The system provides functions to export your food and exercise list to a separate file, or to import these lists from a file.
All importing and exporting is done from Comma Separated Value (CSV) files. These files are spreadsheet compatible, and can be read in by (for example) Microsoft Excel, and most database packages.
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. |
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 |
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 |
There are 4 options for export. All are available from the File menu, under Export.
There are 2 options for import.
When you import, the system will make sure you don't end up with 2 foods with the same serving size, the same name, and the same group. This stops you acidentally importing twice...
NOTE: If the column headings in the file you are importing don't match up exactly to the names in the "Valid Targets" table above, then you might need to open the CSV file in a spreadsheet and change the titles.
Lets imagine you want to send your "My Foods" list to another family member. Here is how you do it...