The Complete Book of Food Counts by Corinne T. Netzer (1998, Paperback, Revised)

I first found this book in a library more than 10 years ago. My sister and I have owned a hard bound copy of this book for years and I recently bought a paperback copy for my best friend who is a diabetic.
If, in attempting to lose weight and keep it off, you are counting anything, in my case calories, protein, carbs, cholesterol and saturated fat, this book is a very complete, well organized, and easily accessable breakdown of foods. I also use on line helps and software but for speed and completeness, this is the best. See USDA site for computer breakdown of foods for free.
This book also lists common fast food, restaurant food, cereals,prepackaged food etc. It lists ethnic foods. Although it's easiest to just note the contents on packaged foods, industrialized food is not in our best interest. I am attempting to eat whole, natural foods that haven't been genetically messed with to make some rich cat richer at the cost of my health. Big business owns the FDA, gave us transfats that have killed thousands through heart attacks and high frutose corn syrup that turns off the hormone that tells us we're full. Big business has no soul and although we are dependant on them for our food, they are not motivated by conscience, good sense and caring for our wellbeing, they, like the drug companies and the cigarette companies that bought into them, are motivated by the god of greed.
It would be wonderful if some of us didn't have to count food content. I'm chronically low in protein intake, high in carbs. I have to make and eat from menus because my relationship with food is very distorted. It's like I've lost the sound eating habits of my grandparents by too many years of junk that filled me but did not nourish me. Sound familiar? This book helps with menus, too, as you can go through and highlight the foods you like, then make simple menus from them.
In focusing on the foods you like, you'll find yourself eating more vegetables and fruits, better breads; less food but higher quality, better tasting food. As you can tell I highly recommend this book and it is frequently up for sale on eBay. Don't worry if you don't have the latest edition, they are all helpful although the latest would probably list transfats. The recommendation on transfats is not eating ANY. We've eliminated all transfats and high frutose corn syrup and chemical sweetners from our home. We are working on eliminating all chemicals of any kind but that is taking longer. We did go through a withdrawl period but I suggest starting with transfats, then doing other eliminations one sickening thing at a time.