Food Database User Guide

To get started
Demos
FAQ's

To Get Started

1. Enter the name of a food in the Search box and click Go.
2. Select the correct food from the search results.
3. Use the drop-down menu at the top of the Nutrition Facts panel to select the appropriate serving size.
4. Enter the correct number of servings in the Serving Size box.
5. The nutritional information for your food will be displayed in the Nutrition Facts panel.

Demos

• How to search for a food. Video or Text

FAQ

Using the Food Database

• How do I search for a food?
• How do I change the serving size of a food?
• What does Average All Brands mean?
• How do I add a food from the Food Database to my Food and Exercise Diary?
• Can I print the nutritional information for a food?

Calorie Density

• What do the stars next to some foods mean?
• What is Calorie Density?
• How do I display Calorie Density? How do I display Calorie Information?

Searching

• How can I improve my food searches?

Favorite Foods

• What are Favorite Foods? How can I mark a food as a Favorite?

Enter the name of the food in the Search box and click the Go button. A list of foods matching your search term will be displayed, in order of popularity. Look through the list to find the food you want.

At the bottom of the list of foods you will see how many foods your search found. If there are too many results to be displayed on one page, you will see a link Show Next 30. Click this link to view more results.

See also How can I improve my food searches?

Once you have searched for a food and displayed its Nutrition Facts panel, you can change the serving size of the food.

Use the drop-down menu at the top of the Nutrition Facts panel to select the appropriate serving size. Then enter the correct number of servings in the Serving Size box. The nutritional information in the Nutrition Facts panel will update to match your serving size information.

See also How do I search for a food?

When you search for a food, you may see a category called Average All Brands included in the search results. Average All Brands are mostly generic foods, such as fruits and vegetables, meats, and drinks.

In some cases, the Average All Brands category may include results for which the nutritional data has been calculated for the food, based on the average of the other brands in our Food Database.

To add a food to your Food and Exercise Diary, you first need to search for the food and display its Nutrition Facts panel.

Click the Add To Your Diary link, which is located to the right of the Nutritional Information. (or above the Nutritional Information, depending on how the layout turns out) You will then be taken to your Food and Exercise Diary, where you can add the food to Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, or Snacks.

See also How do I search for a food?

After you search for a food and display its Nutrition Facts panel, click the Print link to get a printable version of the page.

The stars represent the calorie density of the food. The calorie density of a food is a measurement of the average number of calories per gram or ounce of that food.

The calorie density of foods influences your hunger, satiety and food intake. By eating foods with lower calorie density, you will feel full - but have eaten fewer calories.

You can use calorie density to compare the number of calories in equal amounts of different foods and make better calorie choices. For example, 1 oz of chocolate has far more calories (i.e. a higher calorie density) than 1 oz of pretzels.

To read more about calorie density please visit:

http://www.calorieking.com/foods/caloriedensity.php

Some foods do not have calorie density stars. For these foods, the calorie density is unknown. It does NOT mean that they are low (or high) in calorie density.

The calorie density of a food is a measurement of the average number of calories per gram or ounce of that food. In the food search results, you may see stars next to food names. These stars represent the calorie density of the food.

The calorie density of foods influences your hunger, satiety and food intake. By eating foods with lower calorie density, you will feel full - but have eaten fewer calories.

You can use calorie density to compare the number of calories in equal amounts of different foods and make better calorie choices. For example, 1 oz of chocolate has far more calories (i.e. a higher calorie density) than 1 oz of pretzels.

To read more about calorie density please visit:

http://www.calorieking.com/foods/caloriedensity.php

Some foods do not have calorie density stars. For these foods, the calorie density is unknown. It does NOT mean that they are low (or high) in calorie density.

When you search for a food, the search results can display calorie density or calorie information for each food in the list. Showing calorie density is the default setting.

To show calorie information instead, click the Calories link at the top of the food search results list. You will see the number of calories per serving displayed for each food.

To switch to displaying calorie density, click the CD link at the top of the food search results list. You will now see the calorie density stars displayed for most foods.

See also What is Calorie Density?

If your search for a food brings up a large amount of results or very few results, and you find it hard to locate the food you're looking for, try some of these tips:

• Make sure you have spelled the food name correctly. For example, "Nesquik" not "Nesquick".

• If you get very few results, try using more general search terms. For example, "chicken" rather than "hot chicken meal".

• If you get too many results, be more specific in your search terms. For example, "Snickers chocolate" rather than "chocolate".

Favorite foods are those that you eat regularly and want to be able to quickly add to your Food and Exercise Diary.

To mark a food as a Favorite using the Food Database, search for the food and display its Nutrition Facts panel. Click the link Mark as a Favorite.

When you use your Food and Exercise Diary, you will see the food you marked as a Favorite in your Favorite Foods list.

See also How do I search for a food?