Myfoodadvisor tm (www.diabetes.org/myfoodadvisor.html), just released by the American Diabetes Association (ADA), offers people with diabetes, and those looking to eat healthier, a comprehensive and easy-to-navigate nutrient database with a bundle of tools. At its core, it's a nutrient database for 5,000 commonly eaten basic ingredients, fresh and frozen foods, packaged foods and restaurant foods from a few large chains.

Information for key nutrients: calories, carbohydrate, saturated fat, sodium and fiber are featured in a quick view and repeated along with additional data commonly found on nutrition facts labels. The percent daily value for a handful of vitamins and minerals of particular interest to some people with diabetes are provided, including potassium and phosphorus. The database is searchable by: name of food, nutrition criteria or by clicking on a food category. The user can compare foods, request healthier alternatives to the selected food, add an item to their plate for a total meal’s nutrient count and add up their daily nutrient totals. ADA’s myfoodadvisor also helps the user save the nutrient data for common meals they eat or analyze favorite recipes and store them in their personal 'recipe box'. Want to check out ADA’s recipe box? No sweat, there’s a few hundred recipes to browse.

Add this new resource to your current online nutrient database options. Another one of my favorites is the larger searchable and downloadable USDA nutrient database. And for a more complete listing of the nutrition information for chain restaurant foods, check out my book Guide to Healthy Restaurant Eating.