What yogurt is supposed to be

When I decided to cut so much sugar out of my diet, I had to begin looking closely at labels.  I was shocked by how much sugar is in so many "healthy" things.  One of those things (which was very disappointing for me) was yogurt.  Now, I don't eat yogurt on a daily basis, but it is always something that I have enjoyed, and I typically like to have one or two cartons on hand for when it sounds good.

I started checking labels on various yogurt containers and discovered that most yogurts, including some flavored greek yogurts, have 20+ grams of sugar!  So, I set the yogurt aside for a couple of weeks.

During my brief hiatus from yogurt, I read Michael Pollan's book In Defense of Food.  In one section of the book, he offers some guidelines, or "rules," to consider while you are grocery shopping.  One of those rules is to imagine that your great-grandmother is shopping with you.  Any thing that your great-grandmother does not recognize as food, you probably shouldn't buy.  He gave the specific example of GoGurt.  Would your great-grandmother recognize GoGurt as food?  No.  She might even mistake it for toothpaste!  She certainly wouldn't have the faintest idea about how to get it into your body.  And don't even bother showing her the ingredient list.

Cultured Pasteurized Grade A Low Fat Milk

Sugar 

Modified Corn Starch

Kosher Gelatin

Tricalcium Phosphate

Vegetable juice (for color)

Natural Flavor

Potassium Sorbate (added to maintain freshness)

Carrageenan

Vitamin A acetate

Vitamin D3  

Contains Live and Active Cultures

I don't even know what some of those things are, let alone my great-grandmother!  My great-grandmother would know yogurt as inoculated milk and bacteria.  Period.  So, why are there so many other ingredients in it?

The next time I went back to the store, I started perusing the yogurts again.  This time, though, I wasn't only looking at sugar content, I was looking at ingredient lists.  Many yogurts on the shelf had a very similar ingredient list to the one above.  While the Greek yogurts had a much shorter (and recognizable) list, I was still a bit put off by the sugar content in many of them.  Then, I picked up a container of Atlanta Fresh Greek Yogurt - Wildflower Honey was the flavor.  It had 11 grams of sugar, and the ingredient list was:

Cultured Pasteurized Non-fat milk

Wildflower Honey

Live and Active Cultures

This seemed better to me.  It had three ingredients and less sugar than most of the others I had seen.  I decided to buy one carton to try it.  I honestly figured I would probably have to end up dumping it into a smoothie because I couldn't really imagine it tasting good.  Much to my surprise, a few days later, I pulled it out of the fridge, opened it up, and it was delicious!  Personally, I think it is the best yogurt I have ever had, and I've tried many (both regular and greek) over the years!  It also comes in many fun flavors, such as Vanilla Caramel, Port Wine and Cherry, and Tropical Heat.  

This was truly one of my first "Aha" moments, where I realized that pure, simple foods can actually be better tasting than those loaded with extra sugar and preservatives.

I did discover though, that this is a regional company based in Atlanta.  So, if you don't live within 179 miles of Atlanta, you won't be able to find this in your stores.  If that's the case though, I would encourage you to find what companies are local to your own area, as they (local companies) tend to have amazing products.