How to Calculate Net Carbs

Here's a typical food label: Most labels have a column of figures per portion and per 100g/ml.  We are interested in the portion we will be eating. In this case, it's a creamy sauce which we enjoy half a pot on a juicy steak! Calculating Net Carbs is Easy! In the US, Net Carbs = Carbohydrate - Fibre   = 3.3g - 1.1g Net Carbs = 2.2g  (for half a pot of this sauce) We took away the Fibre (1.1g) from Total Carbohydrates (3.3g) to get the Net Carbs. In the UK, if we had the same label, we would take the carbohydrate figure of 3.3g. We would ignore the fibre figure.

You will be keeping under 35g Net Carbs per day in order to lose weight.

For each item you eat, you would then check the Net Carbs (tip: Meat and Eggs are zero net carbs).
For ingredients that don't have labels (eg vegetables) - just click here to check individual products

If you use our good low carb food list you can be sure that those foods are low enough in net carbs that a normal portion will be allowable without checking.

NOTE
When looking at the nutritional information, we are not interested in calories, nor are we worried about Fat. In fact, if the net carbs are low but Fat is high, this is an ideal food for this diet! Fat is our new fuel. That is a key concept of the Pound for Pound diet.

Here's another example: This time it is a carton of Apple Juice - on the AVOID list.  We are interested in the 150ml serving figures. For USA, Net Carbs = Carbohydrate - Fibre   = 16.8g - 0g Net Carbs = 16.8g  (for a glass of juice) We took away the Fibre (0g) from Total Carbohydrates (16.8g) to get the Net Carbs.

As the above calculation shows, fruit juice is OUT! If we are aiming for 35g Net Carb per day, this one glass of juice will use up over half our daily allowance!





Thanks to Louise Bromley for information on differences between UK and US labels!