How Important Is It to Calculate Net Carbs?

By Dr. Mercola When people sit down to enjoy a meal or snack, most have no idea what vitamins, minerals or other nutritional aspects the food contains, or the amounts. Often, when such individuals resolve to lose or maintain their weight, they read ingredient labels to see if they can figure out how they’re doing. The Atkins Diet, designed to limit sugar and carb intake for this purpose, says to figure the net carbs, start with the grams of carbohydrates listed on food labels, subtract the dietary fiber, then subtract the sugar alcohol if applicable. That’s backed up by Mother Nature Network, but goes further: “Net carbs is a calculation representing mostly just the starches and sugars in a food after some fiber and sugar alcohol contents have been subtracted. Some types of carbohydrates do not affect blood sugar in the body as much as others, so the thought is that net carbs only account for carbs that affect blood sugar.”1 Mother Nature Network maintains that the key to calc
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