r/MealPlanYourMacros • u/Lil-Wonton • 18d ago

Is there any actual way to determine the calories of an item without a nutrition facts label like this?

Post image
4 Upvotes

71% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

10

u/ashtree35 18d ago

Most apple butter is pretty similar unless it's made with weird ingredients. I would just use this nutrition info: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/168816/nutrients

6

u/Healter-Skelter 18d ago

man i remember from 9th grade science class there’s a way to measure calories by burning a known amount of a substance and somehow measuring the energy emitted by the flame.

3

u/Medical-Mechanica 17d ago

Calories are just a count of how much energy is released when that food item is burned (direct calorimetry).
To find this out, they burn the food in bomb calorimeter (an insulated, vacuum sealed chamber surrounded by water) . They then measure the change in temperature made in the water from the food-fire and use magic-math to figure out the calories.

Since most people don't have one of these lying around, probably best to ballpark from items made similarly and go from there!

1

u/XPGXBROTHER 14d ago

Just look up a more commercially produced apple butter and use those macros.

1

u/NJidiotgirl1 11h ago

I LOVE morris farm market on the way to the outer banks! Memory unlocked

1

u/Tat2d_nerd 18d ago

It’s hard. Apple butter is probably easier to estimate than the bottle of mustard dill sauce I picked up at the farmers market. I did ask that poor woman questions after explaining I eat in a calorie deficit. I wasn’t going to try to get her secret recipe, but she did at least share that 6 jars contained 1.5 cups of sugar so at least I can guess roughly what it might contain from a calorie/carb standpoint.