Total Vs. Net Carbs (Dialing in Your Keto Diet)

Should I count total or net carbs? First, let's define what net carbs are.

What Are Net Carbs?

To determine the net carbs of a specific food, it is just the total carbs minus the fiber. And that's going to give you the net carbs.

Net Carbs = Total Carbs - Fiber

When you're first starting a ketogenic diet, it's important to actually focus more so on the total carbs, because there can be a lot of gray areas that come when you're counting net carbs. Especially if you are consuming more packaged and processed foods, there's a little bit of gray area there. And just to be safe, I always recommend counting total carbs, versus net carbs.

There is a little bit of a distinction here in terms of when you can get away with counting net carbs. And that would be when you're more so focused on whole foods. So whole foods like vegetables and fruits will have a lot of fiber in them. If you're consuming a lot of whole foods and you find it easier to track net carbs then I think that's okay.

But if we're getting into you know, counting net carbs based on a package or processed food, it gets a little bit more of a gray area there and it can make things a little bit more complicated than they need to be. I always recommend counting total carbs especially when you're first starting off.

Total and net carbs are just a small part of dialing in your keto diet. Want more help? Check out all the other great nutritional content we have here on the blog and the podcast.