How Much Sugar and Many Calories Should I Have?

by Alicia
(Des Moines, WA)

Healthy Diet for a 5'1, 26 year old Female:

I want to know how much sugar intake I am supposed to have to keep a balanced weight and how many calories, etc.. that i need to stay in shape and be healthy?

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Answer:

Your question regarding sugar intake is a good (and timely) one. A new report from the Heart Association urges Americans to slash their sugar intake and the new targets are 100 calories/day of added sugars for women and 150 calories/day for men.

(The average American consumes 22-30 teaspoons of sugar/day. That's 350-475 empty calories that most of us can't afford!)

Your overall calorie requirement depends on a number of things...height, weight, age, activity level....

You can use the calorie calculator here to get a good estimate.