Where are you going to find hidden carbs?

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Oh wow, where do I start? Well, the obvious ones are protein bars, candy bars, ice cream; basically all the sweet stuff you would find in your store that says "sugar-free" on the label. Even Jell-O has hidden carbs. (It's a sure bet that there are hidden carbs in a product if a label states "net carbs, digestible carbs, impact carbs, effective carbs, etc". If they have to say that, then you know they are trying to hide something.)

Here's a short list of some of the hidden carbs (as well as carbs you may think you don't have to count) that I've found:

1- Cheese-

These vary, but for the sake of simplicity, count 1g per ounce.

2- Coffee-

Count .8g per 6-ounce cup of brewed coffee (keeping in mind that most cups these days are much larger than 6 ounces).

Count .7g per rounded teaspoon of instant coffee.

3- Crystal Light-

Count 1.25g per 8 fluid ounces.

4- Cream-

Count 6.6g per cup of heavy whipping cream, or .4g per tablespoon.

Count 10.4g per cup of half & half, or .6 per tablespoon.

5- Deli meats-

These vary w-i-d-e-l-y. Check the ingredients (most contain sugar in some form; corn syrup is very common) as well as the nutritional panel.

6- Eggs-

Count .7g per large egg, or 2g per 3 eggs.

7- Jell-O-

Count 1.5g per 1/2 cup (prepared).

8- Mayonnaise-

Count .25g per tablespoon of real mayonnaise. Mayonnaise-type salad dressings (Miracle Whip, SpinBlend) are 2g per tablespoon.

9-Medications-

These vary, but most of them use starch fillers, and some of the liquid preparations have sugar. Check out Cheri's newbie site for a link to the carb counts of some of the more common medications.

10- Organ meats-

Beef liver has the highest carb count I've found, with 9g carbs per 4-ounce serving. As far as I'm concerned, this is just a happy excuse to get out of eating it.

11- Shellfish-

Count 2.9g for clams, .6g for lobster, .8g for Dungeness crab, 1g for shrimp, 2.7g for scallops. (All counts are for 4-ounce servings.)

12- Spices-

Red pepper, chili powder and cinnamon have over half their carbs coming from fiber, but most of the spices you use don't have significant amounts of fiber. For 1 teaspoon, count red pepper as 1g (.7g fiber), black pepper as 1.7g, garlic powder as 2.3g, Lite salt as .5g, chili powder as 1.4g (.9g fiber), cinnamon as 2.1g (1.4g fiber), ground cumin as .9g, oregano as .5g. A fresh garlic clove is 1g.

13- Splenda-

Liquid Splenda has 0g carbs, but if you use the packets or the granular variety, count 1g per packet, or 1g per 2 teaspoons (24g per cup) of the granular.

14- Vinegar-

This one surprised me. I would have never guessed that vinegar has twice the carbs of cream! (Well, I knew about the balsamic vinegar, but never thought about white vinegar, cider vinegar or wine vinegar having so many carbs.) Count .8g per tablespoon (12.8g per cup) of white vinegar, .9g per tablespoon (14.4g per cup) of cider or wine vinegar, and 2g per tablespoon (32 per cup) of balsamic vinegar.

 
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