Dietary Fiber

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Does anyone know if you subtract your dietary fiber intake from your carbs and your fat to get a true intake ? I believe several diet programs like Atkins and Weight Watchers, you are subtracting the dietary fiber thus decreasing your overall fat & carb intake for the day. I can't see that My fitness pal does that for you --but i think it would be a more accurate number if that is factored already. Just curious if this may be an option in the future or is it somewhere that i dont know about ??

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  • Demetria
    Demetria Posts: 178
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    I never heard of anyone subtracting dietary fiber from the carbs or fat.

    Dietary fiber is just a type of carb like sugar. So it's just letting you know how much of that type of carb you have had. Your amount of carbs is your actual amount, there is no difference.

    You need dietary fiber for good health and it has alot of benefits such as helping you feel fuller longer after meals, regulating your digestive system and blood glucose level, and binding to fat to help keep your body from absorbing it.

    HTH,
    Demetria
  • Magenta15
    Magenta15 Posts: 850 Member
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    WW watchers factor in fibre when calculating how many points something costs, but they also have a fibre cap at 4 -- even if there's more then 4 grams of fibre you stop at this number, never heard of doing it when just counting cals tho. it's all about energy in energy out, i don't need a nother excuse to think i can sneak in a few more cals because i ate this much fiber :laugh:
  • valerie521
    valerie521 Posts: 140 Member
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    I have learned very differently from various books on dietary fiber. Its supposed to help with how 'Net carbs are calculated" - see example below from a health and wellness site in regards to dietary fiber. I am aware that they do make you full longer but they also aid in the digestion process of carbs and fat(see below):

    Dietary fiber is not absorbed in the GI tract and therefore, has no caloric impact on the body. When counting carbohydrates for a low-carb eating style, you should subtract dietary fiber grams from total carbohydrate grams. What remains is the “Net Effective Carbs,” the total carbohydrates grams after dietary fiber grams have been subtracted. To find the Net Effective Carbohydrates on a nutritional label, look at the example below. The following nutritional label is for one “Mission brand Carb Balance Whole Wheat Fajita Size” tortilla.


    Serving Size – 1 tortilla

    (28 grams) Grams per Serving

    Calories per Serving 80

    Fat Grams 2

    Total Carbohydrate Grams 12

    - Dietary Fiber 8
    - Sugars 0
    Protein Grams 3

    - each carbohydrate gram equals 4 calories.

    Total carbohydrates above = 12 grams. Subtract dietary fiber, 8 grams, from total carbohydrate grams, which leaves 4 grams of net carbohydrates. This Mission brand Carb Balance tortilla contains “4 net effective carbs,” 8 grams of fiber, and a net caloric serving of 48 calories. For a processed grain product, this is an excellent high-fiber, low-carb, low calorie choice.