You may eat yogurt to lose weight, for the pre-digested protein, the easily adsorbable calcium, the intestinal health benefits, to prevent yeast infections, to live longer better, or for a healthier sex life. Or maybe you are a bit lactose intolerant, but have discovered that yogurt contains lactase, a milk product you can digest, or you like the idea of a food that helps fight cholesterol, colon cancer, bad breath, the aftereffects of taking antibiotics, and a whole slew of other “modern” ailments. Of course you could just like the taste. But is your yogurt as good for you as it should be, or have you succumbed to advertisers’ glossy commercialism and your yogurt is marginal at best, or maybe not even much better than the junk food you are trying so hard to avoid. Yogurt is Good when it is made well from clean and wholesome ingredients. What to do?
Check the Ingredients. The very best yogurt is milk products and one, two, three or more different beneficial bacterial cultures. These living bacteria are Good For You! It goes drastically down hill from there. If the number two ingredient is sugar, What Are You Doing? – might as well have a candy bar. If the list is long, watch out, you don’t need modified food starch, flavorings, colorings, etc. Remember what mom told you, if you can’t pronounce it, don’t eat it! Any “pima” listed as an ingredient? Pima produces slime and allows the manufacturer to skip adding an additional thickener to their heavily sugared concoction. Ummm, good — Not.
How is it made? If your yogurt is pasteurized after it is made, the live active cultures are dead. Its not alive yogurt anymore, its dead yogurt.
The Label is the Key. Check it out. You can get anywhere from 11-14 grams of “predigested” protein in an 8 ounce serving of yogurt. That could be 20% of your daily need. And look at that calcium hit! 25-35% of your daily need of easily digestible calcium. Strong bones, pretty teeth, nice nails. And there should be some vitamin A and D in there for a little extra kicker. But what’s that huge carb hit, where’s that’s coming from – ah well, that’s the sugar, and the starches, and the fillers, and all that other “stuff” that you just paid for that you really didn’t want.
Yogurt Is a Most Excellent Food. I wouldn’t want to live on it, but I wouldn’t want to live without it. The alive and living bacterial cultures in good yogurt keep the gut “sweet” and healthy. Everything else you eat is digested more thoroughly and processed more cleanly. You will squeeze every iota of nutritional benefit from all your food by having a healthy gastrointestinal tract that your doctor, and your mom, would be proud of.