SHOULD YOU TRACK YOUR FOOD RAW OR COOKED 🤔
Simple answer, it doesn’t matter as long as you are consistent with the method you choose. However tracking your food raw seems to always be more accurate.
How you track your food intake can make an important difference to your daily energy intake (the ⬆️ your daily calorie target, the more room for room for error)
Few things to be mindful of:
👉🏼Unless stated otherwise, nutrition labels are based on RAW weight
👉🏼Different cooking methods affect the weight of the end product. (DRY vs WET COOKING)
👉🏼The moisture content of a food predicts the % weight change once cooked: Foods with ⬆️ moisture have the greatest potential for weighing less, with dry cooking methods likely to ⬆️ with wet cooking methods.
Boiled foods like rice & pasta will absorb water & swell up. So, for foods like rice, pasta, cereals and some veggies, I would recommend that you track them uncooked to ensure accuracy. But, if you have to track it after cooking, you can still adjust by accounting for the extra weight (1-3x raw weight), than not tracking at all
Typically Protein sources are likely to ⬇️ in size & wt when being cooked as the liquids evaporate. Ie. meat, poultry & fish I recommend to track these uncooked/raw as they are likely to experience a 20-25% water ⬇️ hence weight.
However, if you can’t do weight it beforehand, isn’t big deal either. Just make sure you put into your food log/tracker the right option whether it is for cooked or uncooked weight or ➕20-25% on top
❇Typically 10-20% weight change in either direction after cooking
❇Cooking time can impact the % weight change
❇REGARDLESS OF COOKING METHOD there are NO CHANGES IN THE MACRO CONTENT of the ingredients used, just the weight.
👉🏼For example: 100g of RAW chicken ~23gP=cooked 23g protein, just weighs ~20% less
Be CONSISTENT with the method you choose every time or log it properly!
How do you track your food? Comment below 👇
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