Monavie Health Club

Question: If you were trying to avoid carbs what would you look for on a nutrition box?

(Posted by: Stewie on 2010-03-10 15:25:29)

Posted by: Shawna on 2010-03-10, 15:29:20

How many grams of Carbohydrates there are..... . . . Duh

Posted by: cyn_texas on 2010-03-10, 15:37:04

ALL carbs (including vegs) convert to sugar (glucose) in your body. Some convert very quickly and some convert slowly. Sugars are broken down on nutritional labels but starches are not. You can figure out starches (usually) by subtracting the sugar & fiber from the total. Most starches are simple carbs also, so just identifying the added sugars are not enough. I suggest looking at the total carbs and subtracting the fiber, how many net carbs are there in the portion. You also have to look at portion sizes, most products have ridiculously low portion sizes. If a portion is 2 but you eat 10, you have to multiply the portion size x5. After looking at the nutritional label, next look at the list of ingredients. Is sugar, high fructose corn syrup or anything ending in "ose " (which is another form of sugar) in the first 5 ingredients? If so, it is refined sugar. Looking at labels seems like a lot of work, but you'll get to know what is ok & what's not. I was shocked to find so much added sugar in some spaghetti sauces and found a brand of collard greens that had added sugar(?) They list ingredients with the most first. The first ingredient is what is mostly in it. You don't want a product that is mostly sugar. Fiber has no calories. It is not digestible by the body and leaves the body in the same form that it is ingested. There is no reason to include fiber carbs in your daily allotment of carbs, only net carbs (if you are counting carbs). When they calculate nutrients, they first figure protein & fats - EVERYTHING else is considered a carbohydrate. So although sugar & fiber are both considered carbohydrates, there is no comparison between them when it comes to their effect on the human body. For example - A cup of ground flax seeds has 49grams Carbohydrates but 46grams are fiber carbs leaving 3grams of net carbs per cup. A cup is not a serving size - 4 Tablespoons. would be a large serving but it shows 4Tbs with 8grams carbs with 8grams fiber Ground flax seeds do have carbs but they are neglible in a serving - half a gram in 4 Tbs. An avocado has 12 grams carbs but 9 grams of fiber carbs this equals 3 net carbs per avocado (12-9= 3 net carbs) 1 head of romaine lettuce has 21 grams carbs but 13 grams of fiber carbs this equals 8 net carbs (21-13= 8 net carbs) 1 cup of shredded romaine lettuce has 2 grams carbs but 1 gram of fiber carb this equals 1 net carb (2-1= 1 net carb) For the most part, the nutrition facts include all carbs (sugar, starches, fiber are carbs) except in 2 instances. When they calculate nutrition labels they figure protein & fat and EVERYTHING else is considered a carbohydrate. That is why sugar & fiber are both lumped in the same category, even though they aren't even close to being equal. They use the 4cal carb/ 4cal protein/ 9cal fat in their calculations but that is just an estimate. For instance - The incomplete protein in vegetation is closer to 2.63 calories per protein gram & the complete protein in meats is closer to 4.27 calories per protein gram. This "glitch " could greatly effect the true carb count of an item (see the hidden carb count tool below). They don't have to report (and it's rare to see) on anything less than half a gram per serving. I prefer to see nutrition in 100 grams to get a truer sense of it's value. They use ridiculously low serving portions on some items and show it's calorie free, when that's not true if you're having 10 servings a day. For instance, individual serving artificial sweetener packs claim no carbs, but they actually have half a gram each. If your carb allowance for artificial sweeteners is only a couple of grams per day, that could add up fast.