I have been on a mission to find a healthy yogurt that actually tastes good. I personally don't eat a lot of yogurt but my little girl would live on it if I would let her. The problem I have with most yogurts is the sugar content. I used to just buy the Yoplait light yogurts but decided that I wasn't too fond of all the high-fructose corn syrup and fake sweeteners. I made the switch to baby organic yogurt to get away from the HFCS. I didn't really pay attention to the 13-17g of sugar per tiny serving. How many teaspoons of sugar does that equal?...3-4!!! No wonder it is so delicious. No wonder my child wants to eat it for breakfast lunch and dinner.

How much sugar should we be eating?

According to the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, it's recommended no more than 8 teaspoons/day of added sugar based on a 2,000 calories/day diet. That’s 32 grams if you’re reading labels, and about 6% of your total calories for the day. You don't have to worry about counting the sugars that occur naturally in foods like fruit.

My attempt to choose organic led to half a days worth of sugar in one yogurt!

To fight this sugar problem I have attempted to use Organic Greek Yogurt. I first bought the plain stuff. The only way I was going to eat that stuff was if I added a ton of granola which obviously goes against my original intent. So I tried the the kind with honey. It was actually really good, but....loaded with sugar (about 13g). Yes it is the natural sugar from honey, but still lots of sugar.

I decided to give the plain kind a try again thinking some fruit might help. The result...my yogurt loving child gagged and spit it all over me.

I gave the Greek stuff one more try and bought the vanilla flavored kind. I think this one might just work. It still has 8g of sugar but I figure that is a huge improvement from where we started.

I will try using the plain stuff as a substitute in recipes. Here are a few ideas-

1. Use yogurt in place of mayonnaise. Non- fat, plain yogurt contains less than ten percent of the calories, less than one percent of the fat, and around three percent of the cholesterol of an equal amount of regular mayonnaise. Combining equal amounts of low-calorie mayonnaise and lowfat yogurt works well for many dishes, including potato salad, coleslaw, pasta salad, tuna salad, dips, and appetizers.

2. Try plain yogurt as a healthy alternative to sour cream. It is much lower in calories, fat, and cholesterol. If you're adding it to a sauce in place of sour cream, heat it over very low heat so it doesn't curdle.

3. Try yogurt in baking recipes. Plain yogurt can often be substituted for milk, buttermilk, or sour cream in recipes for waffles, pancakes, and muffins. (I haven't tried this yet but will let you know how it goes when i do)


After all this blabbing on my part I just want to finish by saying it is important to read the labels. It is the only way to know what you are really putting into our bodies. I think it is okay to consume some sugar but if you are not careful it will sneak into your diet without you realizing it. Don't be fooled by packaging and advertising!