• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Carbs, net carbs or GI what is best

It's net carbs you should be counting. Not total carbs as that includes fibre which isn't digested so therefore doesn't count. Good luck on your new journey, members here are always will to help.
 
JenniferM55 said:
It's net carbs you should be counting. Not total carbs as that includes fibre which isn't digested so therefore doesn't count. Good luck on your new journey, members here are always will to help.
Click to expand...
Fibre is listed separately in the UK so here you should look at total carbs and ignore the (of which sugars) as all carbs turn to sugar once ingested (fibre aside although I'm not even convinced by that).
Personally I ignore the GI ...
 
@Dontknowwhattothink It depends on where you're located!

In the UK it's definitely total carbs as we list fibre separately .

Net carbs is used in the USA as they include fiber (note the spelling!) in their totals, so it generally needs to be deducted from their total carbs.

Like @bulkbiker I've never bothered with GI.
 
Last edited:
This is why a glucometer or a CGM can be necessary in finding out what foods you can eat.
Testing around meal times can give you an idea of how your body copes with carbs.
And as others have said GI, doesn't help at all!
 
I think GI assumes a perfect human specimen and takes no account of insulin resistance that forms the crux of type 2 and prediabetes. It often bares little resemblance to our reality.

I too look at what is simply labelled “carbs” here in the uk - and ignore the of which sugars bit. Fibre is already separated out for us

If I’m reading something USA based then I look for net carbs (total minus fiber)
 
Dontknowwhattothink said:
Which value should I be looking at when reducing my hba1c? Net carbs, carbs or GI?

thanks
Click to expand...
Hi - I see you're UK based so the most important one for you is total carbs. The "of which sugars" has no real relevance - all carbs in will be converted to glucose. For anything UK or EU produced, watch the total carbs.

I don't take any notice of GI.

You'll find a lot of stuff on the internet that talks about net carbs - this is the US approach which is consistent for foodstuffs produced there, but confusing if you try to apply it to UK food.

Edit: see the post by HSSS below. Where I've said "total carbs" I mean all carbs, not the "total carb" as used in labelling. Language is important.
 
Last edited:
When I was first diagnosed in Aotearoa/NZ, GI was the big thing. I thought it cumbersome and very difficult to use, and didn't make a lot of sense to me. It seems I was not alone, as it got dropped, thank goodness, eventually. For a way of eating that would be for the duration - who could stand it?! Not a lot of people apparently.
 
Using the phrase “total carbs” implies carbs including fiber in the USA (net without the fiber) as this is the only situation those words are actually used on labels.

For the uk and Europe it is simply the word “carbs”, worded as neither total or net usually because the fibre is listed entirely separately. What is listed on the uk labels as plain old “carbs” is in reality the same as the USA “ net carbs”

I’m afraid some posters here have used the phrase total carbs for uk carbs meaning to ignore the partial count “of which sugars” bit and count all the ones listed under carbs. And as seen above that doesn’t count fibre anyway in the uk.

It will end up with people mixing up the usual uk measurement that doesn’t count fibre with the USA one that does if you use the same word description, as so many low carb and keto sources come from the USA. Just totally (lol) ignore the “of which sugar” whatever you’re looking at and dont mix that into the total (or not) equation.


UK Labels
Carbs.……………………………COUNT THIS
……of which sugars………….See the indent for the sugar bit? This is just part of the overall carbs measured
Fibre………………………….See the spelling

USA labels
(Total) Carbs………………….
…….Of which fiber………………See the spelling. Subtract this from the total above to get net carbs which is the uk equivalent
……..Of which sugars…………See the indents? Both these amounts are part of the TOTAL carbs measured
 
Last edited:
Australian labels also list fibre separately which is why the phrase "total carbs" was confusing me

AU Label
Carbs.......... COUNT THIS
........ sugars indented here, but they're already part of the carb count. It doesn't say "of which sugars" but they are indeed already counted in the carb number
Fibre.......... See the spellling, is a separate item
 
plantae said:
Australian labels also list fibre separately which is why the phrase "total carbs" was confusing me

AU Label
Carbs.......... COUNT THIS
........ sugars indented here, but they're already part of the carb count. It doesn't say "of which sugars" but they are indeed already counted in the carb number
Fibre.......... See the spellling, is a separate item
Click to expand...
Yep australisia follow the Europe/uk model.
Canada are the odd one out as I recall. They use one method and the other spelling but for the life of me I can’t remember which way round.
 
Here in Canada it's:
Carbohydrates on one line and then indented under that it's Fibre on one line and Sugars on the next line, each indented the same. If I've been calculating correctly, it's Carbohydrates less Fibre equals Net Carbs.
 
JAT1 said:
Here in Canada it's:
Carbohydrates on one line and then indented under that it's Fibre on one line and Sugars on the next line, each indented the same. If I've been calculating correctly, it's Carbohydrates less Fibre equals Net Carbs.
Click to expand...
Thank you - so US system of including fibre within the overall carb count (ie total) but using the uk spelling.
 
Back
Top