Nutrition Information

[Svadhisthana]

Do any of you know a goud source for simple nutrition information? I want to know the basics. For example......Lamb, what is the # of fat grams per serving in each cut? Saturated fat, unsaturated, etc. I've found alot of websites with the pyramid guides and serving sizes, but nothing with info about individual foods. TIA for any responses.

[Laura B]

There are a lot of books out there with this kind of information. I have one called The Most Complete Food Counter by Annette B. Natow and Jo-Ann Heslin. It is a HUGE book that has all kinds of foods listed, including packaged foods and fast foods in addition to cuts of meat, cheeses, fruits, and veggies, etc. Here is the listing of what they tell you about each food, if applicable:

calories
fat
saturated fat
cholesterol
protein
carbohydrates
fiber
calcium
sodium
potassium
vitamin c
folic acid
vitamin a

I have found this book to be very useful. It cost 16 dollars a few years ago when I bought it. There are other much smaller food counter books that cost a lot less, but this one is really is the "most complete."

For example, there are 13 entries for fresh lamb cuts and preparations.

[AD]

There is an online resource for this information that I always use. It is rather scientific and detailed, but it is easy to use and understand. It gives all the nutrition details on all the basic foods and ingredients you can think of. Go to
www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/cgi-bin/nut_search.pl

Just enter a food name (like lamb), then select from a list of all the different types cooked in different ways. Then, select the portion size and the information will show up.

It is actually more accurate since it uses the Atwater calorie values. Most labels count 4 calories per gram for carbs and protein and 9 per gram of fat. This is actually a rough estimate. Some foods provide greater or fewer calories per gram carb/fat/protein. (Chocolate carbohydrates, for instance, are only about 2 calories per gram.)

[Svadhisthana]

Thank you both so much for the fast reply!:)

[KellyD]

I've also used the USDA website, but have often been frustrated with what is there, and what is not there. Just this week, I stumbled on Cyberdiet's nutrition tool and it's been the most comprehensive I've found on the web. They have a really complete database of food items, and several different measures to choose from (tblspn, cup, oz, etc). This is the website for the nutrition page: http://www.cyberdiet.com/ni/htdocs/index.html, obviously, the main website is www.cyberdiet.com. It's actually a pretty good website overall for weight loss in general.

[kentgirl]

My personal favorite site, and one I heartily recommend, is the Nutritional Analysis Tool: http://www.nat.uiuc.edu/mainnat.html

All the other sites mentioned are good too, but this is my favorite. It's easy to use. You type in your food item, and it returns a list of matches. Then you choose one, and it's added to your list. Then here's what I really like: you can continue to add to your list of foods before choosing ANALYZE FOODS to get a TOTAL of all foods on your list. And then there's a button to DISPLAY NUTRIENTS FOR INDIVIDUAL FOODS, which will break them down individually!

Also, it display your basic nutrients, or you can choose to display additional nutrients.

It's great. Try it.