How To Determine The Carb Count In Food

One of my readers asked me this question and I thought, if he’s asking this question, then I’m sure there are others out there wondering about the same issue. Okay, so how you determine the carb count in food?

Trying to figure out the carb count in food, isn't really rocket science. There's a very easy way to determine the carb count in food.

Hey Satch,

I’m really having a difficult time trying to figure out the net carb thing. I’ve been pretty lazy and have been grabbing Atkins meals because it does the math for me, but dude, a guy can’t live on frozen food alone. Is there any way you can help me figure this out?

Thanks

Dale T.

I agree with Dale. no one can live on frozen food alone. Although it’s pretty handy and to me, it’s the perfect lunch while I’m at work, prepared meals should never be your number one choice when it comes to your meal preparation.

To make life a little easier, I have this handy dandy cheat sheet on my refrigerator that tells me how to figure out the net carbs in anything I”m making. It’s not rocket science, but sometimes I need a reminder when I’m rushing around.

Here is the simple calculation for determining the carb count in food.

Step 1

You’re going to have to review the nutrition label.

Are you confused in trying to figure out how many net carbs are in the foods your eating? With a few quick steps, I'll show you how to determine the net carb count in all of your food.

Step 2

Find the total carb. In the image above, the total carbohydrate count is 13g.

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Step 3

Find the total fiber. In the image above, there is no fiber. BAD CHOICE. The next example is also a pretty bad choice, but we’re using this for demonstration purposes only.

Step 4

Do some math. Subtract the fiber total from the carb total. Too lazy for math, I’ll help you. Subtract 8 grams of fiber from 37 grams of carbohydrates and you will find this product has 29 net carbs.

Step 5

Optional Bonus Step to figure out the carb count in food

If there are sugar alcohols in the product, subtract them from the total. Let’s look at this fuzzy nutritional label from Atkins Nutritionals website. As we can see there are 19 grams of carbs in this product and 4 grams of fiber. Right there it would be 15 net carbs….but wait! We get to subtract the 14grams of sugar alcohol, which brings this product down to only 1 net carb.

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See, wasn’t that easy?

If you have any questions you’d like to ask, as always feel free to drop me a line or leave your question in the comment section below.