Greek Yogurt vs Greek Style Yogurt

This is the post that went missing??? Found it's way back LOL

OMG Difficult to post tonite---I followed the recipe that came with the IP and strained it with cheese cloth so it would be thick. I feed the strained liquid to the dogs, they love it too!

Awesome. I still have my book. I will give it a shot and let you know how it turned out! Thank you!

I do the Fairlife method because I have some lactose intolerance.

Carton of Fairlife Whole Milk

Carton of Fage 2%

It's popular to add a can of condensed milk, but I don't

Place in pot, stir, press yoghurt button - the default is 8 hours, I prefer 6, you'll need to tweak to see what you like

No need to strain, but I like it thick, so I do.

That's it, easy peasy lemon squeasy

I add vanilla and whatever flavoring I fancy

Thank you! I will try that.

This topic raises a key issue I struggle with on many levels with my diet (who would know yogurt was such a controversial issue!).

1) I try to avoid dairy, so for a long time I didn't eat any yogurt. I added it in over the last few months for several reasons: My calcium intake is fairly low.Wwhile I eat a lot of prebiotic foods I eat very little probiotic foods. My recent DEXA scans have shown very small, but consistent downward trends in bone density. Hence my decision to add in yogurt into my diet.

2) I try and limit my consumption of artificial sweeteners however, I can not stand the taste of yogurt unless it's sweetened. I will not eat refined sugar, so this leaves me with yogurt that uses artificial sweetener.

3) I try and limit the amount of processed foods I eat (see #2 above!), so what you are saying about real greek yogurt resonates with me, even though I'm breaking my diet rules by eating dairy and artificial sweeteners, it just makes it worse to eat even more highly processed yogurt.

So, given all of that, what do I do? I eat a totally processed, artificially sweetened, greek style yogurt (Kroger Greek Lite to be specific). In the end, I really love the taste of this line of "greek" yogurt, and the macros are very good. 6 oz of this stuff has 80 calories and 14g of protein.

I guess I've decided that in the end, since I am breaking so many of my eating rules to begin with (and breaking them in the name of good health I might add! LOL), that what's a few more processed ingredients?

That, folks, is my Great Greek Yogurt Dilemma.

I was wondering why do you avoid dairy? Is it a food intolerance? I hope you can hold off the loss of bone density or at least minimize the amount you lose. I think having the calcium in your diet will help with that. You'll probably have to load up on other sources of calcium rich foods rather than depend on yogurt.

I'm guessing there are no Greek yogurts that have a good taste available too you locally. Have you tried making your own? I haven't made any yet, but there's an insta pot that has a yogurt setting. So you can make your own & flavor it how you like. Then you can avoid the whole processed thing altogether.

No, it's not a food intolerance, it's just part of my surgeon's eating plan. Aside from that, there is really no compelling reason to eat dairy (although it does provide a pretty heavy dose of calcium) so I focus on eating food that provides the highest value to my body. I do "cheat" and have cheese with food a couple times a week, but my dairy intake is very low.

I do tend to eat a lot of foods that are high in calcium (green beans, carrots, sweet potatoes, almonds, beans, edamame, etc) but not in large enough quantities to meet my RDA. Adding in the yogurt has helped me get closer to 100% of the RDA on a more daily basis (one serving has 40% of the RDA of Calcium).

I'll be interested to see at my next DEXA if there is any noticeable effect. Fortunately, my BMD is still very good, I just don't like the way it is trending:

9/3/2016: 1.344
3/23/2017: 1.234
9/13/2016: 1.215

I have not issues with dairy and love it, but I do know they have yogurt made of coconut milk, goats milk and other alternatives. You could give them a try. I understand your issue with fake sugar, that being said (and remember I am 13 years out) I love adding in some SF flavor syrups from time to time.

There are others that have posted here about plant based proteins, do a search and they may have some great suggestions for you too. Sounds like you are doing GREAT!

Artificial sweeteners is probably the #1 area that I go off plan! I confessed to my surgeon at the last visit - he didn't seem to care much TBH, haha. I try to limit them, but when I have a latte or an iced coffee, I just can't resist! So I use them more than I'd like, but alas, I can't be perfect.

Like I mentioned earlier in the thread, I'm also not 100% compliant on the "no dairy", especially now with the yogurt. But again, I don't think dairy is terrible, and at least there is nutritional value in dairy (unlike artificial sweeteners).

But I am 1 year 8 months post-op and have probably been 95% compliant to my surgeons plan the entire time. I am maintaining at a ~152lbs (I'm a 5'10" male), my blood work is fantastic, and I've never been healthier or felt better in my adult life. If occasional dairy and artificial sweeteners are my vice, so be it I guess!