Database for Chickpeas

I am constantly baffled by the American labelling system. How do you manage to log your food accurately when you use volume measurements for solid food that should be weighed?

Using 122 g as a base is just daft - and it doesn't even explain whether the product is drained or not - all that water will "dilute" the calories compared to the drained weight.

I'm afraid I can't post a picture, but my can of chickpeas lists the nutrition per 100 g. drained.

Calories 148, carbs 18 g, fibre 7.3 g and protein 8.4 g.

Significantly different to the pic above - because the water has been removed before weighing.

And, by the way, cooking does change both the volume and weight of the product. Dried beans/peas absorb a lot of water when cooked.

The verified flag, historically, IMU was just 5 people agreeing that the entry was correct, at some point in time. Personally, I might use that flag to narrow down the candidates, but I don't give it much credence in itself.

In the US, I believe the label - unless stated otherwise - includes whatever is in the can, which in the case of chickpeas would include the liquid. IME, different brands can have more or less liquid, though I say that from eyeballing, not measuring.

I know that MFP has been doing some work on improving the database (yes, really). The "best match"-labeled entries that now show up on some searches in the phone/tablet app are IME better, and most look like entries derived from a source like USDA that's more reliable. In the drop-down, they have varied serving size types: Volume, weight (metric and imperial), sometimes count or inch size. The default is usually cups, which is arguably dumb, but the other options are there.

Personally, for legumes - even canned ones - I usually use the USDA-sourced entries that match the pattern mentioned above about serving size options; usually they will have "boiled" in the title like "Chickpeas (garbanzo beans, bengal gram), mature seeds, cooked, boiled, with salt". They nearly always have a title only a bureaucrat could love. I think those are drained weight, but it's been a long time since I checked one against USDA FoodData Central, which by the way is this site:

https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/

Often the "SR Legacy" ones there can be found in the MFP database under the same name. Sometimes one of the grams serving sizes has obviously wrong calories in MFP allegedly from some past database conversion project, but most of the serving sizes have correct calories.

This is IMO never going to be perfect in the way that people hope. Partly, that's a function of US labeling regulations, which I agree are a little weird. Foods differ. With careful selection, the discrepancy from the database is likely smaller than the permitted 20% wiggle room that's IMU allowed on labels in the US.

Fortunately, workably close estimates are good enough. For myself, figuring out how to get workably close logging is possible, and a preferred time investment vs. talking about how bad the database is. Others' mileage varies.

That's where you have to be even more of a sleuth.

www.nutritionix.com (who I consider to be fairly ok in terms of branded products), indicate their cup (not can) of chickpeas (drained or cooked) as 164g.

The food data central site has three entries (one foundation and two legacy) when you pop in a query for "chickpeas drained".

One of the three, Chickpeas (garbanzo beans, bengal gram), mature seeds, canned, drained, rinsed in tap water NDB Number:16359 has, in the drop down, in addition to the 100g value and in addition to the drained and rinsed can value (254g)…. the golden egg: 1 cup drained, rinsed (152g)

For ease of calculation then (and depending on my "stuffing" habits), I would take my cup to be 160g and my quarter cup to be 40g absent better information.

Of course * I * would not need to suffer through this discombobulating uncertainty and lack of knowledge because if this was a salad bar I went to often I would bring in my little ~$20 plastic scale and resolve the issue once and for all ;-) Or I would buy a second '1/4' cup in a take-away container and bring it back home to weight later!

I (sometimes) play with my food at (non corporate) restaurants.

My most recent play time involved one of the ozeri garden and kitchen scales, a big bowl of Vietnamese stew and a baguette.

Baguette was 105g.... so you can already guess that the meal was a full days calories for some 🤣

Total weight of bowl.... remove and eat carrots and re weigh, remove and eat other visible veggies and reweigh, sop up and eat the gravy/soup and re weigh, remove and eat beef, throw back in the discards, and re weight.... add Sriracha (difference of start and end of bottle).… add 10g of hard candy on the way out 🤣 still not accurate because what the ** kittens ** is in that gravy and what kind of meat in the stew. But I'm fairly sure closer to reality than a total guess would have been!

Mind you, you MAY have to take your salad to a dark and quiet office closet to do all that!!! 🤣

How are things going for you these days anyways? You appear to be more "into" the swing of things now as compared to some of your posts a while back. Hopefully you've found your stride!

I love hearing how people manage salad bars, lol. If you eat any of those things at home, getting a good look at how much a weighed portion is in terms of whatever you can measure with at the salad bar helps.

The chickpea thing is aggravating, to say the least. But on the cans of chickpeas that I buy, it lists a volume with and without liquid, which is really helpful because I use a whole can in recipes. Each kind I get has a different drained volume. And the international grocer that I go to doesn't source consistently, so I have to buy whatever is in stock (I'm in Shanghai, China).

Good sleuthing peeps! I 2nd the USDA site. It's my go-to for the truth ;)