1. Count Carbs Via the Internet
Online carb counters are an easy and convenient way to find the carb totals of your favorite foods, or your food choices for the Atkins Diet. These virtual carb counters vary in the methods they use to count the calories in various foods. Some have a list of foods available on their site, and you just choose the food to instantly find the carb content. Others have you input detailed information about the food in question. For example, a carb counter might ask for the calories listed on the label, the fat grams, the carbohydrate grams and the grams of protein found in the food. From there the carb calculator will tell you the net carbs in the food you're testing. Others allow you to input the serving size or amount of ounces of a particular food you are eating and give you the amount of carbohydrates in the food from that information.
2. Get It From the Horse's Mouth
If you don't want to do the heavy lifting of counting carbs yourself, both of Dr. Atkins' books give you the carb breakdown of many popular foods and meals. "Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution" and "Atkins for Life" each provide sections that go into detail on the various carb content of everything from a piece of fruit to quiche. "Atkins for Life" even has detailed meal plans that give the carb count of each meal and the total amount of carbs consumed each day based on the various meal plans.
3. Do It Yourself
If you don't want to use someone else's calculations, you can always do it yourself. When counting carbs for the Atkins diet you want to look at net carbs. The net carbs are the carbs you have left after you subtract certain ingredients from the total carbohydrates found in the food item. The idea is to subtract ingredients that are carbohydrates but don't have a great impact on your blood sugar level as determined by the glycemic index. To count net carbs, start with the total carbohydrates listed on the food label and subtract the dietary fiber, sugar alcohols, hydrogenated starch hydrolysate and glycerine listed on the label. The number left will give you the carb count you should use when counting your carbohydrate intake for the Atkins diet.
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