| The Download | This
Issues Review |
The Web Site |
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| FoodFile by Kelpiesoft | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
My idea of heaven is a huge kitchen with every food imaginable, right there at my fingertips, at my every whim, for all eternity..... and I don't gain an OUNCE of weight! Of course, that's heaven and not my real world so of course, I, like many, have to watch what I eat. That includes getting as much information on what's going into my mouth as possible. FoodFile is an informative program dealing with something that just about everyone comes into contact with every day..... food. Here, take a look: Platform and Requirements......... FoodFile will run on any Windows 9X+ system The Website... The Kelpiesoft site is designed with simplicity in mind. There's a no nonsense explanation on what Food File is along with the download link to get the program. There's a couple of screenshots and a nice input box to let you access 'Food File Online', which is the same database, just online! Help Files.... Well, let's see.......... The help file contained within the program is basically a one page display of the opening database screen with a few information balloons in the appropriate places. What more could you really ask for!? A link at the top of this page will take you to a support page on it's web site where you'll get an e-mail address. Here's a pic of the help page:  Download, Installation and Uninstall... The 4.5 megabyte download is a self install .exe so installation is as easy as finding your download file and giving it a click. Of course, if you're using Firefox, it's as simple as clicking on the 'open' button after the download. Both the installation and uninstall use a standard engine to get the program on your hard drive. An interesting aspect of the uninstall is that the engine asks if you would like to save your Food File settings information in case you install it again at a later date. Now that's confidence! If you remove the settings info, the directory for the program is also deleted. Interface and Features..... This freeware is basically a one page event, which makes working the thing a breeze. One window with TONS of great information about food! Here's a pic of the program fully open. Take a good look and then I'll describe some of the great features of Food File:  The first area you should note is the left side of the screen which has a scroll window listing all kinds of food. You can click the 'all groups' button to list everything in the database or you can specify exactly what food area you wish to search by checking one of the boxes in the scroll window. The content of the database is quite extensive both in category and in the items contained within each category. As you can see from the listing, there are presently over 7000 different items within this thing. THAT'S a lot of food. As for some examples of the types, there is everything from 'Agutuk fish/berry with seal oil' under the ethnic foods area to a 'Big Mac' in the fast foods area! Some other examples of categories are; Fats and Oils, Finfish and Shellfish Products, Nut and Seed Products, Baby Foods and many, many more! You can also select multiple groups which will display as one listing, or just single out one to get what you need quick. On the right side of the window is where you will find all of the particular information for that selected food. The categories are quite numerous taking into consideration Sodium (salt), Fiber, Fat, Carbohydrates, Energy and more. This listing gets quite extensive as you scroll further down into the window. Here's a pic of the window scrolled down to the other bits of info:  And here is another shot even further down. Honestly, this info almost gets to a scientific level!  There is something for just about everyone here, whether your counting your calories, watching your fiber or even measuring your vitamin intake! An excellent feature to Food File is the pie chart above the color index squares which show the percentage of carbs, fat, protein, water and ash in the selected food. What is really interesting about this pie chart is that it starts out in a 2D format when your first open your selection and goes into the 3D format within seconds! A nice added feature. As for the accuracy of the information presented in Food File, I did a bit of checking just in case. I picked two foods at random and checked them with NutritionData.Com. The first was a 12 oz. serving of Bud Light beer and the second was brick cheese. There were some slight differences with their totals, but not nearly big enough to worry about. Here's a listing of my findings:
As you can see, the difference between the two sets of data are minimal at best. Though I only checked one source, I'm am more than willing to assume that the values given are close enough for me to feel secure in using Food File. Along with this neat program are links to the online version as well as a print link. The printed copy does not have the pie chart (at least mine didn't) but the information is bright, the important areas are segregated with colors and the font is extremely easy to read. Being a database type of program, I don't believe there is much 'machinery' in the guts of Food File however, I have found nothing in the way of bugs that would impede your enjoyment of this program in anyway. Conclusion.... Yes, if this was heaven, I wouldn't have any need for Food File however, the real world (and my body) force me to keep this program on my hard drive for ever and ever! Curious? Download a copy and see if you like it! Cheers! Buzzy :) |
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