Carbs... Net Carbs... someone please explain to me?!

Caz

Repeat Offender
I don't do Atkins, I just count my calories so the whole carbs, net carbs thing isn't something I've really come across before. I've known others who have done Atkins and so I get that what you count is your net carbs (carbs - fibre = net carbs right?) but I just don't get why.

My boyfriend does Exante (a total food replacement VLCD diet) but as one of the options is allowed a 400 calorie low carb meal with 10g being the suggested amount for 'low carb', he's coming here for the weekend, which is why I'm trying to look into nice meal options. Now, I know that Atkins people only count net carbs and you're aiming for ketosis. This is kinda the same as Exante, carbs are limited to keep them in ketosis. So, does that mean that I can have carbs higher than 10g as long as the net is under 10g? Basically I guess I'm asking, does fibre not affect ketosis?

One meal I've put together is 12g carbs, 6g fibre so 6g net.
The other is 14g carbs, 5g fibre so 9g net.

Just trying to get my head around this carb malarky so any advice would be greatly appreciated!
 
Unfortunately, that is a rule they use in a America. In the UK our food labels have the fibre already deducted from the total carbs. So, whatever it says on the label is the net carbs. Meaning each meal option would be too high if he has to keep within 10g.

The only situation where you would deduct anything from to total carbs would be if something contained Polyols (but these can also affect some peoples' weight loss, not to mention.. Ahem... bowel movements)!

I made the same mistake for the first couple of weeks on Atkins as I'd only ever read the American info.
 
But it says carbs xg inc. fibre xg, sugar xg so surely doesn't that mean that the carb number includes the sugar, fibre etc already? Oh these things are confusing!
 
You're right about the carb count on the label including sugar, but not fibre. It's all to do with the different labelling systems in different countries. All I know is that with uk and eu products, you don't deduct fibre from the carbs. Just take it as is on the packaging.

The only time you would minus fibre is if it's an imported product, but most of the stuff you buy in a supermarket would have UK labels.

It is pretty confusing if you're not used to it.
 
Ah ok, maybe I'm remembering the packaging wrong! Thanks for taking the time to reply, it's appreciated :)
 
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