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Walking down the yogurt aisle at your local grocery store can be a bit confusing these days. It’s like everyone and their grandmother has jumped on the yogurt bandwagon and there are just so many choices.
Click here to get your FREE “Healthy Grocery List”
So how do you determine which “healthy yogurt” is actually good for you and which yogurt you should steer clear of?
Wait, isn’t all yogurt healthy?? Um, not exactly. Many yogurts on the market today contain additives, food coloring and artificial flavors. All of those are a big no-no.
Let’s start with the reasons why you should include yogurt in your diet:
- Your body and digestive system need “good bacteria” to function properly. Yogurt is a good source of this because it contains good bacteria known as probiotics. Keep in mind that Greek yogurt contains as much as three times the amount of probiotics as regular yogurt.
- Eating yogurt is a great way to get the necessary amount of protein, calcium, potassium and vitamin B.
- Yogurt may prevent osteoporosis, colon cancer, high blood pressure and yeast infections.
- Yogurt has also been known to keep your teeth’s enamel protected and healthy.
And here are 6 tips on how to choose the best healthy yogurt for you and your family:
- Decide whether you want regular, low-fat or non-fat yogurt. Low-fat is labeled as 2% and non-fat yogurt can have as much as 40% less calories than regular. Keep in mind that regular 8 oz. yogurt may contain 5 grams or more of saturated fat.
- Compare the sugar content when purchasing yogurt. Some brands and types can have as much sugar as more “unhealthy” desserts. You should look for ones with less than 30 grams of sugar.
- Don’t be fooled by yogurts that contain fruit – it’s a very tiny amount and should not be considered as a serving of fruit. And many will use fruit juice concentrate and high fructose corn syrup.
- Also read the label for the type of sweetener used. Common ones are aspartame, acesulfame potassium or neotame – all chemically produced sweeteners.
- Try to stick with yogurts that contain 20% or more of your daily calcium intake.
Check out this plug from my friends at Lucky Layla who make one of the healthiest yogurts that I have found:
My brother-in-law Todd Moore is the business owner and 3rd generation dairy farmer. His grandfather, William Lee Moore purchased the farm located at 3721 N Jupiter Rd, 75074 in 1936 from the original homesteader and in the 1950’s the farm became a working dairy. We provide Raw Milk from our pasture fed herd in our farm store Mon-Sat 9am-6pm. We encourage everyone to do their own research regarding raw milk, however in my opinion there’s nothing like it; it is nutrient rich, healthy, and natural.
Todd had always yearned to produce a further processed good from the nutrient rich, high butterfat milk from his herd, and in 2004 Lucky Layla was born. We began as a cheese company in the earlier days, and evolved into a yogurt and butter focused company. We still produce cheese periodically, however we predominantly make yogurt and butter. Our drinkable yogurts are 2nd to none as we have considerably less sugar than other brands and only use 4 ingredients, milk, real fruit (that we hand puree), cane sugar and probiotic cultures. We wanted yogurt to taste like it should, Tart, and be a healthy snack. Our drinkable yogurt contains live cultures to help with digestion and is great on the go!
We are family owned and family driven. My father, Wayne, works hand and hand with our staff at the Plano dairy to offer our Raw Milk, while my mother and cousin work with me to promote our products in retailers. My sister and Todd work on the East Texas dairy where most of the herd now lives. You can find our drinkable yogurts in several retailers, Central Market, Whole Foods, HEB, Market Street, Kroger and select Costco locations.
We welcome customers to the farm and also offer tours of the milking process in the dairy barn. We hope you give our products a try. Visit our website at www.luckylayla.com to find out more about us.
Blake Patterson, Lucky Layla Farms
