Thursday, September 11th, 2008...9:55 pm
Go-Gurt vs. REAL Yogurt
GoGurt Simple
When I was at Costco today with my son, something caught my attention. While I am accustomed to seeing the brightly colored – fake flavored Go-Gurt yogurt tubes, I have never seen a Go-Gurt package with the word “Simple” on it. Hmmm. What could this mean? Has a major food manufacturer caught on to the fact that people are starting to ask for REAL Food instead of FAKE Food?
Real yogurt, in fact, only has two ingredients: Live cultures and milk (whole milk, low-fat, or skim). Many of the yogurts that are in the grocery store have huge ingredient lists, with loads of sugar, to boot. This summer, I was with my in-laws and glanced at the sugar content in one of the flavored yogurts in the refrigerator. Can you believe that it had nearly the same amount of sugar as a regular Coke?
The longer the ingredients list, the more calories you get and the less yogurt nutrition. If you are already looking at the label to check out sugar content, be sure to also look at the protein value. The higher the protein and the lower the sugar content, the more actual yogurt you’re getting in the container. In our house, we buy nonfat Greek yogurt from Trader Joe’s and add our own sweeteners. My daughter’s current favorite is to add a spoonful of raspberry jam. But we also enjoy adding a little honey, agave nectar, maple syrup, or nutella on occasion. Not only is it fun to make our own flavors, but we love that WE are the ones who decide what ends up in our food…and we like that we can pronounce all of the ingredients in our version!
The famous pediatrician, Dr. Sears, breaks down the nutrition information in two types of yogurts, one he calls Yummy and the other, Yucky. Like us, he prefers plain Greek Yogurt, so I assume that is the Yummy that he is referring to. And I’ll assume that the Yucky one is one of the sweet, flavored yogurts with a brightly colored package.
| Yummy Yogurt Calories: 90 Calories from fat: 0 Total Carbs: 9 grams Sugars: 9 grams Protein: 22 grams No added fillers, sweeteners, or colorings. |
Yucky Yogurt Calories: 130-200 Calories from fat: 0 Total Carbs: 24-40 grams Sugars: 17-32 grams Protein: 7 grams Fillers: high fructose corn syrup, colorings and other filler |
Under “yummy” circumstances, yogurt is a valuable health food for children. It is a balanced source of protein, fats, carbohydrates, and minerals in a texture that kids love. Plain yogurt, in particular, says Dr. Sears, is more nutritious than fruit-added preparations.
- Plain yogurt contains around one-half of the calories of the same amount of fruit-added yogurt.
- Plain yogurt contains almost twice the amount of proteins.
- Plain yogurt contains fewer fillers.
- Plain yogurt contains more calcium.
- Plain yogurt contains no added sugar.
What’s in your kitchen? If your yogurt is meant to be a healthful snack, try picking up a container of plain Greek yogurt the next time you are at the market. However, if you’re a fan of the sweet and fruity variety, perhaps you should save it for dessert.
8 Comments
September 12th, 2008 at 12:00 am
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October 31st, 2008 at 5:52 am
I “googled” GoGurt Simple and happened upon your blog post. I wrote Yoplait yesterday to complain that the “simple” is untrue and the “natural colors & flavors” is misleading. The 3rd ingredient in both flavors is HFCS. I received a response this morning stating that “Yoplait kids yogurt does not contain HFCS.” Untrue…
In any event, I enjoyed your post. Makes me really really wish we had a TJ here. Perhaps I’ll head back to the health food store in search of Greek Yogurt. Not sure how well it’ll go over with the kiddos, but it’s worth a try.
October 31st, 2008 at 7:33 am
Hi Karen,
Thanks for visiting. My daughter still asks for the Greek yogurt with a little jam in her school lunch every day! By accident I bought the full fat variety the other day and she REALLY loves that (who wouldn’t?). Heaven.
Best wishes,
Michelle
March 1st, 2009 at 1:28 pm
Michelle,
You may not know it but this post encouraged me to try the Greek yogurt, and subsequently Mark fell in love with it, and now we go through 3-5 containers per week!
My favorite combo is pecans, sliced almonds, honey and almond extract.
March 1st, 2009 at 4:58 pm
Yum! I am so happy that it helped you find something new that your family enjoys
Not to mention being happy that someone reads my blog!
May 5th, 2010 at 8:09 am
I would love to find a reusable tube gogurt style to start making my own yogurt. My son love the gogurt style ones and even though I buy the organic ones, it would be better if I find out a way to pack it in a gogurt style with homemade one…. Any ideas?
May 5th, 2010 at 8:13 am
That’s a great question…For me, we don’t purchase the tubes mostly out of principal. I don’t like the waste that they produce. My daughter is happy to eat yogurt out of a thermos. But I do remember buying the tubes when she was younger and freezing them for dessert. Let me know if you come up with any ideas…
July 19th, 2010 at 10:50 am
@lvlc@frommomtomom:
i just bought norpo silicone ice pop molds from amazon.com that i plan to try and make homemade “gogurt” with. The Soft Landing (a great website that confirms all products sold are free of phthalates, pvc, bpa and melamine) also reviewed a similar product by a company called kinderville. good luck!
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