Yoghurt makes up an excellent add-on to a healthy diet. It’s a good source of calcium, a fantastic probiotic that help you improve digestion, boosts immunity and a great food for weight loss.
But, while shopping for Yoghurt, the numerous brands and flavours in the market might tend to pose a lot of confusion in choosing the right one.
I know it might have been the case with you too as well as you don’t want to compromise on the right nutrition! Isn’t it? So, let’s get to grab some useful tips that can help you navigate the yogurt aisle confidently and help you to improve on your nutrition and diet.
Tips To Choose The Right One:
- Choose the yoghurt with active cultures. Yoghurt with probiotics or live cultures indicates quality and beneficial picks. Look at the label for Live Active Cultures or Living Yogurt Cultures seal.
- Avoid yoghurt with added sugar. Rely on unsweetened flavors and add honey or chopped prunes, dates, or figs to give it a natural sweet twist that’s healthy. After all, your diet nutrition is at stake.
- Pick the one with lesser number of ingredients. The lesser, the better. Avoid any artificial food coloring, if you are vouching for a good diet. The more the ingredient list, higher the chances of artificial filler and thickeners that stimulate digestive disorders and other undesirable reactions, and moreover you want a nutritious diet.
- Plain varieties fortified with vitamin D are good (enhance the absorption of calcium and prevents osteoporosis). Avoid fiber-fortified selections, which get the fiber from inulin that does not have supportive evidence on health benefits. The calcium in yoghurt is extremely beneficial.
- Buy an unflavored yogurt with at least 8 g of protein that keep you full longer. Greek yogurt containing 15 g to 20 g more protein per six ounces is the best form of protein but is void of calcium. The smart take would be to alternate with each to reap balanced benefits of a healthy diet food.
- Look for non-fat yoghurt over no fat, as they are lighter in fat content that helps the absorption of the proteins and the vitamins in it.
A Glance At The Label:
The information is based on a single 6-ounce serving of yoghurt. And this should be taken in consideration if you are on a diet for good health.
- Calorie content – less than 180 calories (If on weight loss program, go for 120 calories).
- Fat content – less than 4 grams. A yogurt made with whole milk will contain 7-9 grams of fat; a low -fat yogurt contains 2-4 grams, and a non-fat variety has 0 grams fat.
- Less than 30 grams of sugar. Milk itself contains 7-12 grams of natural sugar, and when added sugars are grouped, it increases the sugar content. So, stay away from more than 30 grams of sugar varieties.
- Protein content – Minimum 5 grams of protein.
- Calcium – Minimum 20% of your daily value (DV) of calcium.
- Vitamin D – Minimum 10% of your daily value (DV) of vitamin D.
- Look for the Live and Active Cultures seal from the National Yogurt Association.
Get it Right:
- Weight Control – If you are on a weight-control program, go for Low Fat or No-fat. Natural, low-fat plain yoghurts, with no added sugars, are low in calories per serving.
- For bone health – choose yoghurt with added vitamin D.
- Digestive health – checkout live and active cultures like probiotics and the specific active strains in the yoghurt. Make a good health diet plan.
Greek Yoghurt:
Greek yoghurt is thick and creamy, contains probiotic cultures, is lower in lactose and has twice the protein content of regular yoghurts. It’s the best bet for people on weight loss program because of its satiating protein content (13-20gms, which is 2-3 times more than regular yoghurts). Greek yoghurt is produced by straining off the liquid whey, which concentrates the protein in the yoghurt and loses some amount of calcium during the straining process.
When buying the Greek yoghurt, watch out for the ingredients on the labels, which list thickeners used to cut the cost of that more amount of milk required for its preparation.
- Buy non-fat or low-fat Greek yoghurt. A 6-ounce portion should have less than 150 calories and 2.5 grams of total fat.
- The 6-ounce portion of flavored Greek yoghurt should also contain less than 20 grams of sugar.
Hope this post served the purpose of making your next grocery visit fuss free.
