Can we please stop putting wrong nutritional info into MFP????
analyticalchick
Posts: 2 Member
Is anyone else sick of going through several wrong entries for the food you're trying to log? I'm trying to log my lox and cheese on crackers I'm about to have. There's like 5 entries for this cheese and every single one of them is wrong. A few of them have one carb. No-just no-who thinks cheese has carbs? It's not on the label. Why are people pulling nutritional info out of their *kitten*? Or they're lazy so they put 0 for everything other than calories, carbs, fat and protein. Some of us track our fiber. If you're not going to put it in right, just keep your entry private.
/end rant
/end rant
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Replies
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Some stuff is absolutely just made up, probably but also: Labels change and the nutritional info with it. To whit the soft/spreadable cheese I use absolutely has carbs (because other stuff is in it now) and it did not used to. It's also 10 calories higher per serving size than it was.11
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There are many wrong entries, mostly due to distraction or laziness, I suspect. But don't forget that manufacturers can change their products (and labels) through time, not to mention the same products can have different composition and nutrition labels in different countries or regions. That's why it's always a good idea to check the entries against the actual labels in front of us.10
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New to this, I was wondering about all the multiple redundant listings for diary foods. some off target. My biggest learning curve has been choosing entries titled with descriptors that get alphabetized in History and are hard to remember: "unsalted peanuts" gets listed with other "U"s not "P"s, and I made other mistakes before catching on to look for a memorable first word. If there's a way to delete saved History entries and replace them with a fresh search I can't find it, would appreciate a tip - that would help with inaccurate entries as well.1
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New to this, I was wondering about all the multiple redundant listings for diary foods. some off target. My biggest learning curve has been choosing entries titled with descriptors that get alphabetized in History and are hard to remember: "unsalted peanuts" gets listed with other "U"s not "P"s, and I made other mistakes before catching on to look for a memorable first word. If there's a way to delete saved History entries and replace them with a fresh search I can't find it, would appreciate a tip - that would help with inaccurate entries as well.
You can't delete entries from your "recent" list (which I'm assuming is what you mean by "history" as I'm unaware of a "history" section in MFP) other than by deleting them from the meals in which you logged them.
If the latter is what you want to do, there's a red circle with a white horizontal line to the right of the food in your diary on website; click on that to delete. If you're using the Android app, click (or touch) and hold on the food entry in your diary for a few seconds; when you release you should get a pop-up that will let you delete or edit the entry. I believe in the iOS app, you swipe left to delete a food entry in your diary, but maybe somebody who uses that app can confirm.1 -
Thoroughly sick and tired of wading through "personalised" entries. The ones that really rub me up the wrong way are the ones marked "correct", because so many of them are incorrect. You have made an excellent point. MFP food index has become bloated and tedious.analyticalchick wrote: »Is anyone else sick of going through several wrong entries for the food you're trying to log? .
/end rant
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This is a great point, especially for people with a history of ED. Yes, I still keep track of the nutrition I consume, but, no, I do not think it's mentally healthy to use a site that requires so. much. time. I was spending far too much time tracking my food because of the incorrect entries and having to Google search, then add my own food anyway, just for personal use.
For this reason, I use the site to track exercise, do my weight check-in, and read the posts in the community. However. for food, I now use a different app. I made the switch mainly because using this MFP for food made me feel I was acting more obsessive than I really am because it's so tedious. I'm glad it's not just me!1 -
lynn_glenmont wrote: »New to this, I was wondering about all the multiple redundant listings for diary foods. some off target. My biggest learning curve has been choosing entries titled with descriptors that get alphabetized in History and are hard to remember: "unsalted peanuts" gets listed with other "U"s not "P"s, and I made other mistakes before catching on to look for a memorable first word. If there's a way to delete saved History entries and replace them with a fresh search I can't find it, would appreciate a tip - that would help with inaccurate entries as well.
You can't delete entries from your "recent" list (which I'm assuming is what you mean by "history" as I'm unaware of a "history" section in MFP) other than by deleting them from the meals in which you logged them.
If the latter is what you want to do, there's a red circle with a white horizontal line to the right of the food in your diary on website; click on that to delete. If you're using the Android app, click (or touch) and hold on the food entry in your diary for a few seconds; when you release you should get a pop-up that will let you delete or edit the entry. I believe in the iOS app, you swipe left to delete a food entry in your diary, but maybe somebody who uses that app can confirm.
Thanks for the reply. Actually I double-checked the "History" screen before writing - in Android app tapping "add foods" to a Diary meal brings up the "All" tab global search box with History below it, an apparently complete list of all the foods ever added after searching, with check boxes to reselect and add them again. Tapping on History items, I am able to modify the servings sizes for the entries but not delete them altogether, though I might be missing it. (On that modify screen there is also a "Report Food" button, for Feedback to MFP - that includes boxes to report errors or duplicates - no experience using the button.)
As is, History seems to save forever any never again foods along with the badly labeled and innacurate entries that might have been mistakenly added. I'd personally rather make a choice to save favorites for future repeats rather than have an eternal history of everything, but others may differ.0 -
To piggyback on your rant, I go absolutely bonkers when people add a log for their food in terms of "piece" or "package" instead of logging in how many grams the entry's serving is. MFP is set up so that if you log the serving at, say, 84 grams, there is automatically an entry for 1 gram. You don't have to do any math; MFP does it for you (with occasional rounding errors). But if you grab 33 grams of cashews and somebody else has listed "one bag 1/4 cup" for cashews, it defeats the purpose of using the "correct" MFP listings .
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Unfortunately, the foods in the database are crowdsourced, as mentioned, and products will change over time. I typically do a quick comparison after scanning a bar code, or prepare my meals with their first step of having them all logged and placed in - I tend to buy the same products from the same stores when I like them/they do good for me. If I am not finding what I need with fresh produce, I'll tack on USDA in the title to find something a bit more accurate.
I do some food planning when I have free time/I have my phone on me, and it's helped me immensely with the weird moments of hunger and logging (I need to get out of the habit of waiting until I'm really hungry to cook). The feta cheese that I typically purchase has 2g of carbs per tablespoon - I don't really focus on a low-carb beyond switching some starches for greener veggies, but they can definitely be sneaky. The food business gets wilder the more you look into it.
It takes some practice, but once you get in a groove, you set up some of your own meals, MFP shouldn't be all that time-consuming. It has worked wonders for my ED (binge-eating disorder), and while I can understand why it wouldn't be so great for other disorders, there are many other aspects that any dieting/calorie counting website could be detrimental. That's something you may want to speak about to a dietician or a therapist - we all have different needs, and it's okay for this particular website to not hit all of yours.
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When you 'fix' and entry, does it not stick?
For example
Scanned barcode on Philadelphia Lightest.
30g serving
Energy: 26kcal (pot). 27 kcal (MFP)
Fat: 0.8g (pot). 0.8g (MFP)
Saturated: 0.5g (pot). 0.6g (MFP)
Carbs: 1.5g (pot). 1.6g (MFP)
Sugars: 1.5g (pot). 1.7g (MFP)
Protein: 3.1g (pot). 3.2g (MFP)
Salt: 0.26g (pot).... is this sodium as measured in mg on MFP?
Anyway, values are not a million miles off. But when I corrected it, it then gave me a message along the lines of you can now use it. Today I've scanned barcode, and it's bringing up the MFP values again. Can I stop it doing that? I don't want to be double checking values on food every single time I have the same thing.0 -
lynn_glenmont wrote: »New to this, I was wondering about all the multiple redundant listings for diary foods. some off target. My biggest learning curve has been choosing entries titled with descriptors that get alphabetized in History and are hard to remember: "unsalted peanuts" gets listed with other "U"s not "P"s, and I made other mistakes before catching on to look for a memorable first word. If there's a way to delete saved History entries and replace them with a fresh search I can't find it, would appreciate a tip - that would help with inaccurate entries as well.
You can't delete entries from your "recent" list (which I'm assuming is what you mean by "history" as I'm unaware of a "history" section in MFP) other than by deleting them from the meals in which you logged them.
If the latter is what you want to do, there's a red circle with a white horizontal line to the right of the food in your diary on website; click on that to delete. If you're using the Android app, click (or touch) and hold on the food entry in your diary for a few seconds; when you release you should get a pop-up that will let you delete or edit the entry. I believe in the iOS app, you swipe left to delete a food entry in your diary, but maybe somebody who uses that app can confirm.
Thanks for the reply. Actually I double-checked the "History" screen before writing - in Android app tapping "add foods" to a Diary meal brings up the "All" tab global search box with History below it, an apparently complete list of all the foods ever added after searching, with check boxes to reselect and add them again. Tapping on History items, I am able to modify the servings sizes for the entries but not delete them altogether, though I might be missing it. (On that modify screen there is also a "Report Food" button, for Feedback to MFP - that includes boxes to report errors or duplicates - no experience using the button.)
As is, History seems to save forever any never again foods along with the badly labeled and innacurate entries that might have been mistakenly added. I'd personally rather make a choice to save favorites for future repeats rather than have an eternal history of everything, but others may differ.
Thanks for the explanation. The app stopped working on my phone a while back, and I guess I've already forgotten the different language in the app from the website.
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lynn_glenmont wrote: »New to this, I was wondering about all the multiple redundant listings for diary foods. some off target. My biggest learning curve has been choosing entries titled with descriptors that get alphabetized in History and are hard to remember: "unsalted peanuts" gets listed with other "U"s not "P"s, and I made other mistakes before catching on to look for a memorable first word. If there's a way to delete saved History entries and replace them with a fresh search I can't find it, would appreciate a tip - that would help with inaccurate entries as well.
You can't delete entries from your "recent" list (which I'm assuming is what you mean by "history" as I'm unaware of a "history" section in MFP) other than by deleting them from the meals in which you logged them.
If the latter is what you want to do, there's a red circle with a white horizontal line to the right of the food in your diary on website; click on that to delete. If you're using the Android app, click (or touch) and hold on the food entry in your diary for a few seconds; when you release you should get a pop-up that will let you delete or edit the entry. I believe in the iOS app, you swipe left to delete a food entry in your diary, but maybe somebody who uses that app can confirm.
Thanks for the reply. Actually I double-checked the "History" screen before writing - in Android app tapping "add foods" to a Diary meal brings up the "All" tab global search box with History below it, an apparently complete list of all the foods ever added after searching, with check boxes to reselect and add them again. Tapping on History items, I am able to modify the servings sizes for the entries but not delete them altogether, though I might be missing it. (On that modify screen there is also a "Report Food" button, for Feedback to MFP - that includes boxes to report errors or duplicates - no experience using the button.)
As is, History seems to save forever any never again foods along with the badly labeled and innacurate entries that might have been mistakenly added. I'd personally rather make a choice to save favorites for future repeats rather than have an eternal history of everything, but others may differ.
That history behaves basically the same way as the recent/frequent foods on the web, though not exactly. If you never use the food again, but do keep logging (so using other foods from the database), the old/unused entries will eventually drop off.
I'm not saying this as if it's necessarily a satisfying solution to your concern, just saying it to clarify how that function works.
In the Android phone app version I have, I can delete history items by long-pressing an item on the list, then it gives me a delete option. If I press delete, I do have to exit the list (go back to my diary page) then go back to search/history to see that it has been in fact deleted. If I stay on the history list, it looks like it's still there, until I exit the list and come back. I have no idea what the Apple (or other) equivalent to long-press is.
Total aside: It took me a long time to find a food I was willing to delete. 🤣
There's definitely a learning process to logging with MFP. It felt tedious and clumsy at first, to me. I gradually learned how to use it better (exploiting functions I hadn't understood right off, understanding how to exploit others). If it takes me as much as 10 minutes a day now, logging semi-average days, I'd be surprised. If I eat unusual things all day long, it'll take longer, of course, because I do vet entries the first time I use them, if I think I may want to use them again in the future.
For me, that 10-minutes-ish (tops) is a small price to pay for the benefits I get, but I can understand that everyone's experiences, and feelings about this, will be different.1 -
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That history behaves basically the same way as the recent/frequent foods on the web, though not exactly. If you never use the food again, but do keep logging (so using other foods from the database), the old/unused entries will eventually drop off.
I'm not saying this as if it's necessarily a satisfying solution to your concern, just saying it to clarify how that function works.
In the Android phone app version I have, I can delete history items by long-pressing an item on the list, then it gives me a delete option. If I press delete, I do have to exit the list (go back to my diary page) then go back to search/history to see that it has been in fact deleted. If I stay on the history list, it looks like it's still there, until I exit the list and come back. I have no idea what the Apple (or other) equivalent to long-press is.
Total aside: It took me a long time to find a food I was willing to delete. 🤣
There's definitely a learning process to logging with MFP. It felt tedious and clumsy at first, to me. I gradually learned how to use it better (exploiting functions I hadn't understood right off, understanding how to exploit others). If it takes me as much as 10 minutes a day now, logging semi-average days, I'd be surprised. If I eat unusual things all day long, it'll take longer, of course, because I do vet entries the first time I use them, if I think I may want to use them again in the future.
For me, that 10-minutes-ish (tops) is a small price to pay for the benefits I get, but I can understand that everyone's experiences, and feelings about this, will be different.
Thanks, may give your method a try on the app, but in fact this thread got me to try the website version of the Diary, may end up using it more often. It's not a big deal, just that I end up scrolling the longer and longer Android History to repeat entries, some of which are confusingly titled for alphabetical order. And some are never-agains wasting space. The website "Recent" and "Frequent" tabs for Diary entry pretty much solve my problem. And I'm experimenting with saving multi-food Meals that can be modified for minor changes.1 -
Also be aware that sizes and nutritional content varies between countries for some items, same name, same brand, same serving size.1
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