Net carb option

JimmyJazzMX
JimmyJazzMX Posts: 57 Member
in MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions
I purchased premium tonight as I read that it has option to show net carbs on the diary. I looked up how to accomplish this, but the option is not available in the area is says to check off the setting.

Any ideas anyone?

Jim

Best Answers

  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,841 Member
    Answer ✓
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Are you in one of the countries where labels already list net carbs in the carbs entry, by any chance?

    That would be my guess/question too. For example in the EU, the carb count on labels already excludes fiber.

    According to your profile, you are in Mexico.

    According to this website ( https://blog.trustwell.com/how-carbs-are-calculated-in-different-countries ):
    "For nutrition labeling in the EU and Mexico, carbohydrate values are determined by the amount of “available carbohydrate,” which does not include the fiber component. This value is determined by adding the sugars and starches in the analyzed food sample."
  • Strudders67
    Strudders67 Posts: 989 Member
    Answer ✓
    I've just come to this section to see if something has changed - before I log a ticket with the MFP techies. I've also just googled MFP Net Carbs and it says it's only with Premium but also only for US users and only on the app not the web.

    I'm in the UK and, as Ann indicates, our nutrition info shows net carbs. Fibre and Sugar are listed separately on all packaging. However, until recently, I've not had any problems with entries on MFP. Yesterday, I wanted to add some new ingredients to an existing Recipe and every correct-sounding item that I found in the database had the wrong Carbs value. I ended up going to my actual Food Diary and adding a new entry; but, when I went back to my Recipe and searched for that item, it had added the fibre figure to the carbs. Although I regularly change quantities, I don't often add new items to existing Recipes and I haven't set up a new Recipe in a while, but I'm quite sure this didn't happen previously. As a diabetic, for whom my carbs figure is the most important thing in my food diary, this is a problem.

    My guess is that, if MFP have added a new feature, only available to US-based, Premium members, they've messed up the figures for everyone else.

Answers

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,234 Member
    Are you in one of the countries where labels already list net carbs in the carbs entry, by any chance?
  • JimmyJazzMX
    JimmyJazzMX Posts: 57 Member
    Thanks for the replies,

    Yes, I'm located in Mexico and they told me that feature not available here... yet.

    I'll purchase the premium account when it is.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,234 Member
    edited August 27
    JimmyJazzMX wrote: »
    Thanks for the replies,

    Yes, I'm located in Mexico and they told me that feature not available here... yet.

    I'll purchase the premium account when it is.

    If Mexican food labels don't include fiber in the carb count, then simply picking food database entries that match your food's carb labels would get you the same effect.

    If you're eating whole foods . . . well, there used to be food database entries that people had input with "net carbs" as part of the title, that had made that arithmetic adjustment. I don't know if they're still there. (I literally don't care how many carbs I eat, as long as I hit calories and my protein/fat minimums.)

    Alternatively, you can create your own food entries for whole foods that don't include fiber in the carb count. They'll be saved in "My Foods". (Please don't share them to the general database unless you label them "net carbs", or you can mess up other people's data.)

    Another alternative is to carefully use only entries that DO include fiber in the carb counts (US entries, basically), and simply subtract fiber grams from carb grams mentally (looking at the totals) to gauge where you are for a day or week. (That's what net carb eaters did in the US before there was a net carbs feature).

    This isn't really a super-technical thing. Yeah, some things like sugar alcohols are funky, too . . . but most people aren't eating boatloads of those, I think, so maybe NBD in the big picture. But what do I know? Like I said, I don't worry about carbs at all. (I know that people with things like diabetes or insulin resistance need to manage carbs carefully, but I don't have those conditions. I also know that carbs have some effects on other health conditions, but it tends to be fairly minor impact outside of those biggies IMU, and I haven't seen research that really clarifies whether whole-foods carbs have the same impact as highly-processed-foods carbs, in those contexts. That seems relevant to me because highly-processed foods are also correlated with worse outcomes for some health conditions. But I'm no expert.)
  • AtomicLemon
    AtomicLemon Posts: 63 Member
    edited August 31
    I'm in the US, have Premium and can't find the option anywhere!
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,234 Member
    AtomicLemon wrote: »
    I'm in the US, have Premium and can't find the option anywhere!

    In the US, with premium, you turn it on in the phone/tablet app (not the web browser version of MFP).

    Go to More/Settings/Diary Settings then click in the "Track Net Carbs" box.

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