Carbohydrates explained

[belugalad]

I'm new to this and haven't looked at labels much before,just as an example I have been reading a bean tin and have noticed it says carbohydrates 31g per half tin but 13 g sugar,so I would like to know is it only the sugar figure (13g) that you have to take in to consideration?I hope that makes sense to somebody.

Also is there a certain number on food packaging that would make people feel,that's too high I'm not going to buy that,so just wondering if people chose there food in that way for instance they might just pick items that only have 5g or less in them?that figure was just a random figure by the way

 

[Jodee]

Hi belugalad.

Its usually says carbs amount then underneath of which sugars.
You need to take into account the total carbs, (the label on the back of things usually includes sugars)

Carbs turn to sugar in the blood.

Tesco baked beans no added sugar are 22.9g carbs. Heize is total carbs 19.6g. But if you eat less than half a can, then less carbs 🙂

Now I am looking at the packaging and opting for lowest carb options.

 

[Philomena]

I know that sugar, fibre and starch make up carbohydrates but to be honest I only really look at the total carb figure on food labels. Subtract the fibre content and that gives you your ‘net carbs’. (If you’re doing LCHF/Keto) I personally don’t eat anything that has more than 10g of carbs per 100g. Nothing processed....most of my carbs come from vegetables.
Sorry, doesn’t really answer your question, does it...

 

[Jodee]

You might want to read about carbs here: https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-to-diabetes/enjoy-food/carbohydrates-and-diabetes

also

https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-t...-and-diabetes/nuts-and-bolts-of-carb-counting

 

[belugalad]

I know that sugar, fibre and starch make up carbohydrates but to be honest I only really look at the total carb figure on food labels. Subtract the fibre content and that gives you your ‘net carbs’. (If you’re doing LCHF/Keto) I personally don’t eat anything that has more than 10g of carbs per 100g. Nothing processed....most of my carbs come from vegetables.
Sorry, doesn’t really answer your question, does it...

That was a great help,that was even more than I asked,so have you pretty much stripped carbs from your diet then?

 

[belugalad]

You might want to read about carbs here: https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-to-diabetes/enjoy-food/carbohydrates-and-diabetes

also

https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-t...-and-diabetes/nuts-and-bolts-of-carb-counting

Thanks @Jodee

 

[Ljc]

Hi. Ignore the sugar , it’s the carbohydrates you need to look at, the sugar is already included in the carbohydrate content as under the carb content it says of which is sugar

 

[Jodee]

Thanks @Jodee

here is another link 🙂 https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-t...th-diabetes/10-ways-to-eat-well-with-diabetes

 

[belugalad]

Hi. Ignore the sugar , it’s the carbohydrates you need to look at, the sugar is already included in the carbohydrate content as under the carb content it says of which is sugar

Thanks Lin

 

[Philomena]

That was a great help,that was even more than I asked,so have you pretty much stripped carbs from your diet then?

Yes, I’ve drastically reduced my carb consumption. I do Keto... low carb, medium protein, high fat. It’s not for everyone but it works for me as I like cream, butter, fatty meat etc 😉. I love bread and other carby stuff, too, but it’s just better that I don’t eat it and I honestly don’t miss it. I eat so well now and really enjoy my food....clean eating, nothing processed, cooked from scratch. I never feel hungry as I don’t get those carb cravings. The ‘Diet Doctor’ website is a good place to look....straightforward info and lots of recipes.

 

[belugalad]

Yes, I’ve drastically reduced my carb consumption. I do Keto... low carb, medium protein, high fat. It’s not for everyone but it works for me as I like cream, butter, fatty meat etc 😉. I love bread and other carby stuff, too, but it’s just better that I don’t eat it and I honestly don’t miss it. I eat so well now and really enjoy my food....clean eating, nothing processed, cooked from scratch. I never feel hungry as I don’t get those carb cravings. The ‘Diet Doctor’ website is a good place to look....straightforward info and lots of recipes.

Hi I have stopped eating bread and potatoes and have gone low carb,I've lost the best part of a stone over the last couple of weeks,and I'm looking forward to losing more,I have enjoyed the exercise too

 

[Philomena]

Hi I have stopped eating bread and potatoes and have gone low carb,I've lost the best part of a stone over the last couple of weeks,and I'm looking forward to losing more,I have enjoyed the exercise too

That’s fantastic. Well done! 🙂 I love the low carb way of eating....it’s so easy to do.

 

[Drummer]

I know that sugar, fibre and starch make up carbohydrates but to be honest I only really look at the total carb figure on food labels. Subtract the fibre content and that gives you your ‘net carbs’. (If you’re doing LCHF/Keto) I personally don’t eat anything that has more than 10g of carbs per 100g. Nothing processed....most of my carbs come from vegetables.
Sorry, doesn’t really answer your question, does it...

If you are in the US then you deduct the fibre - in the UK the fibre is not included in the total.

 

[Lilian]

U.S. labelling is different from U.K. You deduct the fibre from the U.S. one but the U.K. one already has the fibre content already deducted. It is best to go by total carbohydrate for diabetes purposes but if there are two similar items with similar carbohydrate content but one has a higher proportion of sugar it would be more sensible to go for the lower sugar one.

 

[Annette&Bert]

Drummer. I started a low carb diet a week past Sunday, whilst I need to lose weight at the same time as controlling my blood sugar, it makes total sense to me that low carb is the way to go, so long as I’m careful not to eat too much cheese and cream, purely from the weight point of view. It is a great source of pleasure to me that I can have cheese.

I don’t need recipes all I really want is a handy book simply listing everything that is low carb and I’ll do my own recipes, with that in mind I was on Amazon this morning and simply did a search “ low carb” to see what came up. Now this is a long winded way of saying what I found. “ GRENADE CARB KILA HIGH PROTEIN LOW SUGAR BARS”.

Each bar contains 22grams of protein and 0.6 grams of sugar. I was thinking this would be a good thing to have as a snack standby. I looked at the ingredients and see they contain palm oil.

What do you think? They come in a box of 12.

 

[Lilian]

Each bar contains 22grams of protein and 0.6 grams of sugar. I was thinking this would be a good thing to have as a snack standby. I looked at the ingredients and see they contain palm oil.
What do you think? They come in a box of 12.

It is not the sugar content you should consider but the total carbohydrate content.

 

[Docb]

And they are around 25% total carb so about 15g/bar. Referring to them as "CARB KILLA" is pushing it a bit.

You have read the list of ingredients and still want to eat them?

 

[Lilian]

Another thing one has to be wary of is that apparently if it is low in sucrose it can be called low sugar, even if it is also loaded with glucose, dextrose, etc. etc. I found that out when I complained to a well known company who, at that time, advertised their chocolate drink as no sugar. Turned out that the first ingredient was glucose. Their reply to me was that legally they can put no sugar because it did not have sucrose in it. I am glad to say that they did change their packaging to low calorie.

 

[Annette&Bert]

Yes I went back in to read again and of course you are both perfectly correct, so i won’t be purchasing. I think you also have to be careful of hype!

 

[Ditto]

If I'm trying to Atkins/low carb I find it easier just not to have anything wrapped up. If it's got wrapping on it usually means they've mucked about with it to no end.