed!"
But what you said about staying away from it, sodium, and carbs is completely wrong. Unless the person is allergic or has another medical reason to stay away from the above, it's CICO that's going to get that weight off.
Also, doctors don't usually get a lot of training in diet and nutrition....6 -
I'm an "estimator" when it comes to planning.But, I weigh everything.
I'm aimng for 500 calories. So I will say, salmon tonight that is about 6 oz so it will come in at 250 calories, so I'll have baked french fries with it usually around 120 cal plus ketchup, and maybe some pickled beets or a green salad with balsamic.
Then when I actually make it I'll weigh and log everything OK, so my estimate was off a little1 -
callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »buy a scale, weigh EVERYTHING
Read the backs of all packaging while shopping to find serving sizes
enter it all into MFP
and input all your recipes into the recipe calculator here
it works! that way you can make sure you are eating enough (females 1200 min cals a day)
Also, stay away from processed foods they are the worst! = sodium is one to watch & carbs!
Where is the recipe calculator? I often wondered if they had one?
https://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe_parser
how do i count calories?
a food scale.First part of the advice above is great.
But no need to avoid processed foods, as long as your diet is balanced (and that's for health, for weight loss it doesn't matter). Sodium is a concern for high BP mostly (and not all processed foods are high sodium). And nothing wrong with carbs at all.
For logging recipes:
- use the recipe builder
- weigh and enter the individual ingredients
- weigh the finished dish
- enter the number of servings sizes in the recipe (if it's more than one serving):
* If you're the only one eating that dish, just put the number of times you will eat from that dish
* if it's a shared meal, put the weight of the dish (not including the pot/pan) as the number of servings (for example 1500g =1500 servings). And then weigh the portion you eat and enter that as your number of servings to add to your diary (for example 400g -> enter 400 'servings' to your diary).
This is how I do all of my recipes, at least anything that is made in a batch or intended to serve my family. I had to look back a few days for the most recent example, but Wednesday's dinner was a crock pot meal done like that. If you look at last nights dinner, it was a sheet pan recipe where I had simply divided the ban I baked it on, and one side had my food (all weighed out in individual ingredients) and the other the portion for my husband and son.
You can also set a determine number of grams as a serving. For example i serving = 300 grams, and take it from there.1 -
Ok guys, ive read all the above WOW...
question i think many are replying direct im pretty techy how are you that?? Yes Im on my iphone.
Recipes i think can only be seen from pc ill get that going soon.
& TNoir if their losing LBS/kg’s their doing better than i!!!
Im staying under 1500 per day & havnt dropped a kg, LBS but losing patience !!!0 -
An alternative for the recipe feature is simply logging the ingredients as a meal.
I usually choose a meal in the future where I add all the ingredients, I weigh the final dish, save the meal (with the total weight in the name).
After I've saved the meal, I delete the full dish from that future meal where I logged it, and just log the appropriate fraction when I eat a portion of the dish.
For example: the risotto I made yesterday weighed 3945gr, my portion weighed 809, so I logged 0.205 of the saved meal for my dinner.0 -
MrsMellodoggerello wrote: »whatever, haha...even if it doesn't help in losing weight it's still good advice in general to limit processed foods.& lots of experts do agree like the infamous Mark Bittman. Anyway, the easiest method, for me, is to eat the same breakfast and lunch most days and then choose from 3 or 4 dinners that I already know fits into my calorie goals .I'll switch those dinners somewhat seasonally.buy a scale, weigh EVERYTHING
Read the backs of all packaging while shopping to find serving sizes
enter it all into MFP
and input all your recipes into the recipe calculator here
it works! that way you can make sure you are eating enough (females 1200 min cals a day)
Also, stay away from processed foods they are the worst! = sodium is one to watch & carbs!
Mark Bittman is a talented food writer. I enjoy his writing and cookbooks very much, but I think even he would agree that his writing skills don't make him a nutritional expert. Also unsure why you'd call him "infamous."0 -
BUT meal prep & how to count all the ingredients??
What are your recipes & methods?
I don't heavily meal prep. I have frozen meat in the freezer, and tend to try to think ahead to what I am likely to want in the near future so I can get the stuff out and into the refrigerator. I also always have lots of veg on hand and staples like rice and pasta and beans and lentils and so on in my pantry. I'll largely know I'm having pork chops or salmon or whatever, and then just think about what seems good with them using what I have on hand (I learned to be flexible and cook based on what's on hand when I used to get a farm share and had to use it up each week, and it's come in handy during covid as I no longer can dart into the market on my way home from work to pick up some random item). What I do instead is make enough so I will have at least one meal of leftovers, maybe two, from any dinner. Usually those become lunches.
Otherwise for lunch I cook based on what is on hand -- make a big salad or an omelet or so on. I don't currently eat breakfast, but when I did I had the same basic thing (different veg and fruit) every day.
Logging is easy when you do lots of home cooking, IME. I just log the ingredients and the either create a recipe with them or, if I am making one serving or dividing it into servings only I will eat, I might just log the ingredients. For example, when chopping I put stuff on the scale and then will at breaks enter them into the log. If making two servings of something I plan to eat the next day too, I'll log half of everything and then copy and paste the meal. If you are making meals for multiple people recipes are likely easier.1 -
tacolover10231989 wrote: »buy a scale, weigh EVERYTHING
Read the backs of all packaging while shopping to find serving sizes
enter it all into MFP
and input all your recipes into the recipe calculator here
it works! that way you can make sure you are eating enough (females 1200 min cals a day)
Also, stay away from processed foods they are the worst! = sodium is one to watch & carbs!
You realize your diary is public, right? LOL.
oh, I know and I have days like everyone else, lol.
The thing is the week before last was my 16th wedding anniversary so my hubby and I spurlged and we had some leftovers into the following week or so.
So we have been trying to get rid of them
we don't eat processed foods all that often, just once in a while as a treat and we still pretty closely stay into our calorie goals.
Even though my diary says I am a bit over on some days my Fitbit tells me I am UNDER on a lot of days and I am not meeting my macros but I am still losing about 2-4lbs a week
Then why tell OP to limit processed foods? Nothing wrong with them. As far back as I looked your diet is mainly heavily processed foods.
I often find that people who make the biggest deals about processed foods have very different understandings of what a processed food is than I do.5 -
Ok guys, ive read all the above WOW...
question i think many are replying direct im pretty techy how are you that?? Yes Im on my iphone.
Recipes i think can only be seen from pc ill get that going soon.
& TNoir if their losing LBS/kg’s their doing better than i!!!
Im staying under 1500 per day & havnt dropped a kg, LBS but losing patience !!!
There's a Quote button at the bottom of each post below all the reacts on the mobile app that you can use to quote a reply, like I've done here. You can also @ tag someone by typing a @ followed by their username, like so: @standy73 - the tagged person gets a notif (like you probably did) that so-and-so mentioned you in a comment. Just make sure you spell the username correctly.
On the mobile app, tap the hamburger menu on the homepage and scroll down to Recipes, Meals, & Foods to access the recipe builder. I find the desktop version to be a little easier to use, but it's in there.0 -
Having plenty of everything I like is key. Right now I have frozen fish: 4lb raw shrimp, 5lb cod filets, 2 lb Icelandic salmon, 2-3lb of sea scallops. So when in doubt, I drop a freezer bag in some water, 30 minutes later it is thawed and ready to broil or saute. Now to find some sides.0
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MrsMellodoggerello wrote: »I have no idea...maybe I was trying to create drama by calling him infamous. He does have that quote that is heard everywhere about not eating what our grandparents wouldn't recognize. All hardcore processed food lovers must despise that! He is a bit of an expert...from Forbes magazine-"Bittman is not just a celebrity spatula slider though, like many TV chefs. He is a special advisor to Columbia University, where he lectures on food, public health and social justice; six-time James Beard Award winner; distinguished fellow at the University of California – Berkeley, and a fellow at the Union of Concerned Scientists. Bittman’s “What’s Wrong with What We Eat” TED Talk has close to 5 million views. "janejellyroll wrote: »MrsMellodoggerello wrote: »whatever, haha...even if it doesn't help in losing weight it's still good advice in general to limit processed foods.& lots of experts do agree like the infamous Mark Bittman. Anyway, the easiest method, for me, is to eat the same breakfast and lunch most days and then choose from 3 or 4 dinners that I already know fits into my calorie goals .I'll switch those dinners somewhat seasonally.buy a scale, weigh EVERYTHING
Read the backs of all packaging while shopping to find serving sizes
enter it all into MFP
and input all your recipes into the recipe calculator here
it works! that way you can make sure you are eating enough (females 1200 min cals a day)
Also, stay away from processed foods they are the worst! = sodium is one to watch & carbs!
Mark Bittman is a talented food writer. I enjoy his writing and cookbooks very much, but I think even he would agree that his writing skills don't make him a nutritional expert. Also unsure why you'd call him "infamous."
Many hardcore processed food lovers don't even know who Mark Bittman is, let alone hate him. Of those who know who he is, many of them probably have confidence in their own choices and don't worry about what Mark Bittman thinks of their plates.
Since my grandmother thinks that corn flakes covered in melted, green-tinted marshmallow and decorated with cinnamon red hots is a Christmas delicacy, I don't think I'll be basing my food choices on what she does or doesn't recognize.
Bittman does have many accomplishments, but many of them are for the excellence of his food writing. That's what the James Beard awards are for -- food writing. It's not recognition for contributions to nutritional planning. I've never said he was a "spatula slider" or a celebrity chef. What I'm saying is that being an excellent food writer doesn't necessarily qualify you to determine what others should eat or the level of processing that food should undergo.
As far as telling people he's infamous, let's just stick to accurate descriptions and curb the drama. I don't think Bittman deserves that kind of rep.2 -
MrsMellodoggerello wrote: »
janejellyroll wrote: »MrsMellodoggerello wrote: »I have no idea...maybe I was trying to create drama by calling him infamous. He does have that quote that is heard everywhere about not eating what our grandparents wouldn't recognize. All hardcore processed food lovers must despise that! He is a bit of an expert...from Forbes magazine-"Bittman is not just a celebrity spatula slider though, like many TV chefs. He is a special advisor to Columbia University, where he lectures on food, public health and social justice; six-time James Beard Award winner; distinguished fellow at the University of California – Berkeley, and a fellow at the Union of Concerned Scientists. Bittman’s “What’s Wrong with What We Eat” TED Talk has close to 5 million views. "janejellyroll wrote: »MrsMellodoggerello wrote: »whatever, haha...even if it doesn't help in losing weight it's still good advice in general to limit processed foods.& lots of experts do agree like the infamous Mark Bittman. Anyway, the easiest method, for me, is to eat the same breakfast and lunch most days and then choose from 3 or 4 dinners that I already know fits into my calorie goals .I'll switch those dinners somewhat seasonally.buy a scale, weigh EVERYTHING
Read the backs of all packaging while shopping to find serving sizes
enter it all into MFP
and input all your recipes into the recipe calculator here
it works! that way you can make sure you are eating enough (females 1200 min cals a day)
Also, stay away from processed foods they are the worst! = sodium is one to watch & carbs!
Mark Bittman is a talented food writer. I enjoy his writing and cookbooks very much, but I think even he would agree that his writing skills don't make him a nutritional expert. Also unsure why you'd call him "infamous."
Many hardcore processed food lovers don't even know who Mark Bittman is, let alone hate him. Of those who know who he is, many of them probably have confidence in their own choices and don't worry about what Mark Bittman thinks of their plates.
Since my grandmother thinks that corn flakes covered in melted, green-tinted marshmallow and decorated with cinnamon red hots is a Christmas delicacy, I don't think I'll be basing my food choices on what she does or doesn't recognize.
Bittman does have many accomplishments, but many of them are for the excellence of his food writing. That's what the James Beard awards are for -- food writing. It's not recognition for contributions to nutritional planning. I've never said he was a "spatula slider" or a celebrity chef. What I'm saying is that being an excellent food writer doesn't necessarily qualify you to determine what others should eat or the level of processing that food should undergo.
As far as telling people he's infamous, let's just stick to accurate descriptions and curb the drama. I don't think Bittman deserves that kind of rep.
I'm not sure what you think is opinion here, but I assure you that my grandmother loves dying corn flakes green and the James Beard Awards are for food writing, not for nutritional research.4 -
janejellyroll wrote: »MrsMellodoggerello wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »MrsMellodoggerello wrote: »I have no idea...maybe I was trying to create drama by calling him infamous. He does have that quote that is heard everywhere about not eating what our grandparents wouldn't recognize. All hardcore processed food lovers must despise that! He is a bit of an expert...from Forbes magazine-"Bittman is not just a celebrity spatula slider though, like many TV chefs. He is a special advisor to Columbia University, where he lectures on food, public health and social justice; six-time James Beard Award winner; distinguished fellow at the University of California – Berkeley, and a fellow at the Union of Concerned Scientists. Bittman’s “What’s Wrong with What We Eat” TED Talk has close to 5 million views. "janejellyroll wrote: »MrsMellodoggerello wrote: »whatever, haha...even if it doesn't help in losing weight it's still good advice in general to limit processed foods.& lots of experts do agree like the infamous Mark Bittman. Anyway, the easiest method, for me, is to eat the same breakfast and lunch most days and then choose from 3 or 4 dinners that I already know fits into my calorie goals .I'll switch those dinners somewhat seasonally.buy a scale, weigh EVERYTHING
Read the backs of all packaging while shopping to find serving sizes
enter it all into MFP
and input all your recipes into the recipe calculator here
it works! that way you can make sure you are eating enough (females 1200 min cals a day)
Also, stay away from processed foods they are the worst! = sodium is one to watch & carbs!
Mark Bittman is a talented food writer. I enjoy his writing and cookbooks very much, but I think even he would agree that his writing skills don't make him a nutritional expert. Also unsure why you'd call him "infamous."
Many hardcore processed food lovers don't even know who Mark Bittman is, let alone hate him. Of those who know who he is, many of them probably have confidence in their own choices and don't worry about what Mark Bittman thinks of their plates.
Since my grandmother thinks that corn flakes covered in melted, green-tinted marshmallow and decorated with cinnamon red hots is a Christmas delicacy, I don't think I'll be basing my food choices on what she does or doesn't recognize.
Bittman does have many accomplishments, but many of them are for the excellence of his food writing. That's what the James Beard awards are for -- food writing. It's not recognition for contributions to nutritional planning. I've never said he was a "spatula slider" or a celebrity chef. What I'm saying is that being an excellent food writer doesn't necessarily qualify you to determine what others should eat or the level of processing that food should undergo.
As far as telling people he's infamous, let's just stick to accurate descriptions and curb the drama. I don't think Bittman deserves that kind of rep.
I'm not sure what you think is opinion here, but I assure you that my grandmother loves dying corn flakes green and the James Beard Awards are for food writing, not for nutritional research.
What's your opinion on The Big Lebowski being an iconic movie?
Except for the red hots, those green corn flakes sound...um...well, I'd try them! (If I went by my grandmother, the diabetic, I'd be living off butterscotch hard candies. Not a BAD thing but WHERE'S THE CHOCOLATE, BUBBY?!)1 -
I suppose I'm not a "hardcore processed food lover" (I certainly eat less processed or ultra processed foods than the person saying to avoid all processed foods upthread, and I'm a huge fan of cooking and eating mostly from whole foods I prepare, as well as some lightly processed items (maybe?) like cottage cheese and greek yogurt so on), at least for myself. The idea that someone who says eating processed food isn't some terrible thing is a "hardcore processed food lover" seems questionable, of course. But I would say that one can certainly include processed food in one's diet and lose (and I do and have), so I think the advice we are discussing was wrong.
But that aside, I love Mark Bittman. I recommend his books for newbie cooks all the time, learned to cook fish from his fish book, and love reading his recipes in the paper. I think his statement about eating what your grandparents would have recognized as food,however, is poor advice, although I would say that for many people learning to cook and eat balanced meals as was more common at one time is generally good advice.
I will add, to support what Jane has said, that my grandparents all died by the early '90s, and yet even by that time they ate processed foods (even my mother's parents who had been farmers and had the most amazing garden when I was a kid), so I'm not sure why my grandparents -- let alone people with grandparents alive now, or who are younger than me -- are supposed to not recognize, I dunno, some Marie Callender pot pie as food. (Speaking of, my local farmer's market has farms that sell frozen pot pies and fruit pies.)
Beyond that, I do eat plenty of foods my grandparents would not have recognized or eaten, things like Indian curries or Ethiopian dishes or Moroccan ones, or whatever else I experiment with cooking along those lines, with spices or combinations not so familiar to them. They also would have been really skeptical of a dinner with no meat/fish. I don't think those opinions or tastes should govern what I eat, but perhaps there is disagreement about this?2 -
janejellyroll wrote: »MrsMellodoggerello wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »MrsMellodoggerello wrote: »I have no idea...maybe I was trying to create drama by calling him infamous. He does have that quote that is heard everywhere about not eating what our grandparents wouldn't recognize. All hardcore processed food lovers must despise that! He is a bit of an expert...from Forbes magazine-"Bittman is not just a celebrity spatula slider though, like many TV chefs. He is a special advisor to Columbia University, where he lectures on food, public health and social justice; six-time James Beard Award winner; distinguished fellow at the University of California – Berkeley, and a fellow at the Union of Concerned Scientists. Bittman’s “What’s Wrong with What We Eat” TED Talk has close to 5 million views. "janejellyroll wrote: »MrsMellodoggerello wrote: »whatever, haha...even if it doesn't help in losing weight it's still good advice in general to limit processed foods.& lots of experts do agree like the infamous Mark Bittman. Anyway, the easiest method, for me, is to eat the same breakfast and lunch most days and then choose from 3 or 4 dinners that I already know fits into my calorie goals .I'll switch those dinners somewhat seasonally.buy a scale, weigh EVERYTHING
Read the backs of all packaging while shopping to find serving sizes
enter it all into MFP
and input all your recipes into the recipe calculator here
it works! that way you can make sure you are eating enough (females 1200 min cals a day)
Also, stay away from processed foods they are the worst! = sodium is one to watch & carbs!
Mark Bittman is a talented food writer. I enjoy his writing and cookbooks very much, but I think even he would agree that his writing skills don't make him a nutritional expert. Also unsure why you'd call him "infamous."
Many hardcore processed food lovers don't even know who Mark Bittman is, let alone hate him. Of those who know who he is, many of them probably have confidence in their own choices and don't worry about what Mark Bittman thinks of their plates.
Since my grandmother thinks that corn flakes covered in melted, green-tinted marshmallow and decorated with cinnamon red hots is a Christmas delicacy, I don't think I'll be basing my food choices on what she does or doesn't recognize.
Bittman does have many accomplishments, but many of them are for the excellence of his food writing. That's what the James Beard awards are for -- food writing. It's not recognition for contributions to nutritional planning. I've never said he was a "spatula slider" or a celebrity chef. What I'm saying is that being an excellent food writer doesn't necessarily qualify you to determine what others should eat or the level of processing that food should undergo.
As far as telling people he's infamous, let's just stick to accurate descriptions and curb the drama. I don't think Bittman deserves that kind of rep.
I'm not sure what you think is opinion here, but I assure you that my grandmother loves dying corn flakes green and the James Beard Awards are for food writing, not for nutritional research.
What's your opinion on The Big Lebowski being an iconic movie?
Except for the red hots, those green corn flakes sound...um...well, I'd try them! (If I went by my grandmother, the diabetic, I'd be living off butterscotch hard candies. Not a BAD thing but WHERE'S THE CHOCOLATE, BUBBY?!)
The movie is a total classic.
I always picked off the red hots -- I can't stand them!1 -
I suppose I'm not a "hardcore processed food lover" (I certainly eat less processed or ultra processed foods than the person saying to avoid all processed foods upthread, and I'm a huge fan of cooking and eating mostly from whole foods I prepare, as well as some lightly processed items (maybe?) like cottage cheese and greek yogurt so on), at least for myself. The idea that someone who says eating processed food isn't some terrible thing is a "hardcore processed food lover" seems questionable, of course. But I would say that one can certainly include processed food in one's diet and lose (and I do and have), so I think the advice we are discussing was wrong.
But that aside, I love Mark Bittman. I recommend his books for newbie cooks all the time, learned to cook fish from his fish book, and love reading his recipes in the paper. I think his statement about eating what your grandparents would have recognized as food,however, is poor advice, although I would say that for many people learning to cook and eat balanced meals as was more common at one time is generally good advice.
I will add, to support what Jane has said, that my grandparents all died by the early '90s, and yet even by that time they ate processed foods (even my mother's parents who had been farmers and had the most amazing garden when I was a kid), so I'm not sure why my grandparents -- let alone people with grandparents alive now, or who are younger than me -- are supposed to not recognize, I dunno, some Marie Callender pot pie as food. (Speaking of, my local farmer's market has farms that sell frozen pot pies and fruit pies.)
Beyond that, I do eat plenty of foods my grandparents would not have recognized or eaten, things like Indian curries or Ethiopian dishes or Moroccan ones, or whatever else I experiment with cooking along those lines, with spices or combinations not so familiar to them. They also would have been really skeptical of a dinner with no meat/fish. I don't think those opinions or tastes should govern what I eat, but perhaps there is disagreement about this?
I think Mark Bittman is a great food writer. I have one of his cookbooks and it's a favorite.1 -
So re: weighing for recipes:
I mostly cook for my family. I get weighing each ingredient to get the nutritional value of the entire recipe. Where I'm getting lost is weighing the whole dish at the end to figure out servings. Am I putting a hot pan or baking dish on the scale (that I already know the weight of)? Moving everything to a different dish and weighing that before I set it on the table? A hot pad, then tare the scale, then put the pan on? Then after that, I weigh my own portion out on my plate?
I feel really dumb for asking, and the answer is probably obvious, but for some reason I am getting really hung up on this, so help would be welcome. Thank you!0 -
For me:
- hot pad or whatever I use to protect the scale -> tare -> weigh whole cooked dish in the pot
- subtract weight of pot to calculate weight of the dish (it's easier if you weigh the empty pot before you start cooking)
Then: put plate on scale, tare, serve individual portion and note the weight1
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