total carbs vs. effective carbs
 

I recently tried La Tortilla Factory tortillas, which I liked very much, and which have significant total carbs, but low effective carbs (by memory, 10g total carbs, 3 g effective carbs).

If I remember correctly, it wasn't until the last few years that Atkins introduced the effective carb concept. Are people who really know about this stuff certain that the ECC is the number that matters, and not the total carb count? I fear that it is not that simple (not based on any science, just my gut). It just scares me that theoretically I could eat 4 or 5 of these things according to ECC, but I would be consuming a lot of total carb grams.

You only need to count the effective carbs, but...
 

You do need to only count the effective carbs, but I would go more on the results you get from eating them. Most specifically, I find some low-carb foods are perfectly fine and others bring back my food cravings or cause my weight to stall.

I'm glad to hear that someone else has tried the low-carb tortillas. I've been thinking about buying them, but wasn't sure if they were worth the money. So many low-carb products are expensive but their taste doesn't always measure up to the price.

Please let me know what your experience is with them.

Thanks!
Nelle

Nelle90, the La Tortilla Factory tortillas are wonderful! They have received very good reviews from other posters here. There is a Low-Carb Products forum on this board for just that purpose. If you are interested in getting some LC products, I would browse the various posts over there to see how others have felt about the products.

fishfish, the ECC is what you should be concerned with. The fiber always gets subtracted from the total carb count. Remember, if you use FitDay, it doesn't automatically subtract the fiber from the carb count, you need to do it (even though you input the dietary fiber, at the top on the daily summary, there is a total fiber number). I think I have just eaten two tortillas, max, at a sitting. The only time I ate 2.5 tortillas was once when I used 5 tortillas to bake a cheesy, sour cream-salsa, gooey, taco mess for my husband and myself. I know in your post, you said that theoretically you could have 4 or 5 tortillas and inadvertently consume a lot of carbs. But, in reality, I would not have 4 or 5 tortillas in a day. You should use up those carbs with veggies.

This is another YMMV (your mileage may vary) thing. Many people are fine with using ECC - but some swear that you lose better if you go by the total carb count.

I personally DO subtract fiber from my carb count - but only fiber and not sugar alcohols or glycerine - as they definitely DO trigger an insulin response for me.

The reason
 

Why only effective ( essential, net ) carbs count. The non-essential carbs do not impact blood sugar levels. The body does not absorb fiber. If you ate nothing but pure fiber ( :Puke: ), it would just pass through. It has its function, it is a carb, but it is just visiting and won't leave its dirty little footprints to scrub off.

For me, the sugar alcohols and glycerine does not impact my insulin levels. Everyone is different.

Black57

I've just been doing some reading about this, too, and it seems opinions are mixed. If you look at page 11 or 12 of my journal, you'll see some info I posted there on this.

One of the forum members (Wanda, are you out there?) found a post on the Atkins site saying to only deduct about 50% of fibre as insoluble and soluble fibre are not quite the same.

I have definitely noticed that days when my carb count gets up to 30 or over, even if there is enough fiber to reduce it to 20, that my losses slow.

Could very well be a YMMV situation.

Good news is both soluble and insoluble fibre are very good for us and have tremendous health benefits. Soluble fibre plays a big role in regulating blood sugar.

K.