Finding Carbohydrates ?

[Danny Hyslop]

I have read a lot of articles regarding T2 and reducing the intake of " bad Carbohydrates " . I'd be interested to hear people's opinions or practices on how we can discern carbohydrates from the food wrapping information. I see a lot of sugar, fat, salt , calorie, etc. I am still unclear about what a carbohydrate food actually is and how to find this info from the packaging info or other sources.
Thank you.

 

[Antje77]

I'd be interested to hear people's opinions or practices on how we can discern carbohydrates from the food wrapping information.

If you turn the package over there will be a table saying how many grams of fats, protein and carbohydrates per 100 grams.

 

[AndBreathe]

I have read a lot of articles regarding T2 and reducing the intake of " bad Carbohydrates " . I'd be interested to hear people's opinions or practices on how we can discern carbohydrates from the food wrapping information. I see a lot of sugar, fat, salt , calorie, etc. I am still unclear about what a carbohydrate food actually is and how to find this info from the packaging info or other sources.
Thank you.

Danny, if you are looking at packaging, just ignore any of the traffic light stuff on the front. That doesn't help us a great deal. If I use this example of a multipack of Walkers Ready Salted Crisps, you'll see carbohydrate is listed there. The "Of which are sugars" isn't too important to us.

For raw foods, and such likes, there is always Dr Google, or a book called Carbs and Cals. It is also available as an app, although I think the app is a paid for app.

Just take it steady. It can be a bit mind blowing initially, but it soon becomes easier.

 

[Deleted member 527103]

I am still unclear about what a carbohydrate food actually is and how to find this info from the packaging info or other sources.

You will find many things that we eat contain some carbs.
The "big hitters" are things like sweet stuff (cakes, biscuits, chocolate, breakfast cereal, fruit), as well as the starchy bulky things we fill our plate (and ourselves) with like potatoes, rice, pasta, bread, noodles.

A few other things worth considering are "below the ground vegetables" like carrots, and pulses like beans, peas and sweetcorn.

However, not all carbs are equal. They are digested at different speeds (this is represented by the glycaemic index). Some people with type 2 find they can tolerate slower digesting carbs like porridge but some find it still raises their blood sugars - our bodies are all different and will react differently to different carbs. This is why the usual advice is to get a blood glucose meter and test strips so that you can test what your body can tolerate.

 

[ianf0ster]

I found that I can't trust what the GI or GL of a carbohydrate is to decide whether it's 'good ' for me or not. My personal diabetes expert ( my BG meter) tells me that for example Oats in any form aren't good for me.
I don't care what Diabetes.org say (they have been wrong so many times with me, which is why I came to this forum) or any GP, DN etc. My personal diabetes expert is the only diabetes expert that I can trust to be completely impartial about my personal diabetes!

 

[JenniferM55]

To further confuse.... sorry!

Count 'net carbs' and not 'total carbs' ie Total carbs - fibre = net carbs. Reason being; fibre isn't digested.

 

[KennyA]

I have read a lot of articles regarding T2 and reducing the intake of " bad Carbohydrates " . I'd be interested to hear people's opinions or practices on how we can discern carbohydrates from the food wrapping information. I see a lot of sugar, fat, salt , calorie, etc. I am still unclear about what a carbohydrate food actually is and how to find this info from the packaging info or other sources.
Thank you.

The "good carbohydrate" and "bad carbohydrate" don't exist for me. I can tolerate some things slightly better than others (pulses and legumes, not too bad) and some are decidedly worse - eg pastry. GI doesn't seem to make any difference at all.
Carbohydrates are what used to be called "sugars and starches" - dietary advice up to around 1980-85 was to "cut down on sugar and starchy foods".

Food packaging will have the total amount of carbs per 100g, and an "of which sugars" sub-heading. The total carb is the key figure. US sources are potentially confusing because they add fiber in the carb total, and will tell you to "deduct the fiber" - the spelling is usually the giveaway. UK labels don't include fibre in the carb total.

The Dietdoctor website has some handy visual guides - eg here: https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/foods


My pattern is to try to avoid anything in a packet to begin with and to eat fresh - meat, dairy, and vegetables - as much as possible.

Calories therefore don't matter for me. The idea is to make the body obtain the small amount of glucose it needs (around 130g/day) by metabolising bodyfat. I do this by reducing my carb intake to 20g a day. If my system can't get glucose from food, it will make its own, usually from bodyfat but potentially from protein as well.

 

[Antje77]

To further confuse.... sorry!

Count 'net carbs' and not 'total carbs' ie Total carbs - fibre = net carbs. Reason being; fibre isn't digested.

This is only when using sources from the US (Google).
In the UK, fibre is listed separately from the carbs.

 

[Resurgam]

I have read a lot of articles regarding T2 and reducing the intake of " bad Carbohydrates " . I'd be interested to hear people's opinions or practices on how we can discern carbohydrates from the food wrapping information. I see a lot of sugar, fat, salt , calorie, etc. I am still unclear about what a carbohydrate food actually is and how to find this info from the packaging info or other sources.
Thank you.

Foods with sugar or starch are the carbohydrates - all of them will be digested to form simple sugars in the bloodstream, and for me all of them need to be watched out for. There are no good or bad carbs.
I avoid grain and potatoes, and other high starch veges, and most fruit as they have been bred to have ever higher sugar content. I don't eat small 'cherry' tomatoes as they are higher in carbs than the salad ones.
As for GI and GL - my gut never got the memo about being slower to digest, it seems to regard them as a challenge.
Beans and peas are supposed to be OK - but I extract almost twice the amount of carbs out of them as the listed value.
I have a list of low carb foods, and for packed mixtures I always check on the back as manufacturers alter the make up of their product without warning and I have been caught out a couple of times by quite significant increases in carbs.

 

[MrsA2]

To further confuse.... sorry!

Count 'net carbs' and not 'total carbs' ie Total carbs - fibre = net carbs. Reason being; fibre isn't digested.

Not when it's a UK label. The fibre has already been accounted for.

US labels use the net carbs, the giveaway sign is that fibre is spelt fiber . All foods sold in UK have to have a UK label on.

 

[Mallyman]

You will find many things that we eat contain some carbs.
The "big hitters" are things like sweet stuff (cakes, biscuits, chocolate, breakfast cereal, fruit), as well as the starchy bulky things we fill our plate (and ourselves) with like potatoes, rice, pasta, bread, noodles.

A few other things worth considering are "below the ground vegetables" like carrots, and pulses like beans, peas and sweetcorn.

However, not all carbs are equal. They are digested at different speeds (this is represented by the glycaemic index). Some people with type 2 find they can tolerate slower digesting carbs like porridge but some find it still raises their blood sugars - our bodies are all different and will react differently to different carbs. This is why the usual advice is to get a blood glucose meter and test strips so that you can test what your body can tolerate.

Similar forum running about types of carbs, rice or oats etc. I eat a self selected muesli. Oats based. Psyllium flakes, Spelt Flakes, chia and various other seeds and nuts, some dried fruits like Pinaple, apple and papaya and fresh raspberries or blueberries. I am 5' 10" at 70 Kg. Daily fitness training. It fills me but I do not spike, whereas others do.

 

[Robbity]

To further confuse.... sorry!

Count 'net carbs' and not 'total carbs' ie Total carbs - fibre = net carbs. Reason being; fibre isn't digested.

This depends entirely on which country you're referring to! In the UK we work with [total] carbs and fibre is already listed separately. But in the USA fiber ( note the give away difference in spelling) is included in with the other carbs, and needs to be deducted to get net carbs. So: UK [total] carbs = USA net carbs... Be careful as it could make a big difference.

 

[HSSS]

This depends entirely on which country you're referring to! In the UK we work with total carbs and fibre is already listed separately. But in the USA fiber ( note the give away difference in spelling) is included in with the other carbs, and needs to be deducted to get net carbs. So: UK total carbs = USA net carbs... Be careful as it could make a big difference.

To add to that:

The uk labels and recipes don’t usually use the word “total”. If you see that word on a label or recipe then it’s an alert it’s probably USA based. So I’d say it’s UK carbs = USA net carbs (which is total - fiber).

I do unfortunately see ”total” being used increasingly on forums uk based. But in that context it tends to mean including sugar and starches rather than just sugar - and has no relationship to fibre whatsoever - Ie look at the carb number and ignore the “of which sugars” bit which only represents one category of carb.

I really wish uk people would choose a word other than “total“ to express this perfectly valid point, as it then adds to the USA/UK fibre confusion which has the same word at it‘s heart. My plea to others in the UK is to talk about “sugars and starches”, or explain to ignore the limited “of which sugars” number, or use some other word than total even all the carbs but just avoid the actual words “total carbs” unless you mean it in the USA fibre sense.

Pedantic - possibly. Avoiding yet more confusion on the whole total/fiber issue - almost definitely

 

[Lainie71]

Danny, if you are looking at packaging, just ignore any of the traffic light stuff on the front. That doesn't help us a great deal. If I use this example of a multipack of Walkers Ready Salted Crisps, you'll see carbohydrate is listed there. The "Of which are sugars" isn't too important to us.

View attachment 62691


For raw foods, and such likes, there is always Dr Google, or a book called Carbs and Cals. It is also available as an app, although I think the app is a paid for app.

Just take it steady. It can be a bit mind blowing initially, but it soon becomes easier.

I always checked the sugar also as I thought it was just as important, should I not be?

 

[AndBreathe]

I always checked the sugar also as I thought it was just as important, should I not be?

To be honest, that is more likely to influence how quickly or slowly your blood sugar might rise, but all carbohydrates eventually become sugar in the digestive system

There is an exception in Polyols, which are sugar alcohols and are a bit different. That might seem like great news, but if you have a bit too much polyol, you can find your tummy starts to play up.

Generally speaking though, I focus on the carbohydrate value and maybe give the sugars a cursory glance if I'm feeling curious.

 

[Resurgam]

I always checked the sugar also as I thought it was just as important, should I not be?

For me, sugar or starch, it is all the same.
My digestion seems to be very efficient, extracting more carbs than are listed from peas and beans for instance, so what should be 10 gm of carbs is more like 18gm.
It does mean that I have never had indigestion, so not all bad.

 

[Robbity]

To add to that:

The uk labels and recipes don’t usually use the word “total”. If you see that word on a label or recipe then it’s an alert it’s probably USA based. So I’d say it’s UK carbs = USA net carbs (which is total - fiber).

I do unfortunately see ”total” being used increasingly on forums uk based. But in that context it tends to mean including sugar and starches rather than just sugar - and has no relationship to fibre whatsoever - Ie look at the carb number and ignore the “of which sugars” bit which only represents one category of carb.

I really wish uk people would choose a word other than “total“ to express this perfectly valid point, as it then adds to the USA/UK fibre confusion which has the same word at it‘s heart. My plea to others in the UK is to talk about “sugars and starches”, or explain to ignore the limited “of which sugars” number, or use some other word than total even all the carbs but just avoid the actual words “total carbs” unless you mean it in the USA fibre sense.

Pedantic - possibly. Avoiding yet more confusion on the whole total/fiber issue - almost definitely

I must admit that I was somewhat dubious about including the words "total" in my post, so I've gone back & added a pair of bracket round them...

 

[Mallyman]

Don't just look at how many carbs there are. Research how the ingredients are digested.

 

[ianf0ster]

Many starches have a higher GI than table sugar. So you can certainly ignore the ... of which are sugars...

 

[Paul_]

Thank god I found this thread and finally found why the net carbs vs total carbs wasn't making sense to me! Thanks to all who have pointed out the differences for the UK.