The food database on the 2020

[Gary_W]

Evening all,

My experience of the food database on the 2020 came mainly from the Java 'virtual' pump. The loan one I had strangely didn't have any items in it...

Anywhoo, I finally got my hands on the EZ manager software (international version) and guess what? No food items. And no categories.

I phone the (very good) US based support line for EZ manager and am told that the FDA won't let the international versions have a food database! So all of us non US based folks don't get it. Not only that, we only get a single category. So you can put in 500 items yourself and cannot sort them at all (apart from the alphabet!). I was hoping to put a few things in under 'breakfast', a few under 'lunch' etc....

Is it just me, or does that suck? I don't think I'd get a HUGE amount of use out of this feature anyway, but it would be nice to know that the international version differs in this way. Not being able to put them into any categories at all makes it unusable if you have more than 30 or so items... I guess I'll just put in my most eaten cereals, breads, pastas and other 'evil' stuff that I'll eat whilst out and about and leave it there.

Gary

[milfordj]

I found the Food Database on the Animas to be pretty worthless. Most of the restaurants listed are not available in my area; I did not eat most of the foods included for the restaurants that ARE in my area; and the serving sizes for just about all the portions of food did not coincide with my ususal portions. I also could not decipher the abbreviations for restaurants and meal items as listed in the database. I realized that I would not need this feature for all the foods I eat at home, because I have that info elsewhere, so I input all of the foods I would likely eat when eating away from home, in the portions that I would likely consume, all under FAVORITES, and in abbreviations that I would be able to recognize. It now works MUCH better, though I still seldom use it. Maybe this will make you feel better about the international version shortcomings.

[Glucoweb]

I do not have an Animas, but the Cozmo 1800 does have a food database and I have been trying to find the most effective to utilize it. They do have a very expansive list of foods already and you have the ability to add more using the Desktop software, but on the pump, I have noticed a series of things I find that make it difficult to use:

Must abbreivate (I can deal with this, but it can be a hassle)
If you break your foods into categories and then sub categories it can be a pain to keep going down the directory structure
Lack of a search feature. I know without a full keyboard this might be awkward, but I still think one could be implemented and increase the ease of use.


One thing I do find use is you can pre-define meals. If you have meals consisting of the same items on a regular basis you can define the entire meal, and then come bolus time, just select the meal from the menu. (IE: when you go to Wendy's and usually get the Bacon Cheeseburger, Medium Fries, Chili, and Frosty [for the record: not what I usually get] you can define all that under Wndy chbgr ml and just select it under the food database on the pump and all the items and their related nutritional values will be used to calculate the bolus.

But again, I find having to build an entire meal on the pump (and not not having a pre-defined one as mentioned above) to be very laborious for having to go through all the categories (sub-cats, etc...).
Just my opinion. YMMV

[davef]

I don't have a pump, have never seen one, but ... is it possible to download updates? If so could you get an update from the US which includes the database and then download it?

[HelenM]

I use SIdiary for recording. It does have what I think is the US database (its certainly a US data base). Its absolutely useless for me. For example for porridge, not there... Ok American try oatmeal ....no various manufactured instant oatmeals, last thought oats and there it is hidden in amongst yet more instant cereals, but no use whatsoever for me because the unit is a cup. Many other items are in ounces which again means conversions.

[Gary_W]

I don't have a pump, have never seen one, but ... is it possible to download updates? If so could you get an update from the US which includes the database and then download it?

I think the greater problem is the lack of the categories; it is that which makes a potentially handy feature into something rather less useful.

It has the capacity to store 500 foods, all of them user-customisable. In the US version (the one the marketing folks put on the website in the guise of a 'virtual pump') the food database has several categories to make it possible to get to the food you want. In the International version, you have to scroll through all of your foods as their are no categories. If you do use it in the spirit intended, you've potentially got to scroll through 500 items with only 5 displayed on each screen. Who is honestly going to push the same button 100 times to find zuchini? Yes, I know you can go backwards, but I'm making a point.

My thoughts are that I will just put in 20 or 30 items; these will be the most common starches I eat (e.g. mashed spuds, cooked pasta) plus some 'whole meal' breakfasts as Glucoweb outlines. Everything else, I'll do the conventional way.

Gary

[fgummett]

Hey Gary, make sure you provide all this as feedback to Animas... it is only software and they should be able to improve it.