Yogurt is a health food right? Well at least that’s what the ads on the radio seem to proclaim. Not so fast there Dairy Council! Add enough sugar to that milky goodness and it quickly moves from the lunch menu to the dessert menu.

Many of those little yogurt cups have as many grams of “sugar” (usually high fructose corn syrup) as a can of pop! Around 30-50 grams of sugar! If it’s less than that then it is likely that they’ve added some sort of sugar substitute (aspartame and sucralose are the most common). I’ve even come across puddings with less sugar than yogurt!

Milk has around 12 grams of natural sugar (per 8 oz) to begin with so anything after that is just added sugar. What’s really confusing to the mental noodle is that we are trying so darned hard to make healthy choices for ourselves and our family and if we don’t stay watchful they slip it in there when we’re not looking, or more often, not paying attention. Even organic yogurt can be very high in sugar.

These days I’m buying only plain low-fat yogurt for my family. As long as you buy low fat (I find nonfat yogurt sour and much less filling- a little fat is not a bad thing- but we’ll save that for another article), plain yogurt is very good. I highly recommend Trader Joe’s Organic Low fat Yogurt- Plain. It comes in a 27 oz container. One cup has only 10 grams of sugar, 150 calories and 11 grams of protein. I have trained my kids to eat plain yogurt plain but they really like it with a small amount of fruit, jam, granola, orange or apple juice concentrate, or a dash of maple syrup or honey. Even mixing sweetened/flavored yogurt with plain would be better than this sugar laden stuff on it’s own.

Check those labels! Remember what you bring home is what your family eats. Teach them now so they’ll be able to make healthy choices on their own later. The old adage is so true “You are what you eat!!”