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Net carbs or total carbs

Fi2000

Well-Known Member
Messages
130
Location
peterhead, aberdeenshire, scotland
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
This is confusing me.
Since the 2nd April I've been on lchf
I've been using mynetdiary to calculate my carbs an I've been having bet 33-45g of carbs a day.
But mynetdiary uses total carbs.

So my question is if you are low carbing what is the grams of carbs you should typically eat in

American carbs and
British carbs (do not include fiber)

What is included in the above carb amount
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I use the USA system for counting carbohydrates ie Total carbs - fibre = net carbs

So if I say that I am eating 33-45 grams of carbs a day it meas net carbs.
 
I'm in the UK and work with how our food nutritional labels indicate the values; here fibre is listed separately from other carbs and sugar. I just use the values from the nutritional labels, or check on the Tesco groceries website, and estimate/calculate my carbs using the carbs per 100g weight to get the (approx) value for my portion size.

For a lot of food (e.g. veggies, or fruit) you can't expect an absolutely accurate value as nature doesn't work like this, and t growing conditions, or ripeness will cause variations.

Since, as I understand it, net carbs are what you get when you deduct fibre from the total carb content, as far as I can see it should end up the same?

Robbity
 
Sorry if I appear to be stupid, but my head is spinning with all the information to take in.
So if I understand correctly, in Britain Carbs do not include fiber therefore in Britain we use Net Carbs
 
I just don't understand the difference at all!!

In UK I just look at total carbs if buying anything, don't look at anything else at all.

Sorry, I'm thick.

However, you have to find out the right amount of carbs thay you are personally happy with. I.e if you have to lose weight, if you want this to be a long term eating (i would suggest you do think long term), your exercise, your daily routines etc.

Me, I'm happy with my 50 max a day.

I do not count my milk in my coffees....
 
Fi2000 said:
So using UK net carbs I've been eating between 22g and 30g of carbs a day.
Is this OK? Or too low?
Click to expand...

How long is a piece of string? Only you can tell if you're eating the right carbs in the right amounts for your circumstances: everyone's different, is low carbing for different reasons, reacts differently to various carb levels, and so on. Just make sure you're eating a good, healthy, varied diet, and that you have enough energy from what you're eating.

What are you aiming for - weight loss, lowered glucose levels, both? Are you testing before and after meals - if so what are your results telling you? Are you starting to see the results you want?

Robbity
 
I'm wanting to lose weight and lower my BG.

I'm just using diet at the moment, my weight and BG levels are going down, but BG levels still need some work

My readings are
B4 breakfast 9.8 2hrs after 11.2
B4 lunch 10 2hrs after 7.5
B4 dinner 8.1 2hrs after 8.8
B4 bed 7.1

I was just interested in what form people were counting their Carbs in.
 
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From what I can gather in the UK total carbs does not include fiber,
 
In Britain the fibre is already deducted and listed separately. In N America it is counted as part of the carb and listed underneath it (in the same way as sugar).
On the left a Canadian label , you would deduct fibre from this one.*
On the right, a British label, fibre is already deducted.


(some extra that may be of interest but I hope doesn't confuse you further)
If you use a US site and deduct fibre don't be surprised if you get a different result to a similar food with a UK label. There are different definitions of fibre and methods of analysis which with some foods will result in different results. (
*Many diabetics, from the US only deduct fibre if it is more than 5g fibre per serving (whatever that is)This is/was American Diabetes Association standard advice but of course this advice derives from a higher carb diet than the one you are using. http://www.diabeteshealth.com/blog/do-i-subtract-fiber-from-carbohydrates/
:
 
Fi2000 said:
From what I can gather in the UK total carbs does not include fiber,
Click to expand...

So if I say a max of eating 50g for me then that could be say 75g including fiber?
 
Omg.. I used to go to Canada at least 10 weeks a year and never used to worry whether it said net or fibre etc!!!
 

Thank-you Phoenix you have managed to explain it to me, with me fully understanding it now.

So much to learn
 
Fi2000 said:
Please read what Phoenix has said in above post.
She has explained it a lot better than me
Click to expand...

All I can say is crikey!!

Thank goodness I've never ate a lot of carbs especially 30-20 years ago when I used to go to Canada so regularly ! I was never told there was such a huge difference. Happy days!!! Glad I don't travel much now, I would have to get used to adding and subtracting!!!!
 
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