Website review: USDA Interactive Eating Index

(www.usda.gov/cnpp)

Be your own nutritionist—sort of. This interactive tool on the U.S Department of Agriculture's Web site lets you analyze your daily food intake to see how your meals compare with the USDA's food pyramid. It also analyzes nutrient intake and lets you know where you could improve with little frowning faces.

Here's how it works: After registering and telling the site your age and gender, you enter what you ate today by typing in items one at a time and then choosing the closest match from the site's monster database. Amazingly, it has just about everything, from sushi to biscotti. It even lets you choose the exact brand you ate of many foods. Once you've entered everything you ate, choose quantities – here you also have a range of choices. You can specify that you ate – 1 cup of baby carrots, or 25 of the little guys, whatever's easier. Once you've entered your food intake, hit "analyze" and the site calculates your nutrient intake and 'Healthy Eating Index' score and compares you to the Food Guide Pyramid.

On the HEI page, you get a score from one to 10 (and a happy or sad face) in such categories as sodium, cholesterol and variety of foods. The nutrient calculator adds up the nutrients in your diet and compares them to the recommended daily allowance. And the site develops your personal food pyramid, which could look nothing like a pyramid.

The bottom line: A good starting place if you're worried about your diet; helps point out trouble spots like a high-fat or high-cholesterol diet. But entering all the food you ate in a day can take a while.