Today is for the kiddos…
I know our children love yogurt, especially those fun, brightly colored, cartoon character covered, sugary yogurt drinks! It is the first thing they go for in the dairy section! Why? They are loaded with sugar! Even the “all natural” or organic yogurt drinks, squeezes and smoothies have added sugar usually listed as the second ingredient. Yogurt and milk already have a lot of sugar naturally from the lactose, but then you add the fructose from the added fruit, and the sucrose from the added sugar, and you have a sugar trifecta!
Here is a better option…
Maple Hill offers GRASS-FED WHOLE MILK yogurt and yogurt drinks! I found these at Central Market. Milk from Grass-Fed cows is hard to come by, and yogurt from Grass-Fed cows is especially hard to come by! Whole milk yogurt? – This is the only one I have found without added sugar! Sooo…if you are looking for a better option for your kids this is it!
Maple Hill Creamery PLAIN Drinkable Yogurt
It is a whopping 12 oz serving which usually lasts at least a couple of days. Write their name with a Sharpie on the container and store in the fridge with the resealable cap.
Total Fat: 17g, Total Carb 17g, and Total Sugar (all from lactose – no added sugar) is 17g
When you compare this to the tubes and squeezes (the healthier ones listed below) it is half the sugar and triple the healthy fat needed for brain development!
Note, that they do have flavors but they are loaded with sugar too, so pick the Plain and add any multitude of flavors with Stevia drops. Just a few drops (5-6 drops is sufficient for my children) and shake. You can get these at Central Market, Whole Foods, Sprouts or any other nutrition store. My kids love the lemon and orange flavors in this yogurt!
There are two others that I used to buy:
1. Lifeway Organic PROBUGS because it is a Whole Milk Kefir, but sugar is the second ingredient. For a 4 oz serving, it contained 4g of fat, 10g of Carbs, and 10g of Sugar.
2. Siggis Tubes because it claims to have less added sugar. This one is worse because it uses low fat milk and still has sugar as the second ingredient. For a 2 oz serving, it contains 1g of fat, 7g of Carbs, and 6g of Sugar. This is a whole teaspoon of sugar in a measly 2 ounces, and it is one of the lower sugar options!
Between the two above, the PROBUGS would actually be the better option because of the whole milk, and ounce for ounce it actually has less sugar.
And…these were the BEST options I could find BEFORE Maple Hill! The others are FAR, FAR worse!
Why Whole Milk?
The closer to zero-fat milk you go, “the more you eliminate fatty acid benefits,”. You also eliminate naturally occurring Vitamins A and D, which are then added synthetically. And you add powdered milk, which contains artery-hardening oxidized cholesterol, for “mouth feel.”
This makes skim milk a highly processed, additive-laden, synthetic, vitamin-laced beverage that – oh, yeah – has protein. Skim milk increases weight because “once you take out the fat from milk, all you have left is sugar.” And…Your growing child needs fat for a healthy growing brain! Fat is a far superior fuel for the brain than glucose!
To read more: http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2014/05/23/in-defense-whole-milk/100%
Why Grass Fed?
Grass-fed cow’s milk comes from cows who have grazed in pasture year-round rather than being fed a processed diet for much of their life. Grass feeding improves the quality of cow’s milk, and makes the milk richer in omega-3 fats, vitamin E, beta-carotene, and CLA (a beneficial fatty acid named conjugated linoleic acid). All of this is better for the brain!
Click on this link to read more about the benefits of milk from Grass-Fed cows: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=130
