Nutritional Fact - Sugar

Did you know that 4g of sugar is equivalent to 1tsp of sugar? 1tsp of sugar equals 15 calories? That a 64-ounce fountain drink contains more than 53tsp of sugar or two cups of sugar or 795 calories!!!!????

Maybe you know this but do you pay attention? I knew to watch how much sugar I eat on a daily basis but I will be paying closer attention now.

The average American consumes 160 pounds of sugar a year. I'm talking "added sugar" not the sugar that is found naturally in some foods. Your body can only absorb so much sugar in a given day and uses it for energy. All of the extra sugar you consume, is stored as body fat.

How many grams of sugar per day? Well it depends on a number of things like age, health, calorie diet and so on. Wikianswers states that a child should get 40g or 10tsp a day; someone following a 1600 calorie diet should only intake 24g or 6tsp; and a person following a 2200 calorie diet, 44g or 11tsp.

So far today I have had:
16oz non-fat skim milk, 12g sugar
Special K cereal bar blueberry, 9g
a small bowl of popcorn, 0g
corn on the cob, 5g
a protein meal bar, 15g sugar
1/4 cup of Special K low-fat granola, 9g

Total 50g or 12.5tsp of sugar and I still haven't had dinner!!! UGH

You can go to http://www.livestrong.com/ to check out the nutrition facts on a variety of foods and drinks.

Enjoy, but maybe not so much next time. LOL