Eating Healthy / Nutrition

Net Carbs 101

by Cameron Greene September 11, 2020

Lately, more and more food packaging is containing net carbs. You may be thinking what are net carbs and how are they calculated?

Net Carbs represent the total carbohydrate content of the food minus the fiber content and sugar alcohols (if in the product). A couple of diets that focus on counting Net Carbs are the Keto Diet and Atkins Diet. Foods that are low in net carbs are nutrient-dense vegetables and low glycemic fruits like berries.

Calculating net carbs is pretty simple:

You can calculate the approximate number of net carb grams of a low-carb product by looking at the information provided on a food label:

Net Carbs = Total Carbohydrates - Fiber - Sugar Alcohols (if applicable)

If you're looking to calculate net carbs for fruits and vegetables, you can use the Atkins Carb Counter which assists with portioning food and tracking carbs that impacts blood sugar.

So how many net carbs should you be consuming per day?

-If you're on a Keto Diet, it's recommended that you intake less than 50g of net carbs per day.

-If you keep a moderately low carb diet, then you would want to intake 100-150g of net carbs per day.

-If you're doing the Atkins Diet, you should eat no more than 25 grams a day of net carbs, at least 12-15 grams of which must come in the form of salad greens and other vegetables.