I ate 20 net carbs today with very little (if any) starchy foods. I'm pretty sure that most of those carbs were sugar, including some fructose. Sugar is found in vegetables, nuts, and fruit and I eat a good amount of plant based foods. It really comes down to what works for you. I'll tell you what didn't work for me:

For much of the first year that I ate low carb I was still insulin resistant and I had higher than optimal blood sugars. Even a few grams of sugar in sauces (like catchup, stir fry sauce, etc) could spike and crash my blood sugar leaving me hovering around the pantry craving carbs. Overcooked veggies (even induction friendly veggies) and pureed veggies in soups could spike my blood sugar and cause cravings. I learned a lot about myself tracking my blood sugar in 30 minute intervals after eating. I learned that I did better with fresh, uncooked veggies (like a good salad). I learned to eat my carbs last in a meal. Combining high glycemic index foods with low glycemic index foods dampens or buffers the absorption of the sugar. So even the order in which I ate my foods made a noticeable difference in how satisfied I was from a meal. Fiber with the meal helps, too. A nice slow rise and fall in BG = satiety. A spike and crash = thinking about having more food not long after a meal.

Another thing that didn't work for me was simply counting carbs and staying within limits. On failed diets of the past I'd save up carbs by eating nearly all fat and protein for breakfast and lunch so that I could have a cookie, an apple, or a slice of bread with dinner. That was a bad idea. Being very carb sensitive, those were what Gary Taubes refers to as "Bad calories". I needed to make a clean break from "bad calorie" foods and continuously working them into my diet just kept me craving them. This time I deprived myself of them until I no longer felt deprived. I didn't realize that if you simply stop eating the foods that you used to love, your brain will forget about them and cut the ties. I realized that although I thought that I loved bread, pizza, pasta, and sweets, it was actually the food itself that made me feel like I needed it. For me those things are very addictive. I didn't realize that until I was free from the addiction. I'm 3 years into this lifelong journey and I still don't eat most of what I used to consider my favorite foods. And I'm totally fine with that.

About a year into this WOE my blood sugars normalized. My insulin resistance was resolved. Low carb meals that used to send my blood sugar well over 150 would never even crack 100. My body was tolerating carbs much better. After that point a few carbs in a stir fry sauce or catsup had little effect on my blood sugar. I didn't have to be so careful about each and every carb. However, I did find that when I added back too many carbs I had trouble eating within limits and I would gain weight. For me that limit appears to be around 40 net carbs. Others may be able to eat more and I know that some have to eat less in order to lose or remain weight stable.

So I guess the moral of this story is that you should use your diet to figure out how you need to eat for life. Get your diet right and everything else will fall into place.