Getting tired of cereal for breakfast? Looking for a mid-afternoon snack that’s healthier than a candy bar from your office’s vending machine? Grab a spoon and dig into some yogurt. Creamy, cool, and crammed with vitamins and minerals, this satisfying treat could help improve your health.
What Makes Yogurt… Yogurt?
Yogurt has long been a staple in humanity’s diet. There are reports stretching back to 6000 BCE of humans consuming yogurt-like substances. Yogurt is a dairy that's been transformed through the process of fermentation into something thicker and viscous. Yogurt can be consumed by itself or used as a cooking ingredient. In many cuisines (particularly Mediterranean, Arabic, and Indian food) yogurt is used as a sauce or essential ingredient in the cooking process.
Types of Yogurt
There are several different varieties of yogurt. Some tend to be more low impact on your waistline while others may pack more of a punch in the probiotic department.
- Reduced-Fat Yogurt: Also known as low fat or non-fat, this yogurt is made with either 2-percent, skim, or zero percent milk.
- Greek: A creamier and thicker variety of yogurt, the Greek style has a higher protein content at the expense of less calcium. Greek yogurt also tends to be rich in gut health fortifying probiotics.
- Kefir: We tend to think of yogurt as a spoonable food, but kefir is made to be drunk. This liquid yogurt is dense with probiotics.
- Skyr: An Icelandic form of yogurt, this ultra creamy and dense yogurt contains 2 to 3 times more protein than plain yogurt.
- Bulgarian Yogurt: An unstrained, smooth style of yogurt that's packed with calcium and four different kinds of "good" bacteria that can bolster your digestive system.
- Frozen Yogurt: A delicious alternative to ice cream, “froyo” is a great dessert choice. Be careful about eating too much frozen yogurt: froyo isn’t necessarily healthier than ice cream. A cone of frozen yogurt can have the same amount (or more!) of sugar as you’d find in regular ice cream.
- Non-dairy Yogurt: Being lactose intolerant doesn’t shut the door on yogurt! There are non-dairy varieties that include coconut milk and soy yogurt.
Another important consideration is the source of the dairy. While cow’s milk is the most common source for dairy-based yogurts, goat’s and sheep’s milk are also regularly used to make yogurt. Each type of milk has its own unique flavor and texture that it imparts to the yogurt.
Nutritional Value
Most varieties of yogurt are nutrient rich. Adding yogurt to your fridge could help you get more of the following into your diet:
- Calcium
- Vitamin B12
- Magnesium
- Vitamin A
- Phosphorus
- Potassium
- Vitamin C
- Riboflavin
- Vitamin D
- Protein (Caseins, whey, fats)
- Zinc
Probiotics
One of the biggest benefits yogurts can offer is probiotics. Probiotics are live bacteria that can help improve digestive health. Probiotics act as "reinforcements," increasing the number of good bacteria in your gut biome and leave little space for pathogenic strains of bacteria to survive. Not all yogurts have probiotics; the pasteurization process can kill off the beneficial bacteria that are inside the starter culture. Some yogurt makers add in probiotics after the yogurt has been pasteurized. When shopping for yogurt, check the labels to see if your yogurt of choice has probiotics in them.
Filling
One other benefit of yogurt is that it is satiating. Eating yogurt can give you a feeling of fullness, making it an excellent appetite-suppressing snack. If you’re trying to cut down on your daily caloric intake, adding a low-fat yogurt into your rotation can be a great way to keep you feeling full throughout the day.
Article by Austin Brietta
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