Is Yogurt Fattening?

Yogurt need not be fattening.

Once considered a dieter’s food, yogurt comes in a variety of new styles, flavors, and textures.  Used to be, if you wanted to eat yogurt, your choices were limited.  Not so anymore.  Today, you can enjoy such exotic flavors as Irish Mocha, Tropical Paradise, and Peach Passion, among others.  People now eat yogurt as a meal, a snack, a post-workout booster, or a quick pick-me-up anytime during the day.

Yogurt is soaring in nutrition, rich in vitamins and minerals, high in protein, low in cholesterol, and relatively low in fat, depending on which product you choose.  Yogurt comes in low-fat, regular, or non-fat varieties.

This all-purpose food is beneficial for the many millions of lactose-intolerant people who can’t digest lactose, a natural sugar found in milk and milk products.  The active live cultures in yogurt make it more digestible than milk.

Speaking of milk, how does yogurt stack up to its dairy cousin?  Compared to an equivalent amount of low-fat milk, one cup (8 ounces) of plain, low-fat yogurt has more bone-building calcium (415 mg versus 297 mg) and more protein (11.9 grams versus 8.1 grams).  One cup of yogurt also provides about one-third of your daily calcium needs and 20 to 25 percent of your daily protein needs.  What’s more, yogurt supplies more potassium than a banana, as well as generous amounts of B-complex vitamins.

Here are some cool things to try with yogurt:

• Use fruit-flavored low-fat yogurt as a dip for fruit instead of whipped topping or whipped cream.

• Replace oil with yogurt when making muffins and cakes.  Strawberry or raspberry-flavored yogurt adds a tasty twist to vanilla cakes.

• Use low-fat, plain yogurt as a replacement for sour cream in dips.

• Try chocolate-flavored yogurt, instead of chocolate sauce, as a fondue-like dip for pound cake or angel food cake.

• Make salad dressings from non-fat or low-fat yogurt instead of high-fat mayonnaise.

• Use fruit-flavored yogurt as a substitute for jams and jellies on bagels or toast.

• Make frozen yogurt sandwiches by putting a tablespoon of yogurt between graham crackers or vanilla wafers, then freezing these sandwiches.

• Use yogurt instead of ice cream in milkshakes.

• Mix a few spoonfuls of yogurt with your favorite cereal for a healthy snack or make a yogurt parfait sundae by layering yogurt with cereal and fruit in a parfait glass.