Carb question

My menu plan tends always to be higher in carbs than I'd like. Damn the carb monster!  I get a lot of carbs from things like apples, whole grain bread (usually as a piece of toast for breakfast), and even things like yogurt or a glass of milk.  They all add up in the end. 

My question is, do you count carbs or do you count net carbs?   

For example, a medium apple adds 25 carbs to my meal plan, but has almost 5 grams of fiber.  According to what I have read, you can subtract the fiber from your cab count to get the net carbs (ie. 25 carbs-5 grams of fiber= 20 net carbs).  The 5 grams of carb apparently are not digested and not metabolized into glucose.

I wonder how much of my carb intake is fiber? I bet my carb count would come way down, if I only counted net carbs.  What do you do?  Also, I have heard that some people calculate it differently- they look at the grams of fiber, divide them in half, and then subtract that from the total carbs.

Advice anyone?  

I've worked with a diabetic dietician for the past year and she taught me to count the net carbs ( totoal carbs-fiber ) as my intake. She taught me how very important fiber is in our diets and the only source of fiber is from LG carbs.

My carbs are also 'high'. I try for 40/30/30 but my carbs always seem to be somewhat higher. 

I have to get my fibre in and even with eating healthier I find they are just naturally higher like you described.

Sparkepeople.com recommends 50% of your calories come from carbs for the average non WLS person so I feel if I stay under 50 (more around 45) I'm doing fine.

I'm trying to focus less on the constant calculating. It consumes my life too much and has the opposite effect. ...kind of like dieting one day you just go crazy because you feel so deprived and chained down.

 

I like what Mona 8 said. We need some carbs and so long as they are not just wasted calories I think they should be find. You are also very active so need some for your exercise

I agree.  i definitely need them. I plugged in all my food to Spark People today and it said my carbs were 136.  That's the highest they've ever been.  I had that oatmeal for breakfast today which was a lot of carb, but they were steel cut and I believe they have way more fiber than regular oats, so I bet I could decrease that number.

i had this debate on the vsg forum,,,    some agree on net , some agree on total

they even went into  soluble and insoluble fiber for the argument against net carbs.

my doc has always said you can subtract fiber as its not absorbed...   thats what i do.

 

Well...I don't know that I need to take it that far.  lol But I do think that I will start counting net carbs.  It upsets me when I feel like I am eating too many, but I always have good carbs, so I think I should reap the # benefits of counting only the non-fiber carbs. 

Hi Marny,

I would probably use net carbs, especially as our bodies don't absorb the fibre part. 

Though right now, I will admit that I am using total carbs, but only because I'm aiming for a higher level of carb intake (about 150-160 grams/day and 1).  My NUT suggested a 50% carb, 30% fat, and 20% protein breakdown (always making sure you get your protein first of course), based on my weight and high activity level.  I'll admit, the breakdown seems a bit backwards for wls patients.  Also depends on how you react to carbs and how carb-phobic you are.  I was very carb-phobic, but have shifted my view on this over the last couple of months as it seems to be working for me.  Anyway, didn't want to go crazy with carbs, so I do count it as total carbs.  I aim for 150 grams, but am happy when I reach 130ish grams (total carbs).  And I always make sure the carbs are healthy ones (fruit, whole grains, etc.).

Good luck with the carb issue!

DD

 

Thanks for the info.  That breakdown does seem quite a bit different than what we were taught in our clinic. I think that is the breakdown it shows on Spark People, actually.  I almost died when I saw the pie chart on my daily food report and they suggested m diet be 50% carb.  :)  I do exercise quite a bit though, and I feel my body craves and needs healthy carbs.  I have tried low carb diets before and they always leave me feeling terrible- very foggy headed and weak.    I have always been taught to use the 40/30/30 (Protein/carb/fat) breakdown. 

Now, keep in mind that this info was post op, but my Diabetic Dietician wanted me striving for 30-40 gr. of healthy carb per meal. Even post op that number scared the hell out of me, but using that guideline I did manage to get my blood sugar down a full point in 3 months.