 Ossie-Sharon 10 years ago | Hi, Jen. You don’t have to divide by 9 at all – that is only if you are dealing with calories. We don’t really deal with calories in this program, but I will give you a related example, just to make it easier. The protein exchange is about 75 calories and 7 grams of protein – 7 x 4 calories per protein gram = 28, so the remaining calories would be divided by 9 to get the grams of fat. However, if you are looking at the label of a food product – say cheddar cheese – that per cup has 28 grams of protein and 40 grams of fat, you would divide the protein by 7 to get 4 protein exchanges, multiply those 4 to get 20 for the related grams of fat, subtract those 20 from the 40, then divide the remaining 20 by 5 to reveal 4 extra fat exchanges beyond what the protein exchanges assume – so the cheese would yield 4 protein + 4 fat exchanges in total (and 480 calories). |
 JenThomas 10 years ago | Thank you for your reply. The only thing I remain confused about is the division of fat grams. Do I only divide by five when calculating the fat in a protein exchange and then divide by 9 when calculating fats and oils. Thanks for your help. Jen |
| Ossie-Sharon 10 years ago | Hi, Jen. For the most part, you are correct. The only difference is that starchy carbs generally also include 3 grams of protein per exchange (while fruit does not contain any, sweets also include 5 grams of fat, and vegetables contain 2 grams of protein per exchange), protein exchanges allow for 5 grams of fat, and fat grams would be divided by 5. |
| JenThomas 10 years ago | I am inquiring to find out if I am accurately calculating food exchanges on products not listed in the menu planner. In order to calculate the carb, protein, fat exchange of an item I have been dividing the number of grams of carbs in a food by 15, the number of grams of protein by 7 and the number of grams of fat by 9. Do I have this correct or am I missing something in my calculations? Any suggestions to help increase my accuracy is appreciated. |
