I’ve written previous blogs on why you should stay away from non-fat, and even low-fat dairy. They take out a lot of the healthy elements in the diary and leave you with much of the sugars when they take out the fat. Also, full fat really does taste better. It’s richer and creamer, and you will get more satisfaction out of it. Unless you’re really curbing your calories, definitely go for the full fat yogurt next time. It does have nutritional advantages, in addition to better taste, then the low fat or no fat yogurts. Also, when you get flavored yogurt, you will most likely get more sugars that naturally occur in them.
There are many varieties of yogurt, but mainly there are three main variations:
- American style, which comes from whole-milk yogurt, and has about 120 calories and 6 grams of protein per ¾ cup.
- Whole-milk Greek yogurt, which is strained, and has about 160 calories per ¾ cup with 15 grams of protein.
- Then there is skyr, which can be eaten the same way as yogurt, and is referred to as yogurt, but it is really milk cheese. Skyr has about 170 calories per ¾ cup with 18 grams of protein.
Generally, when they take out the fat of yogurt, they will put in more sugar to give it more flavor. However, even in full fat yogurt that is flavored you will find more sugars. Therefore, if you can eat full fat and not flavored, then do that. You can also add in fruit to make it taste better. But full fat flavored yogurt has less sugar, generally, than low fat flavored yogurt. For example, in comparing yogurts a low-fat yogurt that is flavored will contain about 13 grams of sugar, versus a flavored full fat yogurt which will contain about 4 grams.
I’ve written past blogs on sugar and its impact, so you may want to refer to them for more information. But sugar will spike your blood sugar. This spike will then lead to a crash later.
Also, another benefit of whole milk yogurt, is that you will feel full longer, than if you eat low-fat or nonfat yogurt. The fat and protein will help you feel full longer.
Therefore, when you have a choice of yogurts, always go for the full fat, even flavored – you won’t regret it. DM me with any nutrition questions you may have.
