Hey, guys.
Sean Nalewanyj here at www.SeanNal.com-www.BodyTransformationTruth.com, and today I wanted to make a quick video to
clear up some confusion on the topic of net carbs.
They’re also sometimes called impact carbs or active carbs.
And you’ve probably seen this before on certain diet foods, like protein bars or low
carbs snacks where they will list the total carbohydrate content, but then also specify
how many net carbs the product contains.
So I might say, you know, 20 grams of total carbs for example, but only four of those
are net carbs.
And the idea here is that, even though there are 20 grams of carbohydrate in the product
only four of those count toward your daily carb total.
So, what’s the deal here?
What are net carbs and how should you go about tracking them?
The truth is that the concept of net carbs is, for the most part, just an advertising
gimmick.
It’s a misleading technique where the manufacturer has taken the total carb content and then
subtracted the sugar alcohol content and the fiber content.
And the reason that they’ll give for that is that fiber and sugar alcohols have minimal
effect on blood sugar levels and so they somehow don’t count.
However, regardless of their effects on blood sugar, the bottom line is that fiber and sugar
alcohols still do contain calories.
They’re still absorbed by the body and they do contribute to your daily calorie intake.
It is true that insoluble fiber passes through your body without being absorbed, but that’s
still only going to make up a few grams at most.
And the rest, which is the soluble fiber it does get broken down in the colon, and it
is reabsorbed by your body as short-chain(?) fatty acids.
There’s no universal agreement on exactly how much of that fiber is absorbed, but most
figures will usually average out to around two calories per a gram.
And then in the case of sugar alcohols, which don’t actually contain alcohol, they’re
basically like a hybrid between a sugar and alcohol molecule that have a very sweet taste,
but sugar alcohols will usually contain anywhere from about 1.5 to 3 calories depending on
the type.
The only exception is for the sugar alcohol called erythritol, which is almost zero calorie,
it’s about 0.2 calories per gram.
So, yeah, if you really wanted to, you could sit down and you could dissect every single
food item that you were eating everyday and try to work out exactly how much soluble and
insoluble fiber you were eating, and how much sugar alcohol you were taking in, and then
you could guess how much you were roughly going to absorb, but this is really just a
huge over complication.
And exact calorie counting is never going to be a hundred percent perfect anyway, especially
when you start taking into account the thermic effect of food and other factors.
So my advice for simplicity sake; is to just count all the carbs on the product label that
you’re consuming as part of your totals for the day.
If you fall for the whole net carb idea, then you can easily end up going overboard on total
calories in the big picture.
For example, if a particular product had, say 30 grams of total carbs but only 10 of
those were net carbs, that’s 20 grams of carbs that you’re not taking into account.
Even though the true caloric value of those 20 carbs might be a bit lower, just ignoring
a big chunk of carbs like that can easily add up over the long term, especially if you’re
eating foods like this multiple times a day.
I’ve mention this before but the number one reason why most people failed with their
fat loss program in the long run, is that they underestimate how many calories they’re
truly eating.
And so food labels that differentiate between net carbs and total carbs, they only make
this problem worse.
The only situation where net carbs or active carbs have some application is for diabetics,
where controlling blood sugar level is really important.
But for people who’re just trying to gain muscle or lose body fat and who’re tracking
their calories and macros, just ignore the net carb figure and take all the carbohydrates
that you’re eating into account.
So I hope you guys found this helpful.
Make sure to follow me on social media here if you aren’t already.
You can grab my Body Transformation Blueprint by clicking here or by visiting www.BodyTransformationTruth.com,
the link is in the description.
The official website is www.SeanNal.com.
And feel free to like, share, comment and subscribe if you did find the information
helpful.
Thanks for watching guys, and I’ll talk to you again soon.