Using Another Food Database

The NUTTAB food database is very comprehensive, but it does have a couple of disadvantages (such as no standard serving sizes). If you have a different database that you would rather use, as long as you can get hold of that database as a Comma Separated Values file, then you should be able to use it in this system.

NOTE: This is probably the least easy thing to do in the system. If you aren't at least a little bit confident using computers, now might be the time to enlist that help of that very techie friend of yours...

How To Use Another Database

Step 1: Get the database as a CSV file

Unfortunately, this is a part we can help you the least, since we don't know what format this other database might be in. The trick is to find some way to dump out the food names and all the nutrients into a CSV file (or at least something that can be read by a spreadsheet). Your other food database may have an option to export to a CSV file already. Bonza! You are most of the way there. If not, then you might need to do a spot of internet searching...

Step 2: Tweak the file to get it into the right format

Great - So you have your food database loaded into a spreadsheet...

Now, you need to push and shove the data around a bit in order to get this system to read it. Have a read of the File Format section below. Here is an example of what your spreadsheet might look like.

Category Food Serve Name Serve Size Serve Units Energy, cal Total Fat,g Sodium,mg Fibre,g
Breakfast Cereals Corn Flakes Bowl 30 g 111 0.2 258 0.9
Breakfast Cereals All Bran Bown 30 g 102 0.5 114 5.8
Bread White Bread Slice 35 g 86 0.7 160 1

Once you have the spreadsheet set up with the right columns, save the spreadsheet as a CSV file.

Step 3: Point the system to this file

Once you have the CSV file all figured out, you just need to point the system at it.

  1. Open up JXCirrus CalCount.
  2. Open Preferences, and look for the "External Database..." field.
  3. Click on the "..." button next to that, and find your CSV file.
  4. Close down the program and start it back up again. If you CSV file was set up correctly, you should be able to see your favourite food database in the "Food Database" tab. If there is something wrong with it, the system should be able to help you out with some useful messages...

The system will use your food database in the same way as it used the NUTTAB database, with the one key difference - It won't ask you to select the serving size when the foods are copied into My Foods.

File Format

The format of the CSV file (when exporting/importing My Foods/My Exercise) will be:

Column Contents
1 The category that the food exercise falls into. For examples of this see the groupings in the My Food and My Exercise list (for example "Breakfast Cereals", "Dairy").
2 The name of the food.
3 The name of a serve of that food. For example "Bowl", "Slice", "Biscuit", "Cookie", "Small Packet". This just needs to describe what you call the serve (can be anything you like).
4 The serving size (this will be a decimal number, i.e. "1.1").
5 The units for the serving size. See below for valid units.
6... The rest of the columns are the target values. The first row must contain a title that lists what is in the column. The title must be in the form "Value, Unit". For example; "Calories, cal", "Sodium, mg". See below for a list of valid targets. The targets and units MUST be spelt the same as the values in the "Valid Targets" table and the "Valid Units" table.

Valid Targets

Value Type of Units
Energy Energy
Total Fat, Saturated Fat, Trans Fat, Cholesterol, Carbohydrate, Sugar, Fibre, Protein, Sodium, Calcium, Potassium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Zinc, Folate, Vitamin A, Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Vitamin B3, Vitamin C, Alcohol, Caffeine, Weight Weight
Height, Distance Length
Speed Speed
Time Time
Count

Valid Units

Measurement Valid Units Meaning
Energy cal, kj calories, kilojoules
Weight g, mg, ug, kg, lb, oz grams, milligrams, micrograms, kilograms, pounds, ounces
Volume l, cl, ml, qt, gl, pt litres, centilitres, mililitres, quart, gallon, pint
Length m, cm, mm, km, ft, in, mi meter, centimeter, milimeter, kilometer, foot, inch, mile
Time s, m, h, dy second, minute, hour, day
Speed ms, kmh, mih meters per second, kilometers per hour, miles per hour