net vs total carbs

JessiBelleW

Could someone explain the difference? I thought that the fibre accounted for some and the rest left are sugars? And why it matters in terms of which to count/ pay attention to?

thanks

cstehansen

There are carbs other than sugar and fiber, so all carbs will not fall into one of the two of those. Starches are carbs your body will convert to sugar, but they are not sugar.

Based on the spelling you used (fibre), you may be in the UK, where I believe at least some of the products already subtract fiber from the total on the nutrition labels. You wouldn't want to subtract them twice.

Fiber is subtracted out because little, if any of it, is actually digestible.

Many people do not count net carbs, but rather just look at total. Some will also subtract out sugar alcohols, but you need to be careful because many of these are digestible, but possibly not fully. I have heard of people subtracting half the sugar alcohols.

RalfLott

@cstehansen - That's been my experience, too, at least with natural plant fiber (as possibly opposed to fiber derived from starch...).

FYI, Phinney, Volek, & Westman use net carbs in their updateof the Atkins diet, (The New Atkins for a New You):

The only carbs that matter when you do Atkins are Net Carbs, aka digestible carbs or impact carbs.

Sunny_Bunny_

I think it's important to know where "net carbs" was first introduced before deciding how you want to proceed.
Michael Eads wrote in his book Protein Power that you can subtract the fiber from green leafy veggies to calculate net carbs.
More recently he stated in podcast interviews that he introduced that idea to encourage people to eat more green leafy vegetables because he said people were eating hardly any at all with the thinking that even less carbs by cutting out more vegetables was "even better" and he thinks a good portion of vegetables is important and wanted people to be less focused on wearing that low number like a trophy and more focused on eating right.
He went on to say that, of course, a company came along and found a way to use it to their advantage to market food like products (Atkins food products) by adding fiber and sugar alcohols to their foods and claiming the net carb value. Then it just took off from there.

moonlights

If you're in the U.K., our labels already show net carbs so you shouldn't subtract anything.

RalfLott

I'm not sure it's more complicated than:

"Try to figure out your individual response to fiber and carbs," bearing in mind:

1. Most people don't have a carb response to natural plant fiber;
2. YMMV as to sugar alcohols (of which there are many, erythritol being un-carblike for most folks) and manufactured funny fiber; and
3. People differ as to how many carbs they can handle per meal/day and remain fat adapted.

Once you've started to figure out how you react to these rascals (looking at energy levels, blood glucose, ketones, sense of well-being, cravings, or whatever matters most to you), you have a pretty good idea where to set your targets.

JessiBelleW

ah, this is very useful. Thanks for the replies!