Net Carbs in the UK

[thirteen_osmonds]

Hi there, I am in the UK and wanting to start the atkins but even after much reading I am still totally confused! If I am starting in the inductionphase then I think I wil be around 20g of carbs but i am confused at the labels! For example

Something has

Carbohydrates.......11g
of which sugars 0.8g

would I use the sugars as the net carbs and be allowed 20g of carbs of which sugars each day?? I know thi is probably really basic tupid stuff but I am still not getting it! Also I think in the UK the fibre has already been subtracted from the carbs value

pleae help!!

[Elizellen]

Re: Net Carbs in the UK

Hi Welcome to our international ADBB family

Yes - in UK the labels do not count fibre as being a carb at all so as they are not included in the total carbs they don't get deducted.

So where our labels say 'total carbs' this is the same as what Dr Atkins called 'the carbs that count' or what we call 'net carbs'

In the example you quoted you ought to count 11 net carbs.

[thirteen_osmonds]

Re: Net Carbs in the UK

hi there, thanks for replying I understand now lol!! I think I will find this induction extremely hard to only eat 20g of carbs a day since only 2 of my sausages appear to have 8g in total! I hope I will be able to stick to it!

[Zarabelle]

Re: Net Carbs in the UK

Hi thirteen osmonds

You are not alone with this confusion! Check out the boards today from all the newbie UK peeps

In America, the foods are labelled differently and so therefore they subtract the fibre figure to arrive at net carbs.

In the UK, the fibre has already been deducted and so the figure you see is the net carb count.

Just a note on those sausages... at 4g each, they almost certainly contain some filler such as rusk or bread crumbs and possibly some sugar. Take a careful look at the label x

[thirteen_osmonds]

Re: Net Carbs in the UK

hi there thanks for the replies, well I think I found that the matthesions smoked sausage contains zero!! yay but it is pretty high in the saturated fat.

also is it still ok to chew sugarfree gum like Extra? or is there an alternative?

thanks

[Cathy1]

Re: Net Carbs in the UK

I have deleted this because I got it wrong
xx

[Zarabelle]

Re: Net Carbs in the UK

Hi thirteen,

I am in the UK too and the way I see it is that you count those 11 carbs in your example and then subtract any fibre from it. That gives you your Atkins Net Carbs. The sugar content doesnt come into your calculation as it is already counted in your 11.

Hope that helps

Cathy, I am sorry to say that is incorrect advice! You do not deduct fibre from the carb count in the UK. We label differently to the USA where they do have to deduct fibre to arrive at the net carb figure.

[Cathy1]

Re: Net Carbs in the UK

Hi zarabelle,
Yes I was completely wrong. Apologies to all. Not a good start, it was only my second post. I will get my coat....
xx

[Pam112]

Re: Net Carbs in the UK

Ok, so let me get this right please...

Even if there is a fibre content listed on a product in the UK, do NOT deduct it from the total amount of carbs. Is that correct?

[Zarabelle]

Re: Net Carbs in the UK

Cathy - don't you dare get your coat - you are here to stay

Pam - yes, even when fibre is listed do not deduct it... it just doesn't work that way in the UK... it has already been deducted. ADBB is an American site which is why there can be confusion x

[Pam112]

Re: Net Carbs in the UK

Thank you Zarabelle

[UKAmmie]

Re: Net Carbs in the UK

OMG! I've been deducting fibre from my carbs on fitday as that's what I was told to do! I've still been losing weight but geez, I've been doing this wrong for the last 5 weeks. So I just ignore the "Dietry Fibre" content right? I DO NOT subtract that from my daily carb intake?

[Zarabelle]

Re: Net Carbs in the UK

OMG! I've been deducting fibre from my carbs on fitday as that's what I was told to do! I've still been losing weight but geez, I've been doing this wrong for the last 5 weeks. So I just ignore the "Dietry Fibre" content right? I DO NOT subtract that from my daily carb intake?

Oh no! You will probably see a good weight loss next week when you stop doing it!

On fitday, you do deduct the fibre from carbs as this is an american program so all veggies etc. are correct. You can set it up so it automatically deducts the fibre from the carbs.

If you input custom foods in to fitday and use values from a UK food label you need to either
a) add the fibre back on the the carb figure and then input the fibre (and it will then be deducted to arrive at the original carb figure on the label)
or the easier method
b) do not input the fibre figure on fitday and therefore it will not be deducted.

I hope this is clear. If not, let me know and I will try to explain it in a different way.

[UKAmmie]

Re: Net Carbs in the UK

Oh no! You will probably see a good weight loss next week when you stop doing it!

On fitday, you do deduct the fibre from carbs as this is an american program so all veggies etc. are correct. You can set it up so it automatically deducts the fibre from the carbs.

If you input custom foods in to fitday and use values from a UK food label you need to either
a) add the fibre back on the the carb figure and then input the fibre (and it will then be deducted to arrive at the original carb figure on the label)
or the easier method
b) do not input the fibre figure on fitday and therefore it will not be deducted.

I hope this is clear. If not, let me know and I will try to explain it in a different way.

Yes thanks for clearing it up.
Ironically I ate less carbs the last week or so as I am just not hungry and found out this morning I lost 5lbs in a week. Well at least I know now. Thanks all. I better edit my custom foods on fitday.

[Cathy1]

Re: Net Carbs in the UK

Thank you Zara