If you're following a low-carb diet, you'll need to learn how to read the Nutrion Facts labels on food packages. Carbs can be tricky to identify, as many seemingly innocent foods can contain carbs. For example, carbs can be found in sauces, salad dressings, canned soups and vegetables, milk and juices. By reading labels, you'll be able to identify what type and how much sugar a food contains, so you can either avoid it completely or find a low-carb replacement.
Step 1
Search the label for the amount of carbs the product contains. Note the total grams.
Step 2
Look at the amount of fiber indicated on the label. According to Atkins, the only carbs that matter are net carbs. These can be obtained by sustracting the grams of fiber from the total carb count of a product. So if a product contains 20 g of carbs and 14 g of fiber, you only need to count 6 g as the amount of carbs you're eating.
Step 3
Look at how many carbs are from sugar. You want this number to be as low as possible. Compare different brands and products and choose the ones with the lowest number of sugar grams per serving.
Step 4
Look at the ingredient list. Sugar is listed under a variety of names, including corn syrup, barley malt, dextrose, ethyl maltol, honey, glucose, maple syrup, maltose, sucrose, sorbitol and rice syrup. Make sure sugar is not listed as one of the first few ingredients, since ingredients are listed in order of quantity.
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