Diabetes Pilot - Software for Palm PDA's and Windows PC's

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Diabetes Pilot Instructions: Using the Food Database This section explains how to use the Diabetes Pilot food database. The food database provides reference information on thousands of foods. You can add your own foods to the database and customize it to meet your needs. Accessing the Food Database Finding Foods Adding New Foods and Groups Marking Foods as Favorites Organizing the Database Backing Up the Food Database	[Back to table of contents]
Accessing the Food Database The food database can be accessed in two different ways: From the main screen, select "Food Database" from the "Tools" menu. This will display the food database and allow you to look up food information and do things like add, edit, and organize the foods and mark foods as favorites. When you are building a new meal entry (see Food Records) tapping on the "Lookup food..." button will display the food database. You'll be able to do all of the functions listed above. In addition, you can select a food from the database and tap the "Use food" button to add it to the meal.
Finding Foods You can locate foods in the food database in several different ways: Browse through the foods by category. The list may contain foods or groups or both. Groups are indicated by an arrow to the right of the group name. Tapping on the arrow will change the list to display the foods in that group. Tap on the "Back" button at the top of the screen to go back a category. Tap on the "Top" button at the top of the screen to return to the top level group. This is usually the fastest way to find a food. Search for foods by name. Enter a few letters of the food you are looking for on the "Search" line, then tap the "Go" button. The food database will be searched for what you enter. Any food or group containing a word that begins with your search letters will be displayed when the search completes. You will usually have better results with the search feature if you enter just the first 3 or 4 letters of a food name - this way, the food will appear in the results even if it is named a bit differently than you'd expect. This is a good way to find a food if you can't find it by browsing. Display a list of the foods you have marked as favorites. To do this, go to the food database and select "Show Favorites" from the "Foods" menu. See Marking Foods as Favorites for more information. This is useful if you'd like to view or edit the list of your favorite foods. In many cases, the food list will contain more items than can fit on a single screen. If this is the case, small arrows will appear near the upper right and lower right of the list. Tap these arrows to scroll the list. Or, for a faster and easier way to scroll the list, use the "up/down" buttons on your device (these are located at the bottom center of most handhelds). To select a food, simply tap on it in the list. The selected food will be highlighted. After the food is selected, you can: Use the food in the meal that you are building by tapping on the "Use Food" button (this button only appears if the food database is accessed through the "Build Meal" screen). Edit the food using the functions described below. Tap on the "Food Info" button to get more information about the food. To see more of a food description that's larger than the screen, tap and hold the stylus on the item.
Adding New Foods and Groups To add a new food or group to the food database, start by browsing to the location where you would like the new item added (see Finding Foods above). The new item will be added to the location that is currently displayed on the screen, in alphabetical order. To add a new group, tap on the "New Group" button, enter a name for the new group, and tap "OK". To add a new food, tap on the "New Food" button. On the screen that appears, enter a name for the new food and the nutritional information for the food (you can always leave some of the nutrition items blank if you don't need accurate information for them). Tap "OK" when you're done.
Marking Foods as Favorites When a food is marked as a favorite, it will appear in the quick-access dropdown list on the "Build Meal" screen. It will also appear with a star (*) next to it in the food database list. To mark a food as a favorite: Find the food in the database (see Finding Foods above). Select the food (by tapping on it to highlight it) Tap the "Favorite" button. To remove a food from the favorites list, select it and tap the "Favorite" button. The food will be removed from the list. If you are trying to remove a food from the favorites list, you may find it convenient to display the items in the list by selecting "Show Favorites" from the "Foods" menu.
Organizing and Customizing the Food Database Several functions are available to help you organize and customize the food database. To delete a food from the database: Find the food in the database (see Finding Foods above). Select the food (by tapping on it to highlight it) Select "Delete Selected Item" from the "Foods" menu. To copy a food to another category: Find the food in the database (see Finding Foods above). Select the food (by tapping on it to highlight it) Select "Copy item" from the "Foods" menu. (Note: you can also select "Cut item" to move, rather than copy, the food to the new category). Browse to the category where you'd like to put the food Select "Paste item" from the "Foods" menu. To edit the name or data associated with a food or group: Find the food in the database (see Finding Foods above). Select the food (by tapping on it to highlight it) Select "Edit Selected Item" from the "Foods" menu. Make the changes that you desire to the food or group data. Tap the OK button.
Backing Up the Food Database If you are using Diabetes Pilot Desktop along with Diabetes Pilot on your Palm: The food database will be synchronized with your desktop data each time you do a HotSync. If you're not using Diabetes Pilot Desktop: the food database is normally not backed up during a HotSync. This is because the food database is very large and backing it up during every HotSync would make the HotSync unnecessarily slow. However, you can (and should) back up the the food database periodically so that your customizations will be saved if anything should happen to your handheld. Here's how: Start at the main screen in Diabetes Pilot. Select "Backup Food Database..." from the "Tools" menu. This queues the database for one backup during the next HotSync. Run a HotSync by putting your device in its cradle and pressing the HotSync button. The food database will be copied to your desktop computer for backup purposes.
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