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Net carbs are the total grams of carbohydrates in any given food minus its grams of fiber and sugar alcohols. (The sugar alcohols and fiber are subtracted because they are not digested by the body.)
Here’s the basic formula:
Net carbohydrates = total carbohydrates – fiber – sugar alcohols -
Thanks! What I’m really wondering is, if my carb limit is 16, should I be counting net or total?
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Kate Ehlerman I go with net...
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From the Virtahealth website, I offer this medical-based thoughts to help illuminate your decision:
‘Should I count net carbs or total carbs?’ By Dr. Stephen Phinney and the Virta Team
Their response is: ‘We recommend counting total carbohydrates, with the most of your food coming from real, whole foods. With some exceptions, unprocessed non-starchy vegetables, nuts and seeds contain a relatively small (<25%) of their total carbs as soluble fiber. The use of net carbs 1) assumes there is little to no impact of both fiber and sugar alcohols on blood sugar (responses can vary among individuals so discounting them is not appropriate) and 2) often promotes the use of a lot of products like bars, low carb breads, etc. While they may be “low in net carbs” this can lead to a significant amount of added carbohydrates to your daily total.’
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