‘Net carbohydrates’ is a useful marketing tool, but be careful of the actual impact on your blood sugar, which might be unexpected in ‘low-carb’ items.
As a person with diabetes, you were probably instructed to deduct the amount of dietary fibre from the total carbohydrate count in order to determine your insulin dose.
Although dietary fibre is included in the total amount of carbs, it is typically not digested and converted to glucose like other forms of carbohydrates.
This means that you can calculate the “net” carbohydrate count by dividing the “dietary fibre” grammes by the “total carbohydrate” grammes to determine the amount of carbohydrates that are anticipated to affect your blood sugar and need insulin to be adequately metabolised.
For instance, one medium Fuji apple has about:
30 grams of carbohydrates altogether
4 g of dietary fibre is equivalent to 26 “net” carbs.
In terms of insulin dosage and the impact of that apple on your blood sugar, 4 grammes won’t make much of a difference; however, your overall gut health, feeling of “fullness” after eating, and other factors may.
The term “net carbs” was coined for advertising purposes.
It’s crucial to keep in mind the origins of the term “net” carbohydrates.
“Food producers invented the term net carbs,”
“The body does not compute ‘net carbohydrates.’ Certain fibres are in fact absorbed by the gut lining. Having said that, consuming more intact fibre has numerous advantages for satiety, containing blood sugar surges, and reducing cholesterol. Just keep in mind that the gut does not calculate ‘net carbs’ when administering insulin or checking your blood sugar.
Despite this, it’s still critical for a diabetic to be aware of the total amount of fibre in their food because the more fibre you consume, the more it may affect your need for insulin.
It’s simple to consume a lot of fibre by way of vegetables, fruits, grains, seeds, and nuts if your diet is mostly composed of real, whole foods.
Fibre has been added to processed “low-carb” foods.
It can be confusing when you’re administering insulin for 10 net carbs and the effect on your blood sugar is as if it were 20 grammes because there is so much fibre added to low-carb items these days.
The problem with fibre is as follows.
Even now, some of that fibre is converted to glucose. And the main offenders are these high-fiber goods, which are made up largely of highly processed fibre.
Look at the edamame pasta’s nutritional profile:
a total of 21 grammes of carbohydrates
9 grammes of “net” carbohydrates from 12 grammes of dietary fibre
I can speak for myself when I say that the influence of those 9 grammes of carbohydrates on my blood sugar is more comparable to that of 15 grammes of carbohydrates. Although not nearly as “low impact” as many high-fiber products like this claim to be, managing my diabetes around this product is still far easier than managing it around a bowl of excessively processed, starch-filled wheat or rice pasta.
How should fibre be accounted for when determining insulin?
Sadly, there isn’t a simple response to this query. But here are some pointers for using ‘high fibre’ whole foods or products:
Take careful notes! Note the food item, the “net” carbs, the amount of insulin you took, and what transpired after that! Did you need more insulin than you anticipated, or could you dose it based on the “net” carb count? You’ll be able to control your insulin dosage the following time you consume that food.
Consider every high-fiber item as unique from the previous ones. The type of fibre in your Quest Bar may differ from the type of fibre in your preferred low-carb bread, just as the fibre in an apple differs from the fibre in a bowl of black beans. Take note of the types of fibre you are ingesting by looking at the components, and again, pay attention to how the “net” carbohydrate content affected your blood sugar.
The likelihood that certain fibre will alter your blood sugar increases with its amount. Because there is more fibre when a food or product contains 10 grammes or more, there is a higher chance that some of it will alter your blood sugar levels.
With type 1 diabetes, food is a complicated part of our life.
We should all try to eat more real food, especially plants, is the one thing every nutrition expert can agree on at the end of the day. Thankfully, you may easily increase your intake of fibre by eating more plants.
