Like to enjoy a drink occasionally? With the Carbon app we make accounting for those calories a breeze! Users can easily track and distribute the calories of their favorite drink to carbs or fats. This ensures that all your macros are tracked accurately while considering the unique nutritional profile of alcohol.
How to track alcohol
Usually, all the stuff we eat has calories that come from carbs, fat, or protein. But did you know alcohol (ethanol) has its own calories? Drinks with alcohol have calories that don’t fit into the carb, fat, or protein categories. This can make tracking alcohol tricky because those calories might get overlooked unless we count them as carbs or fats (never protein!).
With Carbon’s in-app alcohol tracking feature, we handle all the math for you!
How to input alcohol into the app
There are three ways to add alcohol to your diary page:
1. The search bar.
2. The barcode scanner.
3. From a drink you created.
The search bar
Go to the diary tab in Carbon
Select the blue “+” sign next to the meal you wish to add a food entry to
At the top of the page, type the food you want to add (see white wine as the example), and the app will automatically start searching for it.
Select the type of drink you’d like to add.
Select the serving amount and type.
Adjust the slider to your desired carbs and fat percentage.
Select add alcohol.
The barcode scanner
Go to the diary tab in Carbon
Select the blue “+” sign next to the meal you wish to add a food entry to
You will see a barcode icon in the far right of the search bar. Select this.
This will open the barcode scanner via your device’s camera. Scan the food you want to add.
Once the barcode has been read by the scanner, this will pull up the item’s database entry.
Select the serving amount and type
Adjust the slider to your desired carbs and fat percentage.
Select add alcohol.
Creating a food
There are two places in the app to access the create food feature.
Tapping the floating menu button in the bottom right corner of the diary tab and selecting "Create Food."
Tapping the blue "+" sign, like you would to add any food into your diary, then tapping on the three dots in the upper right corner and selecting "Create Food."
Once there, you can:
Name the food.
Add the brand name (optional).
Choose the serving amount.
Choose the serving description.
Add a barcode (optional).
Scan the nutrition label (optional).
Enter the calorie amount in “Calories (label).”
Tap “Is this an alcoholic beverage?”
Click "create" in the top right corner.
Adjust the serving amount and type as needed.
Adjust the slider to your desired carbs and fat percentage.
Select add alcohol.
Quick Add Alcohol
To use the Quick Add Alcohol feature:
1. Tap the 3 small gray circles on the meal you want to add.
2. Then select Quick Add Alcohol.
3. Name your alcohol.
4. Add your known ABV (alcohol by volume) & Volume.
5. Then tap Add to add your created alcohol to your diary.
Prefer to use just calories when quick adding your alcohol? Easy enough!
1. Tap the Calories toggle in the Quick Add Alcohol input.
2. Add your calories.
3. Adjust the slider to your preferred carbs and fats.
4. Tap Add to add your drink.
Tips and tricks for tracking alcohol
If a food isn't recognized as an alcohol you can go to the menu and tap the three dots and click "Track as alcohol.”
If a food is incorrectly recognized as an alcohol you can go to the menu and tap the three dots and click "Track as food."
Cooking with alcohol? It can be difficult to determine how much alcohol is burned off via various cooking temperatures and times. If cooking with alcohol and inputting it into the diary, it will be considered with its full calorie calculation.