Is yogurt good for you?
This is an excellent question. And as it turns out, there are a few different ways to answer it.
Yogurt is one of those foods that almost everyone loves. It’s popular as a breakfast food, but it can also be eaten along with other meals, or even as a snack.
You can buy it in a multitude of different types of flavors, and there are even low-fat and fat-free options.
You can buy strawberry cheesecake yogurt, chocolate swirl yogurt, blueberry whipped yogurt—almost any flavor you can imagine, you can find.
But here’s the thing:
Is it actually healthy for you?
Or does it contain some health risks that make it a poor choice when it comes to making choices for a diet that’s centered around optimal health and wellness?
Well, in this post, you’re going to learn the answers to these questions—and more.
Let’s dive in and talk about yogurt.
What is yogurt?
Yogurt is basically a dairy product that’s created by fermenting milk with a yogurt culture.
It’s rich in protein and calcium, and can even help to enhance your healthy gut bacteria.
It’s also tasty—albeit a bit bland without added sweeteners.
The Health Benefits Of Yogurt
Yogurt boasts many health benefits.
It can help to protect you from osteoporosis, relieve Irritable Bowel Disease, aid in digestion, and provide a range of different and important vitamins, minerals, and nutrients.
At face value, yogurt truly checks all of the boxes for being a healthy, useful food—and a beneficial ingredient to a healthy diet.
However, there’s also another side to the conversation.
The Downsides Of Yogurt
Here’s the problem with some commercially available yogurt products.
See, many types of yogurt actually contain a lot of added sugar, sweetener, and other flavorings that take away from the healthy benefits that the ‘base product’ would otherwise offer.
In other words, as a base food, yogurt actually boasts a lot of benefits.
However, sweetened yogurts can actually tip the scales over into junk food territory, and may pack in a bit more processed sugar than they’re worth.
Yeah—all of that sweetener can fill it with calories and just in-general make it worse for your health than the benefits it would provide you with could compensate for.
What Kind Of Yogurt Should You Eat?
To get the best bang for your buck nutrition-wise, your best bet is to avoid sugar-flavored yogurt and to buy the plain variety instead.
Plain nonfat yogurt tends to be the best—though original and/or Greek-style are also excellent sources of vitamins, nutrients, and minerals.
In other words, you just really want to look at avoiding extra processed sweeteners.
Plain yogurt is exactly that—it’s kind of plain.
And it obviously tends to taste a lot better with some sugar and added sweetener in it.
But for best results, you should avoid eating ‘sweet’ varieties of yogurt.
Instead, sweeten your plain yogurt with some fruit or granola.
This can add even more nutrients to an already healthy snack or meal.