Is Eating Dessert for Breakfast a Key to Staying Slim?

"Could yogurt be a key to staying slim?" asks the Washington Post. They look to Harvard for answers. But instead of looking to the priests of nutrition, let's see if we can answer this for ourselves.

What is yogurt? According to this fact sheet from Dannon,

The basic yogurt recipe is simply fresh milk, sweeteners, cultures and flavors or fruit.

Plus acesulfame K , Aspartame, cornstarch, fructose, gelatin, malic acid, pectin and/or phosphates.

According to this site, 4 oz (half of cup) of Dannon Activia yogurt contains 110 calories and 19 grams of carbohydrate, 17 of which are sugar, none of which are fiber.

Compare the yogurt to 4 oz of ready-to-eat chocolate pudding: 153 calories and 25 grams of carb, 19 of which are sugar. Except for a few extra calories (think two bites), these products are comparable.

While I'm loathe to quote doctors, one of them told me that I should take lactinex (a probiotic) while on antibiotics, and that the quantity in yogurt wasn't enough to do any good. I doubt that food that's basically pudding plus cultures makes a health food. It's more like chocolate cake for breakfast.

Want a healthier dessert for breakfast? Try making custard or flan (the night before) with a sweetener like Splenda. Custard made this way has eggs(!) and cream(!) and a fraction of the sugars, without the cornstarch, Aspartame or fructose.

Comments

Judith said…

Or, if you want to take it one step further and go dairy-free, you could try these delicious little breakfast custards: http://www.lowcarbcooking.co.nz/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=212:coconut-custard-pots-a-coconut-chocolate-custard-pots&catid=66:breakfast&Itemid=67

June 26, 2011

Lori Miller said…

That looks tasty.

I should have made it clear that traditional, full-fat, unsweetened yogurt is different from the defatted sugar bombs at the grocery store. Personally, though, I prefer cultured sour cream to soured milk (yogurt). It's heaven in a carton.

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