Carb counting - labels or book?

Hey all,

Just wondering whether you guys use the nutritional info on food packaging for carb grams or use the Atkins book? Which is more accurate for non branded/processed foods such as veg?

As ever, your thoughts are much appreciated.

Bessie xx

I always go by the pack, the atkins book and website I find to be very american and mostly measured in cups and I haven't a clue what that means really, and everything is different.
Tomatoes for instance on the website it says 1 tomato (red, raw) is 4.3 carbs which is a little difficult as they are all different sizes, in fact they are 3.1 per 100g (as per my pack from tesco) and the tomatoes I have are only 70g so therefore my tomato is just over 2g not 4.3
I have done myself a spreadsheet with carbcounts per 100g for most of the higher carb items I eat and then I just enter how much I am eating to get the total carbs for that item. I don't weigh everything I eat I have to add, I am not totally OCD, LOL

There are some items that don't have labels and then I refer to the book/site or just not eat it.

Great, thanks Ali. I am measuring everything (not OCD either - I promise!) but that's so I can get a feel for what each portion looks like. I'm sure after a while I'll be able to judge certain things by eye. As a rule of thumb I tend to overestimate my carbs if I'm unsure.

I know what you mean about the Atkins book and site - I have cup measures but imo they are a rubbish way of counting as you could get anywhere from approx 30 - 60g of lettuce in a cup depending on how tightly you pack it in!!!

I'm going to stick to labels only from now on.

Thanks again, B xx

PS Fab weight loss - well done you!

I kept it simple really, for anything processed I used the lable, for the veggies I just used three mugs a day and that was it.

Thanks for the advice Jim: simple is defo the way forward!

Yes Bessie, the KISS principle has always worked for me love.

KISS - hell yeah!

and this

LMAO Bessie

Tee hee!