The food industry’s concept about net carbohydrates is ridiculous. This is how it works: take the total carbs minus the carbs from fiber and the carbs from sugar alcohols, and you get the net carbs.

I tried this with a power bar that claimed it had only two net carbs (the total carbs in the power bar was 20). One hour after eating this power bar, my blood sugar level had gone up more than 70 points!

Part of the reasoning behind calculating net carbs is that sugar alcohols do not effect blood sugar levels or do so only to a small degree. I don’t believe it. But what a great marketing strategy for selling junk food to diabetics! If you search for “net carbs” on the Internet, you can find some detailed explanations.

So watch out for foods advertising low net carbs because the result of eating those foods is likely to raise your blood sugar level much more than you expected.