I decided to explore yogurt this month. I've always liked it for various reasons. It's sweet. It's milk. It's got a little kick. It helps reset your system if you've recovered from stomach flu. I just like it.
However as Trisha and I are eating more and more organic and local, and as we're becoming more aware of what we really put into our bodies when we eat, I've become more curious about yogurts. I decided to give up the supermarket brand yogurts and common ones, like Yoplait, after watching how cows get treated on most industrial farms. It's horrible. Finding anything from sustainable farms or even organic farms is costly but I ventured the risk and tried one of my first "weird" brand yogurt several months ago. Liberté. I was not disappointed. In fact, I tried Mountain High first and it was fine. But Liberté just had me sold.
This month, however, I wanted to explore more instead of just settle on the first thing out there. I developed a couple questions to guide me too:
Just what is "Greek Yogurt"?
Now that I've been eating organic yogurt, do the supermarket brands taste any different to me or still just fine?
What exactly do those cultures do?? I saw Streptococcus listed among them on Wikipedia. Ummm...?? What gives?
How are we really supposed to spell yogurt? y-o-g-u-r-t ? y-o-g-H-u-r-t ? d-o-u-g-h-n-u-t ?
What brands are there?
What brands tastes best?
Which ones are organic?
What flavors taste good?
I haven't answered most of these questions, but rather I'm beginning my research. Curse you, grad school, for forcing me to more completely pursue my questions instead of settling for what the advertisements tell me!!
Here's the pictures of what I tried last week and what I'll be eating this week. There's a bunch so I tried to keep the file sizes to about 120k each. So here's the line-up. Like I said, I haven't eaten them all yet so I only have a few comments. But here's what I think.
This one says it has no hormones and is all natural. The ingredient list is pretty easy to read.
Despite the really trendy-looking cup, I wasn't as impressed with this yogurt. I had raspberry flavor, which isn't my favorite, so I'm trying peach now. But before I mixed the fruit and yogurt together, I still wasn't as nuts about the cream itself.
As for ingredients, it's surprisingly legible except for locust bean gum. No idea what that is. Yet.
Don't laugh at the container. I already took care of that. In fact, I make it a point to never buy yogurt in ret--- silly-looking containers. Trisha told me to pick this one up and try it yesterday. I honestly didn't even see it, despite it being right in front of my face. In other words, I've gotten to the point where I ignore what I considered "silly" yogurts so much that I'm oblivious to them. Yet, this is the very reason I'm trying this new adventure: to give a non-prejudiced chance to as many yogurts as I can so that I prove my tastes right, or open up my options.Non-organic, has a little bit of gunk, probably from cows injected with hormones.
I tried this one and actually liked it, if I remember right. I tried it before really planning to write a blog about it, though so I'll need to give it another chance. I remember liking the cream a little better, despite myself. Also, it has pure cane sugar and honey as its sweeteners. We'll see what round 2 produces.
Result: it wasn't that good. It tasted about like Mountain High's plain yogurt. It wasn't bad, though. And I will say this: all organic.
The end result for this one was like crossing pudding with lemon yogurt. Strange. Not something I'll eat regulary. But at least it wasn't bad. I'll certainly give a normal flavor a real chance.
For this one, no corn syrup. It's regular sugar. But they still added in vitamins and mystery gunk. I'm not nuts about anything being infused because I get my vitamins from their natural sources, but I'll give it a go.
Not organic; fat-free; doesn't say a word about being from cows not treated with hormones.
I'd love to hear if there are any particularly good yogurts out there that I haven't discovered yet. I realize my sample is pretty small at present but it's a start. It's too bad I'm not much of an investigative writer. I'd love to see a really well-written article about different types of yogurts. For now, this is my experiment and adventure for the month.
You could also try making your own yogurt. I've had a few friends do that and I could probably get you some recipes if you want...
ReplyDeleteI'd recommend you try Activia, but not the one that says "Light" because the fake sugar makes it taste disgusting. We like this yogurt a lot and eat it at all the time. The best flavor is vanilla, but the fruity ones are OK, too, and have pieces of the actual fruit, not just the flavor. I don't know about all the junk they may or may not have put in, but it seems to have a lot less sugar content than, let's say, Yoplait (which is truly gross, in my opinion). Try it and let us know what you think!
ReplyDeleteNice detailed post. :-)
ReplyDeleteI actually think it's a good thing that you delve into the questions deeply. You'll actually come away with some real knowledge. That is a good thing.
Anyway, mostly I had to write that I think organic is over-rated. Heck, natural isn't even the right way to go (you'll see in Fast Food Nation that some of the artifical flavorings are actually better for you than the poisonous natural flavorings. I would prefer that the meat we eat not come from assembly-line cows and chickens, but I have no problem with genetically engineered stuff, especially plants. Part of the reason we can feed 6.8 or so billion people is because God has given us the ability to understand how plants and animals are put together. Wheat that grows without much water in cold climates, extra-large tomatoes, etc., are good things in my opinion.
Also, about vitamins: getting them naturally is a good start, but usually just a start unless you're eating broccoli or other vegetables that are naturally high in a number of vitamins by the ton. Vitamins, since they are water- and oil-soluable, dissolve quickly and are quickly flushed out of our systems (especially if you're leading an active lifestyle and drinking a lot of water, juice, or sports drinks). Also, the RDAs for vitamins are the bare minimums. For example, if you get the RDA for vitamin C, you will protect yourself from scurvy. That's it. Vitamin C, if taken in a larger dose, can help strengthen your immune system and protect against colds, flu, etc. Dietary supplements or foods enriched with vitamin C are perfect for this enhanced vitamin benefit. Don't fear the vitamin supplements.
It's all medical science. You can read up on it.
Also, it's probably a little preaching to the choir, but check out The Culprit and the Cure, a book on healthy eating and living an active lifestyle. You're probably doing it all already, but it's sometimes nice to have real, hard science reinforce what you think is right.