This an easy guide to show you how to read a nutritional label and how to calculate net carbs, what it means and it’s relevance on a keto diet. To put things in perspective. After reading this guide, you will be able to figure out things like net carbs in blueberries, strawberries and even in eggs and veggies like eggplant, broccoli and cauliflower on your own. Isn't that fun!
For your convenience, I have also included a free net carbs calculator at the bottom of the page for you to use any time you like.
What are net carbs? What does it mean.
Net carbs are the total amount of digestible carbohydrates in a particular product or recipe. This refers to the carbs that are actually absorbed and utilized by your body.
Knowing this number will help you track your carbohydrate intake effectively and help you achieve your health goals whether it’s weight loss, reversal of insulin resistance or just maintaining a healthy diet.
Yes it’s as simple as that. Every food had a net carb. You can find net carbs in blueberries, eggs and cauliflower and so on. We will get right into how to calculate it with an easy formula I will be sharing with you
Don’t let the sound of net carbs scare you. It’s so easy to calculate and trust me you don’t need a net carb calculator to do it (though for your convenience I have provided one at the end of this article). Net carbs simply refers to the difference between the Total carbs and Fiber in any food.
Net carbs and Keto
The net carbs in bananas is the reason why bananas will kick you out of ketosis. That is why net carbs is very important on a keto diet. Learning how to read nutritional labels is one of the first things I encourage people to learn when considering improving health through your diet.
How do you know if a recipe or food is keto friendly or low carb by reading a label? I will illustrate this in a bit but before then let’s do a little keto 101.
What is a Keto Diet?
Simply put, the ketogenic diet is a very low carbohydrate, high fat and moderate protein diet. The very low carb intake results in that a metabolic state called Nutritional Ketosis where the body swaps out its energy source from carbohydrates to fats.
When in Ketosis the body begins to burn fat because it uses fat as it’s main source of energy. There are many benefits to this metabolic state of nutritional ketosis which includes reversal of Insulin Resistance, Type II diabetes, PCOs and weight loss.
Net carbs come into play because there are figures to this low carb diet. For you to comfortably slide into ketosis, you need to stay within 20 - 50g of carb limit per day. The closer it is to 20g, the faster you can get into ketosis.
Some people say the 20g should be total carbs but I prefer 20g net carbs because it’s more sustainable in my opinion especially if you are ‘low carbing’ for weight loss. But as always this is my opinion and that’s what works for me.
Feel free to do what works for you. If you are on this way of life for reversal of Type II Diabetes, that’s a different ball game I suggest you work with your doctor to determine what’s best for you. There are low carb focused clinics like Low carb MD Sandiego
Reading Food Labels
Serving size: The first thing you notice on a food label is the serving size. What does the serving size mean. It refers to the portion. The information on any label is based on the serving size listed. If you eat more than listed it means you are eating more of each individual nutrient listed.
For example in Picture A, the serving size is 4 which means there are 4 servings /portions in that recipe. It also means if you take 2 servings the parameters in the label will be doubled. Like the total carb will be 15.6 g x 2 (by the way that’s not a keto recipe). It’s a recipe for regular diet French toast from www.mydiasporakitchen.com
Calories: A calorie is a unity of energy in this case it’s the unit of energy in the food we consume. The amount of calories you consume may affect your weight. So it’s best to figure out the amount of calories your body needs to function properly daily.
This varies from person to person. You can use this Keto macro calculator to figure it out based on your height, weight and amount of carbs. Online apps like My Fitness Pal or Carb Manager can also help you with an estimate. Most importantly, a visit to a registered dietitian can help you get a more accurate recommendation.
Total fat: This refers to the total amount of fat per serving of a recipe. The total amount of fat includes the saturated and unsaturated fats.
Total carbohydrate: This includes all the types of carbs in a recipe. It includes starch, fiber, sugar and added sugars. Added sugars have now been included in newer labels. It means the amount of additional sugars added to a recipe excluding the natural occurring sugars.
Total Protein: The total amount of protein per serving in a recipe.
How to calculate net carbs and how to read a nutritional label.
Net carbs are one of the easiest things to calculate and like I said, you don’t even need a net carbs calculator to do it. All you need to know is the Total carbs and the Dietary fiber in a product or recipe to calculate it.
Remember I mentioned formula on how to calculate net carbs above but let me show you how to read the labels so you can easily identify the parameters you need. When on a low carb diet, the focus is on the Total fats, carbohydrates and protein.
The formula is Total carbs minus Dietary Fiber equals Net carbs. Mathematically put, it will be TC - DF = NC
Take a look at all the labels on this page, you will notice the total carbohydrate and Dietary fiber are circled in. Using the formula, let’s calculate the net carbs for Picture A:
In A, The total carbohydrates per serving is 15.6g, the dietary fiber is 0.6g the net carbs calculation is below using the formula Total carbohydrates minus Dietary Fiber equals Net carbs. Mathematically put, it will be TC - DF = NC
15.6g - 0.6g = 15g
The net carbs per serving for the recipe in Picture A is 15g.
Picture B is a recipe for a Keto oatmeal Alternative. The total carbohydrates per serving in this recipe is 10.8g, the dietary fiber is 7.4g the net carbs calculation using same formula is below
10.8g - 7.4g = 3.4g
Picture C is for my blueberry bread recipe notice it has no markings, this is for you to try calculating the net carbs yourself if you are up to it. You can do it manually with the written formula or use the provided Net Carbs Calculator at the bottom of this page.
The aim is for you to identify the individual parameters needed based on what you have learned in this post. Then calculate the net carbs on your own. You can leave me a comment with your answer if you like.
Net carbs and Sugar alcohols
With the keto diet, sugar free diet and low carb diet comes the use of sugar free sweeteners like sugar alcohols which includes erythritol, Xylitol and Maltitol.
Products with sugar alcohols usually list them in the nutritional label under the carbohydrates section. See Picture D below:
Some sugar alcohols like Xylitol is partially metabolized, part of it is absorbed while the other part is excreted unchanged in urine. For this reason, you can’t substract the whole value in grams of other sugar alcohols from the Total carbs.
But If the sugar alcohols used is erythritol, you need to Subtract the whole value in grams of erythritol from the total carbs because erythritol is not metabolize by the body because after rapid absorption, the majority of the oral dose is excreted unchanged in the urine within 24 hrs.
The formula to calculate the net carbs in a recipe that used erythritol is different from a recipe that used other sugar alcohols because erythritol is not absorbed by the body. See net carb sugar alcohols formulas belowbelow:
Formula for erythritol based recipes will be: Total Carbs minus the sum of Dietary Fiber and Sugar alcohols equals Net Carbs
TC - (DF + SA)= NC
Formula for other sugar alcohols will be calculate the net carbs for nutritional label D, it will be 18g - 0g - 18g = 0g note that the net carbs is zero because this product doesn’t seem to contain any dietary fiber. See Pic E below for a nutritional label with some dietary fiber.
For Picture E, the net carbs would be calculated as follows (if the sugar alcohol is erythritol)
Erythritol based:
28g - (3+ 4)g = NC
28g - 7g = 21g
Other Sugar alcohols:
28g - {3+ ½ (4)}g = NC
28g - {3 + 2}g = NC
28g - 5g = 23g
Notes
- Read your labels and ingredients section
- If the type of sugar alcohol is not listed, its better to err on the side of caution, always calculate storebought products with sugar alcohols using the other sugar alcohols formula since you might not know if erythrititol was used.
Net Carbs Calculator
Did you find this guide helpful? Leave me a comment and please share the link to this guide with family and friends and in your favorite Facebook group so others can learn too.
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so I have a nutrition label that says total sugars 16g and underneath it says includes 16g added sugars. does that get subtracted at all for net carbs.
Hi Cathy,
No. It doesn’t get subtracted. Added sugars refer to real sugar. Sugar alcohols are not added sugars.
If you are on a low carb diet avoid products that have more that 5g of sugar. 2-4g is usually ok.
Hope that helps. Feel free to reach out if you have more questions. I’ll be happy to help.
-Chichi