I’ve made no secret of the fact that I suffer from food aversions. I struggle to eat some foods and am very wary of use-by dates or any sign that a food may make me feel ill. Yogurt is one of those foods.As a child I remember thinking yogurt was just kind of gross! There was always runny bits on top, it wasn’t sweetened, and it never really sat well in my stomach. It was on the ‘yucky’ food list and wasn’t eaten.
Your parents dietary habits and tastes are passed on to you through exposure, and by your parents reactions to certain food. I can remember thinking of yogurt as something that was foreign and something that went ‘off’ quickly. I also remember my mum recently describing yogurt to me as just that!
I don’t want to pass this on my kids so I have made a commitment to battle this issue head on – with an Easi-yo Yogurt maker! I’ve tried it this week and it has been great! It is simple to use, and just using the standard, unsweetened version gives you a whopping 68cals per 100g!
Our 12wbt snack recommendation is 100-150cals, with two snacks per day. Because I tend to get hungry at night I try to keep my snacks close to 100cals so I can save a nice 100cal protein based snack for just before bed to help me sleep. The yogurt really does this nicely as it provides a nice mix of both carbohydrates and protein.
As 100g is only 68cals, this gives plenty of room to add flavour to the yogurt by adding fruit, spices, honey, or to use it in other recipes in place of higher fat options such as sour cream! Today I tried cinnamon and honey at a whopping 92cals – perfect!
Cinnamon and Honey Yogurt
- 100g of natural unsweetened Easi-yo (prep as directed) – 68cals
- 1 teaspoon of honey – 20cals
- cinnamon – 2cals
92cals
3.9g Protein; 11.3g Carbs; 3.6g Fat (20:60:20)
If you want a higher protein ratio, just add some plain protein powder to the mix. Just remember this adds calories, but for those of us doing lean and strong, protein calories are adventageous to building muscle so, in my mind, are considered 'freebies'.
This is extremely cost effective! The prepared yogurt lasts for 2 weeks in the fridge and makes 10 x 100g servings. The satchets cost about $4 each if I remember, even less if you buy them in packs: that is .40c per serve! And at only $25 for the kit, you will easily save money over the long term!
