VLC, do you count total carbs or net carbs? Bernsteins Diabetes Solution page

[Kymma]

I am doing the Diabetes Solution Diet and am counting total carbs. Then I got to thinking, am I doing this right?

I may be overthinking this.

This has been my total carbs for the last 6 days:

17 17 33 33 26 36

Net Carbs:

11 9 27 15 18 20

Can you go too low if you are doing VLC to correct an insulin issue?

[MarissaLinnea]

I think you count net carbs. Total carbs includes fiber which doesn't impact blood sugar. I think......

If I'm wrong, someone please correct me.

[Drumroll]

Fiber may TECHNICALLY have some minuscule calorie amount to it (like 1 calorie maybe) because it can sometimes be partially utilized in the gut. But the blood sugar impact is SO little that you won't harm yourself by not counting them. When doctors recently updated the Atkins diet, they emphasized counting net carbs over Dr. Atkins's traditional total carb recommendation so that individuals could still get a fair amount of vegetables in their diet. They say it hasn't effected results from their observations.

[gopintos]

I am not saying this is how it should be, especially for diabetics, but I hear some ppl say to not even count your veggies at all. Calories or carbs - I think. I do, because it seems like it all adds up at the end of the day, especially CICO thing. I do count net also, since it all adds up More bang for my buck that way

[Dr. Bork Bork]

I'm diabetic and count total carbs. Net carbs feels like cheating to me.

[Paleobird]

Atkins count net, Mark counts total. I hear ya Dr. BB about the "cheating" factor of Atkins especially when it comes to saying that all those weird alcohol sugars "don't count" in your net carb. However, if you are just talking about subtracting just the fiber from the total to get to the net, then I agree with Drumroll about there not being a significant impact on serum glucose to be an issue. Since I never use those alcohol sweeteners, I go with net. But then I don't eat a whole lot of fiber so that doesn't really make that much of a difference to me.

[brookesam]

From the standpoint of someone with type 1 diabetes....

For every 4 grams of fiber you can deduct 1 carb gram. This is what my endo and insulin pump support have told me. So for example... if total carbs are 14 and fiber is 7-8 grams, then you would have total carbs at 12. This may not apply to what you are doing but I've found that it's a reliable method for me.

Hope this helps!