Net Carbs

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Wonder what net carbs are? Keep reading. Our energy comes from carbohydrates, so when that daily intake of carbs has been used up, our body has no choice but to go after the spare tire of fat for fuel. That’s why we need to reduce our carbohydrate intake on a Keto diet.

Allow me to repeat that:

Our energy comes from carbohydrates, so when that daily intake of carbs has been used up, our body has no choice but to go after the spare tire of fat for fuel. That’s why we need to reduce our carbohydrate intake.

READ THE ABOVE PARAGRAPH in blue area AGAIN until it SINKS IN. Seriously.

In order to keep track of the carbs we DO digest, we keep track of net carbs. Examples coming up!

By choosing to eat high-quality fats (meaning essential fats provided by avocados and olives, for example) versus the bad fats found in vegetable oils, soybean oil, (yes, I was surprised that vegetable oils were bad, after all it’s made from veggies!) we give our body the ‘good’ fat it needs. Read more about good fats here.

What ARE Net Carbs?

The next question that arises is "How do you count the carbs you consume? All of them, or ‘net’ carbs?"

It’s your choice to either track ‘total carbs’ or ‘net carbs’. I chose net due to my love of Suzanne Ryan’s books which contain hundreds of mouth-watering recipes. The total food in the recipes are broken down into net carbs, fat, protein, and their calories.
 
Net carbs are what’s left from the total carbs after you subtract Dietary Fiber, and Sugar Alcohols. Why take those two out of the equation?

When you’re reading your labels, look at Total Carbohydrates, then simply deduct the fiber and sugar alcohols. What you have left are the “net carbs.” Don't confuse "sugars" with "sugar alcohols". They are not the same.

Deduct FIBER and SUGAR ALCOHOLS only from Total Carbohydrates. I know I’m belaboring this point, but anything I can do to help make the ‘net carb’ thing easier to compute makes my day (and yours!) a little easier.

NOTE: Sugar Alcohols are not in all products!

Net Carb Examples

Here is an example of a food with 13 grams Total Carbs. It breaks down into Dietary Fiber 6; sugars 0 grams; and Sugar Alcohols 5 grams:

Another Example Using Cauliflower:

Cauliflower has 4 grams Total Carbs per serving; 2g of Dietary Fiber; and 2g of Sugars:

With the cauliflower example, we don't have sugar alcohols to deduct; we can only deduct the fiber. I know this can seem complicated.

Don’t be tempted to accidentally deduct the sugars from the Total Carbs!
 
We are only deducting from TOTAL CARBS the FIBER and SUGAR ALCOHOLS. What number you arrive at after that computation are the NET CARBS.
 
Read this over a few times until you’ve got it down pat!

I highly recommend you purchase Suzanne Ryan’s Simply Keto and Beyond Simply Keto books. Check them out here. Suzanne’s books are thoughtfully designed and laid out beautifully with full color photos of her tasty Keto recipes.

In the front section of Suzanne Ryan’s books you’ll find out where to find Keto calculators so you’ll know what percentages to aim for in regards to net carbs, fat, protein, and calories. These are the four macro-nutrients we track.
 
Many people say don’t start out tracking all the four macros … just start out with reducing your net carbs. But me? Nah, I track all four using Cronometer, shown below. This way, everything stays in balance.

If you don’t like or want to involve a computer in all this, then use one of these paperback Journal books available here and described below:

click image to read more

A daily meal planner with an included personal journal to record your thoughts – for a full six months.

The State Of Ketosis

When we are successful in reducing the carbs to a level whereby the fat takes over for energy, this is known as the state of Ketosis.
 
I know a lot of folks confuse Ketosis with Diabetic Ketoacidosis which IS life-threatening.
 
When we talk about Ketogenic diets, we’re talking about being in a safe state that produces a natural metabolic process that enables us to shed the fat-pounds. It’s vitally important to know the difference so you can put your fears to rest around the word “Keto” which is short for “Ketogenic” and “Ketogenesis”.

NEW!
>>>Kindle Vella Stories<<<

Amazon has done it again. Done what? Opened up a new way for readers to get their readin' in! It's a new way to read short stories on their platform called Kindle Vella.

The first few episodes of every story are always free--after that, purchase Tokens and redeem them to unlock episodes. Tokens may only be used to unlock Kindle Vella story episodes in the Kindle app and on the web at www.amazon.com/kindle-vella.

What's got me excited about this? Well, you can now read "Being Fat Ain't Where It's At" over on Vella!Start your new reading journey here: "Being Fat Ain't Where It's At" and don't forget to gimme a "like" and "follow" the story!

Here's to YOUR weight loss success.

NEW!
Kindle Vella
>>>Stories<<<

Amazon has done it again. Done what? Opened up a new way for readers to get their readin' in! It's a new way to read short stories on their platform called Kindle Vella.

The first few episodes of every story are always free--after that, purchase Tokens and redeem them to unlock episodes. Tokens may only be used to unlock Kindle Vella story episodes in the Kindle app and on the web at www.amazon.com/kindle-vella.

What's got me excited about this? Well, you can now read "Being Fat Ain't Where It's At" over on Vella!Start your new reading journey here: "Being Fat Ain't Where It's At" and don't forget to gimme a "like" and "follow" the story!

Here's to YOUR weight loss success.

The way you pay for the remainder of a story is by purchasing tokens, and this is how you do that:

THIS FROM AMAZON: Buy Tokens for Kindle Vella Purchase Tokens directly from the Kindle app on your Android, iOS, or FireOS device. Note: Amazon.com Gift Cards can't be used to purchase Kindle Vella Tokens. You'll need your Apple Appstore setup to make in-app purchases in the Kindle iOS App. Open Kindle Vella in the Kindle app on your Android, iOS, or FireOS device, or go to https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella using your mobile or desktop browser. Tap the Tokens icon in the upper right corner for the Token purchase option to pop up. Select the Tokens bundle you like to purchase. Proceed through the checkout steps. Purchased Tokens can be redeemed across surfaces. The number of Tokens required to unlock episodes is auto-set based on the length of the episode.

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