Frozen Vs Fresh vegetables
Hello there. I am finding the macros for frozen veg vs fresh veg very confusing. What appears to be the same amount on the plate has very different macros/ carbs when adding it all up. Any advice or suggestions? Fresh is not really an option here as i couldnt shop every couple of days. It would simply be wasted / go off and cost more in the long run. I just cant figure out the macros.
Thanks
Julianna
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A few thing to keep in mind when using the nutritional numbers on ANY package:
1. There can be an error of up to +/- 20% based on the average of 12 samples from any given production lot.
That can be a fairly significant amount in some instances.
2. If there is less than 1 gram of sugar per serving size it can be called sugar free
3. Really need to read the ingredients list in addition to the nutritional labels
4. Look for hidden sugarsStill I would go by the numbers on the package.
Here is a list of common ingredient names for various sugars.
Basic Simple Sugars (monosaccharides and disaccharides):
Dextrose- Fructose
- Galactose
- Glucose
- Lactose
- Maltose
- Sucrose
Solid or Granulated Sugars:
- Beet sugar
- Brown sugar
- Cane juice crystals
- Cane sugar
- Castor sugar
- Coconut sugar
- Confectioner’s sugar (aka, powdered sugar)
- Corn syrup solids
- Crystalline fructose
- Date sugar
- Demerara sugar
- Dextrin
- Diastatic malt
- Ethyl maltol
- Florida crystals
- Golden sugar
- Glucose syrup solids
- Grape sugar
- Icing sugar
- Maltodextrin
- Muscovado sugar
- Panela sugar
- Raw sugar
- Sugar (granulated or table)
- Sucanat
- Turbinado sugar
- Yellow sugar
Liquid or Syrup Sugars:
- Agave Nectar/Syrup
- Barley malt
- Blackstrap molasses
- Brown rice syrup
- Buttered sugar/buttercream
- Caramel
- Carob syrup
- Corn syrup
- Evaporated cane juice
- Fruit juice
- Fruit juice concentrate
- Golden syrup
- High-Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)
- Honey
- Invert sugar
- Malt syrup
- Maple syrup
- Molasses
- Rice syrup
- Refiner’s syrup
- Sorghum syrup
- Treacle
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There shouldn't be any significant difference in the macros for fresh versus frozen vegetables but one reason may be that a 100 grams of frozen broccoli (for instance) may contain slightly less broccoli because of additional water. Raw broccoli has 89.30 G of water, versus 90.55 G water in frozen. So you are getting 1% less actual broccoli in the frozen version for the same weight. Nutrients in frozen versus fresh may actually be higher, so no reason to think "fresh" is better nutritionally than frozen. Taste, on the other hand, is probably better with fresh in some cases - I think fresh spinach, when cooked, tastes better than frozen. Other than that, I think using frozen if that's a better option for you makes good sense and good cents cost-wise!
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I think any difference with frozen vs. fresh should not be very significant to fret over. I frequently use the frozen (steamables) version, and I use a weigh scale to measure the microwaved frozen veggies.
Pre-entering food will let you play with your macros and thus your quantities, and you can tweak them accordingly.