Low carbs

Chd83
Chd83 Posts: 9 Member
edited September 2021 in Health and Weight Loss
I see everywhere people are eating Mission low carb tortillas. I got some and there are 29 carbs in 1!!! What’s low carb about this. It’s high in fiber but MFP doesn’t calculate it like that.

Replies

  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,843 Member
    edited September 2021
    Great points above ^

    Chd83 wrote: »
    I see everywhere people are eating Mission low carb tortillas. I got some and there are 29 carbs in 1!!! What’s low carb about this. It’s high in fiber but MFP doesn’t calculate it like that.

    How'd they taste? I'm not low carb but always interested in ways to increase fiber (other than beans and berries, which I am all over.)
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 9,808 Member
    Like others have mentioned, it's net carbs. As far as low carb is concerned the carbohydrate intake can vary quite a bit and still be consuming low carbs so don't beat yourself up and creating a failure scenario. I've been low carb for almost 20 years now and don't count calories and what it does for me is, it satiates very well and I have almost no cravings for sugar, which was a problem for me and it automatically forced me to eat more whole foods considering most processed foods are carbs, not all but most. If it's just a diet to try, it will be like any other diet in so far as it will work for a time then fail, which is what all studies show for all diets, they wain as time goes on and result in failure from compliance. Good luck with your weight loss journey.
  • Chd83
    Chd83 Posts: 9 Member
    All these replies make great sense and I thought it was met carbs, however, when I “track “ them the 29 carbs add to my total not the 5 net carbs that they actually are? They were good, I cut them and put on air fryer for chips
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,879 Member
    Chd83 wrote: »
    All these replies make great sense and I thought it was met carbs, however, when I “track “ them the 29 carbs add to my total not the 5 net carbs that they actually are? They were good, I cut them and put on air fryer for chips

    MFP doesn't do any calculation here. The nutritional information in the database is crowd sourced by users and most of that information simply comes from the nutrition label...so if the label isn't illustrating net carbs, it won't be presented that way in the database entry. People who do low carb or keto or whatever simply track fiber and subtract the total carbs from fiber.

    There are entries in the database presented as net carbs, but with a few exceptions, most of those entries come from the UK or Europe where it is far more common for nutritional labels to present it as such. It's not particularly common in the USA.
  • ldaltonbishop
    ldaltonbishop Posts: 95 Member
    I'm not disagreeing that net carbs are what matters, but when my DH and I each went through classes with a registered dietitian after being diagnosed with diabetes (much to my indignation and surprise when it was my turn), she taught us to track carbs and not net carbs. But she stressed it was important we get 45-60 carbs per meal. And yes, he weighed twice as much as I did and we got the same amounts. It's just trickier for me as I need fewer calories than he does and when I get enough carbs I struggle to get enough protein and stay within my calorie budget.

    That said, I can recommend Aldi's Fit & Active Low Carb flour tortillas at 11 total carbs per piece (5 net)(https://www.nutritionix.com/i/fit-active/low-carb-tortillas/5d7de264aae1d2885ca60ce9 ). But for what it's worth, their Pueblo Lindo brand corn tortillas and Casa Mamita brand taco shells are lower in carbs and have zero sodium. That's like miracle food for me because I like corn tortillas better than flour ones.
  • tonyayoung54
    tonyayoung54 Posts: 4 Member
    If you buy the Premium subscription the app on your phone can be set to net carbs (not sure why the computer version does not do it).
  • Chd83
    Chd83 Posts: 9 Member
    Thank you @tonyayoung54
  • Chd83
    Chd83 Posts: 9 Member
    I'm not disagreeing that net carbs are what matters, but when my DH and I each went through classes with a registered dietitian after being diagnosed with diabetes (much to my indignation and surprise when it was my turn), she taught us to track carbs and not net carbs. But she stressed it was important we get 45-60 carbs per meal. And yes, he weighed twice as much as I did and we got the same amounts. It's just trickier for me as I need fewer calories than he does and when I get enough carbs I struggle to get enough protein and stay within my calorie budget.

    That said, I can recommend Aldi's Fit & Active Low Carb flour tortillas at 11 total carbs per piece (5 net)(https://www.nutritionix.com/i/fit-active/low-carb-tortillas/5d7de264aae1d2885ca60ce9 ). But for what it's worth, their Pueblo Lindo brand corn tortillas and Casa Mamita brand taco shells are lower in carbs and have zero sodium. That's like miracle food for me because I like corn tortillas better than flour ones.
    I'm not disagreeing that net carbs are what matters, but when my DH and I each went through classes with a registered dietitian after being diagnosed with diabetes (much to my indignation and surprise when it was my turn), she taught us to track carbs and not net carbs. But she stressed it was important we get 45-60 carbs per meal. And yes, he weighed twice as much as I did and we got the same amounts. It's just trickier for me as I need fewer calories than he does and when I get enough carbs I struggle to get enough protein and stay within my calorie budget.

    That said, I can recommend Aldi's Fit & Active Low Carb flour tortillas at 11 total carbs per piece (5 net)(https://www.nutritionix.com/i/fit-active/low-carb-tortillas/5d7de264aae1d2885ca60ce9 ). But for what it's worth, their Pueblo Lindo brand corn tortillas and Casa Mamita brand taco shells are lower in carbs and have zero sodium. That's like miracle food for me because I like corn tortillas better than flour ones.
    I'm not disagreeing that net carbs are what matters, but when my DH and I each went through classes with a registered dietitian after being diagnosed with diabetes (much to my indignation and surprise when it was my turn), she taught us to track carbs and not net carbs. But she stressed it was important we get 45-60 carbs per meal. And yes, he weighed twice as much as I did and we got the same amounts. It's just trickier for me as I need fewer calories than he does and when I get enough carbs I struggle to get enough protein and stay within my calorie budget.

    That said, I can recommend Aldi's Fit & Active Low Carb flour tortillas at 11 total carbs per piece (5 net)(https://www.nutritionix.com/i/fit-active/low-carb-tortillas/5d7de264aae1d2885ca60ce9 ). But for what it's worth, their Pueblo Lindo brand corn tortillas and Casa Mamita brand taco shells are lower in carbs and have zero sodium. That's like miracle food for me because I like corn tortillas better than flour ones.
    I'm not disagreeing that net carbs are what matters, but when my DH and I each went through classes with a registered dietitian after being diagnosed with diabetes (much to my indignation and surprise when it was my turn), she taught us to track carbs and not net carbs. But she stressed it was important we get 45-60 carbs per meal. And yes, he weighed twice as much as I did and we got the same amounts. It's just trickier for me as I need fewer calories than he does and when I get enough carbs I struggle to get enough protein and stay within my calorie budget.

    That said, I can recommend Aldi's Fit & Active Low Carb flour tortillas at 11 total carbs per piece (5 net)(https://www.nutritionix.com/i/fit-active/low-carb-tortillas/5d7de264aae1d2885ca60ce9 ). But for what it's worth, their Pueblo Lindo brand corn tortillas and Casa Mamita brand taco shells are lower in carbs and have zero sodium. That's like miracle food for me because I like corn tortillas better than flour ones.

  • Chd83
    Chd83 Posts: 9 Member
    Thank you! I’m not necessarily counting carbs I just don’t want to over eat them ( I love carbs)! I agree, it’s tough to balance it all out and stay within your calories
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,843 Member
    Chd83 wrote: »
    Thank you! I’m not necessarily counting carbs I just don’t want to over eat them ( I love carbs)! I agree, it’s tough to balance it all out and stay within your calories

    I'm fine with carbs from foods like rice, beans, veggies and fruit. But I do have issues moderating foods where the carbs come from flour and/or added sugar, like homemade bread, pasta, baked goods, and ice cream. So I limit these.

    It's starting to get cold here in Massachusetts, which means I'm itching to start baking, always a struggle this time of year. I made some muffins two days ago that had so little sugar and fat that they're hardly worth eating, which helps, lol. I'm going to try to pawn them off on my brother.
  • russellholtslander1
    russellholtslander1 Posts: 285 Member
    You have a lot of considerations here.. low carb covers a LOT of different ways of doing the diet.

    First.. do you count NET or TOTAL carbs? If you count total carbs like I do, these are not an option.. when I looked at them, wheat was 30 g, and flour was 19 grams. If you count NET, then wheat has 25 grams of fiber, and is 5 NET carbs, and Flour w/ 15 grams fiber is 4 NET carbs.

    Second.. how many carbs are you allowed.. Atkins Induction is 20 grams of carbs, and Keto should be 25 or less.. so is 5grams of carbs too much for 110 calories ( wheat ), or 70 calories ( flour )? Assuming the average 2000 calorie diet. that's 20-25% of your NET carbs, in 3.5-5.5% of your calories.. the rest of your food is going to need to be much lower carb to fit it in a low carb plan like these.. At 50-75 grams a day.. simply lower carb.. it won't be an issue, most likely.

    Third.. only 70 or 110 calories per tortilla. So assuming a 2000 calorie diet and 3 meals, you eat 667 calories a meal.. if a tortilla is 110 calories, you need to stack 567 calories in it, or on the side. You could slather on some mayo, add bacon, but not a lot of meat can go into one of these tortillas, and beef, or chicken is not going to give you 567 calories. You will REALLY have to work to up the calories in a tortilla.. or have to find something high calorie to add, like macadamia nuts on the side. Something high fat, to get calories. You can add some carbs but they are limited, and along with protein, are only 4 calories a gram. Plus, if you put meat in the tortilla, are you having meat on the side, or adding carbs, when you are worried the tortilla has too many carbs?

    Fourth.. fiber. The easy solution to one chicken tortilla not being enough calories is have 2.. simple, until you consider the 15-25 grams of fiber.. is 30-50 grams of fiber going to work for you? One tortilla may be good, but 2 wheat tortillas ( 50 g fiber )? Sounds like you'll be spending the afternoon in the bathroom, especially if you had raspberrries with breakfast, and might be having green beans with dinner.. you could reach 70 g of fiber. Basically you can eat 1 tortilla.. is it worth it? You have to decide that.

    Fifth.. ingredients. Yes, the nutrition label matter, but so does what you consume. Let's look at the wheat tortilla.
    ***Water, Modified wheat starch, whole wheat flour, wheat gluten, vegetable shortening ( interesterified and hydrogenated soybean oils ), wheat gluten isolate.. 2% or less of salt, baking soda, sodium acid pyrophosphate, cellulose gum, distilled monoglycerides, sucralose, caramel color, fumaric acid, calcium propionate, and sorbic acid *****
    Maybe it FITS into your carb count, but should you really be eating all that? A few are identifiable.. water of course, then the next 3 are simply wheat. Hydrogenated means TRANS fats.. interesterified?? The rest are not food. they bind it, color it, and preserve it, so you like the color, it doesn't fall apart, and you like the taste.. a little salt and sucralose!! Plus it can sit on the shelf for weeks. Yummy.

    Sixth, and last.. Cravings. One HUGE reason to do low carb, is to get into ketosis, and get rid of cravings. Yes, someone will say they did low carb and still had cravings. But most people once in ketosis, enjoy never feeling hungry/craving foods. This is usually by staying under 20-25 grams of carbs.

    The problem is, you can trigger cravings while eating far less than 20 grams of carbs a day, and this may be why some " low carbers " DO have cravings.. they eat foods they have reactions to. Most low carbers omit wheat, flour, other grains, as well as other trigger foods. If you eat something which triggers cravings for you, even if it is only 5 grams, you protection against the cravings will disappear, and you will probably go on a binge. WHEAT and CORN are HUGE trigger foods, and in these tortillas.

    If these don't trigger you, then you can possibly eat them, and not get cravings.

    When you say low carb.. what you mean by that matters. It started as a medical diet, then people used it to cut cravings, and be able to eat the proper number of calories.. and types of carbs mattered a lot more. NET carbs started being thrown out there, and manufacturers figured out how to manipulate food labels, with sugar alcohols, and added fiber, allowing people to think higher carb foods were OK.. and for some it is.. when you are diabetic, they basically halve your carbs, and you feel better, and usually lose some weight.. if you don't have a medical condition, or get craving from wheat and flour, or lose at 100 g of carbs a day.. after all, people lose weight on 250 grams of carbs a day.. people lose on other diets.. so 100 is " low " carb.

    So it matters what your goals are.. how low in carbs, how you count them, the food you think is OK to eat, how you put meals together, and make a menu.. what you will NOT eat, as well as how much fiber you think you need, and whether you have cravings.

    I count TOTAL carbs, stay between 0-10 grams a day, eat just eggs, fats, meats, and water. I usually get NO fiber, and I think this food is absolute junk, which would cause me cravings, and kick me out of ketosis. ;)

    BUT.. the only thing that matters is you think about it, and decide if they are OK for YOU, based on your level, and style of low carb. These are just areas I hope help you decide, and if you do decide to eat them, consider some of the issues, like extremely high fiber... so you won't mess up you stomach for a day.

    Good Luck with whatever you decide to do.