Hello Everyone

Could someone please try and answer me a question regarding labeling
I have currently been doing atkins for 6 weeks - and am still confused when it comes to labels, take for instance last night i had a burger for my evening meal which the carb count was 0.5 p/burger but in the ingredients when i looked closer stated sugar, it must have been the smallest amount as the net was only 0.5 p/ burger - my question is are we to just go by the carb count on all products we eat and drink or are we to avoid everything with sugar, etc even if the carb count is low - i dont feel the book in the uk has been very clear on this point along with many other points and is very inconsistant -

Many Thanks

That is a very good question. I don't eat anything that says other than 0 beside Sugar: on the package -- unless it's the occasional cream cheese (all of that has about 1 g. or >1g of sugar), or in my salad dressings (Caesar and Blue Cheese -- I can't find any at all with absolute 0 on the sugar count.)

But since carbs are either sugar, or substances that the body converts to glucose, if it says 4 g of carbohydrate on the label, and also 2 g of sugar, then the 2 grams of sugar are part of that total of 4 carbs.

I THINK! Hopefully someone more educated on this can either back me up or correct me.

to be honest it doesnt say the amount of sugar it just states sugar in the ingrediants - mustard theres another one - doesnt say of which sugar just says sugar in ingredients - god this is confusing
so its probably best to avoid anything with sugar in - apart from natural sugar like cheese

the first ingredient? sorry new at this - what do you mean where sugar is the main ingredient

everything i seem to look at has some form of sugar , most things i eat are very low carb but the ingredients usually state sugar or caramel or some kind of sugar related item - dont know if im coming or going half the time but really dont wanna fail

Thank You

Manufacturers of food products must list the ingredients in order of how much is in the product, with the first item listed being the most, the second the second most etc.

So if a product list says ...... Sugar, flour, eggs .... the sugar makes up the majority of the item, flour the second most and eggs the third.

If the product says ..... flour, salt, eggs, onions, potatoes, sugar ... then sugar is down the list and makes up a smaller portion of the item than any of the others

Reading labels is important, knowing all the different names for sugars is crucial .. it comes in many forms.

But as Kim said, I would think it would be very very difficult to find any processed item that does not contain a sugar of some sort. So, how do you avoid sugars?? You eat foods that are as close to therr natural state as possible, less processed, recognizing that there are many naturally occurring sugars (which is why carrots and corn are sweet and not considered low carb)

i do eat mainly unprocessed food - i dont crave sweets - i was just confused about burgers i had and german sausauge which both listed sugar - so is it a fair assumtion to say if its way down the list then in all probability it wont inpact blood sugar but if its near the front its prob better to avoid


THANKS

Yes, thats how I would look at it ......... I don't know what would be added to a burger to have any sugar in it, perhaps the meat is smoked or cured with something, who knows, I think the bottom line is that the actual carb count is .5/burger.