Net carbs vs fiber
Filmlotus
Posts: 54 Member
Hey guys, I'm a bit puzzled about how to count my net carbs. My intake of carb today was 61g in total, mostly from cauliflower, soy milk, 9 cherries, nuts and eggs. My fiber total was 56gs. If I were to subtract fiber from total carb, that would be 15g carb. However, some foods have far more fiber than it does carb, eg. Chia seeds 3g fiber, 0 carb. So I'm not sure if my net carb is quite accurate, being that some of the fiber number isn't coming directly from the food that is actually higher in carb like the cherries.
What do you guys think?
What do you guys think?
0
Replies
-
I wish MFP did a net carb section. This is also hard for me. I don't think you can subtract fiber from a food that already has 0 carbs. I am not sure because I just started a week ago with the low carb. I think you should do it per food.0
-
I usually keep my total carbs under 55 g with around 35 g coming from fiber. The total carbs in the US food labels includes fiber; most likely the chia seeds label is wrong if it says 3gm Fiber and 0 total carbs.0
-
Nutrition Facts
Chia seeds
Amount Per 1 oz (28 g)
Calories 138
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 9 g 13%
Saturated fat 0.9 g 4%
Polyunsaturated fat 7 g
Monounsaturated fat 0.7 g
Trans fat 0 g
Cholesterol 0 mg 0%
Sodium 5 mg 0%
Potassium 115 mg 3%
Total Carbohydrate 12 g 4%
Dietary fiber 10 g 40%
Protein 4.7 g 9%
Vitamin A 0% Vitamin C 0%
Calcium 17% Iron 12%
Vitamin B-12 0% Magnesium 23%0 -
No, you don't count the fiber in chia seeds against your gross carbs.
For lack of a more simple description, there are carbs, fiber, and "fibercarbs". Fibercarbs (I made that up) are carbs and fiber that your body does not process like a carbohydrate. It's in these instances that we subtract fiber from gross carb count to come to net.
If you eat carbs, you eat carbs. You can't add fiber in the hopes of it canceling out the carbs. It doesn't, because they're carbs, not fibercarbs.
Does that make sense? BTW this it totally NOT a scientific explanation and I'm sure someone else can explain it better. But this is what makes sense to me.0 -
sb4480 Thank you! I think that makes sense, I've always intuitively thought this too. I can not add fiber and hope it cancels out the carb in cherries for example. So thanks for clearing that up.0
-
There's a little book called "Glycemic Index Diet" by Michel Montignac that some of you may find interesting.The author explains something similar to Atkins' net and gross carbs....he call it "the glycemic Load, so that some of the healthy high carb/glycemic foods ie carrots ,have a low carb and glycemic (sugar) affect on you. He bases foods carb and sugar affect as to how 'pure' the carbohydrate is. I realize this isn't just about carbs, he takes it one step further and ties in the sugar content to how the carbs react in the body. He says that two comparable carbohydrates can cause very different glycemia ie. potatoes and lentils, and this he bases on the nature of the starches in the carb foods. It's very interesting.0
-
Fiber is carbohydrate, just not digestible carbohydrate. That's why you subtract it from your total carbs. A nutrition label that says there is more fiber than total carbs is simply not accurate. Indeed you cannot consume fiber in the hope of lowering your net carb intake.0
-
In the US, nutritional labels have total carbs and fiber counts. The fiber count is included in the total carb count and therefore can be subtracted from it. In the UK, some labels do not include the fiber count in the total carb count, which is where it can get confusing. If you see total carbs 0, fiber 3, then you know the total carb count does not include the fiber.
But all in all, if you have your total carb count for the day and know that it includes fiber as well, you can subtract fiber from that total number.0
