NutritionData: Always Know What's in Your Meals

In my Rapid PT diet and lifestyle guidelines, I talk about the importance of controlling sugar and omega-6 fat intake, as well as making sure that you don't accidentally overeat. This is incredibly difficult if you don't know what's in your food. So, while I was testing out those guidelines I had looked for a place that would tell me everything about the food I was eating.

Most of the sites I came across were only concerned with calories, which didn't give me data on my micro-nutrient intake. Then I stumbled across the amazing web site NutritionData.com. This site has a huge searchable database filled with typical food items like fruit, meat, and vegetables. It also has a pretty sizable list of junk and fast food items.

Here's the list you get when looking for "pizza."

Once you find a food item that you want to know more about, this site will show you just about everything found in that food, from fat to carbohydrates, vitamin C to Betaine, and calcium to floride. It will even tell you how much ash is in a food.

Here is the summary data for a large apple.

If you can't find a specific food, you can enter it into you the database yourself. I've used this several times to input the micro-nutrient values for my whey protein, multivitamin powder, coconut water, and raw milk.

Once you have found all of the food items that you've eaten in a given day, then you place them all into the Food Tracking section. After you enter in your items, you can analyze the macro- and micro-nutrients you consumed. This is what I like most about this site: Not only do I make sure that my daily fat, carbohydrate, and protein intake is where I want it to be, I can identify any vitamin or mineral deficiencies.

You should check out the site now, create an account, and find out exactly what you're eating!