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The Best Brand of Yogurt You Can Buy

August 27, 2012   84 Comments

The title here is purposely misleading. I am just trying to get you to pay attention.

Best Yogurt Brand

I was recently interviewed by a leading newspaper in Canada (The Globe and Mail) about single serving flavored yogurts and I found myself getting angry.

Why? DId I not get enough sleep? Noooo...

I checked into some of the yogurt brands before the interview that I thought would be relevant:
Chobani - 19 grams of sugar
Fage - 17 grams of sugar
Dannon - 17 grams of sugar

That is over 3 teaspoons in 6 ounces of so of yogurt! Wowza.

Some of you know that I am not happy with Stonyfield and stevia see: What Is This Ingredient Doing In My Stonyfield Yogurt?.

That leaves me to conclude that I have to take matters into my own hands and just stop talking about packaged yogurt. Honestly, I will not eat the stuff and I am not trying to be elitist.

It is remarkable to me how an industry can take something that is relatively healthy and turn it into a kind of junk food. Yes, it still has nutrients - but you don’t need all that sugar. These yogurts can be considered dessert!!

Deep breath.

Since it is not my style to just WHINE all day long, I am offering a solution that uses the super cute mason jars that you can find at your hardware store.

Buy a case of jars, plain yogurt, and some jam and “make” your own flavored yogurt. Store them in the fridge for grab and go consumption and taste how great yogurt can be.

You will save money, the environment, and an unnecessary sugar bomb. How can you lose?

Now, I know that some of you like the “100 Calorie” size of these yogurts which I can completely understand. Not only do I not like single serving yogurt, but I don’t like “zero fat” either. I like the taste of low fat yogurt and I just keep my portion size under control.

Here is a recipe for how to make your own 100 calorie yogurt. It is not as large as your regular packaged yogurt because 4 ounces of low fat yogurt is 80 calories - but it IS tasty.

You may find that after eating those other yogurts that this homemade version isn’t sweet enough. Just add the amount of jam that works for you and slowly decrease it to get to a “snack” versus “treat” yogurt.

How do you deal with packaged yogurts?

Single Serving Yogurt Recipe

1.6 from 24 reviews

(for one yogurt)

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Ingredients

4 ounces plain, low fat, yogurt
1 ½ teaspoons jam (your favorite flavor)

Instructions

Mix jam and yogurt in mason jar and store in the fridge. Eat whenever you need a healthy snack.

Nutrition Facts

106 calories, 1.4 g fat, 14.2 g carbohydrates, 8.0 g sugar, 6.5 g protein, 0 g fiber, 79 mg sodium, 2 Points+

Points values are calculated by Snack Girl and are provided for information only. See all Snack Girl Recipes

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First 20 Comments: ( See all 84 )

Love and use this idea--also enjoy a little bit of maple syrup stirred in.

You said it Lisa! I'm with you. It's sorry how convenience has trumped good nutrition. Thanks for suggesting a reusable container as well.

Trader Joe's Greek Style 2% Lowfat Plain Yogurt has only 5 grams sugar in a one cup serving. So good!!!!! It's the lowest sugar content that I've found.

I love Chobani Yogurt and Trader Joe's Greek yogurt that only has 6 grams of sugar. I try not to buy the yogurt with fruit in it, I like it plan and then add fruit. Except I love Chobani's Blueberry Greek Yogurt! Dam that stuff's good!!

I have been using greek PLAIN yogurt for over a year. I add to my blender with frozen fruit and sneak in spinach or kale. Frozen berries always trump vegetables for taste. I add one stevia package, some chia seeds, fresh ginger, cinnamon, chia or flax seeds. If one wants to add a teaspoon of fiber to the mix.....

This is halthy and delicious.

I'm totally with you - we have sweetened Chobani 0% in the fridge as a dessert item and eat plain Greek yogurt as meals/snacks (w/our own add-ins), but I did want to point out that some of the sugar in yogurt is from the milk. For example, looking at the tub of plain Fage 0% in my fridge, there are 9 grams of sugar per cup, just on its own. That said, the mason jar idea's great - cute, easy, and a great way to wean yourself off the added sugar. Cut seasonal fruit is a great topper!

I have switched to plain greek yogurt but I add a package of splenda to it. It's perfect - it's just enough to take that super tart edge off. It's not perfect-would rather not have the splenda either, but can't take the tart of plain yogurt.

How do you feel about the Fage 0 yogurt? Is that ok?

I eat greek yogurt EVERY DAY, I really can not go on without it, its my protein source in the morning, I use it for overnight oatmeal, and mixed with quinoa, fresh fruit, nut/fruit butters. I but the 0% fat, plain yogurt, the fage only has 7 grams of sugar, which is the milk sugar. I can not stand the taste of normal yogurt anymore, its way to sweet for me.

I eat Fage 2% plain yogurt. It has no sugar added to it - ingredients are just milk and cultures. The package shows 8 grams of sugar but they are all just naturally occurring in the milk. I don't even find the need to sweeten it but you can always add some fruit or jam yourself.

You could make you own from a gallon of skim milk. Visit this blog to see complete directions.

oneairforcewife.blogspot.com/

It makes almost 7 cups of fantastic Greek yogurt.

Well said! I have discovered the most YUMMY yogurt desert. After realizing Ben & Gerry's Greek peanut butter banana yogurt has 6 WW points, I came up with this: 2/3 c. PLAIN Chiobani greek yogurt, mashed with 1/2 banana, a little agave (or Splenda if you wish) and topped with 1 Tbsp of powdered p2b defatted chocolate peanut butter. YUM! Only 2.5 WW plus points (the p2b serving is actually 2 Tbsp for 1 pt :) )

Thanks Joan M. for the blog. Will have to try.

I love non fat Greek yogurt with honey in it. Creamy and yummy!

I'm confused. If we are trying to get rid of the sugar, jam doesn't seem to do that. One tablespoon of Smuckers has like 12 grams of sugar. If I add jam, isn't that defeating the purpose of trying to do without all the sugar? Please explain. Sorry if I'm being stupid. Thanks.

This is a great way to go! I Love Chobani's 0% plain yogurt. As another commenter noted, it's a great source of protein. However, I did want to mention that I make my own yogurt, and no longer buy yogurt (unless I really need that tart flavor of Choban's plain). Making yogurt at home is so easy and so affordable - I can make 4-5 days worth of yogurt for the cost of one quart of milk! I bought my cultures here: http://www.culturesforhealth.com, and the starter I chose does not require a yogurt maker. Just throwing this info out there as an option. I now have the ability to know and control everything that goes into my yogurt, because I made it! And let me tell you -- home made yogurt is the best-tasting I have ever had!

Lynn use teaspoon no added sugar jam for 4 - 6 oz. and mix well. Adjust if you need more, but if you keep trying to use it this way you will get use to it. I can't eat it anyother way now.

I've discovered another way that avoids the added sugar in jams, but it only works with certain things (like berries, which are my favorite anyway).

Take a little handful of berries (frozen or fresh). Microwave until you get berry soup. Add to Greek yogurt and sweeten a bit if necessary.

Works great for blueberries in particular. :D

I agree, I always put plain yogurt in a small container and add frozen berries, bring to work and by the afternoon they are thawed and juicy.

Remember that Lactose (in milk - in all milk) is a sugar, so about 7g of that 17g in Fage is simply because it's milk. Which means that is only 10g of actually added sugar for flavoring - so 2 teaspoons. So if you can add less than 2 teaspoons to your yogurt and flavor it yourself - you're doing yourself a favor. Add any more and ... not so much. That said, Cinnamon is a fanTASTic way to add a delectable taste to yogurt. Try Cinnamon and Vanilla (the liquid used for baking - just a small splash) and you've got calorie-free flavoring. Add some walnuts - out of this world - but account for the additional calories from the nuts. Add berries as others have suggested and you've got a bowlful of healthy amazing flavor.

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