What is in Your Yogurt?

Yogurt is a great snack or part of a meal, IF you are careful about which kind you put in your shopping cart. I can never say it enough, you must read labels! Yogurt can be beneficial to our digestion and immune system when we choose the right product.

First, make sure the yogurt you are buying contains live cultures such as, L. casei and L. acidophilus. Look for "live cultures" on the packaging. If the container says "heat treated after culturing" do yourself a favor and put it back on the shelf. The manufacturers will heat treat the yogurt to prolong the shelf life. The process of heat treating yogurt can denature lactase enzymes and destroy live cultures. The lactase enzymes are important for digesting lactose, the milk sugar in the yogurt.

But what else is lurking in your yogurt? Upon reading the labels you will find a majority of yogurts contain high fructose corn syrup. Ideally, the yogurt should contain no added sugars. Avoid those products with artificial flavorings and colors. Recently I looked at a yogurt containing carmine, which turns out to be pigment from dried bugs. Yes, a "natural" coloring, but I think most of would rather not ingest bugs! The Yoplait brand has many varieties and they each have at least one of these undesirable ingredients.

Rather than buying the flavored and sweetened yogurt, try switching to an organic plain whole milk yogurt, like Nancy's (this brand can be found at New Seasons, Whole Foods and Azure Standard), and mixing it with the berries that are now in season. Sprinkle a little granola on top, and you've got yourself a delicious snack filled with nutrition that will truly do your body good! You will also find a decent selection of plain organic yogurts at Trader Joe's.
One last thing to think about: the fat free yogurts with sugar added can cause blood sugar spikes (increasing the likelihood of fat being stored in your body rather than being burned by your body). The whole milk yogurts eaten with fresh berries will keep your blood sugar even, reducing insulin surges. The milk fat will also satiate your appetite and there is nothing to fear of the fat as long as it is organic and eaten in moderation. Eating the yogurt with the fat and only the naturally occurring lactose sugars, as nature intended, keeps our insulin levels steady for good health.

Continental Breakfasts

This morning I entered the "breakfast room" at the hotel we stayed at in Federal Way, knowing choices for healthy continental breakfasts are always limited. Walking past the waffles, syrup, muffins, jam, biscuits, danishes, cereals, bagels, toast and juice bar I thought, this isn't breakfast but a sugar fest. Alas, beneath some chrome domes were some scrambled eggs and a frittata dish. It was nice to see a couple protein choices amongst all the refined carbs - foods that spike your blood sugar, and then within an hour or two (depending your bodies' ability to manage blood sugar), your blood sugar plummets and you may experience low energy, fogginess, hunger or many other reactions associated with low blood sugar.

My daughter plays on a premier soccer team for WSA. We had a game Saturday and Sunday in the Seattle area, thus the hotel stay. Another mom commented to me that she was glad we were playing the higher ranked team on Saturday vs. Sunday as she thinks the girls do not play as well after a night of sleeping in a hotel. And sure enough, their performance today was not up to par. I am beginning to think it isn't how they sleep, but the continental breakfast they are eating two hours before game time.

To maintain stable blood sugar levels (between 90-100mg) it is best to eat meals that consist of a balance between healthy fats, clean proteins and complex carbohydrates. The majority of foods at a continental breakfast are refined carbs, with very little protein. The girls didn't stand much of a chance of performing their best on a soccer field two hours after their high sugar meals.

Hotels with continental breakfast have become the norm in most hotels these days. Guests love the fact they don't have to go out and buy breakfast. But take a minute and really think about the foods you are eating from continental breakfasts and how your body reacts to them. It may be free dollar-wise, but health-wise there is some cost.