I've seen several recipes and heard it mentioned, but I don't understand exactly what that means. Could someone tell me or direct me to the answer?

Thanks so much!

We can't digest the fiber in carbohydrates, so it doesn't do anything to our blood sugar. Therefore, when counting carbohydrates, you can subtract the number of grams of fiber from the number of grams of carbohydrates. What you have left is the Effective Carbohydrate Count or ECC. That's what you want to watch and track.

Fiber acts as...shall we say...a "colon cleanser". We don't digest or absorb anything from it, so it doesn't count. Keep in mind that not only is it "free" carbs, you need plenty of it to stay regular. Hope this helps.

ok, so for instance, fitday says that 1 cup of lettuce has 1.15g of carb and 0.77 g of fiber. I subrtract .77 from 1.15 and that's the # that I count in my totals for the day? Do I do this even on Atkins induction?

Thanks again

I understand the concept but get a little confused with some of the nutrition labels.

For example, a packet of ground linseed (flaxseed) I purchased yesterday quoted per 100g at about 7g carbs and 30g fibre. As I don't believe that it can possibly be -23g effective carbs (oh what wishful thinking!) I suspect that the 7g carbs has already had the fibre content taken out of consideration.

Does that sound right? I wish that all food labels looked the same to avoid confusion!

Fiber is a Carbohydrate. But, it is not absorbed. Sadly It is not physically possible for a food to have a negative ECC. If there were such a thing, it would be sold as a miracle diet aid.

It all depends where you live. In some countries, like the UK (and by the look of it New Zealand) the fibre is already deducted so you can't do it again. In the States the fiber is not deducted so you can subtract it from the number of carbs given.

robert