After reading the yoghurt thread on the South Beach forum, I am wondering what is the best yoghurt for South Beachers in Australia. Low fat and sugar free - seems to me the only choice we have is natural plain yoghurt. I eat lots of the low fat ricotta cheese but yoghurt would be nice for a change!!

Please don't take this the wrong way because I am genuinely curious and in all the reading I have done since I began this WOL (its addictive!) I have yet to read Dr. Agatston's book.

Does he provide any scientific basis for his apparent fear of saturated fats? I must admit from my point of admitted ignorance of the details of South Beach - it would appear to be excercise in “nutritional correctness” based on a desire to secure a share in the low carb business, targeting people who are still indoctrinated by the low fat nonsense we have been force fed with for the last 25 years.

Sorry for that rant . I guess the answer to your question from my point of view, is why not go for the original full fat yoghurt (my favourite is the greek kind) as well as real cottage cheese, cream cheese, marscapone and ricotta? These varieties are generally lower in carbs as well as not containing the 'non fat milk solids' and processed milk powders etc which are added to skim milk products to make them taste ok.

And yes, I convinced myself to drink 0.1% skim milk for years on the basis it was good for my weight and health. Its hard to describe how angry I am that I now discover that not only was this not helpful, but also potentially harmful to my health.

Cheers,

Malcolm

Malcolm, I tend to think the way you do about fats but I dont wish to go overboard with my consumption of them. When I was on the Slim Forever plan, I ate the Greek style yoghurt and I love it so I might just keep with it in moderation and just see how the weight loss goes.
It just makes me so mad now to go into our small supermarket and see that most of the yoghurts there are low fat but of course still full of sugar - there is not much choice in the full fat varieties. And really that goes for lots of the foods now - all promoting low fat and we know that there are many additives in those foods to make them flavoursome so people will buy.

I really don't think there is much chance of going overboard - as long as you stick to the best kind of healthy fats such as olive oil, butter, cream, coconut or palm oil and of course the fat in meat and fish. The problem with yoghurt is the level of carbs (yep I count them all, as I don't trust the so called yoghurt exception). If you are not sure about the ingredients of what you buy, yoghurt is very easy to make yourself (and cheaper). I have an insulated container which holds a one litre glass bottle - made by Decor. All you need is a spoon full of the old batch (or store bought with live cultures) to start it off. But until I get to maintenance, I am restricting myself to a spoonful or two on my low carb cereal or in the protein smoothies I have for breakfast.

Cheers,


Malcolm

Hi there,
The Danone Vitalite yogurt is only 0.1% fat and is artificially sweetned, so comes in at about 6g of low GI carbs per 100mL. It is perfect for Southbeachers. I have seen it at Woolworths and Coles but it can be hard to find in their smaller stores.

Mcsblues, without getting into the evils/benefits of saturated fats - I am Atkins after all - the best way for most people is to lose is to chose a plan and stick to it. South beach allows more carbs during the weight-loss phase and there are reasons people may choose it other then wanting to eat less fat - and stay away from full fat varieties in order to have more carbs

Mb99 - I have no problem with anyone selecting and sticking to a plan that works for them. If you can lose weight at a higher carb level that is great. What I would question is eating processed artificial foods when there is no scientific explanation as to why you should do so.

I went on the Danone site and perhaps for good reason they do not list the ingredients of the low fat yoghurt you mention - "Danone Vitalite" - although they do say they add (artificial) vitamins A and D (presumably because these nutrients were lost when they removed the fat). Coming soon to Australia will be low fat/lowcarb products such as Hoods Carb Countdown "milk". They do list the ingredients, as follows;

"Water, ultrafiltered fat-free milk, calcium caseinate, cream, buttermilk, tricalcium phosphate, salt, disodium phosphate, mono- and di-glycerides, carrageenan, locust bean gum, natural flavor, sucralose (Splenda), acesulfame potassium, vitamin A palmitate and vitamin D3"

Given that most people want to lose weight and regain their health, IMHO we should avoid such 'frankenfoods' and settle for natural whole foods not made in a laboratory.

Cheers,

Malcolm

Many thanks to you both for your advice and help. I would love to make my own yoghurt but am not sure how to do that or even where to buy the necessary equipment without too much cost.
Will look out for a Decor container but then could you give me the recipe for making the yoghurt Malcolm?
In the meantime I will look for the one that Mb99 mentions - I do like it on cereal and with a little fruit at night and maybe indulge in Greek yoghurt every so often. I want my weight loss plan to be one that I can have forever with just a few extras once I get to maintenance. That means being able to have a WOE that I love and consisting of as much natural ingredients as possible.

A recipe? - not a problem, because I have posted this before!

By the way I suggest to any aussies they check out the Empower Foods forum;

http://www.empowerfoods.com.au/forums/index.php

- we have a lot of fun there and support each other as well.

Cheap and EASY home made yoghurt

There are a few recipes on the board for making your own yoghurt, but dare I suggest all this messing about with thermometers and saucepans is quite unnecessary once you have calibrated your system.

Let me explain - you need to do 3 things;

(1) Heat the milk to kill all the bad bacteria - don't boil it 85 - 90 C/185 - 195 F is fine. YOU CAN USE YOUR MICROWAVE lol - a bit of trial and error here and you can just use the timer after the first time - with my old microwave it takes 11 minutes on high to heat a litre (roughly 1 US quart) - obviously this will vary with your microwave (a bit) and the amount of milk you use (a lot).

(2) You need to cool it to 44 C/ 110 F - YOU CAN USE YOUR FRIDGE lol - the same deal try it until all you need is the timer. (about 35 minutes in my fridge for the litre (so long as the door isn't opened and closed a lot)

(3) Then all you need is to mix in a spoon of the old batch - or a spoon of store bought with live cultures - and insulate it for at least 4 hours although I always leave it overnight and sometimes forget it for 24 hours. I have a glass bottle which fits in an insulated sleeve with a lid - made by Decor in Australia - but any form of insulation is fine. If you are going to use a thermos I would suggest you may want to cool it a bit closer to the ideal blood temperature as a thermos would be very efficient - but again a trial or two will tell.

The larger the quantity the easier this is - and it lasts for ages in the fridge - if you let it.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,


Malcolm

PS I meant to say before that most commercial yoghurts you can buy contain "non fat milk solids" (NFMS) basically to make the yoghurt seem 'richer' without adding to the fat most people obsess about. Two things, first a good quality greek yoghurt will have cream not NFMS, and secondly - adding NFMS is adding additional lactose (and therefore carbs) - which of course is the last thing you want.

Making your own, like any food you prepare at home, gives you control over what goes into your body, and that means natural whole food and lower carbs - and it tastes great.

Many thanks Malcolm. This morning I dug out my old Easiyo insulated container so have a batch in it now - a bit of trial and error I am sure for the first few times but will master it.
Will check out the Empower site later.

One of thinnest and most wiry people I have ever come across are the Turkish people that live in regional towns and villages where their day to day drink is "Ayran". It consists of a mixture of full fat sheeps milk yogurt , a pinch of salt, and water in the ratio of 1 yogurt to 3 water. Whip it up, and it is a delicious way to start the day, and a brilliant thirst quencher and snack.

The nearest equivalent, (though not sheep's) would be one of the greek style yogurts such as the Dairy Farmers brand we have in QLD.

All that acidophilus too!

<ikky>
I sometimes drink it if I have runny bowel problems. Never fails.
</ikky>

Cheers

Michael Gardner

Bribie Island, home of the Flop House

You can get sheep and goats milk yoghurt here, although they are quite expensive, but I must try them soon. I don't know about sheeps milk but goats milk cheese has a very strong flavour, so maybe watering it down first thing in the morning would be a good idea!

Cheers,

Malcolm