How Do you Calculate Nutritional Information?

I'm an Aussie, trying very hard to lose some extra kilograms (pounds). I have had success with WW and am a lifetime member but my DH, who also wants to lose weight, doesn't want to go down that track. He wants me to monitor his weight and loss at home. He and I only want to lose a few more kilograms, so it's not as if we need to be drastic.

Add to that the fact that he disliked some of the WW meals, and you have another problem. He has a few favorites in some meals that have been handed down through generations, but aren't necessarily good for us, fat or nutritionally wise. DH wants hard facts in front of him whether or not these recipes are healthy. I would like to know how to analyze each recipe and work out the nutritional information for each recipe.

When I see some recipes in magazines in Australia I see nutritional information displayed after the recipe. You know the information I'm talking about I'm sure.

For example:
Fat: 2.8g
Fiber 6.8g
Protein 15.6g
Carbohydrates 41.0g
Kilojoules 1045
Calories 250g

I went online to see if I could find a nutritional calculator and although I saw a couple they were quite expensive. Does anyone know of a free calculator that I would be able to enter recipe in ingredients and find out all the nutritional information? Also one that does not take ages to work out the info for just one recipe.

Thanks in advance.

Bev

Answers:

How Do you Calculate Nutritional Information?

I have a few ideas:

1. Weight Watchers has an online version of their program both free and for a fee which might be helpful to your husband. The fee-based program gives you more bells and whistles on the site. There are community groups on the site specifically for guys which is free. (Register, then click on Community tab, message boards, and then "Guys on a Diet") The fee-program gives you a nutrition calculator too.

2. Nutritional calculator: This is obviously a very US-based website so you might not care for it but it does have a nutrition calculator: www.mypyramid.gov. It covers the USDA food recommendations for "Americans".

3. www.allrecipes.com is a site with jillions of recipes on it. It might have a nutrition database.

4. Recipe Manager: Your Cooking Companion (http://tinyurl.com/7nbmy) is a freeware downloadable program for recipes. The description says that it contains a database of nutrients too. I've never tried it myself but it does have good reviews. I'm also confident that there aren't any nasties (spyware, adware) that come with the download. It came well recommended by folks I know who are very discerning about freeware downloads.

Hope this helps.
Good luck. (04/25/2005)

By Linda Hug

How Do you Calculate Nutritional Information?

I lost weight last year using the information from calorieking.com. This is a website where you can access the nutritional info for basic ingredients as well as fast foods. They also have a book that is very and relatively inexpensive. I used the program for my PDA and decided to buy it after the two week free trial. (04/25/2005)

By Cheryl

How Do you Calculate Nutritional Information?

I've tried a recipe program called BigOven. It's at http://www.bigoven.com/. You can download a free 30 day trial to see if you like it. The cost is 29.95 or 34.95 depending on their 'sale'. I plan to buy it when I can come up with the money. It is very easy to use.

It allows you to import in recipes easily and has nutritional database that you can link to the recipes. (04/25/2005)

By Christy