July 2003
Time-Savers For Nutrition Linking
NYC nutrition analysis requires linking of recipe ingredients to items in the nutrition database. This may seem tedious for some users, but because there are so many forms of each ingredient that affect nutrition, it is the only way to ensure complete accuracy of the analysis for any recipe from any source. NYC uses the full USDA nutrition database, so NYC offers the range and power needed by nutrition consultants and dieticians for accurate analysis of any recipe. The tradeoff for this range and power is that you must link recipe ingredients to nutrition items.
Here are a few tips to streamline the nutrition linking process:
1. Pre-link ingredients in your ingredient droplist using Recipes... Droplists> Ingredients. Then when these ingredients are used later in a new recipe, they will already be linked to nutrition items. If you build a large enough ingredient droplist over time and keep all items in the list linked to nutrition, most of your ingredients on new recipes will be automatically linked to nutrition.
2. When you add ingredients to recipes, those ingredients get added to the ingredient droplist when you save the recipe. If you linked the new ingredient to a nutrition item, then the nutrition link will get added to the ingredient droplist as well.
3. On an existing recipe, use Nutrition… Get Links from Ingredient List… from the recipe edit window to have NYC make any links it can for you. NYC will do this by exactly matching the recipe ingredient description to pre-linked ingredients in your ingredient droplist, so how you phrase your ingredient descriptions is important.
4. Use the Edit… Find… from the main menu with the recipe edit window open while linking recipe ingredients to quickly find items in the nutrition database for linking. This routine will find ALL occurrences of a keyword in the database. Use a single word as your keyword for best results (avoid multi-word phrases). The nutrition link window must be open for the Edit… Find… selection to be visible.
5. Use mass units for recipe ingredients where possible (“lb”, “oz”, “g”, “mg”, etc), or qualify units with a mass, e.g., use “can (16 oz)” instead of “can”. You can also use one of the alternate units listed for the linked item in the nutrition database in the serving size droplist. This will ensure that an appropriate unit conversion is available. If you use an alternate unit, use only the first word of that alternate unit description. For example, use “slice” instead of “slice (1/2 in thick)”.
For more information on nutrition linking, see also:
Specifying Recipe Ingredient Units for Nutrition Analysis:
http://www.ffts.com/tips/tipjul99.htm
Mastering NYC Nutrition Analysis:
http://www.ffts.com/tips/tipoct00.htm
Nutrition FAQ (Operation):
http://www.ffts.com/faq/faq_nutrition.htm
Nutrition FAQ (Troubleshooting):
http://www.ffts.com/faq/faq_nutrition_troubleshoot.htm
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