How can I figure out the nutrition information for fat-free cottage cheese that has been rinsed off? I log my food intake in a journal, but this stumps me.
When you rinse cottage cheese, youre rinsing away whey and you leave yourself with the curds. Whey is mostly water, so what youre doing likely doesnt have a huge effect on the nutrition information that you see on the container.
But, since you asked, you could try a few things. One option is to use the nutrition information in the National Nutrient Database (www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/) for Cheese, cottage, nonfat, uncreamed, dry. However, its impossible to tell how similar that product is to your rinsed cottage cheese.
Another option is to drain (not rinse) the cottage cheese, and weigh the amount of whey you collect. According to the database, whey has about 25 calories per 100 grams, or 3.5 ounces. Depending on how much whey you collect, you can use that information to give you an idea of what youre rinsing away, and then subtract it from the Nutrition Facts information on your cottage cheese container.
However, besides rinsing away some calories and sodium, you should also know that youre also getting rid of some beneficial calcium, potassium, and small amounts of other vitamins and minerals, too. Keep that in mind.
In addition, all this assumes that Nutrition Facts labels and nutrient data are 100 percent accurate all the time. Thats asking a lot. Nutrition Facts labels should be seen as a guideline -- the best information we have, but not necessarily accurate down to the calorie or gram of carbohydrate.
In fact, the Food and Drug Administration, which is in charge of regulations regarding Nutrition Facts labels, occasionally tests labels for accuracy. A label is compliant even if the food contains up to 120 percent of the nutrients most people want to limit (calories, fat, sugars and sodium, for example), and as little as 80 percent of the nutrients most people want to increase (including naturally occurring vitamins and minerals, protein, total carbohydrate and fiber, and mono- and polyunsaturated fats). For someone who wants to count every calorie, fat gram or carbohydrate, thats a wide range.
While its laudable that you have a keen interest in knowing what you are consuming, most nutritionists would suggest that you relax a bit. Use the Nutrition Facts labels for guidance, and rinse your cottage cheese if thats what you prefer, but dont worry too much about calculating every last gram of every single nutrient. If you simply have a general understanding of your nutrient intake, youre heads and shoulders above most people.
Chow Line is a service of Ohio State University Extension and the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center.
