Shop'NCook shopping list and recipe management software

Shop'NCook Home 3.4.2 User's Manual

Shop'NCook
Getting started
Shopping List
Database Editor
Sublists
Sublist Editor
Recipes
Cookbooks
Recipe Import/Export
Recipe Editor
Nutritional Analysis
Direct Access
Browser
Preferences
Troubleshooting
Search

Nutritional Analysis And Unit Conversion

The nutritional analysis of recipes is computed for one serving of the recipe, based on the nutritional information of the individual recipe ingredients. When an ingredient appears in color, it is not included in the calculation. For the meaning of the different colors, refer to the Recipe Manager.

The nutritional information associated with the database ingredients are based on the data of USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference (http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/). It is also a good source to find nutritional information for custom ingredients.

Many factors can affect the nutritional value, like the cooking method and time and the freshness of the ingredients. The analysis provided here is calculated from the nutritional information of the raw ingredients. In cooked food, the vitamin content in particular can be considerably lower than the calculated one.

Disclaimer

The nutritional analysis provided is not intended for medical nutrition therapy. If you are following a strict diet for medical or dietary reason, consult first with a physician or dietician before planning your meals based on this software.

Customizing the display of the nutritional analysis

The display of nutritional information can be customized in the preference pane. Open the preference pane by selecting "Preferences..." on the Edit menu on Windows, or Shop'NCook menu on Mac OS X. Click on the nutrition tab. Select a format in the pull-down menu. If you choose one of the two first formats (the table format and the short format), only the nutrients displayed in the "Enabled info" list will be displayed. You can move the available nutrients between the Enabled and Disabled lists. If the format you need is not available or if you want to compute a particular formula, you can specify your own nutrition script.

Nutritional information is available for the following nutrients:

  • Water
  • Energy
  • Protein
  • Total fat (lipid)
  • Ash
  • Carbohydrate
  • Dietary fibers
  • Sugars
  • Calcium
  • Iron
  • Magnesium
  • Phosphorus
  • Potassium
  • Sodium
  • Zinc
  • Copper
  • Manganese
  • Selenium
  • Vitamin A (IU)
  • Vitamin A (RAE)
  • Retinol (vitamin A1)
  • Thiamin (vitamin B1)
  • Riboflavin (vitamin B2)
  • Niacin (vitamin B7)
  • Pantothenic acid (vitamin B3)
  • Vitamin B6
  • Folate
  • Folic acid
  • Food folate
  • Dietary folate equivalent
  • Vitamin B12
  • Vitamin C
  • Vitamin D
  • Vitamin E
  • Vitamin K
  • Alpha-carotene
  • Beta-carotene
  • Beta-cryptoxanthin
  • Lycopene
  • Lutein+Zeozanthin
  • Saturated fatty acids
  • Monounsaturated fatty acids
  • Polyunsaturated fatty acids
  • Cholesterol
  • Alcohol
  • Caffeine
  • Starch
  • Theobromine
  • Phytosterols
  • Sugar alcohol
You can also display the percent of refuse and refuse description.
The energy is displayed by default in kcal unit. You can select in the references to display it in kJ units instead.

How To...

How to view the nutritional analysis of a recipe

When you select a recipe in the Recipes panel, the nutritional analysis is displayed at the bottom of the recipe. You can also select in the Nutrition tab of the Preferences panel to display it in line format, table format or not to display it at all. Only the information enabled in the preferences will be displayed. When you select the Nutrition button in the toolbar of ther Recipes panel, the nutritional analysis of the current recipe is displayed in a separated window.

The nutritional analysis doesn't show? The software shows the nutritional analysis only if you have at least one ingredient of the recipe displayed in black, i.e. that is linked with the item database, has a known quantity and a known nutritional information. If the nutritional analysis is not showing, check that nutrition display is enabled in the Preferences panel and that the ingredients appear in black in the Ingredients tab. If not, see the Recipe Manager for information on the meaning of the colors.

How to convert units

The software knows conversion factors for most of its ingredients between volume units (like cups, tablespoons, teaspoons) commonly used in recipes and weight units (like pounds and ounces) more convenient for shopping. When an ingredient is displayed in black in the Ingredients tab of a recipe, unit conversion is available. If automatic unit conversion is enabled (see the preferences help), the ingredient will be added to the shopping list in the ingredient's preferred unit. You can also convert the unit of the ingredient in the recipe editor: click on the Edit button to reach the editor, display the Ingredients tab. Click on the unit pull-down menu of the ingredient and select the desired unit. To add this ingredient in the chosen unit, you need to disabled the automatic unit conversion in the preferences.

When the ingredient is displayed in blue, it means that the software does not recognize the unit specified and cannot make unit conversion. In this case, you can either add the new unit permanently by editing the item's unit information in the database editor, or you can indicate a conversion factor for this recipe by editing the recipe, selecting the Ingredients tab, and clicking on the measure cup next to the ingredient. There, you can give the conversion factor between the unit you use and another unit known to the software. For example, if a recipe calls for 1 cup of brown sugar, the ingredient will be displayed in blue. You can go to the nutritional information editor of brown sugar and add the unit "cup" and input its weight in gram. In this way, Shop'NCook will recognize the "cup" unit for brown sugar in all other recipes. Alternatively, you can edit the recipe, click on the measure cup next to the brown sugar ingredient, and indicate that "1 cup" is equivalent to "1 cup, unpacked", which is a known unit. In this way, Shop'NCook will know the conversion factor of 1 cup of brown sugar, but only in this recipe and for this ingredient.

How to write your own nutrition script

The nutrition scripts are a powerful feature that allows to compute nutritional formulas and customize the display of nutritional information. You need to write the script in a text file, save if with the extension ".txt" and add it to the NutritionScript folder. You will then be able the select it in the nutrition format pull-down menu in the Preferences. An example of a simple script to display the net carb is as follow:

#NEWLINE
Net Carbs: <(CARB-FIBER)-SUGAR_ALCOHOL>g

"Net Carbs: " and "g" are display unchanged. The formula in between < > ((CARB-FIBER)-SUGAR_ALCOHOL) is evaluated, and the result displayed instead. You can specify the following nutrients:

WATER, ENERGY, ENERGY_CAL, ENERGY_KJ, PROTEIN, FAT, ASH, CARB, FIBER, SUGAR, CALCIUM, IRON, MAGNESIUM, PHOSPHORUS, POTASSIUM, SODIUM, ZINC, COPPER, MANGANESE, SELENIUM, VIT_C, VIT_B1, VIT_B2, VIT_B7, VIT_B3, VIT_B6, FOLATE, FOLIC_ACID, FOOD_FOLATE, DFE, VIT_B12, VIT_A, VIT_A_RAE, VIT_A1, VIT_E, VIT_K, ALPHA_CAROTENE, BETA_CAROTENE, BETA_CRYPTOZANTHIN, LYCOPENE, LUTHEIN_ZEOZANTHIN, SAT_FAT, MONOUNSAT_FAT, POLYUNSAT_FAT, CHOLESTEROL, ALCOHOL, CAFFEINE, VIT_D, STARCH, THEOBROMINE, PHYTOSTEROLS, SUGAR_ALCOHOL

Note: When combining different operations - i.e. addition, substraction, multiplication and divisions - make sure to group the operations with parenthesis, otherwise the operations are evaluated from right to left.

You can also use PROTEIN_FACTOR, FAT_FACTOR and CARB_FACTOR, which are the energy per gram of the protein, fat and carbohydrate contents respectively to calculate their contributions to the total energy.

You can combine simple statements to display multiple information. For example, if you wanted to display the total energy and the energy percent contributed by the carbohydrates and proteins, you can write a script with:

Total energy: <ENERGY> <ENERGY_UNIT>
#NEWLINE
Energy percent contributed by proteins and carbohydrates: <((CARB*CARB_FACTOR*100)+(PROTEIN*PROTEIN_FACTOR*100))/ENERGY>%

The #NEWLINE statement indicates to insert a new line. Statements starting with # must always be at the beginning of a line.

You can also use conditional statements. For example:

#IF FIBER<4
Low fiber content!
#ELSE
High fiber content!
#ENDIF

This code will display "Low fiber content!" if the fiber content is less than 4, and "High fiber content!" otherwise.

Some formatting command, for example #TAB (to input a tab) and #NEWLINE (to input a new line), are also available. Commands must always be at the beginning of a line. For more information on the syntax and the commands available in nutrition scripts, consult Shop'NCook web page and the forum.

Copyright Rufenacht Innovative 2004.