Rubystars

I bought some Nutiva seeds and the serving size on it says 30 grams or 3 tablespoons. When I measure out 30 grams it comes out to more than 3 tablespoons though. I have to wonder which serving size I should go by? I usually prefer to go by the grams measure because I feel it's more accurate but in this case I'm just not sure.

frenchhen3

I'd go by weight. I always remember reading on my cereal boxes as a kid... when I built the WALL OF CEREAL around my bowl and read everything on the backs of my Lucky Charms and Kix that, "This package is measured by weight not volume, some settling may occur during shipment" So, weight is probably, and some scientific person out there can correct me if I am mistaken, more accurate.

cjohnson728

I agree that weight is the way to go. It's a much more accurate measure. I think they may round it to get to the tablespoon measure as an easy guideline.

Rubystars

What concerns me is that it came out significantly different and not just by a little bit. Usually when there's a disparity the serving size by volume is usually larger than the serving size by weight but this time it was the other way around to where the serving size by weight was larger. So it made me wary that maybe I was eating more calories than I thought I would if I went with the weight.

I know my scale is ok because I tested it by weighing boiled eggs by grams and comparing it to the boiled egg by quanity on fitday and it came out to the same calorie value (only off by 1 calorie), plus other foods seem to correspond to the serving size by volume for the most part.

cjohnson728

Maybe see what you get if you Google the nutrition info on the seeds? See if it's consistent with what's on the package.

Kathy13118

'Usually when there's a disparity the serving size by volume is usually larger than the serving size by weight but this time it was the other way around to where the serving size by weight was larger. So it made me wary that maybe I was eating more calories than I thought I would if I went with the weight.'

I agree that the weight is more accurate. In this case, it seems to me that you wouldn't be eating more calories with 3 tablespoons. You'd be eating less. You'd be eating less calories than you thought you'd be getting in the tablespoons.

My reasoning is: the weight is more accurate. So, you say, 'the serving size on it says 30 grams or 3 tablespoons. When I measure out 30 grams it comes out to more than 3 tablespoons though.' Let's say 30 grams is 50 calories (for example). But you measure it out to be three tablespoons. That is going to be less than what the actual weight is. To meet the actual weight, you'd have more than three tablespoons. So, you are going to be eating less than the actual weight with YOUR measure of three tablespoons and that means less than the actual measured calories for 30 grams. So, you eat less calories - probably less. But definitely not more.

To put it another way: when you have to worry is when the weight tells you the food is x number of calories but you need MORE of the food to fill 3 tablespoons. That's when you fill those tablespoons with more calories without realizing it.

That's the OTHER case. Weight and the number of calories associated with that weight of food doesn't change. It's constant (given that calories are an estimation for most foods, anyway). So, you can't eat more calories using weight. You can only eat the number of calories associated with the weight. It's measuring by tablespoons that is dodgy.

It's a bit confusing. Weight is more accurate.

Rubystars

When I looked it up the serving size by weight was the same as it was on the package. I'm not sure if that site actually got its info from the Nutiva company though, but that's a possibility.

When I measure out a tablespoon it's supposed to be 10 grams but it turns out more like 6 grams. So you can see why there's a big difference in serving sizes.

I think you guys are right that I should go by weight.

The thing is I'm not just tracking calories anymore, I'm tracking nutrition, so eating less of something than I thought I did could also be a problem if I never actually consumed those nutrients. That's why I want to be sure this is accurate, otherwise I'd just go for the smaller serving.

dianemancino1

Weigh everything. replace serving spoons with measuring cups and spoons. Using the Fitday journal and recording your foods. You are modifying the way you have learned to eat. I actually like the exercise of taking every serving bowl I own and learning how much they hold. Your diet scale is your magic weapon against hidden calories eaten because you miscalculated.

Obssesive????not really. Once you've got it all down, you can whip up a meal and have it all calculated out.

shortcut: take your serving dish or bowl and put it on the scale and 0 out that weight. then place the food item down to be weighed, record the weight, then 0 again for the next food you are portioning out.

shortcut. open the dry item, (like nuts) and use the lid on the scale-zero out the lid weight and add your food. very important for high calorie items like nuts.

Test yourself: weigh a clean knife. zero out that weight, now eyeball 1 ounce of peanut butter on the knife edge and weigh it. how close did you come? how big was your 1 ounce of cereal in your favorite bowl.

on the plus side, A portion of cantaloupe was much bigger than I thought and boy can I put down some produce.

IF YOU ARE JUST STARTING OUT, JUST WORK ON SIMPLE CHANGES. Work on just getting your foods recorded daily and staying at a set caloric limit. soon enough you will naturally start to modify your diet when you think,,,hmm If I eat this instead of that, I can save some calories.