Pam and Spices

No.

I don't use PAM, but do use spray oils, usually olive or avocado oil. The zero or minimal calories on the label are for like a 1/3 second spray.

A lot of times, I spray more than that, sometimes quite a bit more. Because oils are calorie dense, I do weigh what I used, in those cases. (Put spray bottle on scale, zero it, spray desired amount, put bottle back on scale, note negative grams - it's what I used.) Usually, it's 4-8g, so 35-71 calories.

If I'm spraying something like a baking sheet so food doesn't stick, but only put a food on a small area of it and don't spray more oil on top, I maybe wouldn't bother.

I don't count most spices for calories, other than things I've learned can be calorie dense, that I'm using a fair amount of (sesame seeds, say). I often log spices, more as a reminder of what I ate for future reference or when I've been tracking something for another reason. (Example: I tracked turmeric for a while, to see how much I was eating, when thinking about supplementing.)

I don't use onion/garlic powder, I use the actual vegetable, and do track those, though usually they're not that many calories (44 for a whole medium onion, around 6-8 for a single garlic clove).

I find it easier just to log pretty much everything on autopilot, not go through a thought process about what to log and what's not worth logging. I make fewer mistakes that way, but that's a personal idiosyncrasy thing, probably.

Close is good enough.

Anything oil related I log. Dried herbs and spices not so much. Curry pastes in jars which contain oil then yes.

What is pam?

When I cook with more spices then yeah, I do log them. I often make spice mixes. Currently have something like a shawarma mix and berbere ready to be used. The berbere comes in at around 70cal per dinner. So that's quite substantial. I put them into meals and use them per weight. For smaller amounts I usually also weigh them and log, though, depending on mood I might only log per teaspoon or something like that. If I just use a pinch of cumin then I don't.

BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »

I don’t know what Pam is (always thought it was a brand name for some sort of spray oil, but Ann’s comment above suggests otherwise).

I always count oil, using the bottle, scale, zero, use, read negative grams method described already. Mostly though, I just cook without any oil, it’s seldom necessary.

I also always count spices, when making a recipe it’s surprising how they can add up! Although, if I’m honest…I weigh the original tsp of this, 2 tsp of that…but later in the recipe when I’m tweaking the balance I don’t always remember to log the extra shake or two of a spice or herb!

You win the Best Logger Award. :flowerforyou:

I wouldn't even know how to log something like basil or curry powder. . . you say, "it’s surprising how they can add up." Really? Like how many calories for a tablespoon of dried herbs? I can't imagine it's more than 20 calories and that would totally ruin the joy of cooking for me. I'm a creative! Don't hold me down.

@emmamcgarity

I include them so that I can easily find the ingredient list the next time I want to repeat the recipe.

^^This is genius.

Just as an aside, the database on the Recipe page still uses asterisks, so the Admin-entered ones are so much easier in that database.
MFP: HOW HARD would it be to bring back the asterisks?? (Pay no attention to my rant if you've only been on MFP for a few years, this is an old-school rant.)

BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »

I don’t know what Pam is (always thought it was a brand name for some sort of spray oil, but Ann’s comment above suggests otherwise).

I always count oil, using the bottle, scale, zero, use, read negative grams method described already. Mostly though, I just cook without any oil, it’s seldom necessary.

I also always count spices, when making a recipe it’s surprising how they can add up! Although, if I’m honest…I weigh the original tsp of this, 2 tsp of that…but later in the recipe when I’m tweaking the balance I don’t always remember to log the extra shake or two of a spice or herb!

Apologies: I could see how it would read that way. Yes, PAM is spray oil, but it's a specific brand. I was saying that I don't use that brand, but do use other products of the same type.

AnnPT77 wrote: »

cmriverside wrote: »

BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »

I don’t know what Pam is (always thought it was a brand name for some sort of spray oil, but Ann’s comment above suggests otherwise).

I always count oil, using the bottle, scale, zero, use, read negative grams method described already. Mostly though, I just cook without any oil, it’s seldom necessary.

I also always count spices, when making a recipe it’s surprising how they can add up! Although, if I’m honest…I weigh the original tsp of this, 2 tsp of that…but later in the recipe when I’m tweaking the balance I don’t always remember to log the extra shake or two of a spice or herb!

You win the Best Logger Award. :flowerforyou:

I wouldn't even know how to log something like basil or curry powder. . . you say, "it’s surprising how they can add up." Really? Like how many calories for a tablespoon of dried herbs? I can't imagine it's more than 20 calories and that would totally ruin the joy of cooking for me. I'm a creative! Don't hold me down.

Most dried herbs (i.e., plant leaves) are near zero (couple calories/tsp), ground seeds/bark/roots can be higher (something like cumin, turmeric, cinnamon might be around 7-8 calories/tsp), oily seeds like sesame maybe 15-20 calories. There's no need, arithmetically speaking, to limit your joy.

Actually, I remembered I'd saved a meal for a tuna pasta. Lately whenever I cooked it I wasn't too happy with how it tasted. Looking back at this I remembered how much sugar to add, and which herbs. So totally useful to actually log spices and herbs.

I do not log cooking spray or spices/herbs.

I dont deep fry anything so the amount of spray oil I use is minimal - and these come under things not worth the bother for me.

although I get the point about logging them for recipe purposes

GoRun2 wrote: »

I don't eat my exercise calories and leave about 100 calories for inaccurate logging. My friend logs things like 2 calories for cup of coffee. I just can't do that.

I tend to log along these same lines. I can see where I'll have to become more precise as I get closer to goal and may not have as much calorie leeway. I love the spray oil weighing method and should probably start doing that now.

I would never bother logging spices. Most condiments I don't. I log olive oil, for instance if I'm using it in a salad dressing, but I just use tbsp estimates. I often round up for calories eaten and down for calories burned and have been able to get fairly predictable results this way -which I think should be the goal. So my advice is to be consistent with what and how you log, then adjust your calorie goal based on observed results because there's probably more error in calculating your BMR than anywhere else anyhow. Once you get things dialed in, it doesn't matter how accurate or precise you are if you're seeing predictable results.

Not everyone's the same though. If it really bothers you feeling like you're not logging everything, then go for it. Personally, if I had to worry about logging calories for parsley and basil I'd give up but I'm not super into details usually.