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Carb counting

I used to keep a notebook - these days I just use google if I need to look up something I've not seen before or have forgotten. I look up the percentage of net carbs - that is without fibre, and then to work out what the carb content of a meal is I just multiply the weight by the carb count for each food and add them up.
Now that I have a handle on things I can get away with estimates such as 1/2 or 1/3 or a box of mushrooms, or telling myself that a bag of nuts should last so many days.
 
Google "carbs (product)" and you will get lots of sites providing the info that you want .. have a look at them and you'll soon work out which are the more reliable .. then, as @Resurgam says, you will soon get a handle on things
 
Pauntiep said:
How do you know how many carbs there are in foods?
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Most shop bought food has the nutritional information listed on the packaging, there's also some excellent books around to check the carb value, the one I use is The Calorie Carb & Fat Bible.
 
Myfitnesspal is very good, I weigh everything I the first time I eat it but it remembers what you have eaten so gets a lot quicker.
 
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I usually just use a UK supermarket website Tesco, Sainbury's, Waitrose.
They all have pretty reliable nutritional info on them. Also as they give the values per 100g of each item it makes it easy to work out the carb content unlike in the US where they give values per "serving" or at least that's what I've seen.
 
I don't tend to use packaged food much, I make most things from fresh.
 
Good advice about tesco app. So is it the number of grams of carb that you count? How many grams is low?
 
I am pre diabetic so I limit myself to 80 gms a day, which comes from vegetables mostly, no obvious carbs like bread.
This is enough to keep my bg normal, I would describe this as low carb. However some have to lower their carbs to 20 a day to achieve normal bg levels.
 
Pauntiep said:
Good advice about tesco app. So is it the number of grams of carb that you count? How many grams is low?
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I try not to eat anything that has more than 5g of carbs per 100g. But I am a very low carb eater.
My only exception for a treat is a few frozen raspberries smothered in double cream which don;t seem to spike me too much.
I'm mainly a carnivore with a few green veg thrown in for variety. And avocado.
 
If eating out at the large chains such as one of the M&B chains or Wetherspoons you can read the nutritional information on the website beforehand. I think they are supposed to have those details behind the bar too. I am not a great one for reams of notes so I began by just avoiding sugary and starchy things. Very clearcut but not scientific or precise. When I wanted to check something I did the same as AM1874 and googled the item. The nutritional info is usually the first item found by the search.
 
There is an excellent book called Carbs & Cals available from Amazon. Many of us use it. It has thousands of foods, fresh and packaged, with a photo of it on a plate. It shows the weight, amount of carbs, calories, protein, fat and fibre. I have had mine 3 years and still use it. It is not expensive.

Additionally I use the supermarket websites.

I don't use the on-line sites such as My Fitness Pal because much of the information is incorrect as it is all entered by other users, a lot of whom are from abroad where they have different nutritional values, and also because they are calorie orientated for weight loss, so many items show Nil carbs as the user has ignored this as irrelevant to calories.
 
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