Since I talked about cutting back on sugar, you may be wondering how much sugar is ok to have and how much is too much to consume. Today I want to shed some light on what sugar in moderation really means and looks like.

In both adults and children, WHO recommends reducing the intake of free sugars to less than 10% of total energy intake.

The above statement was taken directly from the World Health Organization's Guidline: Sugars Intake for adults and children.

That means that if you are eating 2,000 calories a day, less than 200 calories should come from added sugars. That translates to less than 50 grams and less than 12.5 teaspoon of the sweet stuff. If you are only eating 1,500 calories a day that knocks your numbers down to 150 calories, 37.5 grams and 9.4 teaspoons.

The American Heart Association takes an even harsher stance against sugar and recommends that adult women have no more than 24 grams (6 teaspoons) of added sugar a day and adult men no more than 36 grams (9 teaspoons).

As a comparison, the average American consumes 22 teaspoons (88 grams) of added sugar every day. We have our work cut out for us to reduce that by about 75%!

The information about how much the average american currently consumes comes from an amazing graphic that I found. It pinpoints exactly what is going on with current sugar consumption in the U.S. I love that it ends with "sugar is as addictive as cocaine." We need to kick the habit and reclaim our health!

Let me give you an example of what a day's meal plan might look like for a woman aiming to hit the recommendations set forth by the American heart association; no more than 6 teaspoons of added sugar a day:

**Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs, 1 slice whole wheat toast, 1 tsp butter, 1 medium orange, 1 cup of coffee with 1 Tbs. half and half and 1 tsp sugar

**Snack: Kind bar, 1 medium apple

**Lunch: Grilled Chicken Salad with 2 Tbs. low fat raspberry vinaigrette dressing and 1/2 ounce walnuts.

**Snack: afternoon pick me up coffee with 1 Tbs. half and half and 1 tsp sugar. , snack bag of pretzels, Plain Oikos Greek Yogurt Cup and 1/2 cup fresh strawberries

**Dinner: Chicken and vegetable Teryaki stir-fry over brown rice.

**Total Calories: 1,438 Fat: 53 grams, Carbohydrates: 158 grams, Protein: 97 grams, Sugar: 56 grams, ADDED Sugar: 26 grams

So as you can see, this menu is very low in processed foods. That is the only way to keep the added sugar content where it should be. There is no room for sweets, sodas or really any extras at all. I tried to include flavored yogurt, but that added 11 grams of sugar! If you follow the guidelines set out by the World Health Organization, you can trade out the plain yogurt and fresh strawberries for strawberry flavored yogurt and still be within their reccomendations.

Of course it is fine to have more sugar ocassionally, but this is what your menu should look like the majority of the time as far as sugar content goes.