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One of the best ways to disguise the amount of sugar in a product is something the government already requires—printing the information in grams. Most Americans can't visualize how much a gram is because we're unaccustomed to the metric system. So when we pick up a can of soda that contains 40 grams of sugar, we pretty much shrug our shoulders and pop the top. But, what if the label said that it contained over 10 teaspoons of sugar? If you saw someone spooning 10 teaspoons of sugar into their morning coffee, you'd think they were crazy, but that's how much people consume in a typical 12-ounce can. In a 64-ounce fountain drink that you'd get at a convenience store, you consume over 53 teaspoons of sugar—almost two cups!

Naturally, people would think twice if the nutritional information on products were given in measurements that were meaningful to them. But, until the government and food and beverage industries decide to change their policies, it's a metric world we live in. We can however, take our health into our own hands if we arm ourselves with the knowledge that four grams equals one teaspoon. So when you check out your food labels, divide the grams of sugar by four, and that's how many teaspoons you're ingesting.