"dot" wrote in message
...
Yeah...I don't get it either. I am very poor at math. Can someone
explain this in plain English ? :-) I certainly don't want to have to
take
a calculator with me when I go grocery shopping.
dot

It's based on the fact that each gram of fat roughly equals 9 calories, each
gram of protein roughly 4 calories, each gram of digestible carb (which
means, not the fiber) roughly 4 calories. So if you know the total calories
and the fat and protein grams, you can figure the carb grams by the leftover
calories. Using the example:

4.5g of fat, times 9 calories per gram, would be 40.5 calories (4.5*9=40.5)
20g of protein, times 4 calories per gram, would be 80 calories from protein
(20*4=80)

80 (cal from protein) plus 40.5 (cal from fat) would be 120.5
(80+40.5=120.5)

Total calories by the label are 190. Subtract the fat/protein calorie total
from this, and you're left with the calories from carbs.
So, 190 minus 120.5 equals 69.5 (190-120.5=69.5).

If each gram of carb equals 4 calories, then divide 69.5 by 4 to get the
total grams of digestible carbs:
69.5 divided by 4 equals 17.375.

(hopefully I've understood the formula correctly and presented it correctly)

So as you can see, you'd probably need a calculator to figure it on the fly
anyway - at least I would, g. I'm not that good at math in my head
either.