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Help with carb counting please

ChrisM28

Well-Known Member
Messages
61
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi All, Have just made a lovely batch of Orange and Pecan (actually walnut!) grain free granola from the ditchthecarbs website. When I came to count the carbs I get a very different result to the original recipe. My calorie count is very similar tho. My carbs have come up as half of what they say. I didn't use net carbs because if I had there would be none! Recipe contains:
Dessicated and shredded coconut
sunflower seeds
pumpkin seeds
almonds
psyllium
walnuts
sweetener
coconut oil
It tastes absolutely great.

Made this for me (a non diabetic) as the LCHF I've got husband on, who is T1, was making me lose weight. I'd like to give it to him but wondering about the carb count.
Any thoughts anyone?
 
I would use the carbs listed on the packaging of each ingredient, or failing that, go to one of the big supermarket websites and look at the nutrition for each item.

those LC granolas are delicious! have you tried the 'LC cinnamon crunch' one? i forget which website, but the name will bring google up a whole list. i use the one with the pic of a bowl with lots of milk and a few blueberries floating on top
 
There are definitely carbs - counted as net carbs in the coconut - about 7 percent iirc, then the seeds and nuts all have carbs - you need to work out the percentages of each ingredient, then the amounts used of each and then add them all together and get the final weight of the mixture. divide the carbs by the weight and multiply by 100 to get the percentage carbs of the mix and then you can use that to work out the carbs in a serving - it will not be zero. Add in anything extra such as milk and fruit on top.
 
OK the recipe is from a site in the US so they include dietary fibre in the carb count.
In the UK this is excluded from the carb count so it could well be that you are getting half the carbs as the US version contains 5.8g of dietary fibre of the total of 9.5g that is for a serving size of 45g (another anomaly of the US system is they use a variable serving size rather than the 100g we are used to in the UK). So the UK nutritional value would be carbs of 3.7g per 45g or 8.22g per 100g. Hope that helps.

That's assuming this is the recipe you are using..
https://www.ditchthecarbs.com/orange-and-pecan-grain-free-granola/
 
Thanks everyone, I wasn't very clear in the OP I had worked out all the carbs but was getting different result. Bulkbiker had explained why very clearly thanks a lot. I wonder why the Americans don't just give carb count per 100g.
 
Another question if you don't mind Bulkbiker. Do you do anything about the fibre when working out the carb count? Do you ever use net carbs?
 
ChrisM28 said:
Another question if you don't mind Bulkbiker. Do you do anything about the fibre when working out the carb count? Do you ever use net carbs?
Click to expand...
To be honest being a Type 2 I just try and avoid as many carbs as I can.. I'm probably not the best person to ask. Trying to think of a low carb Type 1.. @himtoo I'm sure you must know some..
 
ChrisM28 said:
Thanks everyone, I wasn't very clear in the OP I had worked out all the carbs but was getting different result. Bulkbiker had explained why very clearly thanks a lot. I wonder why the Americans don't just give carb count per 100g.
Click to expand...
that is a really good question -- and although I can't be positive - it will be partly due to their packaging and ingredient listing requirements being different to ours in the UK ( ours are far superior IMO )
they aren't as metric as we are is part of it too.
 
It's simply that they have different food labelling systems in place. European rules separate out Fibre completely while US rules include it as a carb, and have a line within total carbs for it. Just different regulation.
 
I don't
perhaps a better answer is to try the foods you are referring to and do some extra BG testing.

always good to eat to your meter
 
Depending on how you buy your ingredients, use MyfitnessPal to scan the barcode or you can do a search. A basic app is free.
It gives the cals/carbs per serving, change the serving size so it grms x by the amount you are using in the recipe. i.e. 1grm x 40= serving size.
Do that for every ingredient and add it up .Then divide buy you portion size.
I have just made a batch of low carb chilli, all my ingredients came to 640 cals, but my portion size is 160 cals.
This is what mobile phones were invented for. Who knew?
 
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