My dear hubby went to the local health food store today and bought me some low carb items to help me on my new WOL. One of the things he got were some Gourmet Chocolate Chip Cookies. The total carbs on the label is 11g, with 1g dietary fiber less than 1g of sugards, and sugar alcohol of 8g. In a bold red square at the bottom of the label, it says 2 grams net impact carbs per serving. ??? What does that mean? It looks to me like after subtracting the 1g of fiber, I'd be left with 10g of carbs for one cookie. But 2g of net impact carbs?

Can anybody help?

Who knows what they mean! Just subtract the fiber from the total carbs, that's all....and count that way!

I've been reading labels a lot lately...and there's a lot of descrepanies. Sometimes difficult to compare items too....one will list carbs and fiber...another will have carbs and sugars....if it was all standardized it would be so much easier!

Have you checked the Hidden Carbs tool? (top control panel, click link to "Low Carb Tools)

You might also want to check the ingredients! If there is partially hydrogenated oil in there, that's bad! Those are the trans-fats that are so dangerous!

Cindy

It's Atkinsspeak!

It is believed by some that sugar alcohols do not affect insulin levels, but some people think and experience otherwise. The only way you can find out is by experimenting on yourself.

There's an article here that explains sugar alcohols.

IMHO, I think it's best to avoid them, but that's just me!

Karen

Hi macleay!

I sometimes buy bars of chocolate and jam (jelly) made with suger alcohols. Under British law these sugar alcohols do not count in the total carb count. Such bars of chocolate are made for diabetics.

As Karen says, people react differently to them. They are generally difficult to digest and certainly more than about 25g of them can cause severe wind and rushing to the toilet (sorry to be graphic, but you should know).

Personally I find it difficult not to finish a bar and usually end up about 5 hours later with diarrhea. It soon passes though and I regard it as a fair trade off!

The only way you will know what happens to you it to try and see!

Good luck - and stay near a loo!

Robert

Thanks for the info, everyone!

I guess I'll wait until my 2 week induction is done and then sometime after that give one a try to see if I can lose on them.

Boy do they look good!

I think it is really great that your husband is being supportive!


Paleoanth

Here is a carb count formula I recieved.

Maybe some of the long time members can let us know if it is true?

Fat X 9
Protein X 4
Total these two, and subtract from the TOTAL CALORIES
Divide this number by 4
This is the actual carbs in whatever you are eating.

Remember to subtract the number of fiber grams from this number.

I have tested this on the Atkins Bars that say net 2 carbs - but the formula gives you the actual carbs minus fiber found on the nutrition facts label.

Hi CharM,

Mmmm. This might work for things like bars but is it meant for everything. A nice fatty steak contains no carbs, whereas a cup of sugar has no fat or protein but is nearly 100 per cent carbs. I don't think it would work for many foods.

Regards,
Robert

Yes, I'm lucky with that guy! When we got married 14 years ago, I weighed 135. I quit smoking and just got lazy I guess, and ballooned up to my current weight. Not once has he ever said anything to me about it. He listens to me bitch about it all the time, so I guess he realizes he doesn't have to say anything! Anyway, I don't know what I'd do if he was critical--I count a lot on his support.

So are you saying that this formula does or doesn't calculate net impact carbs? Sounds like you did it with the Atkins bars and it didn't come out to the same net impact carbs listed?

I looked at the ingredients and here they are:

almond flour
butter
sugar free chocolate chipps (mannitol, cocoa butter, milk powder, cocoa mass, vegetable fat, lecithin and vanilla flavors)
maltitol
eggs
proprietary blend (wheat protein, oat flour)
vanilla guar gum
sucralose
baking soda

It also says excess consumption may cause stomach discomfort.
It's advertised as being low carbs and is in the low carb section, but I know that doesn't always mean it's really low carb.

Actually, I just read some more fine print--it says *Net impact carbs include only those carbohydrates that cause a noted impact on blood sugar. Fiber and Sugar Alc (Maltitol) are excluded. Does this mean anything to anybody??

Thanks a lot for your help--I should just toss these cookies if I'm so worried about them! (Not as in tossing my cookies! )

macleay,

This formula DOES NOT calculate net carbs (like the Atkins bars that the Nutrition Facts says 12 carbs, 3 fibers - then on the front the Net 2. The formula used on this bar would give me 9.

This is information I got from a friend that has lost 70 pounds.

She said stay away from the Atkins bars.

She is sending me a CD with (according to her) "tons" of recipes. She thought it would be easier than emailing.

I have posted her protein shake made with the SF Splenda coffee flavorings - they are great!!! I have adapted 2 recipes using the flavoring - Chocolate Pecan and Banana Walnut. I iliminated the water and (powder) Splenda, so the carbs are probably even less than the original since splenda does have carbs and the flavorings do not.

I have been browsing this site for the last week. It is filled with good stuff - and is so large!!!!!

I wish, and am wondering if there is a place to enter ingredients in a recipe - to check the carb count? Do you know if there is?

I have a couple of dinner recipes I am curious about.

Thanks for the info on the Atkins bars. I can't have them yet, but after induction, I might have tried them.

There may be a place on this site to enter the carbohydrates in a recipe--I haven't been through it entirely yet. I also briefly checked out www.fitday.com because a lot of people here have mentioned it as being helpful. It didn't look like they had an area for that, but I didn't spend much time there.

Hopefully, someone here will be able to help you on that one.

Take care and good luck!