Fiber calories

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Replies

  • GlenG1969
    GlenG1969 Posts: 28 Member
    33gail33 wrote: »
    Well that is annoying - it never occurred to me that those calories wouldn't be already included in the total.

    I also am a little confused by the answers to just not worry about it, since generally the answer to calorie deficit questions is to carefully weigh and measure all foods.

    As I mentioned calorie counting is not a exact science, far from it. Just because a banana has X amount of calories does not mean your body utilizes 100% of those calories. Different foods are broken down and digested differently in the body, they are also broken down differently by different individuals. Thats the reason I said not to worry about it. You can spend hours and hours reading labels and logging macros, however its nowhere near 100% accurate. As for fibre, non soluble contains zero calories, exactly because it's not soluble. Soluble 1/2 calories per gram. Not worth worrying about!
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,036 Member
    Not to hijack this thread, but I'm still confused. So if the package on my bread says 30 calories, the carbs are 13 and fiber is 12, which then they advertise as 1 net carb. Is that 30 calories accurate or is it actually higher?? One slice is no big deal yes, but if I eat, say, 6 (don't judge! Lol) it would definitely make a difference. Thoughts?

    It would be helpful to know the full nutritional data and portion size, to even have an idea whether or not the calorie count is accurate. (but even then, if we don't know which kind of fiber, it might still be guesswork)
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    edited June 2021
    Not to hijack this thread, but I'm still confused. So if the package on my bread says 30 calories, the carbs are 13 and fiber is 12, which then they advertise as 1 net carb. Is that 30 calories accurate or is it actually higher?? One slice is no big deal yes, but if I eat, say, 6 (don't judge! Lol) it would definitely make a difference. Thoughts?

    13g x 4c = 52 calories just in carbs if normal burn in non-human.

    So I'm betting they aren't counting the fiber carbs, but there is some fat and protein which should be mentioned to do math with.

    They appear to be more accurate than counting fiber carbs that aren't absorbed.
  • chris89topher
    chris89topher Posts: 389 Member
    Lietchi wrote: »
    Not to hijack this thread, but I'm still confused. So if the package on my bread says 30 calories, the carbs are 13 and fiber is 12, which then they advertise as 1 net carb. Is that 30 calories accurate or is it actually higher?? One slice is no big deal yes, but if I eat, say, 6 (don't judge! Lol) it would definitely make a difference. Thoughts?

    It would be helpful to know the full nutritional data and portion size, to even have an idea whether or not the calorie count is accurate. (but even then, if we don't know which kind of fiber, it might still be guesswork)

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  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,048 Member
    edited June 2021
    It’s more important to be consistent in logging than accurate. If you are consistently 100 calories off in your estimate, over time you will notice in your rate of loss, and can adjust accordingly. Since people aren’t machines and process foods differently, there is always going to be a margin of error in logging. Did that piece of corn pass through without getting digested or not? Who knows? But if you weigh regularly and log consistently, you will be able to get close enough to get results.

    This was the thought I was going to share. I use USDA total calories and do not differentiate fiber type. I eat a lot of fiber. At least I think it's a lot ~30g-40g daily give or take. And it's pretty consistent. So let's say I *think* my TDEE is 80 or 100 Kcal higher than it actually is. As long as the TDEE I'm using consists of ~35 fiber on average, I will maintain at that artificially high TDEE I have observed (that includes fiber).

    ETA: Something like that label above with net calories (vs. total calories) would throw off my tracking. I don't eat much packaged food, but I will start paying closer attention as that seems deceptive.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,393 Member
    I think I would like to try some of this bread!

    0.5g fat and 1 carb = 13 Cal. So 30 Cal includes SOME of the fiber Calories. Whether enough or not is a matter of further research and conjecture.

    On the FACE of it it sounds at least partially plausible.

    But resistant starch is usually viewed at about 2.5 Cal per gram instead of 4, not zero, so you will not find much more accurate information unless you get their recipe and formula!

    And, and I'm sure people will correct me, but, if you continuously eat resistant starch in large quantities won't you eventually train (or select for) gut biome that will become really adept at scavenging the calories?
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    heybales wrote: »
    Not to hijack this thread, but I'm still confused. So if the package on my bread says 30 calories, the carbs are 13 and fiber is 12, which then they advertise as 1 net carb. Is that 30 calories accurate or is it actually higher?? One slice is no big deal yes, but if I eat, say, 6 (don't judge! Lol) it would definitely make a difference. Thoughts?

    13g x 4c = 52 calories just in carbs if normal burn in non-human.

    So I'm betting they aren't counting the fiber carbs, but there is some fat and protein which should be mentioned to do math with.

    They appear to be more accurate than counting fiber carbs that aren't absorbed.

    1g x 4c = 4 c from carbs no fiber
    0.5g x 9c = 4.5 c from fat
    3g x 4c = 12 c from protein

    About 20 cal from just that.

    So to reach 30 - they must be counting some of the fiber calories. So perhaps they are being specific with soluble and insoluble type that just isn't displayed. That's pretty good.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,899 Member
    33gail33 wrote: »
    Well that is annoying - it never occurred to me that those calories wouldn't be already included in the total.

    All calories are included in the total.

    Fiber does not have 4 cals per gram, which is why the cals can't be calculated perfectly by the 4-4-9 calculation.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,899 Member
    edited June 2021
    https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-do-food-manufacturers/#:~:text=Because carbohydrates contain some fiber,9 Kcal/g for fat.

    For the US:

    "The Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990 (NLEA) currently dictates what information is presented on food labels. The NLEA requires that the Calorie level placed on a packaged food be calculated from food components. According to the National Data Lab (NDL), most of the calorie values in the USDA and industry food tables are based on an indirect calorie estimation made using the so-called Atwater system. In this system, calories are not determined directly by burning the foods. Instead, the total caloric value is calculated by adding up the calories provided by the energy-containing nutrients: protein, carbohydrate, fat and alcohol. Because carbohydrates contain some fiber that is not digested and utilized by the body, the fiber component is usually subtracted from the total carbohydrate before calculating the calories."

    -and-

    https://thecounter.org/scientists-calorie-counts-usda-kind/