Today's nutrition and fitness software is more sophisticated than ever. And not every software package does everything for everybody. For this reason, it's a good idea to familiarize yourself with the kinds of capabilities you can expect from any particular software package. Once you've determined which features you must have and which features you can live without, you're armed with the knowledge for making the right decision regarding your nutrition software choice.

Does the software provide you with a research quality nutrient database compiled from a variety of reputable sources? Does it provide the contents of USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference?
The reliability of a software nutrition package cannot exceed the reliability of its data. Research quality nutrient data provides the assurance of accurate, reliable nutrient information.

How many food items are featured in the database?
The more food items you can find in your nutrient database, the more likely you are to find what you really eat. Also, the larger your database, the greater variety of food items you will find. NutriBase provides nutrient information for over 37,000 foods.

How many brand name foods are featured in the database?
Unless you prepare everything from scratch, what you really eat is brand name foods. And once again, more is better. NutriBase provides the industry's largest brand name database. (This database is borrowed from our high-end NutriBase Clinical Nutrition and Fitness Manager software package.)

How many restaurant menu items you can access?
Most of us eat out several times a week. So if you're going to eat out, you might as well know what you're eating. And of course, the more restaurant data you have, the better (i.e., "healthier") choices you'll be able to make. NutriBase tracks over 3,000 menu items from 70 restaurants.

How many nutrients does the software provide data for?
Most nutrition software packages provide nutrient data for only a few dozen nutrients at most. NutriBase EZ Edition tracks the nutrients for 88 nutrients, including the Omega-3 and Omega-6 Fatty Acids.

Has the nutrient data been published in a best-selling series of books?
The data should be authoritative enough to warrant publication in a series of books as well as in the software itself. NutriBase has sold over two million copies of its nutritional information books.

Does the software package feature intelligently designed screens that provide an intuitive interface to the software's capabilities?
All the features in the world cannot overcome a poorly organized user interface.

Does the software provide you with the exchange information as well as the standard nutrient information?
Many dietitians today recommend that you check your diet for "balance" as well as overall nutrition. NutriBase EZ Edition provided exchange information for its nutrient listing.

Does the periodically access your progress and offer to recalculate your calorie and nutrient requirement's as your body weigh/body fat content changes?
NutriBase does. Most products do not. And one product changes your requirements every day. (NutriBase usability testing indicates that most users prefer to be able to rely on a fairly constant daily allotment over reasonable time periods - say the time it takes them to lose or gain several pounds. Changing your calorie allotment every single day can make long term planning difficult if not impossible.)

Will the software let you view the live nutrient data in a tabular spreadsheet format?
By seeing your data formatted in columns and rows, you can see and compare a number of similar entries all at once. Single-clicking on an entry should highlight that entry so you can follow it easily as you scroll horizontally through the data.

Can you see all the nutrients for any food item in a single screen?
This lets you get all the data for a food item in as concise a manner as possible. A convenient way to view a food item is to click a View Button while you have the food item highlighted in the tabular, spreadsheet view.

Can you resequence columns by dragging and dropping their column headers?
For instance, you should be able to move the Protein column next to the Carbohydrate column if you wish. Rearranging columns lets you view the data the way you want to view it - instead of how the software says you have to view it.

Can you resize columns by dragging the right edge of their column headers? And will the software remember these settings for you?
The ability to resize column widths lets you optimize the number of columns of nutrient data you can display per screen. This let's you view more data at once. And if the software remembers these settings for you, you won't have to reset them every time you view the same or similar information.

Can you rank (sort) foods on its value for any nutrient?
This function should give you the ability to instantly rank all foods in a particular product category from high-to-low or low-to-high based on its values for any nutrient. This gives you the ability to locate the foods that are high in a nutrient you are looking for or low in a nutrient you are trying to avoid (Fat, Sodium, or Cholesterol, for instance).

Can you rank (sort) foods by their values for % of Calories from Protein, % of Calories from Carbohydrates, or % of Calories from Fat?
This lets you compare food items in an "apples to apples" manner. If you rank foods on their actual fat content, a large portion of one food may misleadingly be placed ahead of a small portion of another food item that is pure fat (like a pat of butter).

Can you adjust the serving size of the food item as you record foods to your food log? And while you're at it, can you click on the meal or snack tab to place the food item into it's proper meal or snack tab?
This ability saves you time by letting you handle the food item once rather than three times (once to select it, once to set the serving size, and once to tell the software which meal or snack it was for).

When you adjust your serving size, will the software let you select the units (cups, oz., grams, tbsp., etc) and the amount in decimal ("1.5," "1.67") or fractional format ("2 2/3," "3-3/4")?
With the software handling all the math for you (any way you want to enter it), you can keep your focus on what you are doing.

Can you have the software instantly backup all the information in your software and restore it to another copy of the software on, say, your notebook PC?
This makes it convenient to use your software even when you're out of the office.

Does the program help you set reasonable dietary goals?
The program should ask enough questions to help you determine how many calories you need to achieve your weight and nutrition goals, whether you wish to gain, lose, or maintain your weight. It should let you calculate your goals based on your body fat content or body weight, as you prefer.

Can you view your food log intake as a percentage of your total calorie intake?
Your software should be able to set up and track any nutrient ratio you wish. For instance, you should be able to tell the program you want 15% of your calories from protein, and 55% of your calories from carbohydrates, and 30% of your calories from fat if you wish.

Does the software tell you the PCF (Protein-Carbohydrate-Fat) Ratio for your food log and for your recipes?
It's arguable that the calorie level and the PCF ratio (the percentage of total calories from Protein, Carbohydrates, and Fat) tell you more about your recipe or intake than any other two factors. In fact, virtually any diet plan can be defined, quite accurately, by considering these two factors alone. If your software doesn't tell you the calorie level and PCF Ratio for intakes and recipes, it's missing basic, critical information.

Can you search the database by food name, by brand name, by recipe, or by favorite?
Most programs let you search by food name. But what if you want to select from the offerings of, say, Lean Cuisine only? The ability to locate the first occurrence of this brand name or to display all the foods of a particular brand name (or group of brand names) is a handy time-saving feature.

Does the software include an Exercise Manager that will calculate caloric expenditures for an unlimited number of exercises? And track those expenditures? And award "earned calories" to your daily calorie allotment when you earn them? And generate a report that shows how many calories you or your client will expend in performing a wide variety of common exercises for 30 minutes?
Exercise is an important facet of good health. (Indeed, many nutrition professionals refer to it as the "magic bullet.") No nutrition manager should ignore or undersupport this crucial area.

Can you subtract ingredients from a recipe?
You should be able to subtract, say, a tablespoon of mayonnaise from that Whopper sandwich if you wish. Then, you should be able to save that recipe as "Whopper w/o Mayo."

Can you view "on-the-fly" tallies for all nutrients recorded or added to a recipe?
This feature lets you see how many Calories, Fat grams, etc. you are recording or adding to a recipe. As you adjust serving sizes, these numbers should instantly update themselves for you.

Does the Nutrition Manager tell you your intake in terms of % of Total Calories taken in?
The tallies should give you total quantities of the nutrients, but also tell you the percentage of total calories from all sources of calories (Protein, Carbohydrates, Fat, and Alcohol).

Do you have the ability to add an unlimited number of favorites (food items you frequently eat) to the program? Can you organize them into a tabbed notebook? Can you add tabs? Delete tabs. Rename Tabs? Drag new food items from tab to tab?
This means you can organize your favorites for quick access and add new products to the database between updates.

Can you edit an existing favorite (a food item you use frequently)? Can you enter the Percent Daily Values (%DV) and have the software calculate the actual numbers for you?
This means you can edit an existing food item to create a new personal food item. This saves you from having to enter every new food item from scratch. The ability to enter actual values of %DV's saves you a lot of time when package labels include %DV's but omit their actual values.

Do you have the ability to track and graph your body weight over time?
Visual feedback is vital for helping you stay on track; your nutrition manager should provide this for you.

Do you have the ability to track and graph your body fat content over time?
We've not seen any other nutrition package tackle this feature. Since most experts will tell you that your body fat content is the best indicator of your ideal body weight, this is a good way to track your progress if you have a way to measure your body fat content conveniently and accurately.

Does the software let you organize your recipes into a tabbed notebook? Can you add tabs? Delete tabs. Rename Tabs? Drag recipes from tab to tab?

Does the Nutrition Management software provide feedback regarding your daily food log intake?
If, for instance, you are trying to lose weight, the software should reward you (with, say, color code for your calendar day) for not exceeding your goals for calories or total fat. But, if you exceed either of these two variables, you should get some sort of feedback (like a different color for your calendar).

Does the company stand behind its product with Toll-Free technical support?
Let's face it, all software makers tell you their software is user-friendly and easy-to-use. Look for a company that backs up these claims by providing you with toll-free technical support. And remember, it isn't really free telephone technical support if you have to pay for the phone call.

And finally, does the company make it easy for you to visit their competitor's Web Sites so you can compare them to their competitors?
If not, why not?

Download the 14-day evaluation copy of the NutriBase EZ Edition. We consider the NutriBase EZ Edition to be the most powerful and full-featured nutrition software product in its class. We think you'll agree. Click through here to download the fully functional 14-day version of NutriBase EZ. Try it for two weeks. If you like it, buy it and we'll issue a registration key based on your serial number. If you don't like it, click uninstall and we'll remove it from your PC for you. :-)