Bowes & Church's Food Values of Portions Commonly Used : Spiral (Bowes and Church's Food Values of Portions Commonly Used)

I'm a kidney dialysis patient and have found this book very useful. It lists key components of foods in the portion sizes that are likely to be used, rather than by the ounce or gram if those aren't the normal portion sizes. The foods are alphabetized by type, including such things as drinks, candy and fast foods by restaurant chain, as well as the staples of everyday existence.I can keep track of the amount of Phosphorus and Potassium, which are crucial for hemodialysis patients to monitor. Also, it lists many other minerals and vitamins, protein, a breakdown of fats, sugars, total carbs and HDL and LDL as well as total cholesterol, triglycerides, water content and other things that may factor into restricted diets for almost anyone watching almost any food components.My only reservation is that many of the foods listed do not list the key components for me (Phosphorus and Potassium).

I bought the Bowes & Church book about 25 years ago after taking a nutrition course. It was an excellent reference source back then. Then I decided to get a newer edition as I was traveling quite a bit and found the book helpful in my choices for eating away from home. I've also found it useful in evaluating recipes to determine just how much fat was in the recipe since I'm typically on a low fat diet (sometimes that fried chicken just calls out). It's very handy for managing your salt intake as well. This is a great way to watch what you are eating and and how much you are eating. In using this book, I've found that I'm more cognizant about nutrition. I'm not a food cop, watching everything I eat, but it's made me more aware about what I put into my body.For those on very special diets like the potassium restricted diets, you will need to find another source. But if you're watching your carbs, fat, or salt, it's a very useful reference book. It's also great for monitoring how much of the minerals(calcium and iron)or vitamins you're taking in.

First off, this isn't going to be a review of what is included in the book. There are plenty of reviews that explain that. Mostly this review is going to focus on how it is presented. I am a stickler for organizing things in a simple yet logical way.Also let me say that I really wanted to love this book and very much wanted to be able to give it five stars, but unfortunately that is not going to be possible.I also was disappointed in the publisher not allowing us to search for the "Look Inside" feature. Many books will let you search and had I been able to search, I would have saved myself some money. This was a lesson learned. If you can't search it, then it's very likely that the publisher is afraid that you won't buy after you search.I just needed two things out of this book. My requirements seemed simple enough to me:1. Tell me how much sodium and potassium were in foods.2. List the foods I normally eat (I don't eat unusual foods)The problem is that I didn't think I needed to include this part:3. Organize it where it would be easy to find what I am looking for.I suppose I should have made that a requirement too, because this book is a total fail on that part. I spend more time trying to figure out where the heck something is, than actually finding the answer.Let us use tomatoes, as an example. Where would you expect to find tomatoes? Technically it's a fruit, but if you go to the fruit section, you won't find it. Okay, so maybe its in the vegetable section? No, it's not really there either. Would you have guessed that it would be a vegetable sub-heading called "Fruit (Seed-Containing) Vegetables"? I kid you not. We'll forget for a moment that there is no such thing as a "fruit vegetable" (it's either or, not both), but to assume that we would know to actually look for that type of sub-heading is simply madness.This means that most of the vegetables you are going to be looking for, could be under no less than 8 different ub-headings. EIGHT!!! You cannot simply open the book, turn to the Vegetable section and look something up. That's not how this book works, at all.Another example is the sub-heading "Flower, Stem and Stalk Vegetables". Really? I've never EVER heard the term "stem vegetable". There are plenty of city folks who have never even gardened before, in their life, so how would they know where to find their vegetables?I see no reason at all why the entire thing cannot be done alphabetically. If you go to look up a word in a dictionary, you don't expect to have to look up the word 'run' under a heading of Verbs, so why is this book organized in such a way? It doesn't make any sense.Then there is another problem with the entries too. You will not find bell peppers under "peppers, bell" nor "bell peppers". In fact, you'll not find any entry that has both those words (bell AND pepper) in them. You'll find a global word that says "sweet peppers" and in that order too. It's under Sweet, NOT Peppers. I use this example because it's an example of theirs on how to use this book. Normally I don't need to actually read instructions on reading a book, but this is definitely required reading for this one. Don't even try looking for "blackeye peas" because it's not under "blackeye" and it's not under "peas". It's under "cowpeas" and there are people out there who have no idea cowpeas and blackeye peas are one in the same.Let's talk about portion sizes. The title says very clearly "Portions Commonly Used". Really? I've yet to meet anyone who eats a single raw tomatillo. That's the nutritional information you get. The correct information is that they are "commonly used" boiled. They'll give you potatoes boiled and spinach boiled, so what's the deal with tomatillos? Then, what are 9 pieces of cilantro (I get that they are sprigs, but ...) and how would that figure in a "bunch"? Most recipes call for chopped or bunches, but never "pieces". Calculating that would be next to impossible.Now my other gripe is about #2, which it also failed on. Imagine my surprise when I read that it has a "dish cloth towel gourd" but does NOT have "poblano peppers". It has "jalapeno peppers" and has even a "Hungarian pepper", but it has neither anaheim nor poblano peppers. Those are used in a lot of dishes here in America and I don't know about you, but I've yet to EVER see a recipe which includes the "dish cloth towel gourd"! I am just dismayed at these entries.All in all, were it not that it carries meticulous information about some foods, this would get a single star. The information contained in this book, if you're lucky enough to find it, is valuable. For this reason, it gets two stars. Honestly, it probably deserves 3-stars but that would insinuate that it's actually a good book, which I believe I've demonstrated that it is not. Is its content useful? Yes. Can you easily use its content? No.Also, you may wish to know that a large part of this information is available for free at the USDA website. Just Google "National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference". Granted, not all the information in this book is in the database, but I'd say most of it is.In the end, if there was another book that met all 3 needs above, then I'd warn against this one completely. How then could I say this is an okay book if I wouldn't recommend it against its competition? I've not found another book that does what this one does (yet). I surely hope that I will some day, or that they'll fix this one. For now, this is the best bet you have, but in the future check to be sure that there isn't another.

My husband was recently diagnosed with renal failure. I looked for books that would give me the phosphorus and potassium amounts in each food, and I found the "Bowes & Church's Food Values of Portions Commonly Used" book in your inventory. It is exactly what I need to calculate the food values in my husband's diet on a daily basis. However, when ordering it, I falsely assumed that if I paid a little more for the book from Bay Books in CA that I would receive it more quickly since we live in CA. That was NOT the case. It took much longer to get it than the other books I purchased that day. It also arrived in a very dirty condition complete with a dead bug plastered on its cover; It certainly was not in "very good condition," I am very grateful that I now have this book, however, I certainly would be hesitant to purchase from Bay Books if I needed something in a hurry.

This book is for those of us on special diets that do not want 'special' books telling us what to eat, but neglecting to tell us what not to eat, or for those of us who just want to judge for ourselves what is good (or bad) for us. This book contains very complete information, including canned foods by brand, candy, gum, alcohol beverages, foods prepared in many ways, virtually any foods, even poi. The values listed include alcohol, calories, water, protein, carbohydrates, sugar, dietary fiber, fat, saturated fatty acids, monosaturated fatty acids, polyunsaturated fatty acids, cholesterol, vitamins A(RE), A(IU), C, B-1, B-2, B-4, B-12, D, E, E (as alpha-tocopherol), K, niacin, folic acid, pantothenic acid. Also sodium, calcium, magnesium, zinc, manganese, potassium, phosphorus, iron, copper. Amino acids, caffeine, gluten, iodine, pectin, phytosterol, purines, salicylates, selenium, theobromine. What more could the dietary conscious want?

Detailed infirmation of constituents of food items eg Potassium content, Phosphate content, Sodium content - good for planning meals for renal patient.

I am not very happy with this book. It is a 1987 used book. The person’s name is still in it along with the telephone number and it has been written on all the way through. I will not return it because it will probably cost me more than the book is worth.

This book is comprehesive,contemporary, and authoritative. The fact that it is frequently revised and has been published for many decades is a testimony to its stature with its users.

Very informative book. Great for anyone on a special diet.