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Low carb, the total carb or net carb?

deedee

Active Member
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I am new to all of this and have just been reading about the benefits of LCHF diet for managing type 2. The guidance on the sticky suggests low carb is up to 50g daily. I have also read about net carbs, where the fibre total is subtracted from the total carb to give the net carb. So my question is do people use the total carb value or the net carb value?
 
Hi and welcome :) Personally I take the total number of carbs ...that includes the fibre etc...hope that's the right answer and helps :)...am sure someone will be along shortly to correct me if I am wrong :)
 
In the UK it is Total Carb content. In the US it is different because they have different food labelling requirements, so in the US they include the fibre in the total carbs, which then needs deducting. Here in the UK the fibre content is already deducted and included elsewhere on the label.
 
Hi and welcome :) Personally I take the total number of carbs ...that includes the fibre etc...hope that's the right answer and helps :)...am sure someone will be along shortly to correct me if I am wrong :)

No, in the UK it doesn't include the fibre. That is shown separately further down on the label.
 
In the UK labelling system (and in the Carbs & Cals book) carbs and fibre are stated separately. Since fibre is largely indigestible and has little impact if any on blood sugars, it's the carb figure you need to check. This is already 'net carbs' in your description because the fibre has been excluded. The one to ignore is the 'of which sugars' bit.

I think the net carbs bit comes from the US where the labelling is different.
 
Thank you all, so the total number it is. It seems like our labelling means that they have already done the calculation for us. This is good because it will make it much easier for me to know where I stand.

Thanks again. I am expecting a shopping delivery this eve which means I am all set to go in the morning.
 
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