Atkins USA/ UK/ rest of world

[sugarqween004]

Hi. I am from scotland and I'm in the induction phase of my second time round and I've come across an interesting question that i haven't seen clarified in the book so far. It says that we should subtract the fibre from the carb count to get the 'net carbs' - is this only applicable in the US? The reason I ask is that I looked at some dry roasted soy bean nuts and the fibre content is higher than the carb content, that led me to thinking 'do we in the uk label food differently from what is described in the book?'

Can someone please clarify this as I have been reading my labels religiously and subtracting the fibre content and counting the net carbs. Howver my weight loss so far is not as good as i had hoped - could this be the reason?

[losetocruise]

Re: Atkins USA/ UK/ rest of world

Well it is actually impossible to have a higher fiber content then carb becuase I believe all fiber is carb. If you are finding this a problem in general in your labeling, I would check the counts online through fitday or one of the other nutritional data sites you can find online. It is a shame if that is the case, since I really like to use the food producers data when possible since they can adjust the counts based ontheir seasonings etc. and should be more accurate.

[Elizellen]

Re: Atkins USA/ UK/ rest of world

Yes, in most countries outside the USA fibre is not counted to be a carbhydrate, so our labels show the number of carbohydrates that are not fibre as the 'total carbs', unlike USA labels which require USA users to do the maths!

So what on a UK label is called 'total carbohydrates' is the same as Dr Atkins and our USA members call 'net carbohydrates'.

This is good news as we dont have to bother with sums when looking at labels

However if you are using one of the food analysing programmes (like fitday.com) to log your foods and keep a record of the carbs you are eating you will need to add the fibre to the total carbs on the label and enter them both in for fitday to accept the numbers as being correct. A bit fiddly but easy once you get the hang of it.

Just to show how different our labels are to US-type ones here is a picture of one

You will see the fibre is listed in a totally different section of the label, not immediately under the carbohydrates.



Another good thing about our labelling is that the nutrition info is given per 100 grams (3.5 ounces) or 100 mls which makes it more accurate than the US 'per serving' which often list zero for carbs when there are less than 0.5 carbs in some ridiculously small serving size!!

[IrishMom82]

Re: Atkins USA/ UK/ rest of world

Well nuts aren't allowed in Induction for one, and I believe losetocruise is correct about the fiber thing.

If you've been eating nuts while on induction then you're not really on induction. That could be the problem.

[Purple Crayon]

Re: Atkins USA/ UK/ rest of world

Just to show how different our labels are to US-type ones here is a picture of one

You will see the fibre is listed in a totally different section of the label, not immediately under the carbohydrates.



Another good thing about our labelling is that the nutrition info is given per 100 grams (3.5 ounces) or 100 mls which makes it more accurate than the US 'per serving' which often list zero for carbs when there are less than 0.5 carbs in some ridiculously small serving size!!

What I wish they would do with labeling is tell you the numbers for the whole container.

Well at least on some things.
Like a can of tomato sauce will say "about 3.5 servings".
What does "about" mean?
Is it 3.5?
Is it less?
Is it more?
I'm dumping the whole can in the recipe. Just tell me how many carbs in the whole can. Then I can add everything up and divide by the number of servings I get out of the dish myself.

[sugarqween004]

Re: Atkins USA/ UK/ rest of world

Well nuts aren't allowed in Induction for one, and I believe losetocruise is correct about the fiber thing.

If you've been eating nuts while on induction then you're not really on induction. That could be the problem.

I am not eating nuts - just looking at labels of everything and anything to inform myself of food values according to atkins.

Thanks to Elizellen for your reply, you actually answered my question quite completely. It is quite annoying that I have been very good in making sure i read all labels, and subtracting the fibre according to what the book says- then realise that what I was doing was actually wrong.

For example eating something that I expect to have 3g net carbs, when in fact it has almost double (or more as the case would be 'if' I was eating the nuts). I know there can't be more fibre than carbs - this is what made me think that the labelling must be different, but the book doesn't say this.

[brandywine1241]

Re: Atkins USA/ UK/ rest of world

Perhaps a sticky at the top of this forum and the 14 day induction forum would help someone else from making the same mistake???