Ok, yesterday I measured out my Kashi GoLean crunch using my 1 cup scooper as usual. Just for the hell of it, I threw it on my food scale to see if the Serving size 1 cup (53g) matched. Well, it didn't... at all. the 1 cup was quite a bit more than 53g, more like 70-75g.

Okay, so this morning I decide to try it with Oatmeal. I scoop out 1 cup and put it on the scale. The label says 1 cup = 80g. Well, my 1 cup weighed 100 grams.

Yes, these were EXACT cups, I even used the liquid measuring cup to make sure my cup scooper was correct, and it was.

I then thought the scale might be off so I measured 8oz of water on it. Well, it correctly weighed it as 226g.

Are these labels giving us incorrect serving sizes when they go by the cups or by the grams? I mean, it makes a hell of a difference if you do this 2-4 times per day!

I have NO idea... thats really weird
the goLean Crunch is great right?

I went looking on the box for anything like "15oz by volume" or something, but nope...
I don't know...

I suppose that's one of the dangers when measuring by volume rather than weight.

For things like oatmeal any settling of the contents could decrease the volume by quite a bit per unit mass.

If the quoted nutritional info is based on mass I always make sure I measure the food on scales rather than going by cups or anything based on volume.

On the Kashi, its both mass and volume :/

Good sanity check! I should add this to my list of things to do when I'm fighting through a plateau. I would assume the clumpy nature of Kashi Go Lean makes measuring random lumps of the stuff fairly hard.

I'm sure some of us are guilty of cramming one more strawberry into a measuring cup. :)

My gut tells me to go with the weight. Volume of something that doesn't pack down is hard to go by. Also, you may need to factor in the humidity of the storing conditions. I'm willing to bet they don't let the oatmeal get weighed on a summer Texas night for labelling purposes.

Well that sucks! I've been overeating and now I have to eat less than I already do! :(

Are these labels giving us incorrect serving sizes when they go by the cups or by the grams? I mean, it makes a hell of a difference if you do this 2-4 times per day! No, they're not.

I don't want to sound like a jerk, but I've been weighing exclusively with two exceptions:

Protein powder: I just like the scoop, it's a supplement, good enough
Liquids: In this case a measuring cup/spoon is appropriate because the density is not determined by the sample. At least, it shouldn't be unless it's some funky liquid with chunks.
I decided to do this after my first bowl of Kashi Good Friends. I realized immediately that there was a lot of empty space in my measuring cup that could be full of yummy cereal.

Remember that with food like cereal, or anything made of irregular pieces, volume / density doesn't always equal mass (or weight). There's some sampling error there.

Just weigh your stuff out, it shouldn't be any harder and it's much more accurate.

Then it looks like my investment in ME isn't done (I bought a blender for the protein shakes today), whats a good scale (url), something digital I assume?

I bought my scale at a kitchen/hardware store for $9 and it weighs everything up to 1lb. That's all you need for weighing things like chicken breasts, cereal, etc. Don't go digital--that's way too sophisticated and expensive for your needs.

I assume you zeroed the scale, Karate, cause the first two measurements were off by about the same amount, 20g, which could be the weight of your measuring cup. But as someone else said it's probably a density thing, because volume can shift with that type of food--I wouldn't be surprised if cereal bags are almost full to the top when they're packed at the plant.



here's the scale I'm getting, I know it's not the best you can get, but the price ain't to bad, and their stuff is generally decent quality.

http://www.brylanekitchen.com/brylanekitchen/product/product.asp?pf_id=41086&search_token=1&

If you eat a lot of tuna they have an extremely overpriced drainer as well:

http://www.brylanekitchen.com/brylanekitchen/product/product.asp?pf_id=31902&search_token=1&

Adam

Yeah, it was zeroed. I didn't even place the measuring cup on the scale. Just the actual food. My scale has like a bowl that you put the food you're measuring in.

Yeah, it was zeroed. I didn't even place the measuring cup on the scale. Just the actual food. My scale has like a bowl that you put the food you're measuring in.

I have a scale probably just like yours, with the little bowl thing. I tried this out just to see. I measured 3/4 cup Kashi Good Friends which is supposed to be 30 grams but it was coming out to around 50 grams.

This is so messed up and it pisses me off that all this time I thought I have been tracking my nutritional intake so accurately only to find out everything is pretty much and estimate. GRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr :mad:

My theory is that they are converting grams to cups rather than converting cups to grams. Therefore, they are rounding a serving size to the nearest 1/4 cup. I noticed that the nutritional information on their website says serving size 30g = approx. 3/4 cup. Yet the box fails to note that the 3/4 cup is approximate. This sucks so bad. Now I am going to measure everything n the scale instead of using measuring cups.

Then it looks like my investment in ME isn't done (I bought a blender for the protein shakes today), whats a good scale (url), something digital I assume? I've got a little digital one that reads in grams. Everything on labels is in metric (yaay!) so make sure your scale reads in grams, or you'll be doing conversions!

Followup:
I checked out my protein powder. The scoop is supposed to be 30g, and what I scoop out ranges from 35-32g. I'm not worried about the 2-5 extra grams so I'll just keep with the scoop :)

Looking for a good one? I'd use http://froogle.google.com personally.

My theory is that they are converting grams to cups rather than converting cups to grams. Therefore, they are rounding a serving size to the nearest 1/4 cup. I noticed that the nutritional information on their website says serving size 30g = approx. 3/4 cup. Yet the box fails to note that the 3/4 cup is approximate. This sucks so bad. Now I am going to measure everything n the scale instead of using measuring cups.

And now here in San Diego-land (the home of Kashi), the Good Friends cereal appears to have been reformulated ("20% more twigs and even more granola!") and repackaged

Nutritional info for a "1 cup" serving:
Old Style - 1 cup = 40g -- 32g carb, 4g protein, 1.5g fat
New Style - 1 cup = 2oz -- 43g carb, 5g protein, 2g fat

Only a small difference in macro-nutrients by weight, but a big difference by volume!

And now here in San Diego-land (the home of Kashi), the Good Friends cereal appears to have been reformulated ("20% more twigs and even more granola!") and repackaged

Nutritional info for a "1 cup" serving:
Old Style - 1 cup = 40g -- 32g carb, 4g protein, 1.5g fat
New Style - 1 cup = 2oz -- 43g carb, 5g protein, 2g fat

Only a small difference in macro-nutrients by weight, but a big difference by volume!

Yes, here too! My boyfriend went grocery shopping yesterday and came home with the new red colored box instead of the brown box. He wasn't sure if it was the right stuff, but it was all they had. I am a creature of habit dammit! Why must they do this to me?! :spaz:

Just a FYI:

I'm towards the bottom of my Kashi GoLean Crunch box, so no big chunks left...

I measured it out on the scale and the 53g serving was just over 1/2 cup. Basically, if I did my usual 1 cup measure, I would have been having almost 380 calories instead of just my planned 190. Definitely something to be careful with in the future.