Customer Reviews

The NutriBase Nutrition Facts Desk Reference

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is the second edition of this material. Years ago, I purchased the first edition. Have enjoyed using that one. Quite complete. But due to wear and many new products on the market, I wanted to get up-to-date data. I am disappointed about some of the features. The previous version provided data for 1 oz measurements for fruits and vegetables (in addition to cup, 1 medium, etc). I have found a number of foods where the new edition does not provide data for this unit of measure. In the previous edition, the gram measurements for protein, carb, and fat content included tenths of a gram (i.e., 3.7). Now, you will only find tenths of a gram displayed under fat and saturated fat.

In the section covering fast food and chain restaurants, much of the data under saturated fat is just plain wrong. For example, (restaurant name omitted) chicken thigh has a total of 180 calories and 12 grams of fat (both editions). However, this second edition says this same thigh has 130 grams of saturated fat (the first edition says it has 4 grams, which is much more reasonable).

As long as your primary need does not concern the saturated fat content of restaurant food, this is a good source of nutritional information. The main section provides nutritional data for calories, protein, carbs, sodium, fiber, fat, saturated fat, cholesteral, and %fat calories. The second section provides vitamin/mineral data for a much shorter listing of food. (Vitamins & minerals: A, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, b6, folate, b12, C, calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, and zinc). The third, and shortest, section provides the calorie, protein, etc. data for fast-food and chain resaurants.

I bought this book and returned it. Yes, it's FULL of everything it claims to be full of. It was WAY TOO much for me. If you want the nutritional value of a simple raw vegetable, it is hidden in the heaps of potato chips, pages of popcorn products and canned veges. For health minded people who DO NOT eat packaged/processed foods and at fast food establishments and want nutritional values of plain old raw foods (since packaged foods ALREADY HAVE a listing of nutritional values! and raw foods don't!), this is hard to use. Way overcumbersome and not user-friendly. For the rest, enjoy all the info and comparisons!

Although this book is HUGE, it give all the info people need. Grocery items, restaurant entrees, EVERYTHING is listed. If you really want to know what is in food, this is the book for you. I am hypoglycemic and have to monitor my sugar and carbohydrate intake. This book will help me be able to eat healthy no matter where I go!

This reference book is very well done, as far as it goes. However, many of the brand names are not available in the Rocky Mountain West. Also, the beer and wine selections which have been included are extremely narrow, and, in fact, laughable. Art Ulene is a good guy and a prolific author of nutrition references, but this one doesn't fill the bill for me.

My trainer loaned me this book. He said he purchased it years ago and still considers it the very best nutrition book on the market. After using his copy, I ordered my own. Although at first the layout of the book may look intimidating, it isn't! It is actually so logical and simply layed out, it makes looking up anything a breeze. The typeface is perfect. I needed to keep food charts, so I had to find out calories and fat content of everything I ate. I hated the idea of doing this, but with this book it was quick and easy. It also includes all nutrition information you need for "junk food" like McDonald's, KFC, Taco Bell, etc. It will tell you calories, fat, sodium, cholestorol and more. The foods are listed on the left, the nutritional headings are listed across the top. So you look up shrimp and slide your finger to the right and go to the heading you need to have information about. The portion sizes are written in such a way, that they are perfectly clear. There is no chance for misunderstanding. I liked this feature a lot because the information was so concrete. Baked, fried, sauteed...it doesn't matter. He thought of everything. I have always been able to find exactly what I needed no matter how obscure I thought it was going to be. It's definitely in there. Buy this book. It is the most flawless reference book on nutrition I have ever used. It is designed for use by real people living in the real world.

This is the best reference I found out there for calories carbs protein fat etc.... and the price is good

This book really means it when it says Desk Reference. Too big to carry around. It is very complete and filled with name brands I never heard of. Gives you all the information one should ever require.

For anyone trying to track calories, carbs, salt intake or any dietary issue, this is the MUST HAVE book! My husband suffers from elevated blood pressure (prehypertension), and we are successfully using this book to reduce it! We find it makes shopping for low-sodium products much easier than standing in grocery aisles reading every can, carton, package for its sodium content. This book has so much information on the foods we eat (and brands), that one won't need any other guide! Great book.

I have recently embarked on improving my eating habits. I am finding this book to be a tremendous support. With it on my kitchen counter I find myself reaching for it several times a day to check calories or potasium levels of foods or to search through by column to find good sources of magnesium or other minerals or vitamins.

I am giving this book to a couple of friends who are also trying to improve their eating habits.

Thank you Dr. Ulene and your team for pulling this helpful information together in one spot!

Part 3 of this book on Fast Food Chain Restaurant Values is completely messed up in the area of Fat and Saturated Fat.

The gram numbers for saturated fat are several times higher than the grams of total fat. This is impossible. Nor is the data from one column merely switched with the data from the other column. There is no pattern to the errors. This section of the book is useless.

The front of the book contains a disclaimer as to the accuracy of any entires in the book. They got that right!

Personally I cannnot rely on the data in the other sections when the data in one section is so inaccurate. My health is too important.