If you're interested in watching what you eat, you probably turn to the labels on the back of food products to check out their nutritional value before putting any of them in your shopping cart. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires labeling on all foods except fresh fruits, vegetables and raw meats, including beef chicken, fish and pork. Nutrition labels list the protein, carbohydrate and fat content of foods in grams, as well as calories. A gram is a metric measurement of weight that equals one one-thousandth of a kilogram; 1 kg equals approximately 2.2 lbs.
Definition
Grains, sugars, fruits and vegetables all contain carbohydrates, the main energy source for most people. If you're following a regular diet, you may get about half of your daily calories from carbohydrates, but if you're following a low-carb diet, you want to keep your carb intake as low as possible. Foods with less than 1 g of carbohydrate per serving are considered low-carb foods.
Calories and Carbs
All carbohydrates have 4 calories per gram. A food that lists less than 1 g of carbohydrate per serving supplies less than 4 calories from carbohydrate. The Institute of Medicine recommends a daily intake of 130 g of carbohydrate per day. Many diets that count carbs do not count calories. A typical low-carb diet like the Atkins plan recommends keeping your carb count to less than 20 g in the induction phase, so you must count even foods that contain less than 1 g.
Net Carbs
Food labels that claim a product has less than 1 g of net carbs may mislead you into thinking that you're eating less than 1 g of carbohydrate, which is not the case. These foods contain sugar alcohols, which fall into a slightly different category than carbohydrates. Sugar alcohols, which contain neither alcohol nor sugar, supply fewer carbohydrates than sugar, 1.5 to 3 carbs per gram, according to Yale-New Haven Hospital. Sugar alcohols have less of an effect on blood-glucose levels than sugar for some diabetics. Manufacturers list the carbs in sugar alcohols on the label but don't include them in the net carb count. If you're strictly counting carbs, you must consider the sugar alcohol carbs in your daily count.
Considerations
Because even a food that contains 0.9 g of carbohydrate can still be listed as having less than 1 g per serving, it's important to keep track of even low-carb foods if you're following a very strict low-carb diet. Many foods listed as low-carb choices do contain some carbohydrate. If you eat only a few servings of these foods a day, your carb count stays low, but if you eat 10 or more, you may exceed your daily allowance.
References
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration; Food Labeling and Nutrition Overview; March 2011
- Yale-New Haven Hospital: Eat Any Sugar Alcohol Lately?
- Atkins: How to Do Induction Right
- MyNetDiary: About Low Carb Diets
- FDA Law Blog; Nutritional Labeling for Raw Meat and Poultry Products Coming to you January 1, 2012; January 2011
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