Entering Data
This section explains how to record your data in Diabetes Pilot. Diabetes Pilot can track your glucose, food, medication, exercise, and nearly any other type of information that you'd like to record.
Recording and Editing Data on the Details Screen
Creating a new entry
To record a new data item, simply click on one of the buttons at the bottom of the main screen:
- Tap the "Gluc" button to record a new glucose (blood sugar) measurement
- Tap the "Food" button to record a new food or meal
- Tap the "Med" button to enter a medication or insulin dose.
- Tap the "Exer" button to enter a new exercise activity
- Tap the "BP" button to enter a new blood pressure and pulse reading
- Tap the "More..." button to record other types of data:
- Note records. The text that you enter for a note entry will be displayed in the list on the main screen. You can use this type of entry to record nearly anything. You might use it to record HbA1C measurements, other test results, notes about how you're feeling, or anything else you'd like.
- Blood Pressure readings.
- Weight
For more information on entering the details of these items see Recording and Editing Data below.
To edit an existing item, tap on the item in the list.
When you enter a new item change an existing one, it may or may not be immediately visible in the list on the main screen. The display on the main screen depends on the filter settings that you have set - see Displaying Your Data for more information.
Recording and Editing Data on the Details Screen
Diabetes Pilot allows you to record information in as much or as little detail as you would like - it provides for both quick data entry as well as the ability to record additional details when needed.
When you create a new record, a detail screen will appear. Enter the value for the item:
- For glucose records, enter your blood sugar reading. You can choose to use either mg/dL units (typically used in the United States) or mmol/L units (typically used throughout the world) by setting the desired units in from the preferences menu - see Setting Preferences for more information.
- For medication records, enter the amount of insulin or medication. Select the type of medication by tapping on the box to the right of the value box. If the item you want isn't in the list, tap the "add" button to add a new item to the list. Items that you don't use for an extended period of time will be removed from the list automatically.
- For food records, enter the foods in the meal. See Food Records below for details. Alternately, if you don't want to enter individual foods, you can manually enter the nutrient content of the meal (from your own carb counting, for example) by tapping the "quick" button at the bottom of the screen.
- For exercise records, enter the amount of exercise in whatever units are most useful to you (miles walked, minutes of activity, number of repetitions, etc). Select the type of exercise by tapping on the box to the right of the value box. If the item you want isn't in the list, tap the "add" button to add a new item to the list. Items that you don't use for an extended period of time will be removed from the list automatically.
- For blood pressure records, enter your blood pressure and pulse reading.
- For weight records, enter your weight.
- For note records, just enter the note that you'd like to make.
If you've set Diabetes Pilot to calculate insulin requirements (See Setting Preferences), the insulin calculation will be displayed when entering a glucose or food record. The calculation is updated when you change the value on the data entry screen. Tap the "enter now" button to create a new entry to record the calculated value.
You can enter notes in the space provided. The notes will be displayed in the list on the main screen.
A category for each record can be also be selected. This category can be use to categorize records in any manner that is useful to you. You may want to use the category to identify records by time of day (breakfast, lunch, dinner, etc). The category list can be customized however you would like. To customize the category list, finish entering your record. Then, click on the the "Tasks..." button on the main screen and select "Edit Categories".
Tap "Save" when you are done making your entry. You will return to the main screen. Tapping on "Cancel" returns you to the previous screen without saving your changes.
Tapping on the "Delete" button will delete the displayed record.
Food Records
Use food records to record meals, snacks, and other foods that you'd like to keep track of. When adding a food record, you can either:
- Quickly enter totals that you already know (from your own carbohydrate estimate, for example) without entering a lot of detail. To do this, tap on the "Quick" button at the bottom of the screen and enter the nutrition information you'd like to record.
- Or, you can record the details of the meal and have Diabetes Pilot calculate the carbohydrate and other nutrition information for you. The rest of this section explains how to do this.
To build a meal, add foods by using one of the buttons at the bottom of the screen:
Use the "Scan" button to scan a barcode on a packaged food. Diabetes Pilot will look up the food in an online database. If the food is found, it will be added to your meal record. Otherwise, you can enter the food using one of the methods below.
Use the "DB" button to select foods from the food database. Tapping this button takes you to the food database. Find the food that you are looking for by doing any combination of the following:
- Searching the food database by entering a short word or phrase in the search box at the top of the screen. Tap the "Search" button on the on-screen keyboard to perform the search.
- Browsing through the food groups. Food groups are shown on the screen in bold letters. Tap on the group to display its contents. To back up, tap on the "back" button in the upper left corner of the screen.
When you find the food you're looking for, tap on it. You will be returned to the Meal Record screen and the food will added to the meal.
See Using the Food Database for more information about the food database and how to use and personalize it.
Use the "Quick" button to manually enter an individual food and it's nutrition information.
Use the "Fav" button to access the favorite foods list. Tap on a food in the list to add it to the meal. To use this feature, you'll need to mark some of the foods in the database as favorites. See Using the Food Database for more information.
After adding a food to the meal, adjust the number of servings for the food as necessary by tapping on the food and selecting the number of servings in the selector that appears.
To remove a food from a meal, tap on the food's "i" button, then tap on the trashcan icon on that food's information screen. Or, just swipe the food, then tap the "Delete" button that appears.
To add more foods to the meal, continue to use any combination of the "DB", "Quick", and "Fav" buttons to add foods as necessary.
The nutrition information for the meal is calculated as you go. The following information is available:
- Carbs: Carbohydrates (grams)
- Calories: Calories
- Prot: Protein (grams)
- Fat: Total Fat (grams)
- Fiber: Total fiber (grams)
- Fat Cal: Calories from fat
- Sat Fat: Saturated fat (grams)
- Cholesterol: Cholesterol (mg)
- Sodium: Sodium (mg)
- Sugars: Sugars (g)
You can also save and recall entire meals. This saves you from having to reenter the individual items for meals that you commonly eat.
To save a meal for future use:
- Tap on the square-with-arrow icon near the lower right corner of the meal record screen.
- Select "Save this meal" from the menu that appears.
- Enter a name for the meal, then tap the "Save" button.
To recall a previously saved meal:
- Tap on the square-with-arrow icon near the lower right corner of the meal record screen.
- Select "Add items from saved meal" (to add the saved meal to the existing items) or "Replace with saved meal" (to replace the existing items with the meal items) from the menu.
- Find the meal you want in the list, and tap on it.
To delete a previously saved meal:
- Tap on the square-with-arrow icon near the lower right corner of the meal record screen.
- Select "Load a saved meal" from the popup menu.
- Select the meal you wish to delete, tap it's "edit" button, then tap the trashcan icon on the meal info screen that appears.