# Carbohydrates explained



## belugalad (May 25, 2019)

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


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## Jodee (May 25, 2019)

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.


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## Philomena (May 25, 2019)

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...


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## Jodee (May 25, 2019)

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


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## belugalad (May 25, 2019)

Philomena said:


> 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?


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## belugalad (May 25, 2019)

Jodee said:


> 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


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## Ljc (May 25, 2019)

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


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## Jodee (May 25, 2019)

belugalad said:


> Thanks @Jodee



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


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## belugalad (May 25, 2019)

Ljc said:


> 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


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## Philomena (May 25, 2019)

belugalad said:


> 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.


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## belugalad (May 25, 2019)

Philomena said:


> 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


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## Philomena (May 25, 2019)

belugalad said:


> 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.


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## Drummer (May 25, 2019)

Philomena said:


> 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.


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## Lilian (May 26, 2019)

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.


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## Annette&Bertie (May 29, 2019)

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.


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## Lilian (May 29, 2019)

Annette&Bertie said:


> 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.


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## Docb (May 29, 2019)

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?


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## Lilian (May 29, 2019)

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.


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## Annette&Bertie (May 29, 2019)

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!


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## Ditto (May 29, 2019)

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.


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## Philomena (May 29, 2019)

Wooaaahhhhh!!  I don’t even recognise most of the ingredients!  And they come with a safety warning!! 
A suggestion might be, if you’re looking for low carb high fat snacky things, is to Google Keto snacks.  Lots of ‘fat bomb’ recipes out there.  All clean eating as @Ditto alluded to and quick and easy to make.
Also, you can eat things like cheese no problem.  Just don’t eat with carbs...eat protein and fat together, don’t add carbs to the mix!


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## Philomena (May 29, 2019)

@Ditto have you tried LCHF?  Honestly, once you’ve ditched the bread, potatoes, rice etc and replaced them with lots of good stuff....eggs, meat, nuts, vegetables, fish, bacon, oils .... you won’t miss them.  I thought I couldn’t live without toast EVERY single day of my life but now it never crosses my mind (well, maybe only occasionally).  I clean eat, eat seasonally as much as I’m able to and eat so much that I never feel hungry.  I don’t get those awful carb slumps that made me want to sleep all afternoon, have much more energy, better mood, and I’ve lost weight....something I’d found practically impossible to do until I discovered Keto.  It has had such a huge impact on my diabetes which was the sole reason I started the Keto way of eating.
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get the munchies sometimes for carbs, like when I find myself in the bread aisle in Sainsbury's, but I just remind myself how I’d feel after eating it and that’s enough to make myself walk away...admittedly begrudgingly!!  And even if I do fall off the wagon, it’s happened a few times, I just give in to it for the day and start afresh the following morning with NO guilty feelings.


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## Annette&Bertie (May 29, 2019)

Idon’t have anything wrapped either because to me that means processed.


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## Drummer (May 29, 2019)

If you can get a late edition of Dr Atkins New Diet Revolution - I use the 2003 version but I think there is one later - though as Dr A died at about the time my book came out I have not looked for Atkins Corporation products - but it should have lists of the things to eat - though they do have an American slant which was not all that useful back in the day but we do know what they are nowadays.
It also has menus with different amounts of carbs laid out pretty clearly.
I think that there is an error in the weights in the induction phase, but it is not going to make much difference for most people.


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## Annette&Bertie (May 29, 2019)

Thanks DrummerI’ll check it out.


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## Philomena (Jun 4, 2019)

Drummer said:


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



Yes, of course!  Confused...!  Thank you for the correction.


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