Newly diagnosed Type 2 in January. Sweets were never my “thing”. I’d eat them of course! Potatoes, bread, savory things were my downfall. Fast forward to April 2010, I’m as carb free as I can be! I try to stick to 10g or less for a snack, 15 or less for a meal. I’m not rigid, but it’s my aim and I most often meet it, or come in under it. Lots of delicious veggies, cheese, meats, nuts. No troubles. We were away for the Easter holiday and my son’s sweet girlfriend house sat for us. She left an Easter basket for our pets with toys and treats, and she left a large basket for my family, with assorted treats. She thoughtfully included for me, two bags of sugar free candy. I’ve heard the laxative effect stories. I don’t miss candy, so I just gave it up and never looked back! Now I have two bags of it. Russell Stover pecan turtles, and Reese’s peanut butter cups. I don’t understand the carb counts. for 2 pieces of this stuff, it’s 27 carbs, 6g of fiber (so subtract that?) and 20g of sugar alcohols? Subtract that too? Why? Why does the package say 1 carbohydrate exchange? I ate a piece so she would not feel badly, and well it tasted fine. That was hours ago and so far, no ill-effects. Can someone explain to me how this sugar alcohol works? and why the carbs aren’t to be counted as listed?
Sugar and sugar alcohols are included in the total carb count, you don’t have to subtract those out. The Fiber you can subtract, but I don’t ever bother. I’ve found that when it comes to “sugar free” candy, it’s almost as bad as the real stuff and doesn’t taste as good. If you are going to waste the carbs, buy the real stuff. 
I’m kinda new at this, only been counting carbs since last June, but here is what I was taught. Start with 27 carbs, subtract the 6g of fiber leaving 21 carbs. Sugar alcohols count as half each, so 20 g sugar alcohols=10 carbs. Total carb count is 11. As for the laxative effect, its pretty bad for me so I completely avoid sugar alcohols, but that is how i would count them if I ate them.
I never knew about sugar alcohols being counted as half. That’s interesting, I learn something new every day.
Sugar alcohols are not included in the carb count. Subtract them in total from the total carbs. The reason they’re included in the total carb count is because they are carbs. However, most people don’t utilize them as sugar–hence the laxative effect:) They just go through. For some people, sugar alcohols have the same effect as sugar on BG. These people (I’m one) actually metabolize sugar alcohols.
I don’t subtract fiber unless it’s super high fiber, when the fiber content is close to the actual number of carbs. Then, I subtract out half the fiber. I really haven’t found any difference between subtracting the fiber on most foods or not. Fiber content on many packaged foods aren’t accurate anyway.
I love this forum because it gives so many different points of views and ways of thinking about things. I’m curious about why you don’t count sugar alcohols because they aren’t utilized as carbs, but do count fiber when it can’t be digested at all.
It’s just been my experience that subtracting out a few carbs for fiber doesn’t make much difference in my results. Unless the food has a ton of fiber that effects the carb count a lot, I don’t bother. Sugar alcohols pass through the digestive tract unabsorbed (for most) & fiber slows down digestion, which can be a good or bad thing. Nutritional labels can be off.