Monday, February 9, 2009

Yogurt

My family loves yogurt. We eat it pretty much every day. I've thought that's a good thing. Until I did a little reading - including the back of the yogurt containers I've been buying for years and years. Yikes! Our "yogurt" is dessert pretending to be yogurt. I've learned to check the label for two things - First, yogurt should have the National Yogurt Association's LAC Seal to ensure it contains "Live and Active Cultures". Second, the less ingredients, the better.

The tubes of yogurt I've been putting in my kids' lunches contain:
Milk
Sugar
High Fructose Corn Syrup
Modified Corn Starch
Kosher Gelatin
Tricalcium Phosphate
Beet Juice Concentrate
Turmeric Extract
Natural Flavor
Potassium Sorbate
Carrageenan
Vitamin A Acetate
Vitamin D3
(Yikes again!)

Plain yogurt contains:
Milk
Live Active Cultures

Sounds more like FOOD to me.

Instead of buying yogurt sweetened with HFCS, try sweetening plain yogurt yourself with fruit and maybe a little sugar. My family loves to mix strawberries (frozen or fresh) in the blender then add some to each bowl of yogurt. Or how about a parfait with plain yogurt, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and granola. Fun and so tasty!

Do YOU have any yogurt ideas to share?

More about Good, Better, Best Monday

5 comments:

  1. Sweeten with honey instead of sugar --- top with flax seed or wheat germ "sprinkles". A little jam works too to sweeten...

    Ask Nichole about making homemade yogurt!

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  2. Ooooh. Homemade yogurt. That's takingvit to the next level! Please share, Nichole.

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  3. Making yogurt is unbelievably easy. I'll write a post about it.

    Just a note on flax seeds--I heard that if you eat them whole they just go straight through your system and do you no good. They need to be ground to get all the benefits from them so throw them into the blender with the strawberries or with smoothies!

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  4. yogurt is a tricky "healthy" food. I've stopped buying it, but didn't really think about sweetening the plain on my own. Thanks for the tip.

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