Net carbs?

mjslazak

What is your opinion of "net carbs" or "active" carbs. I don't know much about it, other than it seems to be the number of grams carbs total, minus the fiber grams.

I ask as I just tried a Quest protein bar (pretty tasty), but it's high in carbs (as most protein bars are), but the label says "only 5 g net carbs" because there's 19g of dietary fiber.

I don't often eat protein bars at all -- I prefer eggs and love my salmon jerky -- but I do like to have one in my gym bag if I need something, and so have been searching for the lowest carb/highest protein version I could find.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!

demuralist

I think on most low carb protein bars, they also subtract the "sugar alcohols".

Although I know that most people who are primal do "active" carbs, I do "net carbs" but I don't eat things with the sugar alcohols in them, I just subtract the fiber from the carbs. I have IBD and need to keep my fiber up, and this basically keeps it in my focus. I also try to only eat things sweetened with stevia.

I keep a 1oz bag of raw almonds in my purse, for the very rare occasion when I need something and don't have access to something I think is reasonable (like running errands or Christmas shopping). It has less calories, and carbs than most of the bars, and raw makes it harder to chew, so I get a satisfying mouth feel, and it takes long enough to eat them that I am no longer starving or light headed.

KavemanKarg

Since you are doing paleo/primal, or at least posting here, I can say most of us do not do net carbs.

If I want to go deep into ketosis a while, I will worry about net carbs and keep it under 25, otherwise I will try to stay between 50 to 100 total carbs a day for weight loss and I find I operate really well at that range (usually around 70 carbs total a day).

You need to be wary about anything that comes with a label. "Net carbs" is NOT a regulared term. They can claim anything. They will not count fiber, even soluble, they will not count sugar alcohols, etc...

So remember that on a processed product, "net carbs" has no meaning at all under labelling laws.

mjslazak

Thanks for the info & opinions; very interesting. I just simply had not heard of net carbs before, and wondered what it was all about. Generally, I'm staying away from processed carbs and sticking to whole foods (almonds are one of my go-to snacks, as are hard boiled eggs and the aforementioned salmon jerky).

I was worried that "net carbs" might be a scam of sorts, but it appears to have a little merit from what I've read so far.