But the fact is, it isn’t just one day. It is daily excess for most children (and adults) in America.
At the daycare center we had chosen for our (at the time) 1-2 year old daughter, I had some concerns about the menu. So I took it upon myself to measure the amount of added sugar in the daily menu (which was far better than the other schools we had toured, by the way). The ADDED sugar amounts per day ranged from 12 grams to 40 grams. Keep in mind this consumption of added sugar is only the amount consumed while at this school. The recommended maximum daily added sugar consumption for children and females is 24 grams/6 teaspoons. The maximum daily intake for men is 36 grams/9 teaspoons.

So if your kid’s birthday happens to fall on a 40 grams of added sugar day, is that traditional cake innocent or harmful? Why does it seem most of our "traditions" and holidays are sugary food focused-Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Memorial Day, Labor Day. Think about the menus and the foods--stay tuned for more on each of these. I PROMISE there is a whole lot of sugar in those innocent choices (the condiments alone put you over the daily MAX allowance).

The CDC and AHA have guidelines for MAXIMUM daily consumption, but you have to be able to convert the recommendations from grams to teaspoons to get a good visual on how much sugar this is.
Also, what IS considered added sugar? It is so overwhelming to figure out what you should eat and what you shouldn’t.

In fact, it is so confusing that I made a presentation to help everyone understand the easier ways to eliminate extra added sugar. It is a lot simpler than you think, once you have a little basic understanding. And really, any decrease of sugar consumption is an improvement, so just start with the simple changes and grow from there.