Analyzing recipes on ND: how to make your results more accurate

Q. I am using ND to analyze the nutritional content of some of the recipes I make at home. But I'm not always sure which entry from the database to select. For example, if I'm analyzing a soup recipe that contains carrots, should I select the listing for raw or cooked carrots?

A.  Some nutrients are lost when foods are cooked in water. So if I were going to cook carrots, drain them, and then add them to a recipe, I would choose the entry for cooked carrots. On the other hand, if the cooking liquid is part of the finished dish, as in a soup, many of those lost nutrients are retained. If I were going to chop carrots and add them to a stew or soup, I would probably choose the entry for raw carrots. (You can read more about how various cooking methods affect the nutrient content of foods here.)

There's also a practical consideration. Recipes usually give the weight or measurement of the uncooked ingredient (1 cup of chopped carrots or 10 ounces of raw spinach, for example), but the volume of an ingredient can change dramatically when it's cooked. For example, six cups of raw spinach will reduce to about one cup of cooked spinach.  I find it's often easier to select the correct quantity if I use the listing for the uncooked ingredient. I figure that being accurate about the quantity matters more than the relatively minor nutritional differences between cooked and raw versions.

As you can see, it's not an exact science.  Hopefully, these general guidelines will make it a bit easier to choose the right listing according to the situation and will make your analyses more accurate.  Just remember that the minor inaccuracies that will inevitably arise are not nearly as important as the overall picture that analyzing your diet can provide.

For more help with this tool, read Analyzing Meals and Recipes.