Hi all,

I've been using the fitday.com site lately to keep track of what I'm eating and the breakdowns, etc. (It's really great, you should all check it out!). Anyway, I noticed that no calories are attributed to the fiber grams. Doreen T, is that why we can subtract the fiber grams away from the total carb grams?

Emma:rolleyes:

I have to agree with you, I use Fitday myself and I love it! (y)

fitday and fiber
 

I use fitday.com too .. :) ... one thing, make sure to check portion size. A real biggie is coffee. They list one cup at 8 oz, and most coffee mugs hold 10 to 12 oz. That adds up if you normally have several cups a day.

On the subject of fiber, yes the reason it's not included in the total is because it's not digested, therefore doesn't contribute any calories. Protein Power tells you to subtract fiber from the total carbs to get what they term "effective carbs" or ECC. You use the ECC to plan your daily menu for your carb allotment when following the Protein Power program.

Atkins does NOT subtract fiber grams. The 20 gm carbs for Induction means 20 TOTAL carbs, including any fiber. In October 2000, Atkins officially "sanctioned" subtracting fiber grams - with some reservations. For instance, if you are at OWL level, and eating 30 total carbs a day, you can't all of a sudden start subtracting fiber to get 30 grams, because that would make your total carb intake too HIGH, and you will stop ketosis, and probably stop losing fat & weight. If you would like to start subtracting fiber grams, you could guesstimate how much fiber you average in a day and subtract that from your total daily carbs. The result would be your effective carb level. So, if you figure you're eating say 10 gm of fiber a day, you would subtract that from your 30 gms (or whatever carb level you're at for OWL) and would use 20 grams as your daily effective carb allotment.

The general recommendation is - if you've been following Atkins successfully by counting TOTAL carbs, then you should continue to do that. If it ain't broke, don't fix it ..;) Most recipes only include fiber counts as a courtesy to those following the various lowcarb plans. Just because the number is there, doesn't mean you have to use it.

The main advantage seems to be that it encourages you to eat foods that are as high in fiber as possible, and that's a good thing!

Doreen

Thanks Doreen!