Diet, Nutrition and SupplementationPost here for supplement reviews or nutritional advice. If you're trying to get "ripped abz" THIS is where you should be.
When you buy any kind of meat - chicken, any fish, beef, ham, whatever - and it doesn't specify on the package where the nutrition facts are for the product raw or cooked, does that just mean the uncooked facts, since that's how it is packaged? If so, how do you convert that after you've cooked it?
Best case, assume nothing changes in the cooking process. If you eat the whole package after cooking, assume the nutrition information for the whole package. If you cook and eat 1/2 of the package, assume the nutrition information for 1/2 the package.
Best case, assume nothing changes in the cooking process. If you eat the whole package after cooking, assume the nutrition information for the whole package. If you cook and eat 1/2 of the package, assume the nutrition information for 1/2 the package.
What if the package doesn't specify servings? i.e. Today I had frozen salmon, and it said 4oz was 24g protein, 0g carbs, 10g fat, didn't specify if that meant raw or cooked. I really want to know how to apply this to any product though.
In the absence of any other information, I would assume that the package nutrition label is for the product as packaged. So if it was raw, I'd assume it was talking about 4 oz raw.
Thank you, that's what I figured. But how do I convert that to the cooked weight without weighing the portions out separately before cooking it, which obviously is not practical?
I make spaghetti for my family. I use 1lb of 95/5 ground beef. I want to eat 1/3 of that pound of meat, so after I cook up the sauce, I set 1/3 of it aside so I know it's mine. I use the calorie/macro counts for raw meat.
I make spaghetti sauce for the week (just for me). Same scenario, but I know I have three servings. I take 1/3 the first meal and I know I have two portions left for tomorrow and the next day. I use the calorie/macro counts for the raw meat.
If I cook a whole turkey or whole ham, I use the fitday measurements for cooked meat. I weigh the slices, if possible.
Same with ground beef, roast beef, etc. if someone else cooked it. All you can do is do your best with estimating the portion size and plugging that into fitday or something. You'll get better.
If I get a drumstick or thigh at a typical chicken place like El Pollo Loco, I use the entry for cooked drumstick or thigh, choosing skin on or off, depending. It's not exact, but what can you do?
Thank you, that's what I figured. But how do I convert that to the cooked weight without weighing the portions out separately before cooking it, which obviously is not practical?
As LostDog says - you do what you can. I'm not sure why you think that weighing raw is impractical. If you are cooking for one, that's exactly what you do. If you are cooking for yourself over time, like LD says, you figure 1/3 or 1/4 of the total across your 3 or 4 meals. If you only have the measure/weight for the food cooked and the label is for raw, then you have to look up the cooked value in another source or database.
Lisa - I don't see anything wrong with weighing things raw, but in my case, I'm not going to cut a salmon into 4 pieces and cook them all separately, know what I mean?
If I had a side of salmon I probably would portion it before cooking. My problem with cooking multiple portions weighed raw is that I'm never sure if any given cooked piece/burger/breast is the 4.5oz raw or the 4.1 oz raw or the 3.85 oz raw. I'm not going to draw a map of the grill and keep track of them
If I wanted to use the package nutrition for a large piece, I would weigh the whole piece raw, cook it, weigh it cooked and then take 1/4 (or whatever) of the cooked portion but count it according to 1/4 of the raw number.
But in practice I wouldn't probably do that with pieces of meat.
In practice if I cook more than 1 portion of most things, I measure out a cooked portion and use the USDA database to pick the nutrition for the cooked portion and ignore the raw nutrition label information.
If it is ground, I do like LD. Weigh before, weigh after. Figure 1/4 of after = 1/4 of before and count accordingly. Same with a recipe like a casserole - lasagna, enchilada casserole, etc. Figure out the nutrition to make the pan, evenly divide the pan and divide that into the counts for the full recipe.
One more random thing since I'm here. If the total calories on something weren't even close to what the macro breakdown was, which would you be inclined to follow? ex: cup of frozen spinach says 2g P, 3g C, 0g F, but it says 30 calories. Obviously this is splitting hairs, but I'm just wondering, so again, I'll be able to apply it to more relevant situations
Nutrition facts on meat
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