"Other Carbs" ?

NatashaBoyd

Ok, I am on a very low carb diet restriction via my prenatal care Dr. and I LOVE cereal. I have been searching for a cereal with 20 or less carbs a serving. ( no luck). Everything I find has carbs and then "other carbs" what are these additonal carbs and are they to be counted?

Felesina1

It depends upon why your on this type of diet. Is it for gestational diabetes and blood sugar issues? If so, then total carbs need to be monitored/counted.

TOTAL CARBOHYDRATES

Dietary fiber
Sugars
Other carbohydrates

Total carbohydrate: Tells you how many grams of carbohydrates are in each serving and the percentage of the Daily Value this represents. This number includes starches, complex carbohydrates, dietary fiber, added sugar sweeteners, and non-digestible additives. The following three carbohydrates all add up to the total carbohydrate value.
Dietary fiber: This figure represents the number of grams of fiber in each serving.

Sugars: This figure represents the number of grams of added sweeteners, which may appear in the ingredients list as: sugar, corn syrup, honey, brown sugar, and so on.

Other carbohydrates: This line reveals the number of grams of complex carbohydrates, not including fiber, but including non-digestible additives, such as stabilizers and thickening agents. Theoretically, this number should reflect the amount of the more nutritious sugars, that is the ones naturally present in the food.

Reading between the lines. As a general guide, the greater the discrepancy between "total carbohydrates" and "sugar," on the label, the more nutritious carbohydrates the food contains. This means that the package contains more of the food's natural sugars than added sugars. The closer the number of grams of "sugar" is to the "total carbohydrates" in each serving, the closer the food gets to the junk quality (sort of like junk bonds -- they are a risky investment). The "total carbs" minus the "sugar" value is particularly helpful in comparing the nutritional value of cereals. For example, a serving of regular All-Bran contains 24 grams of total carbohydrates and 6 grams of sugars, resulting in 18 grams of potentially healthy carbohydrates. A serving of Fruit Loops, on the other hand, contains 28 grams of total carbohydrates, 15 grams of which are sugars - over 50 percent of the total carbohydrates in Fruit Loops are added sweeteners, versus 25 percent in All-Bran.

When comparing juice labels, you will notice that even in "100 percent juice" the total carb and the sugar values are the same, since juice is nearly all natural sugar.

When you're buying cereal, bread, or crackers, you are looking for complex carbohydrates without a lot of added sugar. There is no line in the "Nutrition Facts" listing for complex carbohydrates, but you can get a rough idea of the amount of healthy carbs in a food by comparing total carbohydrates with sugars. The greater the difference between the two, the more grams of complex carbohydrates in the food.

Source: www.askdrsears.com/topics/family-nutrition/food-labels/how-read-package-label

NatashaBoyd

Although I am not diabetic that is the idea of the diet to resemble such a diet. So I am to eat accordingly as if I am. I am allowed 60 carbs a day/1800 cal. She told me to stay away from the high natural sugars in items such as juice etc. I did well my first two weeks but I am looking to expand my available menu.