Yoplait has a new Greek style yogurt out. There’s a massive marketing campaign tie in to the new Clash of the Titans movie and Athena portraying actress Izabella Miko. Strong woman eats good yogurt. Greek gods, Greek Yogurt, Yadda yadda…

The yogurt pack prominently displays “2X Protein..of the leading yogurt”. Wonder what that means. We decided to take a look inside the nutrition label and ingredient list to see if this yogurt is really healthy or just some more mythology…

What you need to know:

A serving is 6 ounces (170 grams) and will set you back 130 calories, none from fat. The sugar count is 18 grams, much lower than a standard Yoplait Strawberry Yogurt (27 grams). Of the 18 grams, 9 are naturally present in yogurt in the form of lactose. So the added sugar count is 9 grams or just over 2 teaspoons.

There’s no fiber, though you’d expect some from the fruit. There’s 12 grams of protein here, much more than in the standard Yoplait (5 grams). But protein is not an ingredient most people lack in the US. We get plenty of protein from other sources during the day. And the claim that it’s twice the protein as other leading brands is misleading, because Chobani Greek yogurt has 14g.

Here’s the ingredient list:

CULTURED PASTEURIZED GRADE A NONFAT MILK, MILK PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, SUGAR, STRAWBERRY PUREE, KOSHER GELATIN, LEMON JUICE CONCENTRATE, COLORED WITH BEET JUICE CONCENTRATE, CALCIUM CHLORIDE, , VITAMIN A ACETATE, VITAMIN D₃.

The first and obvious ingredient is milk. Non-fat milk in this case. The second is an ingredient called milk protein concentrate, made by ultra filtering milk to take out the lactose and then dry it up into a powder. There’s a lot of controversy around this ingredient as it is mostly imported from countries with dubious food safety records, and may not even be from cows (think yak and water buffalo). So why add protein in this manner to the yogurt, when in any case it’s not something consumers really need?

Ingredient number 3 and 4 are sugar. Well actually number 4 is strawberry puree, but it’s lost all its fiber and vitamin C, so all you’re getting is a bit of strawberry flavor and a lot of sugar. By the way, the strawberry puree is not red enough, so there is added coloring from the beet juice concentrate. That’s fine, at least it is a natural colorant, and not some artificial dye or bug juice.

The gelatin adds a thickness or consistency that would not have been required from a full fat yogurt. It’s kosher, which means it was not derived from animal sources.[UPDATE: see comment below]

The last three ingredients are fortifications of calcium, vitamin A, and vitamin D. Always better to get them directly from food in which they are naturally present, not from add-on.

Summary: This yogurt is a better choice than the standard Yoplait option.

What to do at the supermarket:

As far as yogurts go, choose plain. It has less ingredients and less sugar. It lets you add fresh nutrient rich fruit of your choice giving you the added benefit of fiber and vitamins directly from the source, no fortifications.

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The single biggest day for for avocado is Superbowl Sunday. Avocado is a super food, providing you with heart healthy mono-unsaturated fats, just 250 calories and vitamins A, C, E, the B vitamins, as well as fiber and potassium.

You can scoop it from the skin using a spoon straight into your mouth. It’s just that good. Squeezing a few drops of lemons juice and a tad of salt make it even better. But for most of us, avocado equals guacamole dip. “Guacamole” is Aztec for “Avocado Sauce”, the original recipe calling for crushed avocado, tomatoes and salt.

Unfortunately today, many people settle for sub-par, store brought guacamole dips, which not only taste like bird droppings, but are also nutritional atrocities. We covered one such bastardization of the term guacamole a few months ago.

Today we’d like to offer you a quick recipe. This guac recipe takes less than a time-out to make and will have you dishing out a super bowl filled with a tasty dip that everyone can dig into with whole grain tortillas.

Ingredients:
6 ripe avocados
2 limes (lemons OK)
2 tomatoes (optional)
A bunch of chives
1 TBSP Dijon mustard (or more, to taste)
cilantro or Italian parsley (not a must)
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
1. halve the limes.
2. peel and pit the avocados, immediately squeezing 2 lime halves over the the avocado meat to prevent browning. Optionally add the pits to the avocado mass, it seems to repeal the browning process as well.
3. dice two avocados into quarter inch cubes, and crush the rest with the back of a fork. place in in your super bowl.
4. dice the tomatoes. add to bowl.
5. finely dice the chives and cilantro. add to bowl.
6. add the mustard.
7. mix everything with a wooden spoon (or your hands).
8. taste. add salt and pepper (you’ll need a bit less than normal due to the mustard)
9. douse with juice of the second lime and refrigerate till game time.

Enjoy!

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This is a guest blog post by Carol Harvey, director of nutrition labeling at Palate Works. She recently visited the San Francisco Fancy Food Show.

For 35 years, the Fancy Food Show has been the trade show of all things tasty, gourmet and upscale. Many food products are launched there, including an increasing number dished up as “healthy” or “better for you,” due to evolving consumer demand.

In fact, the “top 5 food trends” for 2010 just announced by NASFT (the trade association that produces the show) include “good-for-you foods”. This “trend,” brewing for most of the 20 years that I have been attending the show, has proven a smart business move for a number of brands.

Whether any of the 100,000+ exhibited products really nailed the “taste + nutrition” prize was my focus again this year in San Francisco. And once again, how a company uses nutrition claims separated those that know their nutrition and labeling from those that don’t. Here are three examples. Read more…

Readers Write is a new feature here at the Fooducate Blog. Every once in a while, one of our readers who wishes to contribute to the blog, will get center stage and offer helpful food and nutrition information and advice. This guest post is by Lauren Canepari.

Stuck in the supermarket this winter looking for a healthy (cheap, quick, delicious) dinner?  Well look no further than the lowly sweet potato.  Not only is this tuber a nutritional powerhouse, it can be made into a delicious dinner in no time.

Combining something as simple as a sweet potato with other quick supermarket items can make a nutritious dish for any day of the week!

One medium sweet potato has approximately 100 calories, 4 grams of fiber, 2 grams of protein and almost no fat or cholesterol.  If that wasn’t enough to get you excited, the sweet potato contains an amazing amount of Vitamin A (438% of your daily value), as well as being a great source of vitamin C, Potassium, Manganese, and vitamin B6.

Since sweet potatoes are available everywhere this time of year, here are five easy ways to get your fix:

1.    Baked.  Wrap your sweet potato in foil and bake for an hour, or until a fork pierces easily.  From here the possibilities are endless.  Top with a healthy vegetarian or turkey chili for a hearty meal, my favorite is the Mild Vegetarian Chili from Health Valley.  If you aren’t a chili fan, add some all-natural peanut butter for a protein boost!

2.    Mashed.  Old-fashioned mashed potatoes are boring.  Spice them up by using sweet potatoes instead.  If your kids want some extra sweetness, try adding a banana to the mix.  You won’t even miss the marshmallows!

3.    In a soup.  Bake a few extra, or even microwave them, for a chance to make a delicious soup!  Mix in the blender with some low-sodium broth, spices (curry works great here), and even a splash of cream to really make things exciting.

4.    In a salad.  Cut into cubes and roast on a baking sheet with olive oil.  Add some maple syrup for a delicious caramelized taste.  Throw some of those roasted cubes over a pile of mixed greens, with some pecans, dried cranberries and some crumbled goat cheese.

5.    For…breakfast? Pumpkin oatmeal is the new big thing, but what about sweet potatoes in your oats?  Blend some mashed sweet potatoes in with some oats as you cook them.  This will add a delicious sweetness without pouring on the brown sugar!  Top with raisins, almonds and cinnamon for a decadent breakfast treat.

Lauren Canepari, blogs at eater not a runner. She is a twenty-something on a mission to be healthy and eat well in the process.  The only thing she likes more than writing about food is eating it!  Contact her at eaternotarunner at gmail dot com.

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This is a guest blog post by Carol Harvey, director of nutrition labeling at Palate Works.

Nutrition Facts labels look so official in that bold, uniform format. They must be correct… and are verified by FDA, right?

While FDA regulates nutrition labeling, they do not pre-approve nutrition panels, nor do they spend much time looking for inaccurate ones. With thousands of new products hitting the shelves every year, it would take a massively larger FDA budget. The result is something of a labeling Wild West in the food aisles and online.

Nutrition Facts data is generated one of two ways:  database analysis of the recipe (with software), or chemical analysis of an actual sample of the food (in a laboratory). Both have limitations and are not immune to human error, but in the hands of the inexperienced (or deceitful), database analysis is much less reliable. It is also much cheaper than a lab (about 15% of the cost or less), so it tends to be the choice of restaurants and smaller food companies, many of whom do it themselves with no knowledge of labeling regulations, nutrition, or what correct data should look like.

There are many ways that database analysis can result in imprecise, inaccurate, or simply wrong nutrition data. Fortunately, some are obvious enough to spot without plunking down a small fortune for chemical analysis.

Here are six examples of common nutrition label errors: Read more…

Dried fruit are a tasty snack. They are supposedly as good as fresh fruit nutritionally, and have the added benefit of being available throughout the year, easy to store, durable, and versatile.

We decided to take a look at a well known brand, Sunsweet, which has been selling an Antioxidant Blend for the past few years. While the main ingredients are dried fruit, we were also surprised to find added sugar and oils in the list.

Read on for a full review of Sunsweet Antioxidant Blend.

Read more…

photo credit: Mr. T in DC

1. Extolling veggies – they are naturally low in calories, but high in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber.

2. According the USDA, we’re supposed to get 5 servings of vegetables a day. That’s about 2 and a half cups worth.

3. Unfortunately, less than one third of Americans meet their daily vegetable requirement.

4. If you buy smart, you can meet your daily requirement for less than $2.50 a day.

5. Vegetables start losing their nutrients the moment they are picked, albeit slowly. Once in contact with water or heat, the process is greatly accelerated.

6. Wash vegetables just before serving.

7. Eating raw vegetables retains more nutrients than heating them. And if you’ve ever tasted fresh corn, minutes after harvest, you know it’s not as weird as it sounds to eat uncooked.

8. Choose veggies from all color ranges, as each color represents a different set of nutrients.

9. chopping vegetables into larger pieces helps maintain nutrients better than finely chopping because less surface area comes in contact with air or water that leech out the nutrients.

10. Steaming, microwaving, and a pressure cooker are the best cooking methods to retain nutrients.

11. Keeping the vegetable peels on is recommended where possible because the peel and area just below contain large amounts of nutrients such as fiber.

12. If preparing veggies in boiling water (for example corn on the cob), nutrients leech into the water. Don’t lose them by discarding this water, use it to prepare a soup or broth.

13. Remember ADEK – Vitamins that are fat soluble (Vitamin A, D, E, K). A tablespoon of olive or canola oil on a freshly prepared garden salad actually improves the bio-availability of these vitamins.

14. Vegetables can be served as a snack – carrot sticks, celery sticks filled with peanut butter, cherry tomatoes, etc,..

What to do at the supermarket:

If you’re on a tight budget – buy veggies in season, they’ll be much cheaper than imports from the other side of the planet. Check the frozen section at the supermarket – many times you’ll find cheap vegetables as well. Their nutritional value is often close or equal to that of their fresh equivalent.

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In this blog, we often focus on the negative aspects of  processed foods. We take pleasure in warning you of seemingly innocent products that contain exorbitant amounts of salt, sugar and fat. However, we always try to wrap up a post with recommended alternatives for healthier eating.

Today we’ll start positive from the get go. Well, almost.

Let’s take a look at what we should be eating by learning about the nutrients we don’t get enough of.  Based on the USDA’s “What We Eat in America” report, there are quite a few. Here are the “subconsumed seven”:
1. calcium
2. potassium
3. fiber
4. magnesium
5. vitamin A
6. vitamin C
7. vitamin E

Below the fold we’ll provide explanations and suggestions for each…
Read more…

Salutations, today is Cinco De Mayo. Originally a Mexican holiday commemorating a great military victory 150 years ago, it has come to symbolize, especially in the US, Mexican heritage day. A very important piece of that heritage is the scrumptious Mexican food so abundant here, especially in the southwest.

Today we’ll take a look at guacamole, Aztec for “Avocado Sauce”. The classic dip is composed of very basic ingredients – ripe avocados, onions, lime / lemon juice, salt and pepper. Additions include chili, tomatoes, and herbs and spices. (see our easy recipe below).

So how different can a supermarket guac dip be from the basic configuration described above?
We were S H O C K E D when we laid eyes on Dean’s Guacamole Dip.

Here’s a look inside the label. Read more…

The word salad conjures, for most people, mounds of iceberg lettuce, a few other veggies, and a hefty ladle of dressing. As with many things, the US did not invent it, but in the last 50 years we have elevated salad dressing to a billion dollar industry with hundreds of varieties awaiting us in a special condiments aisle in the supermarket. You know something is big when it has its own trade organization.

In southern Europe and the Mediterranean, a salad is dressed by mixing some fresh lemon juice, a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper, and drizzling on top of a freshly cut salad. It seems that here, though, folks cannot complete that basic task and therefore gladly pay $3.00-$4.00 for a bottled solution. The price paid isn’t just monetary, as there are ingredients in some commercial dressings that are better kept away from our bodies.

Read more…