Sunday, May 19, 2013

an unexpected source of sugar being dumped into our kids

We are eating so much sugar in our society. It is absurd. It has been estimated that in the United States we are eating half a pound of sugar per person per day!!!!!!




Although it sounds so over the top,  is not totally surprising. Sugar in it's many forms is found in the majority of our foods. Processed foods are fueling our need and dependency on sugar. Processed foods have become so over sweetened. It is scary. Many blame the problems on soft drinks,Thus they tried to ban large sodas in New York. We all know that candy and sugared cearals are loaded with sugar, but there are plenty of other foods that supply our children with staggering amounts of sugar that we may not be thinking about.

Just a few examples,  pasta sauce, many pasta sauces are loaded with sugar, ketchup and peanut butter are two others that our children are eating that can be stuffed full of sugar. There is one food in particular that I want to address today. This food in some cases has more added sugar than soda, and our kids (and maybe we as adults) are slurping it down in huge amounts. This food is being marketed  to us and our children as something truly healthy. have you guessed it yet? Are you ready for this? It is ...... Yogurt.  Look and see for yourself, check out the labels next time you are at the grocery store.

I hate commercial yogurt from the store. We hardly buy it anymore. These yogurts are so full of sugar, dyes, emulsifiers, flavorings etc. There is not really any goodness left when you look at the the fact that some of them do not have any live or active cultures in them. Live active cultures is what makes yogurt so good for you.

Yogurt itself is a great food when made properly. Take good quality milk, inoculate it with good friendly bacteria (active cultures) let it grow in a warm place for a while and you have something wonderful. Top it with some fresh fruit YUM! There is something wonderful about a good fresh yogurt. It has been eaten for centuries. It has contributed to good gut health. It is something that can be truly healthy.

 How different is this "good" yogurt from the commercial yogurt you buy in the store?  Many store bought yogurts starts with milk that has been homogenized, pasteurized and processed until there is no goodness left in the milk, they pump it full of sugar, corn syrup dyes, preservatives, emulsifiers,  flavorings, starches, and artificial sugars. They may, or may not put any live yogurt cultures in it.They may put a bit of real fruit in it, but mostly it is fruit flavorings and such. It is a far different food with a far different effect on the body than real live cultured yogurt. This is not to say that there are no good brands of yogurt out there, and that every brand is bad.  There are some brands that we buy. We are just more careful about which ones we choose nowadays.


Choose a good wholesome yogurt product. Read labels. Do not buy it if you do not understand the ingredients in it.  Avoid the kinds that are targeted to children,(the ones with cartoon characters on the outside) they are some of the worst. There are some decent brands of yogurt out there. I do buy some of those better brands on occasion. But just for fun, or if you are unsure about the quality of the yogurt you are buying make your own. An added bonus of making your own is the money you can save. It is really cost effective to make your own yogurt as good quality yogurt can be a bit pricey.

 Early on I wrote a post about making yogurt at home.  It is really not all that hard, it does take a little planning.  Eating real food does take a bit more planning than just open up a package. It requires label reading and a bit of change but is so worth the efforts. For those of you stuck on the Greek yogurt bandwagon, make yogurt and then strain the excess liquid and whey out of the yogurt through a couple layers of cheesecloth set in a strainer over a bowl. This method will thicken it up nicely and give you the same results as a greek style yogurt. Strain it a bit longer and you have something that resembles and can be interchanged with cream cheese.


Try making yogurt and see what happens.

Here is the link to my post about making yogurt.

making yogurt





As an added note. 

Yogurt is one of the dairy foods that is on the agengda to have artificial sweeteners added without labeling. They are working on a proposal to change the labeling of dairy products. The producers are becoming smart to the fact that we as consumers are looking at labels. Consumers are craving the sweet stuff, but trying to cut back. It is amazing to me that they are pumping our food full of sweet stuff and hiding it under all kinds of names. For  dairy producers to be able to add sweetners and not have to label it; expecially when it is an artifical sweetner, that is not right. This is yet another reason to make your own yogurt and take control of what you and your family eats.

Here is a link to a petition against this

tell the FDA to reject the proposal of unlabeled apartamine in dairy


7 comments:

  1. Great article! We eat Greek yogurt, but we are label checkers. I cringe when I look at the dyed, processed cartoon-laden yogurt drinks that are marketed towards children. Parents buy it for their kids, because yogurt is supposed to be healthy, and they have no idea how bad it is. Hopefully with articles like this, more parents will start paying attention to what they're eating, and feeding their children.

    Thanks for the post and for sharing on Natural Living Monday!

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  2. It is a very scary thought to think of dairy products being able to add artificial sweeteners without labeling. Sugar and artificial sweeteners are in enough products as it is, even with being on the label.

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  3. I had no idea that dairy products can have artificial sweeteners with out labeling them. That is awful. I at least like to know what I am eating and feeding my kids. I try to avoid artificial sweeteners when I can, but if I don't know they are there, I can't avoid them. Thanks for the heads up.

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  4. Many yogurts already have artificial sweeteners added to it...and they are on the label but hard to find! I have severe reactions to artificial sweeteners and must avoid them at all costs. It is becoming very hard to do and will become even harder if they do allow them to be used in dairy without being on the label. Basically for me, it will mean that I will have to eliminate any dairy product that I suspect as having it added. Very scary for those of us who cannot tolerate it!

    Thanks for sharing on our Healthy Tuesdays Blog Hop....I hope you will join us again next week!
    Kerry from Country Living On A Hill

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  5. NO sugar for GiGi! I haven't eaten ADDED SUGAR in 10+ years!!! Feeling phenomenal because of it too and advocate EVERYONE get rid of it! :)

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  6. I agree - way too much sugar in our foods and diets. Thanks for sharing!

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  7. We make our own yogurt most of the time, and when I do buy it I get the organic plain stuff. Good to know! Thanks for sharing on The HomeAcre Hop! Hope to see you again tomorrow!
    http://www.theselfsufficienthomeacre.com/2013/05/the-homeacre-hop-21.html

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