Don't let "Greek" Yogurt Fool You

Greek Yogurt is the new rage now in the dairy section...have you noticed that almost every brand of yogurt is "Greek" or "Greek style"? All it is is yogurt that has been strained a little more so it is thicker and creamier -- and more expensive. Beware of imitations; check the ingredients, because they may just be using thickeners (natural or not) to create the texture of real Greek yogurt which allows them to put a lower price on the product.

Real yogurt should only have whole milk and live cultures. 

See this short article How Greek is Your "Greek" Yogurt? from Women's Health magazine.


An even better article, Decoding Labels: Yoplait Greek Yogurt,  shows us what's in Yoplait's Greek Yogurt and explains what these extra ingredients are and why they might not be good to eat:

• Cultured Pasteurized Grade A Nonfat Milk
• Milk Protein Concentrate
• Sugar
• Kosher Gelatin
• Pectin
• Lemon Juice Concentrate
• Natural Flavor
• Locust Bean Gum
• Vitamin A Acetate
• Vitamin D3

Instead of eating sugary, flavored store-bought yogurt, do it yourself at home. You can add a sprinkle of sugar (not primal), a drop of vanilla, or some fresh-cut fruit. Buy a larger tub of whole-milk yogurt and spoon some into a container with the fruit on top to stir up at lunch.

The more I read, the more I am surprised to find out what is in the food I've been buying all these years. I keep thinking that the safest healthiest way to eat is to get as close to the original source as possible:

• vegetables or fruit, look for a food co-op or farmer's market (or grow some yourself),
• meat and poultry, try to find a local farm where the animals are raised in a natural environment;
• eggs, get them locally if possible from chickens that live outside during the day and are not fed a vegetarian diet (chickens are omnivores, they eat bugs); 
• dairy, get whole organic, if you can try to find raw (not possible in some states);
• honey, look for a local bee-keeper;
• nuts, have to be bought unless you have a pecan tree! I read that few are organic, but it's probably best to buy raw nuts and soak,  roast, or whatever, but do it yourself;
• coconut oil and olive oil have to be bought, so get organic, unrefined oil from a supplier that you think is trustworthy,
• in other words, avoid the supermarket as much as you can.

Know What's In Your Food! Read labels  but look for more than calories/serving. Look at all the ingredients. Some people suggest that if a food has more than 5 ingredients, or you can't pronounce any of them, think again before buying and eating it.

Thank you for reading!