Converting Grams to Ounces


There seems to be a lot of confusion out there about how to convert grams of protein into ounces of food. I posted this to one of the lists and Kathleen thought I should post it here for everyone. So, here goes, the big secret conversion formula.

The big secret is that there is no formula. It's like converting apples to oranges.

A food item (such as steak) is weighed in ounces. Each ounce of that steak contains a certain number of grams of protein. It also contains grams of fat, carbohydrates and water. (well, steak doesn't have any carbs, but still) So, each protein food source *contains* different amounts of protein - measured in grams. Dense protein sources (meat, chicken, fish) contain more grams of protein per ounce than not so dense sources (legumes, nuts, cheese).

The more dense protein sources contain somewhere between 7 and 9 grams of protein in an ounce. So for example, a 3 ounce chicken breast has about 24 grams of protein. But 3 ounces of tofu has only 12 grams of protein.

Hope this helps. This has been a confusing point for a lot of people.

Michelle