I am on chemotherapy. Part of the problem is that my sense of taste has changed, and while I am being urged to eat actual food, I have a hard time finding something that tastes decent and provides nutrition. While randomly poking around the grocery store this morning, I selected a Dannon yogurt with fruit. It actually tasted fine, and settled on my stomach fine. But. . .
The nutrition label amazed me. A 150g container has 15% of daily saturated fat, no fiber, 16g of sugar, and very little vitamin except for calcium and added vitamin D. I’ve always thought yogurt was supposed to be good for you. This doesn’t seem all that great. Seems to me, I’m better off drinking a bottle of Ensure even though it tastes off. Am I missing something?
Protein and active cultures which is supposed to be good for your digestive tract which probably isn’t happy with the chemo. If it tastes good and you can eat it, it’s a good thing.
I think you’ll find that it also provides protein.
Live yogurt culture bacteria are described as “probiotics” and are said to help prevent or decrease intestinal problems like gas or diarrhea. This is the main difference between yogurt and a glass of milk.
Many varieties these days contain a lot of added sugar.
Yogurt is just milk. And will have the same nutrition as milk. But it does have the probiotics, bacteria that turn the milk into yogurt. They are good for you.
If you want to make it a little better for you, buy plain yogurt and add your own fruit. I add frozen blueberries to mine. And a little granola in it is good.
That is like saying, “I thought coffee had zero fat and zero calories, but I looked at the nutrition information on my Starbucks Mocha Latte and it had 19g of fat and 400 calories! That does not seem that great. I am better off drinking Chocolate Nesquik.”
Yogurt becomes bad for you when you put stuff that is bad for you in it. To get the best out of it, buy plain, fat free yogurt and add your own flavoring. It is a great source of protein, calcium, potassium, and vitamin D.
Unless you want to enjoy it, in which case get the high fat kind. If you are on chemo, I imagine you need the calories. But adding your own jam, preserves, fruit, honey, cereal, etc. is almost always going to taste better than what comes mixed in it, and you can (theoretically) control how good or bad for you it is.
True. In fact, it is exactly as great a source of these things as milk is (with allowance for the fact that some yogurt, Greek-style especially, has a lot of the water removed).
The bacterial culture won’t do you any harm. There is some evidence that it can be beneficial, but that evidence is fairly weak. Eating a lot of fiber will also promote good intestinal bacterial growth, and has other health benefits that are well established. But like I saids, yogurt or other fermented foods like kimchee and traditional sauerkraut might help and won’t hurt.
And I am a milk drinker, so I guess I’m not gaining all that much. It must be the probiotics thing that has got it into my head that it’s good for me, but I don’t have any real need for that.
I can eat it, though, which is important right now. I suppose I’ll count on it more for calories than nutrition. Kind of like Frosted Flakes.
Try regular (not fat-free) Organic, Greek yogurt and put your own fruit in it. If that doesn’t taste good, go back to the Dannon. Do what makes you feel good, Frank.
Plain yogurt shouldn’t have any added sugar, and is available in high- low-, and no-far options at most stores. Milk is surprisingly high in sugar all by itself, but that won’t change by making it yourself. If you’re getting flavored yogurt, then of course it will be highly sweetened, but it’s not hard to find it with artificial sweetener these days. Adding your own Jan or fruit will be better, but that’s a lot easier than making your own yogurt (though fresh, homemade yogurt tastes better, too.)
^ I was gonna say, the plain yogurt comes in full fat, low fat, and no fat versions. Sometimes I have difficulty finding the full fat version (which is what I generally buy) but I don’t recall having any issue buying the low and nonfat kind.
And it’s not like people on chemo will usually be terribly worried about gaining weight.
My college class had an “out of grade project” where each team had to select a type of food, analyze several varieties and compare them. My team did yoghurt, and one thing we found out was that the variation in % of protein between regular and non-fat was greater than you’d expect from just removing the fat. Another thing was that the specific composition of those proteins was different: once you went down to looking at % of specific aminoacids, the regular version had a better profile.
The German carpenter I used to work with gave me some plain yogurt. It tasted awful. Usually the food he or his wife offered me was really good (she was a good cook). The yogurt was an anomaly.
Yogurt is dead easy to make at home; I’ve been doing it for years.
Heat a pot of milk (I always use whole) until it almost starts to boil. Let it cool back to warm and then stir in some plain, store-bought yogurt as starter (you won’t need much). Cover and keep warm overnight. The microorganisms will multiply and you’ll have a pot full of yogurt in the morning.
There will be whey on top; drain it off and ladle the yogurt into mason jars. Screw on the caps, refrigerate, and consume as desired (there are a lot of dishes that use plain yogurt). If you want to sweeten it, use honey, jam, or just plain fruit.
Probably because you’re used to eating the sweetened stuff. Plain yogurt is sour. When I cook with it, I usually add garlic, black pepper, chives, or some other seasoning that complements the sourness.
One of my favorite dishes is eggs fried in olive oil with garlic yogurt spooned over the top and allowed to simmer a bit. Season with salt and black pepper and serve with warm pita bread. Yum-O! :o
You’re welcome to it. Now I didn’t say everything he or his wife offered me was sweet. I just couldn’t take the taste of the yogurt. It was the same as with the salty licorice.
