Fiber Confusion

RickMcGuire1021
RickMcGuire1021 Posts: 11 Member
edited August 2018 in Food and Nutrition
Hello everyone! Recently I started eating a Wegmans grocery store brand high fiber cereal (Wegmans Fiber Essentials). I was attracted to how this cereal had NO SUGAR (God bless) and was only 60 calories/30 gram serving! I noticed though after logging two servings of this cereal when I ate it that it was no less carbs than other cereals, but had 14 of the 25 grams of carbohydrate in it coming from dietary fiber, presumably insoluble fiber. My question is, do you count this as a carbohydrate yielding any calories ? I do actually need the extra fiber as it works wonders with my constipation woes, but I’m super under in my calorie goals whenever I eat this cereal though I’m hitting my carb intake dead on. Thank you all for any help in this matter!

https://www.wegmans.com/products/grocery-food/breakfast/cereal/fiber-essentials-cereal.html
This is the cereal for reference.

Replies

  • RickMcGuire1021
    RickMcGuire1021 Posts: 11 Member
    https://www.wegmans.com/products/grocery-food/breakfast/cereal/fiber-essentials-cereal.html
    This is the cereal for reference.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    I don't really concern myself with the number of carbs I'm consuming. Fiber is a component of carbohydrates...carbohydrates are comprised of sugar/starch/fiber
  • Millicent3015
    Millicent3015 Posts: 374 Member
    I wouldn't worry about the carbs unless you're diabetic. The fiber content of the cereal sounds pretty good, and if you're hitting your carbs you could try making your calories by upping your protein intake. You could try and get fibre from having just one portion of cereal and eating more vegetables, beans, pulses, wholegrains and fruit. If that doesn't help your constipation you might want to think about seeing your doctor or a dietician to see if there's anything else you can do to get your bowels working more optimally. You might need to take in a little more fat, but I'd ask your doctor/dietitian about that.
  • RickMcGuire1021
    RickMcGuire1021 Posts: 11 Member
    I’m hitting my fat carb and protein goals. I’m just asking about whether fiber counts for calories because I’m under in calories, yet hitting all of my macros.
  • livingleanlivingclean
    livingleanlivingclean Posts: 11,751 Member
    edited August 2018
    The caloric value of fibre is difficult to determine - I think its often 2cals per gram, compared to 4 cals per gram for "carbohydrates"

    Is the information correct in the entry you're using - do the numbers match the food label?
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,089 Member
    I would go with what's on the food label.
  • lrnjr99
    lrnjr99 Posts: 1 Member
    Have you thought about a fiber supplement? This is the area I struggle in the most. My dr suggested a fiber powder in water.
  • Sunshine_And_Sand
    Sunshine_And_Sand Posts: 1,320 Member
    All calories "count". As far as weight loss/gain, all calories (regardless of if they are from fat, protein, or carbs/fiber) are equal.
    Look at the calories per serving, by weight, as listed on the label and weigh out the serving; weigh out how much you want and use that number to figure out how many servings to log.
    Knowing the exact breakdown of which macro each calorie in your food comes from isn't relevant to weight loss.
    If you are constantly logging less calories than your goal, and the scale reflects you are losing weight faster than you should, just eat more calories and see how that works, and adjust as needed.

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