Are we counting carbs wrong?

Personally, I don’t count carbs at all. I don’t know how many I consume in a day. I don’t track macros either. What I do, and it’s a practice I’ve had for decades now, is eat mostly meat and vegetables that are cooked at home. If I do look at a label to see the carb count I don’t look at “net carbs” where you subtract the fiber from the carbohydrates to make you feel like you’re eating fewer carbs. I look at the total carbs and if a single serving is in the double digit range I might skip it depending on what else I’m eating that day.

I generally don’t eat breads, pastas, rice, or other grains. I stay away from potatoes and other starchy root vegetables. I do have them on occasion but they are not a mainstay of my diet. I might consume them once per month or so.

Shulz and her co-author, Joanne Slavin, a professor of nutrition and food science at the University of Minnesota, suggest looking at carb quality rather than quantity. When it comes to the quality of carbohydrates, they recommend looking at factors such as the percentage of whole grains, whether there’s any added sugar, the total amount of fiber, and the ratio of total carbohydrates to the amount of fiber and added sugar.

If these factors can be summed in one sentence, it would be: “Eat more unprocessed food.” This is something that we all know is good for us in theory, but when it comes to the many, many food choices we make every day, it can be all too easy to just focus on the quantity of carbs, rather than the quality, letting the fruits and vegetables fall to the wayside.

We’re Counting Carbs All Wrong (lifehacker.com)

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