You think I’m kidding, I’m not! A couple of years ago I weaned my family off the sugar and food coloring abundant dessertified forms of yogurt available on the store shelves. I say “weaned”.. truth is I just stopped buying it. Since then (except on rare occasions) we’ve only bought the large tubs of plain yogurt. We’ve even made our own!

It wasn’t hard, the kids made the switch easily. We still add a little bit of sugar and flavor, but the difference is that we are in control of the amounts, and there’s nothing else in there besides what we put in it. And you’d be amazed at how little sugar, or honey, or jam, or whatever, it takes to sweeten up the yogurt enough to get the kids to love it! We’ve mixed it with maple flavor and brown sugar, we’ve done vanilla and pumpkin pie spice. Get creative!

But I have a new reason to love plain yogurt because it’s FAT FREE and LADEN with protein. Practically dripping. We buy the Yoplait Fat Free Plain Yogurt in a 2lb container and with my ongoing exercise challenge, I’ve been paying more attention to the nutritional label to make sure I get enough protein, carbs, fat, etc, in my diet. I learned that I haven’t been getting quite enough protein in my diet. The challenge to add more protein without adding too much fat (short of supplements) can be a bit tricky because a lot of protein rich foods also have fat – milk, cheese, meat, eggs, etc. But not plain yogurt.

Check out these nutritional facts:

Yoplait Fat Free Plain Yogurt:

Serving Size: 1 cup / 227g Calories: 130 Calories from Fat: 0 Total Fat – Grams 0 % DV Fat 0 Saturated Fat – grams 0 % DV Saturated Fat 0 Trans Fat – grams 0 Cholesterol – mg 5 % DV Cholesterol 2 Sodium – mg 220 % DV Sodium 9 Potassium – mg 550 % DV Potassium 15 Total Carbohydrate – grams 19 %DV Carbohydrate 7 Dietary Fiber – grams 0 % DV Dietary Fiber 0 Sugars – grams 17 Protein – grams 15 % DV Protein 30 % DV Vitamin A 0 % DV Vitamin C 0 % DV Calcium 40 % DV Iron 0 % DV Vitamin D 0 % DV Thiamin 10 % DV Riboflavin 30 % DV Phosphorus 30 % DV Magnesium 8 Diet Exchanges 1-1/2 skim milk

Plain yogurt is my new “Go to” snack, especially when mixed with a tablespoon of Mackays Lemon Curd and a serving of thawed frozen raspberries. My mouth is watering just thinking about it! Oh, Yoplait Fat Free Plain Yogurt, I *heart* you!

Plain yogurt is helping me get enough protein while I’m working out, and it’s also allowing me to have tasty and healthy snacks that satisfy because I’m horrible about sticking to healthy diets if I don’t enjoy them. I firmly believe that’s an important key to develop a healthy eating habit that will stick.  I keep harping on the Yoplait Fat Free Plain Yogurt, because these are the nutritional facts for that brand. Other brands may not have the same numbers. I also specifically mentioned Mackays Lemon Curd for the same reason, it had the lowest calories and fat per serving. The important thing is to always check the label and choose the best option to meet your needs. In this case it was low fat and high protein. Yay protein!

Do you have any high protein foods that work for you?

This post has been submitted to Works for me Wednesday. Thanks, Kristen!

Nutritional information and images from the Yoplait website.