How much is 20 grams of carb?

#1

I need visualization help to quickly measure 20 grams of carbohydrate. Is it half of baked potato? 2 tablespoon of sugar? Half cup of rice?

(8 year Ketogenic Veteran) #2

Depends on the food, and do you want total carbohydrate or net (minus fiber)?
Here ya go. I put “sugar” in the Google bar and this is what I got. You can do this with most whole foods.

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(8 year Ketogenic Veteran) #3

Carbohydrate is not a necessary goal to meet on a ketogenic diet.
Only a limit.

#4

Yes, I want to quickly know whether I have reached the limit.

#5

Do you know whether this info is available in spreadsheet form?

#6

If you’re wanting to be in ketosis, you probably can’t have potatoes, sugar or rice. Every food is different, so you have to look it up and measure whatever you’re eating. A lot of people use the app MyFitnessPal to track.

#7

The real answer is zero potatoes, zero tablespoons of sugar and zero cups of rice.

How much of a cigarette can someone smoke without risk of cancer? Zero.

(Guardian of the bacon) #8

I don’t understand asking this question?

(Jennifer) #9

Try this site for visuals. https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/foods

I don’t think you are going to find a spreadsheet because carb counts depend on portion size. For that, google is great for helping with nutritional values.

If you want to start tracking food, there are more that a few apps to track your macros.

(Jessica) #10

That.

I mean most foods you “ketofy” in the beginning will already use your carb limit, e.g. bread made out of almond flour. Just generally avoid carbs, 20 grams is so low, it will add up. And if it’s just the 2 carbs from tomatoes here and there, some in your cream, bit of nut butter… you will use them unintentionally.

(jketoscribe) #11

I understand your question. A piece of meat or fish the size of your palm is a fairly consistent measurement of protein, but it doesn’t work that way wth carbs because different foods have different densities of carbs.

So 1 1/2 tablespoons of granulated white sugar has 20 g of carbs and 20 CUPS (!!!) of Spinach has 20 g of carbs. See the problem?

If you track carbs you need a booklet (that’s how we used to have to do it) or app to tell you the carb count of every food.

Alternatively you could follow Diet Doctors plan https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb or Dr. Eric Westman’s plan http://documents.tips/documents/dr-eric-westman-pg-4.html and you don’t have to count carbs if you restrict what you eat to their lists.

Essentially it’s meat, fish, eggs, full fat dairy, above ground vegetables (no legumes or corn) and healthy fats (animal fat, dairy fat, coconut oil, olive oil) to satiety. Counting is not necessary if you follow that, but counting is helpful at first to learn about how foods affect you.

#12

Your best bet is to make your own. There is no quick way to do it I’m afraid. You just need to use Google etc. to work it out and whatever measures you want or have handy at home. So you could use a cup say that was a typical portion size. Fill it with the food you want and then weight that food. Do it raw and the size that you would typically cut it into to standardise it. Then make a note of that food on your own personal list with the number of carbs. If I was doing this from the start I would make a note of total and net so you have both.

So… and example. Let’s take mushrooms. Get your measuring cup, bowl, whatever you are going to use as a standard portion. Slice some mushrooms as you would normally want them and fill the cup with them. Weigh them.

Google says…

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Total carbs - 3.3%
Net carbs - 2.3%

You can now work out how many are in your portion and enter it on your spreadsheet. Alternatively you can simply list everything as 100g and weigh each time whatever amount you want to use.

As far as the examples you listed - potato, rice and sugar. You are pretty well simply going to have to nix those from your diet altogether to be honest as they are way too carby.

(David Driver) #13

I have real trouble understanding portion size and carb content. Right now I just stay away from anything that looks like a sweet, grain, or starch.

#14

Well that is certainly a great place to start. :slight_smile:

#15

But it is hard to have 0 tablespoons of sugar, when food outside is with some kind of sauce.