The Blood sugar formula

Even if you aren’t overweight or have other health issues that are associated with too many carbs, especially sugar, you still need to maintain proper levels of your blood sugar.  The blood sugar formula will help you keep your levels in check.

Recommended daily intake of sugar

Even though there are times in our lives (and sometimes our days) that we all want (or need) a sweet treat.  Sugar is not our friend – or at least not excess sugar.  The WHO (World Health Organization) suggests adults shouldn’t consume more than 50 grams of sugar per day and this is for someone in an ideal weight range.  Further, if you limit it to 25 grams per day, it’s even better.

While this may seem unobtainable, it’s all about being mindful of what you are eating.  Aside from the obvious cookies, cakes and candies, the biggest culprit is processed foods.  Here’s an example that may help you:

Example one day menu

• Breakfast:  12 ounce cup of coffee with 2 tsp of sugar, 2 eggs, 1 piece of toast with about 1 Tbsp jam.  Sugar intake is roughly 15 grams just for breakfast.  It could be more because that piece of bread probably has hidden sugar in it.
• Lunch:  2 slices of frozen plain cheese pizza.  Sugar intake is about 10 grams.  (Note:  you may realize you didn’t put sugar on your pizza, but there are hidden sugars in the crust and the tomato sauce.)
• Dinner:  1 Beef burger, 1 whole wheat hamburger bun (there’s probably hidden sugar in here too), lettuce, with ketchup and mustard plus 1 serving French fries with ketchup.  There are 4 grams of sugar in each teaspoon of ketchup.  Assuming you had at least 8-10 teaspoons of ketchup (most likely more), you’ve consumed a lot of sugar just in ketchup.  Let’s not forget the hidden sugar in that bun.  If you want to make yourself feel better and say there was only about 5 grams in the bun, you’re at about 40 grams of sugar just for dinner.

The Blood Sugar Formula

You can save a lot on calories and your sugar intake by being mindful of how much hidden sugars you are taking in.  Rather than using all those condiments, you might want to take a look at the ingredients and the actual amount of sugar in EACH serving.  Are you consuming more than the recommended serving?  If so, you need to take that into account for your blood sugar formula.

Total sugar intake

The total sugar intake for the day is 44 grams.  BUT, did you have any snacks – perhaps a granola bar or a can of pop or soda?  Look at the ingredient label and add that sugar intake.  Sometimes we forget what we ate during the day.  Or, we don’t pay attention to what or how much we are putting on our foods.  This is where a blood sugar log would come in handy.

The blood sugar formula is good to know.  And, once you know how much you can consume, you’ll be more mindful of food ingredients, allowing you to make better choices in the store or when you are going out to eat.