App for Nutrition Counting

[SWUSA_]

Can someone recommend a good app that I can use on my laptop for entering my meals and counting carbs and calories?

Ideally I would like something that calculates all the nutrients from the foods I have eaten. I used to use the USDA Food Pyramid App for a couple of years until they took it down in 2008-that's when I lost control of my blood glucose and started having to take metformin. I find I am calculating it in the "What have you eaten today?" but I know there must be an easier way out there. I would like something free or at least buy it once and not have continuing costs for it.

If not I am tempted to build it. I want to be able to save meals and look back at them and reuse them without having to reenter the whole thing again.

So, please-What have you used that worked for you?

 

[Indy51]

A lot of people on this forum use myfitnesspal. There are quite a few US based apps (both for phones and desktops) - others are chron-o-meter, calorie king, etc.

 

[SWUSA_]

A lot of people on this forum use myfitnesspal. There are quite a few US based apps (both for phones and desktops) - others are chron-o-meter, calorie king, etc.

Thank you. I knew someone had mentioned using one but I could not remember who or which one-I will check it out.

 

[SWUSA_]

Chron-o-meter is great-this is just what I was looking for and it agrees with my carb and calorie counts I have been doing manually within 40 calories per day for last week. Thank you again @Indy51

 

[Indy51]

Chron-o-meter is great-this is just what I was looking for and it agrees with my carb and calorie counts I have been doing manually within 40 calories per day for last week. Thank you again @Indy51

Yes, I've heard good things about it as well, though haven't stirred myself to using it.

 

[SWUSA_]

Three interesting things I have learned from entering last weeks data into Chron-o-meter nutrition counting program:

1. I consistently am eating 40% fat-I had not really been tracking fat as I was paying close attention to carbs and a little attention to protein -I just assumed fat would fall into line. I was shooting for about 30% but again I was not paying that much attention to it. I think that probably falls into the high fat category when I was aiming for medium fat.

2. Potassium content is not listed on most USDA food labels and since Chron-o-meter uses USDA information many foods do not have potassium listed in their profiles although they do contain some. Potassium was the one nutrient I was not reaching on any day and did not meet for the week in the analysis. There is a whole forum thread on their site about this. The moderator there said about half of all Americans do not meet the minimum guidelines for this nutrient. There was also a lot of information about how to buy supplements. I know that it is easy to overdose on Potassium supplements because my mother has done it twice-overdose with Potassium causes muscle and heart problems so I am not even tempted to circumvent FDA regulations and try to purchase it with out a doctor's prescription. I do plan to add the potassium to the profile of foods I eat regularly for the next week and reevaluate whether I am eating enough of it. I know my blood work is always good on Potassium levels.

3. My protein levels vary a lot from day to day with high calorie days also being high protein days. Some days I am not even meeting the RDA minimum levels-which has been a problem with my diet in the past. Overall I am exceeding minimums but some individual days are low. I think I will start planning a protein level into my days menus as well but have not quite decided what that will be.

A fourth thing that has really come to mind as I have entered this phase of diet analysis is that I want to be able to eat anywhere-I do not want to be restricted to not being able to travel or socialize-I already do not drink, eat sushi or most shellfish because of other health concerns-I do not want to become a food invalid.

 

[Indy51]

This video may be helpful for people who are following a ketogenic diet and using Chon-o-meter. It's a ketogenic diet dietitian discussing how to personalise the app for your diet:

 

[SWUSA_]

This video may be helpful for people who are following a ketogenic diet and using Chon-o-meter. It's a ketogenic diet dietitian discussing how to personalise the app for your diet:

The problem is-I really do not like meat much except shellfish and I am not supposed to eat them because of hemachromotosis. I like the crusty carby bits of coatings and sauces but not the actual meat except for an occasional hamburger craving which may actually be because hamburger buns from restaurants are the only white bread I ever eat. Okay for the sake of honesty-I had a yeast roll on Thanksgiving. Now I'm sounding like a fussy child. I love venison, goose and turkey. I like baked cod. I love fresh trout and salmon. Tuna salad sandwiches are good. I eat chicken because I am supposed too. I will eat roast pork or beef if it has lots of roast veggies with it. I love yogurt, cheese, cottage cheese and quiche. Brewer's yeast, soybean products and too much pork give me gout attacks which are very painful.