Confused about atkins

[wowser]

Hello.
I'm thinking about doing the Atkins diet , I have read the first part of the book. It says not to eat more than 20g of carbs a day, but then I have read the term 'net carbs' in various places. So I don't know what value I am looking at to work out the carbs. If I look on a package of salad for instance do I just look under where it says 'carbohydrates' and take that value ? Or am I working out something else?
Please help if you can, thanks.

 

[emmaedes]

hello hun,

there was a post like this on the other page. Basically in america they call net carbs as the protein isnt subtracted from the carbs on food packaging so to get the true carbs they subtract the protein but in the UK the protein isn't included in the carbs showing on food packing so in the uk the carbs on the packet are the true carbs whereas in america they have protein included.

hope that helps

Em xxxx

 

[wowser]

Yes thanks very much for your reply, I did actually find that thread after I'd done this one!

I have got an app for my iPhone and I can enter things in eg 'mushroom ' and it gives me carbs & net carbs for certain amounts. I presume here I'm taking the net carbs???? I'm all a bit confused.

Today I've had scrambled egg and 3 rashers of bacon & a big lump of cheese & now I've got chicken in the oven.

So for what I have had, am I doing ok? I take it that I am not counting any carbs for what I have had ?? I only count the carbs if I'm adding stuff in like salads or veg?
I ask because this app also gives the carb content of cheeses whereas in my book it said cheese is 'free'
Sorry for all my questions, I hope someone helps me.

 

[emmaedes]

thats ok, i use my fitness pal and thats good for recording. You can change your percentages in there to be 65%fat, 35% protein and 5% carbs - cals need to be 1600 to give you your 20g carb allowance for induction.

one thing that the more experience atkins members on here always say eat lots of leafy greens, i.e salad leaves, cabbage, spinach etc. usually two cups leafy greens to one cup other veg (peppers, mushrooms etc)

i would say its the net carbs because otherwise the carbs will include protein. So take the net carbs.

Try setting up with my fitness pal, its really easy to use.

Ems xxx

 

[moonlights]

Emma - you mean fibre, not protein. Protein isn't a carb, that's why Atkins is a high protein diet...

Anyway, from when I did Atkins: if you're reading a label on a food packet in the UK don't deduct anything. The figure that says 'carbs' is what you're looking for. Ignore the 'of which sugars' etc and just use the main carbs figure.

If you're looking at raw, unlabeled vegetables you need to deduct the fibre. It's tricky as sometimes mfp will have done this already and sometimes it won't. But the -only time- you need to deduct fibre is from unlabeled veg.

In short, always use the carbs figure not net carbs - net carbs is an American thing.

Cheese isn't free and does have carbs in, all dairy does.