SUBTRACTING items from prepared foods?
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ketomaedchen
Posts: 7 Member
Hi all. I hope this isn't too odd a question and that I explain my meaning well enough. 
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I'm wondering how you log prepared foods that you removed stuff from.
Here's the situation that sparked the question:
I picked up a salad today from the convenience store. I am not going to eat the tomatoes or the cucumbers. According to the nutrition information on the store's website, the salad as a whole has 10g of carbs (1 fiber, 2 sugar). I'd estimate it has about 1/2 c of halved cherry tomatoes on it. According to the MFP database, that would be 3g of carbs.
Is it legit for me to subtract the calories / carbs from the total count, since I'd be creating the item myself? I am skeptical of this method for 2 reasons: 1) 1/2 c of cherry tomatoes is 3g of carbs (1 fiber, 2 sugar), which would leave me with zero fiber for the 3+ cups of lettuce in the salad. 2) The nutritional information is just a guideline; some salads will have more or less tomato, more or less cheese, etc. So it seems unfair for me to subtract 3 carbs from the 10 on the label, because that label is perhaps for a salad with only 1/4 c of halved cherry tomatoes.
Or, should I deconstruct the salad and estimate how many cups of lettuce, how many ounces of cheese, how many ounces of chicken, etc. are on the salad and add the items individually?
For a more basic exercise: I know that McDonald's has a nutrition calculator where you can remove items like the buns, pickles, ketchup, etc. But say it didn't, how would you go about entering a cheeseburger w/o the bun, ketchup or pickles in your food log?
)I'm wondering how you log prepared foods that you removed stuff from.
Here's the situation that sparked the question:
I picked up a salad today from the convenience store. I am not going to eat the tomatoes or the cucumbers. According to the nutrition information on the store's website, the salad as a whole has 10g of carbs (1 fiber, 2 sugar). I'd estimate it has about 1/2 c of halved cherry tomatoes on it. According to the MFP database, that would be 3g of carbs.
Is it legit for me to subtract the calories / carbs from the total count, since I'd be creating the item myself? I am skeptical of this method for 2 reasons: 1) 1/2 c of cherry tomatoes is 3g of carbs (1 fiber, 2 sugar), which would leave me with zero fiber for the 3+ cups of lettuce in the salad. 2) The nutritional information is just a guideline; some salads will have more or less tomato, more or less cheese, etc. So it seems unfair for me to subtract 3 carbs from the 10 on the label, because that label is perhaps for a salad with only 1/4 c of halved cherry tomatoes.
Or, should I deconstruct the salad and estimate how many cups of lettuce, how many ounces of cheese, how many ounces of chicken, etc. are on the salad and add the items individually?
For a more basic exercise: I know that McDonald's has a nutrition calculator where you can remove items like the buns, pickles, ketchup, etc. But say it didn't, how would you go about entering a cheeseburger w/o the bun, ketchup or pickles in your food log?
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Replies
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i would weigh everything if i wanted to know exactly how many carbs, but for salads/protein i eyeball it. carbier things like certain sauce/dressing i will measure though.
i'm not strict with lettuce. i could eat a whole head of it and not even care if i go over my carb count.
before i went to mcds website and got the exact counts for a mcdouble no bread with mayo on lettuce, i eyeballed it myself. and tbh my counts were pretty close. i'm getting good at guessing how many ounces things are, i guess.0 -
I have to say, no one ever got fat eating a half cup of tomatoes or a head of lettuce. I don't normally eat vegetables, personally, but I enjoy them when I do, and I never feel guilty about stuff like tomatoes, spinach, lettuce, avocado, cucumbers, radishes, onions and so on.0
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I don't like tomatoes or cucumbers. It was just a question of tracking methodology that came to mind as I was sorting stuff out that I don't like to eat. In that instance I just estimated the various amounts of the foods in the salad and added them individually to my tracker.0
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In the example you gave, I would deconstruct the salad and do my own calculation. It shouldn't be that hard at all for that and you'll get a fairly accurate answer. Its a challenge though if its something with sauces etc. where you may not be able to know exactly what's in them -- in which case I'd do my best and subtract.0
