Net Carbs in the UK

[thirteen_osmonds]

Hi there, I am in the UK and wanting to start the atkins but even after much reading I am still totally confused! If I am starting in the inductionphase then I think I wil be around 20g of carbs but i am confused at the labels! For example

Something has

Carbohydrates.......11g
of which sugars 0.8g

would I use the sugars as the net carbs and be allowed 20g of carbs of which sugars each day?? I know thi is probably really basic tupid stuff but I am still not getting it! Also I think in the UK the fibre has already been subtracted from the carbs value

pleae help!!

[Elizellen]

Hi Welcome to our international ADBB family

Yes - in UK the labels do not count fibre as being a carb at all so as they are not included in the total carbs they don't get deducted.

So where our labels say 'total carbs' this is the same as what Dr Atkins called 'the carbs that count' or what we call 'net carbs'

In the example you quoted you ought to count 11 net carbs.

[thirteen_osmonds]

hi there, thanks for replying I understand now lol!! I think I will find this induction extremely hard to only eat 20g of carbs a day since only 2 of my sausages appear to have 8g in total! I hope I will be able to stick to it!

[Zarabelle]

Hi thirteen osmonds

You are not alone with this confusion! Check out the boards today from all the newbie UK peeps

In America, the foods are labelled differently and so therefore they subtract the fibre figure to arrive at net carbs.

In the UK, the fibre has already been deducted and so the figure you see is the net carb count.

Just a note on those sausages... at 4g each, they almost certainly contain some filler such as rusk or bread crumbs and possibly some sugar. Take a careful look at the label x

[thirteen_osmonds]

hi there thanks for the replies, well I think I found that the matthesions smoked sausage contains zero!! yay but it is pretty high in the saturated fat.

also is it still ok to chew sugarfree gum like Extra? or is there an alternative?

thanks

[Cathy1]

I have deleted this because I got it wrong
xx

[Zarabelle]

Originally Posted by Cathy1

Hi thirteen,

I am in the UK too and the way I see it is that you count those 11 carbs in your example and then subtract any fibre from it. That gives you your Atkins Net Carbs. The sugar content doesnt come into your calculation as it is already counted in your 11.

Hope that helps

Cathy, I am sorry to say that is incorrect advice! You do not deduct fibre from the carb count in the UK. We label differently to the USA where they do have to deduct fibre to arrive at the net carb figure.

[Cathy1]

Hi zarabelle,
Yes I was completely wrong. Apologies to all. Not a good start, it was only my second post. I will get my coat....
xx

[Pam112]

Ok, so let me get this right please...

Even if there is a fibre content listed on a product in the UK, do NOT deduct it from the total amount of carbs. Is that correct?

[Zarabelle]

Cathy - don't you dare get your coat - you are here to stay

Pam - yes, even when fibre is listed do not deduct it... it just doesn't work that way in the UK... it has already been deducted. ADBB is an American site which is why there can be confusion x