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Hey, guys. Sean Nalewanyj here at www.SeanNal.com-www.BodyTransformationTruth.com, and today I wanted to make a quick video to
clear up some confusion on the topic of net carbs. They’re also sometimes called impact
carbs or active carbs. And you’ve probably seen this before on certain diet foods, like
protein bars or low carbs snacks where they will list the total carbohydrate content,
but then also specify how many net carbs the product contains. So I might say, you know,
20 grams of total carbs for example, but only four of those are net carbs. And the idea
here is that, even though there are 20 grams of carbohydrate in the product only four of
those count toward your daily carb total. So, what’s the deal here? What are net carbs
and how should you go about tracking them? The truth is that the concept of net carbs
is, for the most part, just an advertising gimmick. It’s a misleading technique where
the manufacturer has taken the total carb content and then subtracted the sugar alcohol
content and the fiber content. And the reason that they’ll give for that is that fiber
and sugar alcohols have minimal effect on blood sugar levels and so they somehow don’t
count. However, regardless of their effects on blood sugar, the bottom line is that fiber
and sugar alcohols still do contain calories. They’re still absorbed by the body and they
do contribute to your daily calorie intake. It is true that insoluble fiber passes through
your body without being absorbed, but that’s still only going to make up a few grams at
most. And the rest, which is the soluble fiber it does get broken down in the colon, and
it is reabsorbed by your body as short-chain(?) fatty acids. There’s no universal agreement
on exactly how much of that fiber is absorbed, but most figures will usually average out
to around two calories per a gram. And then in the case of sugar alcohols, which don’t
actually contain alcohol, they’re basically like a hybrid between a sugar and alcohol
molecule that have a very sweet taste, but sugar alcohols will usually contain anywhere
from about 1.5 to 3 calories depending on the type. The only exception is for the sugar
alcohol called erythritol, which is almost zero calorie, it’s about 0.2 calories per
gram. So, yeah, if you really wanted to, you could sit down and you could dissect every
single food item that you were eating everyday and try to work out exactly how much soluble
and insoluble fiber you were eating, and how much sugar alcohol you were taking in, and
then you could guess how much you were roughly going to absorb, but this is really just a
huge over complication. And exact calorie counting is never going to be a hundred percent
perfect anyway, especially when you start taking into account the thermic effect of
food and other factors. So my advice for simplicity sake; is to just count all the carbs on the
product label that you’re consuming as part of your totals for the day. If you fall for
the whole net carb idea, then you can easily end up going overboard on total calories in
the big picture. For example, if a particular product had, say 30 grams of total carbs but
only 10 of those were net carbs, that’s 20 grams of carbs that you’re not taking
into account. Even though the true caloric value of those 20 carbs might be a bit lower,
just ignoring a big chunk of carbs like that can easily add up over the long term, especially
if you’re eating foods like this multiple times a day. I’ve mention this before but
the number one reason why most people failed with their fat loss program in the long run,
is that they underestimate how many calories they’re truly eating. And so food labels
that differentiate between net carbs and total carbs, they only make this problem worse.
The only situation where net carbs or active carbs have some application is for diabetics,
where controlling blood sugar level is really important. But for people who’re just trying
to gain muscle or lose body fat and who’re tracking their calories and macros, just ignore
the net carb figure and take all the carbohydrates that you’re eating into account. So I hope
you guys found this helpful. Make sure to follow me on social media here if you aren’t
already. You can grab my Body Transformation Blueprint by clicking here or by visiting
www.BodyTransformationTruth.com, the link is in the description. The official website
is www.SeanNal.com. And feel free to like, share, comment and subscribe if you did find
the information helpful. Thanks for watching guys, and I’ll talk to you again soon.