Hi - I like to eat olives, but I know they are a fruit. All of the nutritional information I find says zero carbs, but this just can’t be correct. I have LoseIt app and it says zero carbs, and when I google it says zero. Does anyone’s app (MFP) give a carb count for olives?
Am I just cray cray?? 
Here’s the Nutrition Data link.
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/fruits-and-fruit-juices/1964/2
okay, thank you. Maybe I am just crazy in believing all fruit has some type of carbs in it. I bet there are some sneaky carbs in there somewhere. But, I’ll not worry about it since I can’t find evidence of carb counts.
Olives are like avocados, very fatty with very high fibre content. If you eat a couple of olives, there is almost no carbs or fibre. But, if you eat a substantial amount, then yes, the carbs and fibre adds up.
Almost all of the carb content in olives is fibre. So, they are almost net carb zero.
Great, thank you!! I really enjoy them, but typically don’t ‘overdo’ it as I have them on the side with other foods.
Fyi…
Careful with the black olives. Some are artificially blackened, by treating in a high iron-containing chemical solution. Which turns them black, and then the nutritional label says they are rich in iron.
I would rather eat naturally blackened olives, blackened by the sun and other elements in nature, than those exposed to a Frankenstein chemical concoction.
Read the ingredients list on the cans and jars of black olives. If you see that they used a chemical solution containing iron, then it’s not natural…just a shitload of chemical dyes. They also tend to have an aluminum taste to them, because of so much chemicals that were absorbed.
Ferrous gluconate is the compound frequently used in the blackening of olives.
There is a large amount used in olive blackening process, so with just a few olives eaten, you can easily reach 100% daily allowance of iron.
Buyer beware.
Here’s an example label on black olives treated with iron black dye:
Very high levels of iron, artificially added to the olives.
Like I said…buyer beware…read the ingredients lists.
Not sure who creates those nutrition labels but if it’s an olive company or some food company be careful. Companies manipulate those labels by ‘tweaking’ the serving size. If the labels shows 1 carb per serving they will reduce the serving size so the carbs are less than 1 and therefore will have you believe there are no carbs in the food. So let’s say 1 serving is .5 carbs (listed as 0) and you ate 5 servings. You consumed 2.5 grams of carbs whereas the label would have you believe you had no carbs.
Yes, good point. I’m usually a label watchdog. I look at everything, but typically the nutrition label and the ingredients. I buy my olives at the Whole Foods olive bar, so no labels to inspect. That’s one reason I was wondering about carbs in olives. I have only one that I like (Castelvetrano) so those are the only ones I buy.
Hmm, I guess I will look a little closer, but alot of my meals start by me attacking the jar of green olives…I love my “early California” olives!
I never knew about the added iron in some black olives. Thanks for the info!
In the UK Supermarkets publish the nutrition labels on their websites… (well most do) so you get things like this
http://www.waitrose.com/shop/DisplayProductFlyout?productId=7539 and they are nearly aways per 100g
However please note in the UK carbs are shown net of fibre so for total carbs US style you have to add the fibre back in…
There is a book out there about nutrition labels. Head the author on a few different podcasts. Fascinating how nutrition labels and marketing labels work. The author owned a food company and he told a story about a pre-packaged salmon meal that was high is saturated fat (very keto) and the FDA or some other gov’t organization told them they can’t call it “Healthy” because the ratio of fat to carbs was one-sided towards fat. So they had to add rice or some other carby thing to it and got the green light to call it healthy all because of ratios. #SMH
yes! I remember that podcast. I think he was on two different ones that I listen to. That’s why I always have to read ingredients too, but I know some of those would also be “fudged” in order to sell a product.
this was a good 30 min video too… A LOT of fake food out there… our food supply is definitely manipulated.
Oops, I linked to a 50 min video. There’s a 30 min one on YouTube as well.
Holy cow! I feed my kiddos so many of these. Thank you, I luv all I learn from you and this group. I will purchase different brands!
Nutrition labels are usually not 100% accurate I think a test found some are up to 25% higher. Also some restaurants are over 200% off.
This is not exact science here but a good reference point. I would be interested to know the official regulations and how it differs by country.
