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Old Sun, Apr-27-03, 11:18
Lisa N's Avatar
Lisa N Lisa N is offline
Posts: 12,028
 
Plan: Bernstein Diabetes Soluti
Stats: 260/-/145 Female 5' 3"
BF:
Progress: 63%
Location: Michigan
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Quote:
The accepted calulations are Protein x 4, Fat x 9 and Carbohydrates x 4 = Calories.


Correct (if you round the numbers). So...for my can of Eden Black Soybeans I have (per 1/2 cup serving)

Calories: 120
Total fat: 6 grams (54 calories)
Protein: 11 grams (44 calories)

That's a total of 98 calories from fat and protein. The rest has to be carbs by default.

There are 22 calories left over, so that would be 5.5 grams of carb which still doesn't match the label, but is more consistent with what soybeans run in general for a 1/2 cup serving; about 5-6 grams of carb. Obviously, it can't be one gram of carb because of the number of calories left after you subtract calories from protein and fat (7 grams fiber subtracted from 8 grams total carb) and it's not a total of 8 or even 15 (8 grams carb plus 7 grams fiber) either which leads me to believe that they have indeed subtracted the calories from the fiber from the total and done some rounding up and down to get their counts.

The problem with what the USDA says about labeling is that manufacturers don't do it consistently, they round up or down to get even numbers and if your product is imported from another country, they do their labelling differently (fiber is often pre-subtracted from the count in other countries), so if you really want to know how many carbs you are eating, you can't always rely on the label. Either use the hidden carb calculator or do the math yourself. A few grams of carb one way or the other isn't going to make or break you, but if you were to eat 2 servings, you'd be getting 5 grams less carb than you thought (label says 8 per serving) and would wind up shorting yourself on veggies for the day thinking that you were at your carb limit when you weren't or you could put yourself over your limit by subtracting the fiber from the total count and thinking that you were getting only 2 grams of carb when in fact you were getting 11.
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