The champion of yogurts

[chrisherself]

[chrisherself]

Welp, I guess with all the ice cream, bacon, and candy talk I could balance it out with something healthy for us all 😆 I found an excellent product at Trader Joe’s that’s relatively new. (TJ’s are more common on the coasts but more are coming to the middle of the US. It’s a fantastic little grocery store with its own line of lots of alternative and healthy products.) Greek yogurt’s become an absolute staple in my fridge since it’s so delicious and satisfying. It’s had much more of the whey strained out than regular yogurt (called Swiss-style), and has a much richer mouthfeel without any extra fat, provided you get the low- or non-fat varieties of course. It’s becoming more popular in the states. Actually I think in just the last week Alton Brown was showing how to make your own strained yogurt on Good Eats… The only brand I’d found was Fage, which is the best sour cream substitute I’ve ever tried, but it only comes in plain and is a little pricey. TJ’s just introduced their own Greek-style yogurt and it’s just as good. And even better, they make the flavored individual yogurt cups to compete with the “big brands”, which Fage doesn’t (or they aren’t distributed as widely).

Some of us are label-readers, but most store-brand yogurt cups like Dannon or Yoplait have so much added sugar, that any health benefits from the cultures are pretty much negated. Worse, the sugary big brands are much less satisfying because they have so many stabilizers and fillers added, which reduces the protein content per cup. Some of them are even pasteurized to improve their shelf life, killing the live cultures and essentially turning a yogurt cup into a pudding cup when it comes to nutritional content. Yogurt is such a high-profile health food these days that people don’t realize that not all yogurts are created equal. My sister and I were recently combing the shelves at Ralph’s to find a yogurt cup that had 20 grams of sugar or less….and COULDN’T. 20-30 grams in a 6-ounce serving? Yikes.

Now, 10-11 grams of that sugar naturally occurs in the yogurt and isn’t added. But the sis and I have been watching our “hidden” sugar intake (the sugars naturally present in foods that you don’t think about), so we passed on every brand at Ralph’s–even the low-sugar and diet varieties which are all crappy fillers anyway, and taste pretty awful. So I was totally delighted to find the Trader Joe’s Greek-style yogurt cups. 14-18 grams of sugar in a 5.3 ounce cup–that’s only 4-7 grams of added sugar. AND that added sugar comes from fruit juice, not from cane sugar or corn syrup. The only filler product added is a tiny bit of starch to keep the product stable; indeed I think there are only 4 or 5 ingredients in the whole affair. And the flavor is 100% superior to any other big name brand I’ve tried. I especially like the pomegranate, which isn’t too sweet (it’s the flavor lowest in sugar at 14 grams) and has incredible fruit taste. I’ve always found most of those flavored yogurts to be cloyingly sweet.

(This was the best info I could find online–the Trader Joe’s website doesn’t list individual products. It shows what the package looks like though.) http://theskinnyplate.wordpress.com/2009/01/19/trader-joes-greek-style-non-fat-greek-yogurt/

Try an experiment–have one of the regular, watery, sugary diet yogurts for an afternoon snack, then the next day try one of these thick, custard-like Greek yogurts and notice the difference in how satisfied you feel and for how much longer. These have a much higher protein content. The extra .10 you pay per cup ($1.19 when I purchased) definitely gets you more nutrition. The label also states “Contains live cultures” meaning it’s guaranteed to have the healthy bacteria that help regulate your digestive system and give yogurt its good rep. (Watch out for the ones that say “MADE WITH live cultures”–they’re dead by the time you open the package and won’t do you any good.)

Sorry for the lengthy review….but let me know if any of you try these and like them as much as I did. I’m hooked 🙂

[LadyFirebird]

Cool! I shop Trader Joes’ regularly and I think I’ve tried this. Yes, it is a great place and the prices aren’t too bad. I can spend $100 and come out of the store with 4 or 5 bags of groceries! They are also very helpful there–when I ask if they carry a certain item, the person actually disappears into the back to ask someone. I’m not a demanding type and a yes or not would suffice, but they’ll answer but go back and check to make sure they’re right. When people ask me what I want I usually tell them a gift card to Trader Joes’–I’ll use that more than a $20 Macys card which I usually give away or lose.

They also had coconut ice cream that were in coconut shells–disappeared and never can find them again. Everything I’ve tried there I liked and if you don’t like it, just bring it back for a refund. Sorry to ramble on, but I think it’s a neat little place to shop! 😀

[machineguts]

I agree, Trader Joes is awesome! I haven’t been there in quite a while since I moved from AZ (went to college there) but one of my favorite things I got there were these cheesy stuffed baked potatoes. In the meantime I go to places like Wild Oats or World Market to make up for my lack of Trader Joes. 🙂 I have not purchased greek yogurt to use at home yet, but the local greek cafe has some awesome tzatziki sauce!

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