Net carbs? when looking at labels there are unidentified carbs in the total amt.

[marguerite]

Eg.   pnut butter label has 1g fiber+4g sugar   BUT 15 g Total Carbs; what is 10g difference?- sugar or, sugar alcohol or what?

      Progresso soup label has 7 g fiber + 4g sugar but 30 gram Total Carbs- what are missing 19 carbs

Thanks for any clarification on figuring out net carbs (subtracting sugar alcohol & fiber from "total"
carbs)

     

[jen1975]

Hi Marguerite!  The basics are simple.  Total carbs - fiber - sugar alcohol = total carbs.  Period. 

So 15g total carbs - 1g fiber = 14g net carbs.  How much "sugar" it lists is unimportant.  Because bottom line is any carbs other than fiber or sugar alcohol will be processed as sugar by your body. 

Keep it simple - Lean meat, cheese, greens and veggies, berries for fruit/sweetness.  If you need a sweet kick, do SF jell-o with some 0 carb whipped cream (land'o lakes brand is best).  Surf this site, there are some fantastic recipes on here to help you get started and as you get more comfortable with the lifestyle, check out the cookbooks and find more goodies there!  You wil find some great recipes for "bread" replacements - the focaccia style bread and cornbread recipes are requirements at my house now, as is the OMM (one minute muffin). 

Ask lots of questions here, there are tons of knowledgable people here who are so supportive.  And they are doing/ going through the same things you are.  I could not have done what I have so far without the support and love of all the people on here!

[KFAITH]

The way I am understanding to do it is you add your total carbs and your total sugar together.   Than if the item has sugar alcohol or fiber you substract that from the carbs and sugar total and the total you get  than is your net carb total.

so say an item has 10 carbs, 2 sugars... total 12
and say it has 2 fiber and 4 sugar alcohol.  add that so it is 6, than take 6 from 12 equals 6 net carbs.
at least that was the way I understand the book says to do it. If I am wrong tell me ya all.

[umpa]

WRONG ROSIE the sugar is already added in the total carb count.Jen is correct!
Welcome marguerite! I am umpa ,dougs wife if I can help you please ask.I have a column on the homepage called ask umpa where I can convert your favorite recipes to fat to skinny friendly.Ask lots of questions

[mouseissue]

Welcome to the family, Marguerite!!!

To also make it easy to understand "net" carbs (the ones that cause weight gain),
remember that they come from two places... pure sugars (like in candies) and starches (like in breads, rice, cookies, etc.).

So when using the formula Jen shared (Total carbs - fiber - sugar alcohols = total NET carbs),
those "total NET carbs" are the ones to be counting toward your 20 max. carbs per day.

I'm looking forward to learning more about your FTS journey!
Hoping to hear back from you soon!

[sweeties]

 The way I read was you minus sugar alcohol and fiber from total carbs = net carbs. But If there is no sugar alcohol do we minus the sugar? Why am I having such a hard time understanding because someone said the sugar content was unimportant. Totally confused.

[Marty]

Sweeties, sometimes they refer to all carbs as 'sugar' whether it comes from actual sugar or from starches. That's because the body converts starch to sugar. Sorry, I know it's confusing. 

Sugar alcohols are different from sugar - a whole different chemical makeup. The alcohols are subtracted because the body passes them unused. The sugar listed on a label is ignored because it's already been counted.

Any 'sugar', 'sugar alcohol' or 'fiber' has been added to the total carb count, then you get to subtract the sugar alcohol and fiber to get the net carb count. If a product has no sugar alcohol, it's not listed.

I hope that helps.

[sweeties]

I think my replys are going in under sweeties and I am new girl so sorry, It could be that my user name is sweeties. oops sorry

[Doug Varrieur]

That's OK sweeties, you'll get the hang of it

[umpa]

understand??

[joagain]

 Sweeties if this is the label you are looking at this would be what you do
 1st exzmple                                         2nd example
Total carb ---- 5                               Total carb---5
  fiber     ------2                                fiber--------2
  sugar---------1                                sugar------2
 sugar alco-----1                                other carbs 1
other carbs-----1
 total net  cabs 2                             total net carbs 3
 On example 1you take the 5 and the only thing under total carbs that you subtract is fiber and sugar Alcohols . Some things will not have sugar alcohols like example 2 just sugar and fiber ,so in that case you would only subtract fiber from the total carbs . I hope this helped you instead of confuse you . It gets easier I have been reading labels for carbs for 6 years !!

[NSands]

Thank you, thank you, for clarifying this.  I was always confused as to whether to count the sugars listed or not.  This is so simple now.  You guys really are the best at making this lifestyle easy to understand.  Haven't been on a scale in almost two weeks, but I feel fabulous!

[joagain]

glad it helped you !!! ANd stay off the scales

[umpa]

I think measurements are best  

[shawn116]