Food Scales

[bryan42]

:) Could someone please let me know, Why do we need a food scale? and how they work? I was thinking of getting one, if it would help me on blood sugar control. I guess I dont get it..You throw a slab of meat on it, and it weighs such-an-such, ok..now what? Does the scale tell you calories in that piece of meat? or carbs? Sorry, I dont mean to sound ignorant,but nobodys ever explained it to me. Thank you anybody, in advance!! :)

[RLK]

It depends on the scale. Some just tell you how much the item weighs, while others have a database of different foods that includes calories, fat, carbs, protein, and so on. I have a Salter 1450 that has a database in it, and it's been really helpful to count carbs. I can look up the carbs in an apple and know that it's specific to that apple, not just an estimation of a "medium apple". I can weigh out a serving of chips or crackers, rather than counting each chip and wondering if this little piece is half a chip. It's great for baked goods, to help estimate carbs based on a "standard" item.

There's a bunch of really good food scales out there, and even the simple ones make a difference in doling out portions, carb counting, and therefore BG control IMHO.

[xMenace]

Take this bread label. If I followed it, I would bolus for 11.5 grams per slice as I usually only have one.

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/label-etiquet/nutrition/interactive/images/label_2_slices_red_ring_e.gif

I weighed the remaining slices in my current loaf. They are supposed to be 32 grams each - (26g - 3) / 2

Gross Carbs
30 - 10.8
32 - 11.5
40 - 14.4
36 - 12.9
38 - 13.7
36 - 12.9
34 - 12.2
8 - 2.9

This is a minor example of variability. Things like homemade bread, bags of frozen fruit, cereal, and other stuff we tend to eyeball can lead to some big estimation errors.

You might say "so what?" I always did. But when your control gets much finer and 10 grams of carbs can put you hypo or slightly hyper, it's good to know exactly what you are eating.

[Alice]

I bought one of the new Salter scales that provides carb info by weight. It's great for those items such as bananas, potatoes, biscuits, etc., where you are always "guestimating" size and carbs. Rice...anything where it's tough to get an exact count when needed.

Mine is the model 1450 that someone recommended here a while back. I used my 20% off Bed Bath & Beyond coupon and plan on buying a few more for friends and family.

It looks like a sleek little laptop notebook.

[susique333]

I too use a Salter food scale that can tell me the calories, carbs, protein etc in a certain amount of food. You want to weigh 1/8th of a cup of tomato sauce, no problem, no math needed. Im mainly concerned with calculating carbs & protein. Or you can also simply weigh the food with a simple scale and use a food counts book to look it up.

[bryan42]

As usual...you all are EXTREMELY helpful...Thank you all!! :)