What do carbs on a nutrition label mean?

andysmith

New Member
i always try to look at nutrition labels and see how many carbs there are. Now i know everyone says you should try to stay away from the refined sugars and stick to fiber.
 
Total Carbs include Sugars, Sugar Alcohols and Fibers

If a supposed sugar free item it should be void of actual sugars but will contain sugar alcohols or not if the sweetener is not an alcohol.

The alcohols all have a varying impact on the GI and I am sure there is a chart somewhere that lists these.

Fibers although they are a carbohydrate they do not impact the GI that much and for all intents and purpose can be removed from a carb count if counting carbs. In fact high fiber foods generally reduce the GL. For instance watermelon has a relatively high GI, but a low GL this is due to the fact that watermelon has a lot of fiber and a lot of ahhhh water.

GI= how fast the carbs convert
GL=how the whole food impacts serum sugars

So the lower the GL and or GI typically the better when on a low carb diet
 
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