Low-fat "light" Yogurts. I assume they're crap/bad. But exactly how? page

[OnlyBodyWeight]

Just how even "health" cereals are just low-fat, high-carb, I assume these yogurts are not Primal and are bad. Can someone give me the once over for all of these fruit yogurts that are marketed as healthy, when I know they're not? The obvious ones are loaded with sugar, but some are more vague:

Light & Fit® Greek - Dannon Light & Fit®

This one is 80 calories. What's the deal with being sweetened with fructose, sucralose and acesulfame potassium, ?

Low fat, fine. Low calories, fine.

I see it's got sugar/carbs. But at only 80 calories, how bad can it be?
How much is from natural fructose in the fruit vs. added sucrose, etc.
Also, artificial sweeteners are bad how? Blocking leptin/grehlin/peptide X?

[anna5]

It's probably bad. If I understand it correctly, yogurt isn't primal. I eat yogurt, but I wouldn't eat this one - low fat isn't fine and all this extra garbage isn't fine.

[qqemokitty]

I'm not feeling like I have a good enough handle to explain all the sciency bits.

I will say that one of the biggest problems I have, or people in general have, with artificial sweeteners is that they are WAY MORE sweet than any naturally occurring sugar. As we consume more and more of the artificial sweeteners, we become more and more immune to sweetness, to the point where things like honey or fruit no longer taste "sweet enough" for our tastebuds. We need to have ever escalating amounts of sweetener to get the same good sweet feeling. Just like a drug. >.<

[Jena]

They contain sugar and they are low fat. That's a double whammy! Even if it contains sugar substitute, which some people use and some don't, it's still low fat which is going to leave you hungry very quickly. If you're looking to do a low cal CW diet I imagine that this is something you might want to eat. I don't think it's the worst thing in the world, but its definitely not primal. Try Greek yogurt (plain, full fat) and sweeten it with honey. If I don't want the extra calories I will occasionally sweeten my Greek yogurt with sugar-free preserves.

[Jena]

I'm not feeling like I have a good enough handle to explain all the sciency bits.

I will say that one of the biggest problems I have, or people in general have, with artificial sweeteners is that they are WAY MORE sweet than any naturally occurring sugar. As we consume more and more of the artificial sweeteners, we become more and more immune to sweetness, to the point where things like honey or fruit no longer taste "sweet enough" for our tastebuds. We need to have ever escalating amounts of sweetener to get the same good sweet feeling. Just like a drug. >.<

I have heard that the sugar free sweeteners make some people crave sweets more. So this is something to watch for. I definitely limit my intake of them, but don't seem to have a problem with occasional use. Some may though.

[cori93437]

Did you read the label?
There are like a dozen ingredients.
Milk from factory cows... not organic, fed soy, likely shot full of rBST.
Corn starch... GMO.
A bunch of preservatives...
How is that anything close to a good natural product?

I certainly wouldn't eat it.


Lots of people here eat yogurt and fermented milk products(including store bought greek yogurts... just NOT that one.)
Some even consume milk, though that tends to be raw, grassfed, local dairy.

What you need to now about Dairy... read this.
The Definitive Guide to Dairy | Mark's Daily Apple

Then make your decision.


Most of the time I make my own yogurt from raw, local, grassfed dairy. I do understand that that process is not for everyone though.
In my house... there is sometimes also store bought full fat plain Greek yogurt from a company that used NO rBST/BGH. The ingredients are: Milk, cultures.
Nothing else.
I also suggest organic if you can get it.

Plain yogurt is very easy to flavor... just add some fruit and a little bit of honey, maybe a sprinkle of nuts if you wish... delicious.
I also like to add a little bit of vanilla bean paste to mine. So good.

[Gadsie]

Ok so the low fat isn't bad. Especially since it's not organic it's actually better. But corn starch and fructose and diarrhea in the yogurt is probably not very good

[jakey]

gadsie's dead-on right. nothing wrong with low fat. lots of dairy products are traditionally low fat when they're made, as the fat from milk is often reserved for cream or butter. it's all the other crap you have to watch out for!

[sbhikes]

Not only everything everybody else said, but brands like dannon or yoplait are basically dead foods. It's better to make your own. Buy one container of plain, unsweetened, unflavored yogurt with live cultures and use that to start your own yogurt. Your own yogurt will be alive with cultures and you can use healthier milk. You can then flavor it however you want. Or you can strain it to make Greek yogurt. If you don't like it, then it's probably because you don't really like yogurt. Companies like dannon and yoplait make you think you are eating yogurt but what you're really eating is sweet, pudding-like processed food.

[Scott F]

You want to limit all your sources of fructose. Here's why: The Skinny on Obesity (Ep. 2): Sickeningly Sweet - UCTV - University of California Television All 7 of the episodes are here: The Skinny on Obesity - UCTV Prime - UCTV - University of California Television

Fructose is in just about everything processed as "low fat." It's used in crackers, bread, yogurts, ice cream, sodas, sports drinks, canned fruits. mustard, catchup, etc. Go to a chain restaurant and order a supposedly health salad and the dressing will be made with fructose as a sweetening agent. So throughout a week of eating the consumption of fructose can add up.

Dr Richard Johnson MD, University of Colorado, and his lab team build upon the above links with their research. Basically, any food you'd consume that raises your body's uric acid will affect your cells' ability to produce energy (ATP) that then sets up the Insulin and Leptin resistance the UCTV episodes talk about. Johnson describes the Metabolic Syndrome as the Fat Storage Mechanism. All animals put on season fat to get through lean months by eating foods that raises uric acids. For humans and other fruit/berry eating animals fructose is the trigger that flips the switch. Here's an interview with Dr Johnson discussing the "fat switch." The Fat Switch Book | Weight Control Guide - Mercola.com

Some everyday sources of fructose: Top food sources of Fructose. The food industry is bombarding you with this stuff.

Fructans are a polymer of fructose bound together that some plants use to store energy. Gut bacteria break the fructan bonds into fructose. Wheat is the primary source of fructans in the diet. Fructans In The Diet | LIVESTRONG.COM