Food labelling...is it trustworthy?

[Scrumbles]

Hi,

New here, but been doing Atkins since last November so I'm not new to the diet.

I had a bit of a shock the other day when I came across the supposed carb count for shallots. For the past week I've had one each morning in my breakfast omelette and I've been going by the info on the bag that says there's about 3g of carbs per 100g. Great! But when I looked them up on an online carb counter it said there was 16g of carbs per 100g Now that's a HUGE difference and could make or break your day on Atkins considering how few carbs we're allowed!

So what do I trust? How accurate does the info given on nutrition labels in the UK have to be?

 

[msrsimpkin]

Personally, I always go by the bag / packaging because you know it's accurate for that particular product. They have to be honest (if anything, they overestimate to cover their asses) about the nutritional value of products, so I wouldn't worry if you've been using the info on the pack.

 

[reluctant_whale]

I had a similar shock this morning! I had an Atkins daybreak bar for brekkie (allow myself one a week) and the package said 3g carbs (I think) but when I put it into Myfitnesspal it said 9g!! Nearly had a heart attack! I went on the Atkins website and confirmed it is only 3g so I go with msrsimplkin and say go with the packet!

 

[Kat1e]

My fitness pal is notoriusly wrong as input by other users who may not care very much about carbs plus you have US folk who have diff calc. Agree Package best

 

[Scrumbles]

Cool.....thanks for the replies, guys Packet it is!

I've lost a fair few pounds in the last 3 months relying on nutrition label info, so I guess I can't have been going far wrong!

 

[Soraya]

I had a similar thing with celeriac. Fine by the pack hideous in fitday.

MFP and fitday are american don't take the fibre out so often read far higher on carb content.

Why are there no UK sites? Ones without bizzare foods like canned butterbur and with all M&S foods in already!

 

[Scrumbles]

I had a similar thing with celeriac. Fine by the pack hideous in fitday.

MFP and fitday are american don't take the fibre out so often read far higher on carb content.

Why are there no UK sites? Ones without bizzare foods like canned butterbur and with all M&S foods in already!

Oh, right....didn't realise that about the fibre I have been doing all my carb tracking with a notebook and just switched to using Fitday in the last couple of weeks so I wasn't aware of that.

I wish there were UK sites too. I've had to customise a ton of stuff in Fitday because American foodstuffs are so different - I want one with Sainsbury's foods in!

 

[Lily]

There's always FatSecret. That has a UK version (which includes Sainsburys and M&S products!) - and it's free. Take a look: FatSecret United Kingdom - All Things Food and Diet

It also has free apps for your phone.