I'm getting conflicting information. I'm trying to keep a list of foods that I often eat and their nutritional information.

I'm trying to search online for a good website that provides all the nutrition information for various foods.

But I different sites say different things. For example:
----------
Source 1:
Cal Fat Sat Fat Carb Fiber Sugar Protein
Apple 49 0 0 0 2.4 11.8 .4

Source 2:
Cal Fat Sat Fat Carb Fiber Sugar Protein
Apple 80 0 0 22 5 16 >1
----------

What do I do. I'm not sure where to get all my information!

Any suggestions?

That little chart thingy didn't really work out as I planned. But just follow the numbers to the names. I'm sure you know what i mean.

http://www.nutritiondata.com/ and http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/ are great sites

What I've started doing is taking all the nutritional info off the packets of the stuff I usually use and logging it into my fitday food account thingy, it's a bit of a bind at first, but once it's done your laughing !!

What I've started doing is taking all the nutritional info off the packets of the stuff I usually use and logging it into my fitday food account thingy, it's a bit of a bind at first, but once it's done your laughing !!

yeah thats the best option for fitday, except when it comes to fruit and vegies (also stuff like turkey and chicken, if you get it fresh, which you should!!)
fitday just says stuff like "1 apple" with no weight on it!! so i just use nutritiondata.com to get the weight (since they use the same data base, even tho the calories are different, its weird :confused: ) get the weight for say 1 cup of broccoli, say i eat 300g broccoli, do some maths, then put the amount in cups into fitday!

sounds hard but its pretty easy, just annoying sometimes (i wish fitday put in the amount in grams!!)

What I've started doing is taking all the nutritional info off the packets of the stuff I usually use and logging it into my fitday food account thingy, it's a bit of a bind at first, but once it's done your laughing !!

FYI - I do the same thing and I've built up quite a database, however you should know that I contacted Fitday to see if I could export all the food info I've build up, if I decide to purhcase their software and they said it could not be done. Anyway, if you're planning on buying the software do it before you've entered too many custom foods because you will lose them.

Just be consistent. You are never going to get it exact, regardless of what people think (hey, if it makes you feel better to assume 2000 calories on your log is really 2000 calories in your body, that's great, but the reality is that if you think you're taking in 2000 calories, you are really taking in anwhere between 1800 - 2200 calories).

The nutrition facts vary because with many foods, there is no exact amounts. Two different food items may vary by as much as 20% of the calories. When companies produce their nutrition facts, not only are they allowed a 20% margin for error, but they are allowed to round the calories up or down to the nearest 50 or 10 increment depending on the serving size. This is why different products might have very different amounts ... because they vary.

Nutrition and tracking is useful, it creates a baseline, and forces us to be consistent with portion sizes. However, splitting the hairs doesn't serve any purpose and thinking you really get some EXACT number of carbs is simply not true. Pick A measurement and use it consistently. If it is the wrong one, it will come out in the wash because you'll notice if you are either gaining or losing and can adjust the portion sizes accordingly, regardless if the calorie information is exactly correct.

This is why I am mildly amused when people tell me, "My vitamin intake of this is low ... because I track it in FitDay" or "I get plenty of this ..." the bottom line is those are subject to wild error. Heck, one batch of broccoli may differ from another in Vitamin C content by hundreds of percent ... there is just no sure way of knowing. What's more, there are only a few vitamins and minerals companies are required to analyze and report, the rest they can leave off the label. For example, while sodium is required, knowing your sodium-potassium ratio is important but companies don't have to report potassium, so you almost always are taking in more than you think!

Jeremy

Thanks Jer, thats basically what I needed to know. I'll just use either or as a guideline and just simply be careful.