10 teaspoons

I listened to an interesting woman who was talking about heart health and how it relates to what we eat.  Our food choices these days are quite different from how we used to eat 50 years ago.  So much more of our foods are processed and/or prepared by corporations and not in our own kitchens.  And in my own quest and struggles with weight loss, I like information, all kinds of information, so that I can make informed choices. 

Her recommendation?  Limit sugar intake to 10 teaspoons per day. 

If you're like me, you read labels.  You know there is added sugar in every food we eat.  But the problem is that sugar content isn't listed in teaspoons on the label.  Plus, carbs convert to sugar in the body as well.  So how do you calculate those 10 teaspoons?  You can take the number of carbs in grams, subtract the fiber grams, and divide by 5. 

Lets take a slice of 12 grain bread.  19 carbs.  3 grams of fiber.   (19-3)/5 = 16/5 = 3 teaspoons.
and that's just one slice of bread!  And most of us eat two slices of bread for a sandwich, or with breakfast.  Hmm, this might be more difficult that we imagine!!!

With two slices of toast for breakfast here, I've reached more than half my limit for today....  lots of meat and veggies the rest of the day for me!  

I'm going to attempt this to jump start my week and see if I can get some momentum going in my weight loss journey.   If it works well, I'll keep you posted!!