Pasta calories

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Twirlybirdy
Twirlybirdy Posts: 2 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hi I’m new 😀

I’ve seen the thread about inaccurate calories in the database but pasta seems to be way out - or is it me?

My 100g of cooked penne pasta according to the packet is 134 cals, but in MFP nearly all the pasta types are coming in at 350ish cals! Even the exact brand and even those with the green tick (I assume mfp have checked those ones?)

Help please 😀 I’m relying on pasta to get me through this in a slimming world stylee…..

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  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,118 Member
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    The ones with 350 calories per 100gr are for uncooked pasta 🙂
  • Twirlybirdy
    Twirlybirdy Posts: 2 Member
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    Got it thank you 😊
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,900 Member
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    Unfortunately, the green check marks in the MFP database are used for both USER-created entries and ADMIN-created entries that MFP pulled from the USDA database. A green check mark for USER-created entries just means enough people have upvoted the entry - it is not necessarily correct.

    To find ADMIN entries for whole foods, I get the syntax from the USDA database and paste that into MFP. All ADMIN entries from the USDA will have weights as an option BUT there is a glitch whereby sometimes 1g is the option but the values are actually for 100g. This is pretty easy to spot though, as when added the calories are 100x more than is reasonable.

    https://fdc.nal.usda.gov

    Use the “SR Legacy” tab - that's what MFP used to pull in entries.

    Most ADMIN-created entries that MFP pulled from the USDA database will have include verbiage such as "cooked," "raw," or, in the case of pasta, "dry."

    I use "Spaghetti, dry, unenriched" if raw and "Spaghetti, cooked, unenriched, with added salt" if cooked for all types of pasta (with the exception of egg noodles, which are slightly higher calorie.

    Note: any MFP entry that includes "USDA" was USER entered.

    For packaged foods, I verify the label against what I find in MFP. (Alas, you cannot just scan with your phone and assume w
  • TanyaHooton
    TanyaHooton Posts: 249 Member
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    Pasta should be weighed uncooked, because the water absorbed during boiling can greatly affect the final weight. What I do is either 1) weigh out a specific amount of pasta, like 8 oz dry, and then when finished, eyeball 1/4 of it and then assign the appropriate amount of calories, or 2) weigh the pot emtpy, weigh out a specific amount of pasta, again like 8 oz dry, drain the pasta, reweigh the pot with the cooked pasta, subtract the total weight from the weight of the dry pot, and then divide that amount by 1/4, and assign the appropriate calories. The latter is harder but more accurate.

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