Thursday, 17 May 2012

iCals: iPhone iPad: Find Food Serving Calorie Content Based on USDA DB

Revere, MA    May 17, 2012
[prMac.com] Revere, Massachusetts - Revere, Massachusetts - Indie developer James Hollender has announced iCals - iNutrients: Calories 3.0 for iOS, a major update to his Healty & Fitness app that lists the calorie content of more than 1,100 different foods. Broken down into seven Categories or as a complete, alphabetical list with search function, users can lookup and record their daily intake of calories. Each listing includes eight pertinent facts about the food, and this 3.0 update allows users to create custom serving sizes for any item. The new version is now a Universal app that allows for keeping track of personal caloric intake and the ability to backup and restore the personal information.

The iCals app provides information about foods and how they are rated for caloric content. The following colors help readily identify which is which:

* Black = Rated extremely high in Calories (500 - 1,181)
* Dark Red = Rated very high in Calories (400 - 499)
* Red = Rated high in Calories (300 - 399)
* Orange = Rated moderately high in Calories (250 - 299)
* Yellow = Rated moderate in Calories (200 - 249)
* Light Green = Rated moderately low in Calories (150 - 199)
* Green = Rated low in Calories (100 - 149)
* Cyan = Rated very low in Calories (50 - 99)
* White = Rated extremely low in Calories (less 50)

There are eight tables listing foods:

* All Foods (includes search capability)
* Fast Foods
* Fruits & Vegetables
* Meat, Fish & Shellfish
* Dairy & Egg
* Cereal Grains & Pasta
* Sweets
* Snacks

The app offers three different kinds of lookup: Search, Alphabetical, or Category. Users can enter any search term to query the database's 1,100 entries (some entries have multiple names). Alphabetical searches of the complete list is simplified through a thumb index, which opens any letter of the alphabet immediately. Finally, users can search alphabetically through any of seven category listings:

* Fast Foods
* Fruits & Vegetables
* Meat, Fish & Shellfish
* Dairy & Eggs
* Cereal Grains & Pasta
* Sweets
* Snacks

The database is truly encyclopedic. For example, looking up "Milk" brings up more than 35 different listings.
Feature Highlights:
* Lookup, customize, and record daily carbohydrate intake
* Comprehensive database of foods based on the USDA National Nutrient Database
* Lookup by Search, Category, or Alphabetical
* More than 1,100 foods listed from more than 2,500 searchable names
* Includes listings for Fast Foods

Selecting an item in any of the tables will display pertinent information about the selected food serving:

* Food Title
* Weight in grams
* Common Measure, e.g., 1/2 cup, etc.
* Calories
* Color coding for quick identification of caloric content range
* USDA Description
* USDA Food Group
* USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference ID

Touching the Record button on the top right to add an item to the user's daily food intake, the calorie watcher can specify a serving size between .1 and 9.9 times the standard serving. New in version 3.0 of iCals is the ability to create custom serving sizes between 1 and 500 grams in 0.1 gram increments. Users can easily dial in the exact serving size using a slider and buttons for extra fine control of their selection. With the serving size adjusted, users just touch the Record button in the top right to have the revised entry added to their daily intake.

Records of servings are kept for a full year before being automatically deleted from the database. Recorded servings can be edited to change the date or number of servings. They can also be deleted if necessary.

Information is derived from the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference: Energy (kcal) Content of Selected Foods per Common Measure. There are currently over 1,100 different food servings included, searchable using approximately 2,500 names (some foods are known by different names or how they are prepared, e.g., "Egg, Scrambled" and "Scrambled Egg"). A few of these have as many as six searchable names. The Info page provides additional information about Saturated Fat:

* What are Calories? - Wikipedia(R) definition

* Calorie Recommendations - Provides information for different groups, e.g., Sedentary women, older adults, children, teenage girls, active men, etc.; plus the USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans

* Highest Calorie Foods - Lists 28 different foods containing the highest amounts of Calories

* How to Use this App - Shows detailed information about how to record the user's personal nutrient intake of Calories, how to make changes to what the user has recorded, how to backup and restore the data

* Access My Records - Provides up to a full year of recorded entries, listed and grouped by date. Users may also view each individual entry in the database. Allowances are made for deleting records, changing the date, and also changing the number of servings

* Other Important Information - Provides access to a copy of the User Agreement, and links to communicate with the developer about bugs, suggestions or comments

Device Requirements:
* iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad
* Requires iOS 4.2 or later
* 6.4 MB

The other seven iNutrient apps are:
* iCarbs - iNutrients: Carbohydrates
* iCholesterol - iNutrients: Dietary Cholesterol
* iFiber - iNutrients: Fiber
* iProteins - iNutrients: Proteins
* iSatFat - iNutrients: Saturated Fat
* iSugars - iNutrients: Sugars
* Vitamin K - iNutrients: Vitamins K1, K1D and K2

Pricing and Availability:
The iCals app is available in the iTunes App Store for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The current price is $1.99 USD (or equivalent amount in other currencies) and can be found in the Health & Fitness and Lifestyle categories. Promo codes are available for qualified reviewers. Please specify the website, blog or organization you represent when making your request.


Based in Revere, Massachusetts, Indie developer James Hollender is a well seasoned Information Technology professional who has been familiar with Apple products since the days of the first Macintosh computer and has been involved with object oriented programming since the introduction of Java, culminating most recently in writing apps in Objective C for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. His innovative ideas have resulted in numerous suggestions and other awards including a commendation from The President of the United States. James Hollender has been involved writing iPad apps with Foliage, Kronos, Olympus and Cross Country Automotive Services (now Agero). Copyright (C) 2010-2012 James Hollender. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, and iPod are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other trademarks and registered trademarks may be the property of their respective owners.
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James Hollender
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