Calculating your sugar intake involves understanding how many grams of sugar you're consuming, often broken down from calories to grams. Here's how to do it:
Converting Calories from Sugar to Grams
The easiest way to estimate your added sugar intake is by using the "divide by 4" rule, as mentioned in the reference.
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Divide by 4 Rule: Take the number of calories you consume from added sugar and divide that number by 4 to find the number of grams of sugar.
- Example: If you are consuming 200 calories from added sugar, then 200 / 4 = 50 grams of added sugar.
Example of Calculating Sugar Intake
Let's say you want to determine your daily sugar intake if you're aiming for a 2000-calorie diet, with sugar making up 10% of your total calories:
- Calculate Sugar Calories: 10% of 2000 calories = 200 calories from sugar.
- Convert Calories to Grams: Using the "divide by 4" rule: 200 calories / 4 = 50 grams of sugar.
Therefore, if you consume 2000 calories a day and 10% of those calories come from sugar, you're consuming approximately 50 grams of sugar per day. This is also equivalent to approximately 12 teaspoons of sugar a day.
Understanding Sugar Measurement
| Unit | Calculation |
|---|---|
| Grams | Calories from sugar / 4 |
| Teaspoons | Approximately grams / 4.2 (grams per teaspoon) |
