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Frequently Asked Questions
Everything You Need To Know About
CookBookPlus
CookBookPlus Desktop 2016 and Microsoft Access Runtime
CookBookPlus Desktop 2016 has been packaged to run using the
Microsoft Access Runtime files. This version installs and runs
on Windows 7, 8, and 10. The Runtime
files are installed as part of the setup.
For What It's Worth
Q: What do CookBookPlus
and a bicycle have in common?
A: They are both easier
to use in real life than to describe in writing. Have you ever read a
good book on how to ride a bicycle?? I bet not. And I also bet you learned to
ride a bicycle very quickly when someone taught you how!!
Please,
watch the CookBookPlus Instructional Videos.
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Q: Besides a PC, what
else do I need ?
A: Desire and commitment;
we will supply the solution for achieving
your nutritional goals. CookBookPlus
is the perfect tool for helping you achieve goals related to personal wellness,
diet, fitness, nutrition, weight loss, and overall health.
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Q: What is the minimum
recommend PC for CookBookPlus Desktop 2016?
A: Windows 7 PC With All
Applicable Updates Installed Per Windows Update Or Microsoft Update
Sound System And Video Card To Play Instructional Video Clips
Monitor Resolution Set To 1280 x 1024, A 17” Or Larger Size Monitor Is
Recommended
CookBookPlus Desktop 2016 is a Microsoft
Access 2016 application, designed to operate with the Access 2016 Runtime
system. Installing CookBookPlus Desktop 2016
will automatically install the Access 2016 Runtime files on your PC. The
install may also update certain Windows files. Re-Boots are sometimes required
during installation.
You can use Window’s “Add Remove Programs” to uninstall
CookBookPlus Desktop 2016 and the Access 2016 Runtime files.
CookBookPlus Desktop 2016 requires 15 MB of
hard drive; Access 2016 Runtime takes another 35 MB. We suggest that you have at
least 200 MB free before installing to allow room for extracting the files and
for various temp install files.
CookBookPlus Desktop 2016 is a color-keyed
visual program; so we recommend a 17” flat panel or 19” monitor. You can, of
course, use a 15” screen, but you may have to scroll in some screens depending
on the screen resolution supported by your monitor. You will have the best user
experience using a screen resolution of 1280 x 1024.
Q: How long does
installation take?
A: That depends on your particular system.
Typically, it takes less than 5 minutes even if
Access Runtime needs to be installed.
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Q: Do I have to register
my copy of CookBookPlus Desktop 2016 after installing it.?
A: You do not have to
register yourself as a user after installing
CookBookPlus Desktop 2016. However, we hope that you will voluntarily
provide us with a user profile so we can communicate if necessary. Just
email us your contact information. We will not bury you with emails! But we will use the profile to
inform you of upgrades, bug fixes, etc.
However, you must “Activate”
CookBookPlus Desktop 2016.
You must activate (1) within 5 days of initial install; and/or (2) before you
view (i.e. look at) more than 100 individual recipe or meal records; and/or (3)
you accumulate more than 10 recipes and/or 30 meals (Sampler Demo), Or 30
recipes and/or 120 meals (Trial Demo Or Full Version). If you do not activate
CookBookPlus Desktop 2016 within these
parameters, the software will go into reduced function mode until activation is
accomplished!
CookBookPlus Desktop 2016 activation is very
simple, and only takes a few seconds. You will be prompted to do so each time
you run the software until you have activated it. The process consists of
sending us (either via a link to our web site, or via email) your CD Key
"Request" (a simple cut/paste, just be sure to send us the entire request
string). After we receive your request, we will generate your activation
key code, and email it back to you as a text string in the subject field of an
email. When you receive the email, just paste the entire subject
line of our email back into the activation form that displays when you run
CookBookPlus Desktop 2016. Then, simply hit
the “Enter” key on your keyboard to complete the process. Also, you do not need
to hand-type in each character of the “Activation Key”. Our easy-enter form
automatically parses out our response text string; this greatly eliminates data
entry errors.
CookBookPlus Desktop 2016 activation does not
utilize any information related to your computer’s hardware profile, nor is any
such information transmitted to us. But you will need to activate
CookBookPlus Desktop 2016 after each install
(including re-installs on the same computer).
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Q: Do you have a demo
version?
A: Yes. We have a free demo version; it
is identical to our full version except that:
|
Sampler Demo: Will Time Out After
About 15 Days
Only Accumulates 10 Recipes
Only Accumulates 30 Meals (All Users)
Can Only Run The Sampler Demo 50 Times
See Download Demo |
And For The Demo Version ...
You Need To Log On As The User “Bob” To View Example Meals, Exercises, And
Related Reports
All Data Entered Using The Demo Versions Cab Be Retained If You Upgrade To The
Full Version.
And, when you decide to purchase the full version, the existing Demo
installation can easily be upgraded. So there is no need to uninstall the
Demo.
Simply mail us a check and we will email you an attached file that will convert
your existing demo into the full version. This process will require that you
activate the software again.
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Q: Can I download the
demo to try it out?
A: Yes. You
can download our Sampler Demo
here.
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Q: Are the demo versions
free?
A: The downloadable
Sampler Demo is free. You can use
this page to download a
demo.
You can also "test drive" our online demo of
CookBookPlus On The Web; see
this page.
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Q: What do the CD demo
versions cost?
A: The downloadable demo is free. See
this page for general pricing.
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Q: What does the full
version cost?
A: See
this page.
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Q: Can I purchase
CookBookPlus online?
A: No! We prefer
that you first try our free demo version. Then, if you like the program,
you can simply mail us a check and we will email you an attached small file that
will convert your existing demo into the full version. This process will require
that you activate the software again. See
this page.
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Q: How can I preview
your program without buying something?
A: Yes
Download the
Sampler Demo
Try the
Online Demo
Watch the
Instructional Videos for
our desktop version.
Watch the
Instructional Videos for
our web version.
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Q: So what can I do with
the demo version?
A: Everything that you
can do with the full version except that the program will time out after a
while.
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Q: Is 15 days enough
time to evaluate the program?
A: More than enough.
Most prospective users need only run the program one or twice to decide to buy!
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Q: If I use the demo to
enter recipes, meals, and exercises, do I have to start over and reenter my data
when I upgrade to the full version?
A: No. Data
entered using the CookBookPlus Desktop 2016
demo can still be used after installing the CookBookPlus
Desktop 2016 full version. And just to be safe, remember to use
the Demo program's backup utility first!
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Q: How good is your User
Manual ?
A: THERE IS NO MANUAL
(not even a .pdf version). Everything you need to know is in the videos.
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Q: Why no manual?
A: Most users will not
read them. Period. For most, a user manual is a “feel good”
possession; always kept in a convenient place, but never touched. Just use
CookBookPlus Desktop 2016; you’ll feel good.
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Q: Do you provide any
examples with the software?
A: Yes.
CookBookPlus Desktop 2016 (both CD & download versions) contains 6 example recipes, 24
example meals (8 days worth), and 2 months of logged exercises (approximately 20
per month).
The recipes are viewable by all users at all times. However, you have to log on
as the user “Bob” to see the example meals & exercises.
The meal & exercise examples supplied with CookBookPlus
Desktop 2016 represent the most recent set actually logged by the
user “Bob” immediately preceding the production of the copy of
CookBookPlus Desktop 2016 in your possession.
Therefore, they are “current date” sensitive. Bear in mind that certain charts
and nutrition reports in CookBookPlus Desktop 2016
are created using a default date range that is the preceding 31 days (from the
current date). If you have had your copy of CookBookPlus
Desktop 2016 longer than either 31 days (regarding the example meals)
or 60 days (regarding the example exercises), certain of the charts and
nutrition reports will indicate that there is no data for the user “Bob” UNLESS
YOU FIRST CHANGE THE SPECIFIED DATE RANGE to include the period of time that
YOUR examples were produced!
The Demo versions of CookBookPlus Desktop 2016
contain restrictions on how many recipes and meals can be accumulated in your
data file. If you need more room for you personal recipes and logged meals in
order to keep using a CookBookPlus Desktop 2016
Demo, feel free to delete the example recipe and meal records.
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Q: What if I get the
program but won’t watch the videos?
A: You’ll probably get
along just fine, but your learning curve will be longer.
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Q: Once I know how to
use the program, how much time each day should I allow to enter my meals?
A: Maybe 5 minutes.
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Q: Why did you create
CookBookPlus?
A: One day I was playing with my daughter out
in the yard, and noticed that I was huffing and puffing. It suddenly occurred to
me that I was much too young to be acting like an old man. So I decided then and
there to get back into shape. Since I had
always liked bike riding, I got out my old Schwinn bicycle, put air into the
tires, and hit the road. I also committed to lose 50 pounds (and keep it off);
and I gave myself 5 years to achieve these goals.
In the process of getting back into form, I got very interested in nutrition
(I’m also a pretty good cook). But, I quickly got tired of manually calculating
calories (from can labels and books), so I wrote an application in Excel that
allowed me to create recipes and track my meals, and to calculate the calories
automatically. The Excel app actually worked pretty well. However, Excel is not
a great database, and I eventually rewrote the program to run under an old DOS
program called “Q&A”. The “Q&A” version worked really great, but “Q&A” was not
very user friendly to develop in (way too tedious).
During this period, I also was developing a fairly serious business application
for managing any company’s basic sales processes (customers, orders, quotes,
etc.). I successfully used that application to automate the sales departments of
several successful businesses. That application (at one time, also a “Q&A” app),
was eventually rewritten in Access 95, and continued to evolve substantially.
Based upon my experiences in further developing that application (called “Sales
Manager”), I decided to convert my Q&A cookbook, meal, and exercise code into
Access.
Finally, my Mother asked me to help her get a PC so she could type out her
favorite family recipes and produce a cookbook to give out to family members as
gifts. With enough reason at hand, I sat down and rewrote the geneses of
CookBookPlus. First in Access 95, then Access
97, then Access 2000, then Access 2002, and finally Access 2016.
By the way, I actually got back into pretty decent shape within 5 months, and I
lost the weight (actually 55 pounds) in only 18 months!! And, I’ve been able to
easily keep it off!! Dieting alone has never worked for me. I like to eat really
good food. But exercising AND watching what I eat (mostly by lowering the %
calories from fat in my meals and recipes) really does the trick for me.
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Q: What is the USDA Food
Values Database?
A: The USDA analyzes food items to determine
their nutritional content (calories from fats, carbohydrates, proteins,
vitamins, minerals, etc). The results of these analyses are compiled in a public
domain database called the USDA Nutrient Database For Standard Reference,
Release (#). The USDA is constantly updating this database. However,
please note that CookBookPlus Desktop 2016
contains Release 13; CookBookPlus On The Web
contains Release 15. We have not found the minor differences between our
"included" releases and the current USDA version to be material. However,
both versions of CookBookPlus provide methods
for accessing the USDA web site for researching their most current database.
The USDA Food Values Database is used by, among others,
the food industry to compute the nutritional values that you see on food
packaging, like the labels you see on cans of food. The version of
the database in CookBookPlus Desktop 2016
contain over 6,000 separate food items. You will find many different analysis
for the same food item by different measures (by the ounce, by the cup, for 6
each, etc). However, all food items were essentially analyzed by weight. The
weight of a food item contained, say, in one measure (like the Cup), was then
used to produce the results for the (Cup) measure value shown in the database.
The USDA Food Values database is a wealth of information on food item nutrition.
In CookBookPlus, we only use the grams and
calories from fats, carbohydrates, and proteins. But the USDA Database also
contains details, for most items, on vitamins, minerals, refuse, water, etc.
See Nutrient Data Laboratory Website for more details.
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Q: What is the
difference between CookBookPlus’s recipe and meal “Food Item Ingredients”, and
the USDA Database?
A: The USDA Food Values
Database is used as background reference material in
CookBookPlus, but only to
retrieve data on the grams and calories for fats, carbohydrates, and proteins
for selected food items. On the other hand, the
CookBookPlus “Food Item
Ingredients” are used to enter individual recipe or meal line items (such as
Carrots Diced, Ground Chuck Broiled, etc) when creating a recipe or meal.
The “Food Item Ingredients” in CookBookPlus
are explicitly pared with a given Measure (like by the Cup) so the program can
accurately keep track of nutritional details and at the same time, automatically
enforce data entry discipline on the user. The approach taken in
CookBookPlus allows for free form, on the fly,
creation of any Food Item Ingredient pared with any Measure, by any user, at any
time. The User can choose to track, or disregard, nutritional data, at will.
If the User creates a new “Food Item Ingredient”, he can hand enter the
nutritional data by copying it off a food item package, he can look it up in a
reference book, or he can research it in the USDA Database. If the USDA Database
is used, single, “mouse click” posting of the nutritional values to the
CookBookPlus “Food Item Ingredient”, in a
variety of common Measures, is easily accomplished.
CookBookPlus ships with hundreds of commonly
used, every day “Foof Item Ingredients”, and most of these have nutritional data
attached. Note, however, that these “Food Item Ingredients” are the ones
actually used by the Author over several years, as the program was developed and
tested. They are unlikely to meet the needs of all users. For one reason, there
are almost no ‘fast food” items; the Author almost never eats fast foods. You’ll
have to enter "Food Item Ingredients" for the ones you tend to buy. Secondly,
the Author almost never uses prepared food items (such as TV dinners, etc.).
However, this is not a problem; the ability top quickly add new "Food Item
Ingredients" is a key feature of CookBookPlus.
Third, many of the included brand name "Food Item Ingredients" are local to
Maryland.; a User in California will need to add "Food Item Ingredients" for
different local brands.
By keeping the “Food Item Ingredient” list in each User’s copy of
CookBookPlus small, personalized, and relevant,
data entry is fast and easy. Yes, we could automatically include all 6,210 USDA
items in our “Food Items Ingredients” list, but do you want to always have to
search such a big list to locate the one you want?? Also, you will find that you
never use most items listed in the USDA Database anyway.
By the way, the “Food Item Ingredients” shipped with
CookBookPlus have been either...
- Derived From Labels On Food Items As The Food Item Was Purchased Or Consumed,
or..
- Derived From The Included USDA Food Values Database, or..
- Derived From Open Market Published Sources (Reference Books And Materials), or..
- Derived From Underlying Recipes Or Meals (From Which The Ingredient Was
Created).
In CookBookPlus, you can...
- Add, Modify, Customize, Or Delete "Food Item Ingredients" As Desired
- Any Given "Food Item Ingredient" Can Be Paired With Any Number Of Measure Values
- Special Non-Food "Food Item Ingredients" Are Used As Recipe Ingredient Section
Headers In Recipes Or Meals, and as a “blank” line item ingredient to separate
sections in a recipe or meal.
- Deleting Any "Food Item Ingredient" That Was Used In Any Recipe Or Meal Will
Delete All Instances Where It Was Used (so please delete Ingredients with
caution!)
One final comment about the “Food Item Ingredients” in
CookBookPlus...
- They are provided for the User’s convenience only.
- The Author Makes No Warranty Regarding The Accuracy Of Any Listed Nutritional
Information
- The User Is Solely Responsible For The Accuracy And Appropriateness Of Any
Nutritional Data Used In CookBookPlus, And
- The User Is Responsible For The Correctness Of Any Reports And Charts Produced!
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Q: Can others in my
family use CookBookPlus for nutritional guidance and exercise tracking?
A: Absolutely.
CookBookPlus Desktop 2016
lets you sign on as a named “User”. You will only
see meals, exercises, exercise reports, and daily calorie reports for yourself.
But of course, you can share everyone’s recipes. In
CookBookPlus Desktop 2016: user accounts can
be (optionally) password protected; and there is a special "Admin" user that can
control which recipes are viewable by all users.
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Q: CookBookPlus looks
like it does a lot; but is it complex to use and difficult to learn?
A: Not at all.
CookBookPlus is very intuitive
and user friendly. Recipes and meals are entered just like you would
if you were to write them on a piece of paper. Most data entry is accomplished
using three, easy to use forms (one for recipes or meals, one type for
ingredients, and one type for logging exercises; and all
CookBookPlus reports and charts are produced by
making one or two clicks of the mouse. A complete set of informative and self
guiding instructional videos are included on the CD to make learning the system
fast and fun. These videos are also available online.
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Q: All right. But do I
have to record everything I eat to benefit from CookBookPlus’s nutritional
management capability?
A: Certainly not.
Most people are creatures of habit; and they tend to eat the same things in
similar quantities over time. However, when first starting to use
CookBookPlus, you will gain a better
understanding of you actual current eating habits, if you can record almost
everything you eat for two thirds of the days during the month. This is really a
lot easier than it sounds. CookBookPlus’s
user friendly interface and integrated forms set makes data entry a snap. Once
you are familiar with the system, recording your daily meals and snacks should
only take you about five minutes a day! You should really try to do this for at
least the first two months, as this will give you an excellent base line against
which to gage your future progress. After the first two months, recording
everything you eat, let’s say, every other day, will probably be sufficient for
most people. Remember, CookBookPlus’s
nutritional calculations take into consideration the fact that people almost
always eat every day, but only exercise occasionally.
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Q: OK, so what about
logging my exercise workouts; do I have to log every workout I do?
A: Unfortunately, yes.
This is because people rarely exercise on each and every day of their lives, and
some people only exercise a few times a month, if at all. Therefore, it is
important to track and understand all the actual exercise benefits that you do
realize. CookBookPlus’s Exercise Snapshot
Report and Calories Consumed Charts takes this into account when calculating
your net nutritional outcome! The program assumes that you eat every day; so it
calculates and averages your food intake over a specified period of time. And
the program also assumes that you do not exercise every day, so it averages, on
a daily basis, the actual workouts you do record. The “calories in” and
“calories burned” values are then dramatically presented in summary reports and
graphs, thus maximizing your nutritional feedback effect!
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Q: Yes, that makes sense.
But what’s the big deal about your “Healthy Factor Feedback” icons?
A: The problem with trying to track your
nutritional intake is that it has always been very tedious to do, and the
process tries to bury you in a sea of numbers. Also, the process is manually
time consuming, and intellectually uninspiring! How much fun have you really had
in reading the nutritional labels on cans, or in trying to count portions and
calories? Few people have the discipline or patience to put up with the effort
over time. CookBookPlus almost fully
automates the process, and the “Healthy Factor Feedback”
icons present you a single point of focus to work with. Please keep
in mind that managing nutritional intake to achieve a desired physiological
outcome is really simple to accomplish: if you want to loose weight and get in
shape, then you must do two things; you need to eat fewer calories than you
consume, and you need to exercise to get into, and stay, in shape!
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Q: No surprise there. So
how does CookBookPlus help me manage my nutritional intake?
A: That’s easy.
CookBookPlus makes it easy to create, modify, and use
recipes that achieve a desired nutritional balance. The Healthy Factor Feedback
icon on each recipe you enter, graphically and dramatically indicates, in real
time as ingredients are entered or changed, the percent of calories derived from
fat. This is perhaps the single most influencing fact affecting your
total caloric intake. Remember, each gram of protein or carbohydrate contributes
only four calories to your diet, but each gram of fat contributes nine calories!
It is a well accepted premise that the most desired nutritional target is to
realize approximately 30%-35% of your calories from fat, with maybe 40-50 % from
carbohydrates, and the balance (15%-25%) from protein. Of course, if you are
very physically active, you may need to increase the % from fat and reduce the %
from carbohydrates in order to sustain your energy levels. You may well find
that when you first start using CookBookPlus,
your fat intake may be approaching 50%!! Ah, the typical American diet.
By the way, your stomach likes to control food consumption by bulk quantity
feel; and it really does a poor job of tracking calories as you eat them
(although your body will give you reasonable feedback after digestion). You tend
to feel equally full after eating a cup of ice cream as you do after eating a
cup of fresh fruit salad. But, the former probably packs 300 calories (mostly
derived from fats), where the latter only 150 calories (almost all derived from
carbohydrates). Simply develop and change your recipes until you get the desired
Healthy Factor Feedback icon.
And, this same logic holds true for meals you enter into
CookBookPlus; just work to
get the desired icon result!
Use The CookBookPlus Daily Calories Snapshot reports and the Nutrition History
reports and charts to see the real time consequences of you eating and exercise
habits. Pay particular attention to your "net daily calories"
and where it stands compared to you target daily BMR. If your "net"
calories are greater than your BMR, you will probably tend to gain weight over
time! If you want to loose some weight, simply manage your food intake and
exercise efforts to bring your "net" calories below your BMR. This will
tend to cause you to loose weight over time. And keep an eye on the
estimated weight gain or loss values in these reports; these will give you the
appropriate "heads up". If using
CookBookPlus Desktop 2016, the Nutrition History Chart-Report will
also show you "trend lines" for both your "net daily calories" and "exercise
calories". These can be real "eye openers".
And Please keep the following in mind: You
target daily BMR is a function of age, weight, gender, and overall life style.
An overweight person will have a higher BMR, so changing eating habits to bring
net daily calories in line with (current) BMR will not result in weight loss.
Weight will just tend to remain constant. To loose 1 pound, you must
reduce your "net" calories by 3,500. Just do the math and set your goals
(over time) accordingly.
Finally, incorporate regular exercise or other strenuous
physical activity into your daily schedule. Burning off
calories by being physically active is the best way to improve your personal
wellness, regardless of your eating preferences. Everyone can do this if
they have the desire and commitment!
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Q: Makes sense. What are
the important fundamentals in personal nutritional management and dietary
balance?
A: You really are what
you eat and what you do! Eat a lot and do nothing; and you will
surely gain weight. But dieting alone rarely works long term. It goes against
human instincts, and basically requires too much tortuous will power. Besides,
you cannot win a race on an empty stomach. Living, playing, thinking, all take
energy. Why fight city hall? Everyone has what is called a basil metabolic rate;
that’s the rate you burn calories based upon your sex, weight, and age, by just
being alive. By the way, women have metabolic rates that are almost 15% more
efficient than men’s, so it is fundamentally harder for women to loose weight
than for men! Sorry. For a 200 pound, middle aged male, this rate is
approximately 2,000 calories daily. In addition to your basil metabolic rate,
you need to allow for effort expended living a normal life (working, moving
around, housework). Again, a 200 pound male might burn another 1,500 calories a
day if mentally or physically active in a job. Finally, any recreational
exercise will consume additional calories.
There are 3,500 calories in a pound of fat. If you are 20 pounds overweight, you
have to consume (burn off) 70,000 calories over what you eat during any given
period of time in order to really loose the 20 pounds. If you ate 500 fewer
calories a day than your body demanded, it would take 140 days, with no break,
to burn off the 20 extra pounds!!! Are you willing to give up 1 & ½ cups ice
cream (or its equivalent) every day for more then 3 months just to shed pounds??
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Q: Well, I get the idea.
If I can supply some personal discipline, how should I actually use
CookBookPlus?
A: Very simply. Use
CookBookPlus to develop
low fat recipes, and use it to understand, track, and manage your average daily
calorie intake. Strive for the lowest % of calories derived from
fats; just target a range that works for you. Remember, low fat recipes always
result in low fat portions, no matter how big the portion you eat. By developing
lower fat recipes and meals, you will naturally begin to realize a more healthy
diet. By tracking and understanding how many calories you are consuming, you
will gain insight regarding your real need to manage how much you consume and
how much exercise you should aim to do regularly. Most of the time, making
simple modifications to the foods you consume can make a big difference. Cutting
back on mayonnaise on sandwiches, and the use of lots of fats in recipes or
meals (butter, oils, creams) can have a dramatic effect on whether a recipe or
meal is healthy for you to eat (Lean Machine or Wide Waist icons), or may simply
contain too many calories from fats (Big Belly or Fat So icons).
Next, please start to exercise, and log the workouts in
CookBookPlus.
Find an activity that you like to do, and then do it regularly, with enthusiasm!
Make it an important part of your life. I have found that biking is the easiest
high intensity aerobic exercise there is. But running, swimming, and
rollerblading are also great. All of these enjoyable activities can burn off a
lot of calories in a short period of time. Even walking, golf, gardening, and
vigorous house work can help. For example, I like to ride my bike 30 miles a
day, at a very fast pace (17 mph). These workouts burn off approximately 1,500
calories each, enough to offset almost ½ pound of extra fat a day. Bring on the
ice cream!!
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Q: How precise do I have
to be when entering my daily meal items?
A: Do the best you can
regarding accuracy, but don’t sweat the details. It is better to make
a best estimate guess of quantities you consumed than to leave an item out
entirely. And, it is better to err on the side of overstating how much you eat,
than to understate. This is particularly true of high fat items, like salad
dressings, oils, butter, or creams. Remember, you want to develop a
“Qualitative” view, over time, of you eating habits. The actual “Quantities”
will not be so important, especially if you exercise to burn off some of what
you eat! Just manage your "Net Daily Calories".
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Q: What if I’m in a
hurry to log a meal, but cannot find an existing ingredient to enter that is
exactly like the one I need?
A: No big deal. Just
select any other similar ingredient that closely approximates the item you did
consume. This often happens to me for dessert items. Say I ate a
slice of strawberry rhubarb pie for dessert, but the closest pie in my existing
ingredients list is peach. I would simply select the peach item; the actual
nutritional difference between the two pie types will probably not be material
on a single meal basis. You do need to be reasonably accurate regarding the net
effect of the quantity consumed. If I ate half the strawberry rhubarb pie, I’d
need to reflect this in the amount of peach pie logged! Just do a little mental
math. Of course, if I made a habit of eating strawberry rhubarb pie regularly,
I’d eventually create such an ingredient for my regular use. I also do this a
lot for bread items; different brands do have slightly different nutritional
content per slice. Again, for one or two meal records, the difference doesn’t
matter.
By the way, after you use CookBookPlus for a
while, you will find that you get real good at knowing your food items and their
basic nutritional contributions. And, you will also get good at estimating
ingredient quantities that you use. When I first started using
CookBookPlus, I was very concerned about how
much of an item I actually used, so I started weighing my meats and luncheon
cuts, and carefully measured out things like butter, cream, and other items by
the cup, etc. What a pain!! However, I found that I quickly got to the point
where I could guess very accurately, by feel alone, the weight, say, of 3 slices
of luncheon ham, or cheese. But, using a small scale or measuring cup will help
you develop these skills. Finally, although good nutritionally for you, most
non-starch vegetables contribute very little, calorie wise, to your diet, unless
you eat them by the ton. I’ll often not even bother to log these types of items.
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Q: What are some the key
features and functions in CookBookPlus Desktop 2016?
A: Here is a partial
listing:
Security And Privacy
- User accounts can be optionally password protected. You can apply a personal
password, or subsequently "default value" your password, at any time. As you
add new user accounts, their password is defaulted to "password"; this
eliminates the need to enter any password when accessing the
CookBookPlus Desktop 2016 forms and
functions. If a user chooses to subsequently set their own password, they must
enter the password before they can gain access to the program's forms and
functions. Passwords, as well as other "user profile" data is controlled using
a "User Account" form. A "user" can only access their own (private) profile.
"Logging On" is generally "behind the scene" for any user with the default
"password" password. Log On status is indicated by a new check box on the Main
Menu. Any user can un-check the box to log off at any time.
- There is a "Admin" system user account for managing other users, their profiles,
and their records. The Admin User account is also used for performing the
CookBookPlus Desktop 2016 utility function
"Backup And Compact Database". The "Admin" user account is, of course,
password protected; and it cannot be deleted. Only the "Admin" user can delete
other user accounts.
- CookBookPlus 2008
Desktop is licensed by the "client" as well as by the number of
"enabled user accounts" on each client. Each "client" ships with a minimum of
5 enabled user accounts. Additional user accounts can be optionally purchased
at any time. Note: a client's "Admin" user account does not count as one of
these license user accounts. User accounts are "recoverable": if you run out
of available user accounts, you can either purchase more users, or delete an
existing user.
- The CookBookPlusData2005.mdb backend database file is password protected (locked
down), and can only be accessed using the CookBookPlus
Desktop 2016 Client.
- The above listed CookBookPlus Desktop 2016
"security" enhancements allow for both "private" and "public" records.
Generally, any records created by a user are "private", and cannot be viewed by
any other user (except the "Admin User"). The "Admin" user can optionally make
any record "public". If a record is designated "public", it can then be viewed
by all other users. This goes for Recipes, Quantities, Measures, Food
categories, and Food Item Ingredients. This allows recipes to be shared among
users. Non "Admin" users are restricted in what they can do with a "public"
record; even the ones they create.
Records Management
- You can manage Quantities, Measures, and Food Categories items from both a new
"Manage Records" Menu as well as from the Main Form.
- You can add, update, and delete these items using enhanced forms. These forms
are also synchronized to the currently viewed Main Form's record (if open).
- All user accounts are assigned minimum default entries for "Exercise Locations"
and "Exercise Types". You can add, delete, or modify entries for these records
directly from the enhanced "User Settings Menu", or from command buttons located
on the "Log Exercise" forms.
Nutrition History Reporting
- There is a stunning "Nutrition History Chart-Report Combo" that provides an "all
inclusive" revealing insight into your "net" nutritional outcome. You can
produce the chart for any time period. The report covers total calories,
exercise calories, net daily calories, and target daily BMR calories. It
includes trend lines for net daily calories and exercise calories. It also
presents a period average for calories over or under target BMR, your period
exercise calories averages, and an estimate of period weight gain or lose. Your
current BMI is also indicated. This report "tells it all".
- The "chart" and "report" components can also be produced as separate stand alone
views.
- The chart report for "Total Calories and % Fat Calories" also contains trend
lines.
Advanced Searching Functions
- You can search both "Food Item Ingredients" and the "USDA Food Values
Ingredients Database" using a key word search string. These searches will
present the results in new forms that will allow you to select an item for
additional action. For "Food Item Ingredients", a selected item can be
automatically be inserted in the currently viewed Recipe or Meal as a new "line
item ingredient". For USDA items, a selection will quickly locate the USDA item
for additional action.
Advanced Program Behavior
- Program behavior while entering new values "on the fly" for Quantities,
Measures, and Food Categories (while working in the Main Form) has been further
enhanced and is more intuitive than ever.
- The Main Form, as well as all forms for working with Quantities, Measures, Food
Categories, and Food Item Ingredients, will "morph" their functionality as a
function of a viewed record's owner and its "public" status.
- The Main Form includes a "record status notification" immediately below the
"Preparations" text field box; it appears only when viewing a "public" record,
and only when viewing a recipe record that you did not create. You will be
advised that "Edits" are not allowed. You are also denied access to the "Update
Ingredient" (made from the Recipe) function command button.
Filtered "Print All Recipes" and "Table Of
Contents" Functions
- Printing all your recipes and creating an updated Table Of Contents will only
include your personal Recipe records and any designated "public" Recipe records.
- The header and footer text used on the Recipes and Table Of Contents reports are
user defined per customizable fields in each User's profile.
System Utilities
- The "Backup And Compact Database" function has been further simplified.
- For CookBookPlus Desktop 2016 users that also
use our CookBookPlus
On The Web
internet based application, there is an "import from web" function that allows
them to email their daily web meal records to themselves, in the form of an XML
data attachment. The XML data can then be easily imported into the user's
desktop database files. This sophisticated import utility will first verify
that the records to be imported do not already exist (so no duplicates), and
that all related required records (Quantities, Measures, Food Categories, and
Food Item Ingredients) also exists in the desktop database. If these related
records do not exist, the import function can create them. Then, the "records
to be imported", are imported one at a time for optimum user feedback.
Importing a day's meals takes less than 1 minute! Sure beats hand entering the
data a second time.
Program Installation
- We use a single "setup.exe" to install the CookBookPlus
Desktop 2016 program client, the backend database file, and the
Access 2016 Runtime files. Both the client and the backend database are
installed at C:\CookBookPlus2008. The Runtime files are installed at
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12.
- Our "Instructional Videos" are packaged into "Flash Theaters"; they play inside
a browser (Internet Explorer 6+).
CookBookPlus Desktop 2016 Compatibility With Previous Versions Of CookBookPlus
Desktop
- The "look, feel, and functionality" of CookBookPlus
Desktop 2016 will be very familiar to any 2002 or 2005 user upgrading
to 2008. We have made every effort possible to keep these products as similar
as the advancing technology would allow. You will also find that
CookBookPlus Desktop 2016 and CookBookPlus On The Web offer almost identical
functionality!
- CookBookPlus Desktop 2016 uses the same
backend database file structure used in the 2005 version, so users upgrading to
2008 can take advantage of their existing data. But the 2008 data file is
different from the 2002 data file structure, so it is not possible to use a 2002
data file with a 2008 client. Contact
bob@cookbookplus.com for information about having your 2002 data file
converted to 2005 format.
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