I've lost 40 lbs (15% of my starting weight) and lowered my blood pressure considerably loosely following a common-sense low-carb diet (cutting out all soda, obvious starchy/sugary food and increasing animal protein), but I've plateaued for several months and still have about 30 lbs to go...so it's time to take it a step further. I'm taking a closer look at what I eat and need a bit of help better understanding how I can translate/condense what's given on a Nutritional Facts lable into something more useful for me.
Cals and how many Cals come from fat are easy to find, but then they list Carbs and Protein in grams, which is great and all, but I'd love to know how many Cals come from Carbs and Proteins too. I doubt there's a standard formula for this (though that would be great), but even a rule-of-thumb would be handy.
On Oct 31, 5:42 am, Ed K <edkom...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I've lost 40 lbs (15% of my starting weight) and lowered my blood > pressure considerably loosely following a common-sense low-carb diet > (cutting out all soda, obvious starchy/sugary food and increasing > animal protein), but I've plateaued for several months and still have > about 30 lbs to go...so it's time to take it a step further. I'm > taking a closer look at what I eat and need a bit of help better > understanding how I can translate/condense what's given on a > Nutritional Facts lable into something more useful for me.
> Cals and how many Cals come from fat are easy to find, but then they > list Carbs and Protein in grams, which is great and all, but I'd love > to know how many Cals come from Carbs and Proteins too. I doubt > there's a standard formula for this (though that would be great), but > even a rule-of-thumb would be handy.
Actually there is a standard formula. Fat is 9cal/gram, protein and carb are 4cal/gram. It's also generally accepted that fiber does not get metabolized as a carb, so you can deduct fiber from the carb count. So, in the USA if a label lists 10g of carb, 4 fiber, you would only count 6g as carb as part of a lc plan. If you add up the counts on labels they usually come out close, but not exactly due to rounding and the way the numbers are actually calculated. Sometimes however you will find labels that don't add up and are a real mystery.
Another source of info is the USDA nutritional database which is available online. They have all the common vegetables, raw foods, etc as well as many prepared foods.
> On Oct 31, 5:42 am, Ed K <edkom...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > I've lost 40 lbs (15% of my starting weight) and lowered my blood > > pressure considerably loosely following a common-sense low-carb diet > > (cutting out all soda, obvious starchy/sugary food and increasing > > animal protein), but I've plateaued for several months and still have > > about 30 lbs to go...so it's time to take it a step further. I'm > > taking a closer look at what I eat and need a bit of help better > > understanding how I can translate/condense what's given on a > > Nutritional Facts lable into something more useful for me.
> > Cals and how many Cals come from fat are easy to find, but then they > > list Carbs and Protein in grams, which is great and all, but I'd love > > to know how many Cals come from Carbs and Proteins too. I doubt > > there's a standard formula for this (though that would be great), but > > even a rule-of-thumb would be handy.
> Actually there is a standard formula. Fat is 9cal/gram, protein and > carb are 4cal/gram. It's also generally accepted that fiber does not > get metabolized as a carb, so you can deduct fiber from the carb > count. So, in the USA if a label lists 10g of carb, 4 fiber, you > would only count 6g as carb as part of a lc plan. If you add up the > counts on labels they usually come out close, but not exactly due to > rounding and the way the numbers are actually calculated. Sometimes > however you will find labels that don't add up and are a real mystery.
> Another source of info is the USDA nutritional database which is > available online. They have all the common vegetables, raw foods, etc > as well as many prepared foods.
> Congratulations on your success.
Thanks much! I knew someone here would get me pointed in the right direction. Have a great rest of the weekend!
> Actually there is a standard formula. Fat is 9cal/gram, protein and > carb are 4cal/gram. It's also generally accepted that fiber does not > get metabolized as a carb, so you can deduct fiber from the carb > count.
If you're counting calories it's suggested to count fiber at half of the carb count. Fiber is estimated at 2 calories per gram. The difference in calorie count is probably small enough that it doesn't matter if you count fiber or not.
> So, in the USA if a label lists 10g of carb, 4 fiber, you > would only count 6g as carb as part of a lc plan. If you add up the > counts on labels they usually come out close, but not exactly due to > rounding and the way the numbers are actually calculated. Sometimes > however you will find labels that don't add up and are a real mystery.
Most European labels and some US labels pre-deduct the fiber from the carb count. Wouldn't it be nice if everyone agreed and did the same thing? Sigh.
The example doesn't include protein or fat so let's call it a treat item. If it's calorie count is 40 the label does not pre-deduct fiber. If it's calorie count is 32 then they do the rare counting of fiber at 2 calories per gram. If the count is 24 then they pre-deduct the fiber. If there is any doubt try the arithmatic both ways to figure out of they pre-deducted the fiber.
Fiber pre-deduction handles some of the confusing labels. US labelling laws also allow more generous round-off than European labels so 0.4 grams get rounded down to zero. Portion sizes are *often* selected to show zero when it's really about half. Consider a cup of heavy cream has 6 grams of carb. 8 floz at just under 1 per floz. 16 tablespoons at just enough under 0.5 that it gets rounded to zero and poof those 6 grams of carb magically disappear. It is also allowed to call a portion under 5 calories zero and so on.
But even knowing all of the above there are labels that just don't add up.
> Another source of info is the USDA nutritional database which is > available online. They have all the common vegetables, raw foods, etc > as well as many prepared foods.
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