Drinking fiber with food - Keto low carb question

deepwoodslady

To anyone who participates in any of the challenges I am in, or to anyone with keto or low carb knowledge:

If I drink a fiber therapy like Metamucil or add benefiber to my foods that contain some carbs (like cream cheese), can I then subtract the fiber count to lower the carb numbers to net carbs, or does it not count that way since the fiber is not naturally occuring in the actual food (cream cheese).

I have never done this, but it just occurred to me that maybe it would count.

Cheating or not?

lemurcat2

The reason you can deduct fiber from carbs when using the carb measure that is used in the US and Canada is because they will count the fiber toward the total carbs. Since fiber doesn't affect you the same as carbs, it's okay to back those out. If you consume a fiber supplement, it shouldn't ever have more fiber than carbs, since the fiber would contribute carbs, so you'd not gain any extra carbs that way.

Make sense?

leiflung

No. You cannot do that. You're not the first to want this, but it doesn't work that way.

You can subtract fiber from the carbs in food because fiber is a type of carb. I can't be digested, so you don't actually use it. That's why, if a food is 6g of carbs and 3g fiber, it means 3g of the 6g of carbs are fiber and don't count. The other 3 g do count. They continue to count no matter how many extra g of fiber you eat.

Basically, if you add 6g of metamucil, you're adding 6g of carbs, 6g of which is fiber. Subtract 6g of fiber from the 6g of total carbs, that leaves you back at zero or with however many carbs the cheese has.

CharlieBeansmomTracey

the carbs in cream cheese usually are less than 1 gram(per tbsp/14.5 grams) anyway unless you are eating the whole tub or package

lalabank

Don’t forget to use sugar free Metamucil!

deepwoodslady

lemurcat2 wrote: »

The reason you can deduct fiber from carbs when using the carb measure that is used in the US and Canada is because they will count the fiber toward the total carbs. Since fiber doesn't affect you the same as carbs, it's okay to back those out. If you consume a fiber supplement, it shouldn't ever have more fiber than carbs, since the fiber would contribute carbs, so you'd not gain any extra carbs that way.

Make sense?

Yes, it does make sense. thanks for your help.

deepwoodslady

leiflung wrote: »

No. You cannot do that. You're not the first to want this, but it doesn't work that way.

You can subtract fiber from the carbs in food because fiber is a type of carb. I can't be digested, so you don't actually use it. That's why, if a food is 6g of carbs and 3g fiber, it means 3g of the 6g of carbs are fiber and don't count. The other 3 g do count. They continue to count no matter how many extra g of fiber you eat.

Basically, if you add 6g of metamucil, you're adding 6g of carbs, 6g of which is fiber. Subtract 6g of fiber from the 6g of total carbs, that leaves you back at zero or with however many carbs the cheese has.

I completely get it now. The answers I'm receiving make perfect sense. I was just trying to figure out a way to get my carbs to a lower net carb count (like in Peanut Butter or spaghetti sauce) but the road is never quite that easy, is it? LOL. Thanks for saving me a shock on the scale. I'm so happy I asked before I tried it!

deepwoodslady

CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »

the carbs in cream cheese usually are less than 1 gram(per tbsp/14.5 grams) anyway unless you are eating the whole tub or package

Yes, cream cheese is very low and I do use it often. It was just a bad example. I was thinking more in line with peanut butter or spaghetti sauce. There are lower carb versions but they are so expensive and not so readily available in my very small town. Thanks for trying to help.

deepwoodslady

lalabank wrote: »

Don’t forget to use sugar free Metamucil!

Yes, I do use sugar free M, when I use it. I am type 2 Diabetic (improving tremendously with Keto lifestyle), so that is always the best choice. Thanks for the reminder. Happy New Year!