Are yoghurts good for you? That’s a question I get asked a lot.

Yes and no really.

Some are good; some are bad, much like a lot of things on our supermarket shelves today.

I’ve spoken in the past about how effective big companies are at selling products by advertising them as low calorie, or low fat, they may be low calorie and low fat but that doesn’t mean they are actually good for us.

As you know:

Low fat probably means they have take out the fat and replaced them with usually sugar. Also fat isn’t the enemy people just think it is, read this article where I expand more on that statement.

Low calorie that means it’s taken out things such as fat and sugar and replaced with things like low calorie sweeteners and other artificial unnatural things. Plus low calorie isn’t necessary bad click here to find out more.

I’m not expanding too much more on low calories or fat being good for you too much as I want to keep this post short and to the point but it is a good idea to read the two articles linked to above if you want to find out some important information which could really improve the way you understand diet and nutrition.

So back to yogurts.

I shouldn’t have to say if it is chocolate and comes with chocolate pieces it isn’t healthy. If it s a cheesecake yogurt, you’ve guessed it… no good!

So what about these low fat yogurts, organic yogurts, Greek yogurts, bio live yogurts etc etc etc.

Sadly most of the yogurts won’t be too good for your waistline. Things advertised as light or low cal are packed with unnatural artificial sweeteners and maybe things like high fructose corn syrup (as bad an ingredient as you can get) which are pretty terrible for our chances of losing weight and pretty good for our chances of storing fat!

Things like high fructose corny syrup and artificial sweeteners spike our blood sugar levels and insulin which leads to some serious fat storage, you want to try and consume foods which have less of an effect at raising blood sugar and insulin levels.

It’s pretty easy to see that all of these man made processed ingredients are what is making us fat, you want to consume things in as natural form as possible. The growing trend in obesity levels alongside the growing number of fast food options and processed foods are no coincidence.

The big companies know the buzz words like low and light will get innocent people buying as they think it’s a healthy option. They would probably have been better off having the normal version.

So fat free yogurts aren’t good either sadly, our body needs fat so taking it out of the product is a bad move even if it does reduce the calorie content. And as I briefly mentioned above most fat free yogurts or low fat yogurts are packed with sugar! So basically they’ve got rid of the healthy fats and replaced them with unhealthy sugars, great!

So are there any good yogurts?

Good news is yes!

As long as you don’t go crazy with them and eat 2-3 a day organic plain Greek yogurt and the one I eat Rachel’s Organic Bio Live Yogurt can be a welcome addition to your healthy diet.

Greek yogurt has double the protein of regular yogurt, good news.

Also these yogurts don’t contain the unnecessary sugary crap they add to the other yogurts which is much better for your waistline.

Also the fact that they are organic means that you shouldn’t be subject to all of the various hormones and antibiotics which the cow may have been injected with throughout its life.

So like I said don’t have it too often but yogurt can be a perfect breakfast, snack or even desert.

Try it with a handful of nuts or a bit of fruit and it can really satisfy those sweet cravings which we all get.

Or what about with a bit of honey on some healthy pancakes, delicious!

Anyway I hope this helps.

I know it can be hard and many people try their best to lose weight by eating things such as low fat yogurts, low calorie crisps, low calorie biscuits and bars etc. but if you keep eating these things although maybe better than the original versions in some cases it still is going to slow down your weight loss progress.

So stick to more natural foods and you will be doing your body a big favour and ensuring you live a longer healthy life.

If healthy eating was easy we wouldn’t have an obesity problem but I promise it isn’t as hard to stick to a healthy diet as people think.

Thanks for reading,

Jamie ‘Some yogurts are good’ Stedman!