Total Carbs vs. Net Carbs

When manufacturers and product nutrition databases list carbohydrates, they calculate total carbohydrates.

Our bodies can’t break down fiber (soluble or insoluble) and sugar alcohols into glucose so they generally don’t raise blood sugar. For this reason, many low carb recipes/websites (including us) will write “net carbs” when displaying their macros and many people don’t add them toward their total carb count.

In summary:

Total carbohydrates are all carbohydrates including fiber and sugar alcohols.

Net carbohydrates are total carbohydrates minus dietary fiber and sugar alcohols.