Using the Nutrition Program

[rachel132]

I posted this in the workout manager issues section. Maybe this is a better place so I can see if anyone has any suggestions.

I like to see A's at the end of the day, but I have trouble with the vitamins. I'm sure its mostly due to the fact that if I enter my own food by using the label on the food item, it doesn't list all the vitamins.

Also with the fat calculation, most lables list fat in its entirety but in the program you have to break it down. Should I generally put any fat that isn't Saturated or Trans into the Mono category? For example, if my label says 4 grams total fat/0 sat/0trans, where do I distribute those 4 grams in Cathe's program?

Sonja.

 

[shanihib]

I found the lack of complete nutrional info on packaged goods to be the serious problem in using the nutrition tracker. Unless you are making your own bread and crackers etc... and then entering all that information in for each recipe, you will end up with more nutrients consumed than reported. I can't see a good fix for this. I've wondered that if you could write to the manufacturers of your favorite processed foods and ask for a complete nutritional analysis if they would send it. It would be nice if all that info was out there, but for the vast majority of the population it is overkill.

I was killing myself trying to get enough potassium etc... and finally realized that my intake was much higher than stated because a great deal of what I eat doesn't report the potassium levels...

I love the concept of the tracker, but without full disclosure on all our ingredients, you really can't measure it. It is still enlightening and worth doing for a little while at least.

I use the tracker on www.sparkpeople.com which tracks much the same way but is a bit more full featured, and is free.

Shani

 

[Mckmain]

Sonja, I have had good luck with the Nutrition program. I have lost weight and learned a lot about what foods have certain vitamins and minerals in them. I also do not take any vitamins besides one Cal/Mag supplement as I seem to get all the vitamins and minerals in the food I eat daily.

As far as not thinking you get in all the vitamins, I only customize food with label info when I cannot find it searching. Most of the food I customize does list all the vitamins & minerals. The ones you find searching have the vitamins and minerals, so are you just using the Custom Foods you have created?

For the fat on the label I only use the Sat fat or others listed in the Nutrition software. If the total fat is more and there is nowhere to list it then I don't. I don't worry about it. I don't feel any program out there is perfect.

I have used other websites for this and have found Cathe's Nutrtion software to be the best IMO. It has really helped when you are low in something and you click to get suggestions...HTH...

 

[cheval]

What I do for my foods is find a similar food in the database and then create a custom food from that food. I fill in the information from my label. Anything that isn't specifically on the label, I leave the program values there.

April