Thriving through Menopause Podcast
Welcome to the Thriving through Menopause Podcast. We are dedicated to helping you navigate the transformative journey of menopause and perimenopause with grace, confidence, and empowerment.
Together, we'll explore a wide range of topics aimed at supporting your physical and emotional well-being during this significant life stage.
Each episode, we'll provide practical tips and strategies that you can adopt and implement.
Listen in and join me on this empowering journey.
Thriving through Menopause Podcast
44. Know your yogurt. Not all yogurts promote weight loss.
Curious about how yogurt can revolutionize your health during menopause and perimenopause?
Join us as we uncover the surprising benefits of yogurt that go beyond just a tasty snack. From high protein content to essential vitamins like calcium, vitamin D, B12, and riboflavin, yogurt is a powerhouse for muscle, bone, and brain health.
Discover how both non-fat and full-fat Greek yogurts can help you curb cravings, reduce binge eating, and support weight loss. Learn about yogurt’s role in boosting your immune system and aiding gut health, especially when you’re taking antibiotics.
I also offer tips on selecting the most nutritious yogurt options from your local grocery store, showcasing a Greek yogurt with 17 grams of protein and just 90 calories per serving.
Explore how to decode yogurt nutrition labels with me, as I analyze popular yogurts and reveal the hidden sugars and additives you should avoid. We'll scrutinize brands including low-fat Great Value yogurt, a high-calorie blueberry yogurt, a Greek yogurt with coffee and cream, and Yoplait, highlighting additives like pectin, cane sugar, and artificial colorings.
For those looking to enhance their plain, non-fat Greek yogurt, I share delicious and healthy additions like nuts, stevia, and fresh fruits. Plus, learn why choosing yogurts with minimal, natural ingredients from grass-fed or organic sources is vital for your health and weight loss goals.
Get ready to make smarter, healthier yogurt choices for a thriving lifestyle!
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Today's video is all about yogurt. Have you incorporated yogurt in your healthy lifestyle? If so, why? Do you know the benefits of yogurt? Do you know the things that you need to be looking out for when you go out to the supermarket or to the grocery store to buy yogurt? Do you know the ones that are beneficial if you are on a healthy lifestyle change, and why?
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Thriving Through Menopause podcast. Dr Inaka Yembe, your host, is dedicated to helping you navigate the transformative journey of menopause and perimenopause, particularly focused on achieving menopausal weight loss and reducing belly fat. As a post-menopausal physician herself who has helped thousands of women experiencing the significant life stage, she understands the unique challenges you face. Listen in as we explore a wide range of topics aimed at supporting you in your health and wellness journey. Hopefully, the practical tips and strategies offered potentially help you adopt an empowering approach towards menopausal weight loss and belly fat reduction, and now, here's your host, dr Inaka Yembe.
Speaker 1:For those of you who don't know me, my name is Dr Inaka Yembe. I am extremely passionate about helping people lose weight and achieve their health and wellness goals. Lose weight and achieve their health and wellness goals Now my personal journey. I was born at about 10 pounds, grew into an obese child, an obese teenager, an obese adult. My heaviest weight blossomed at about 300 pounds. That's when I stopped weighing myself. I've tried everything, if you've named it. I have tried it, and through the years, it took me a long time to figure out the right things to do. And even as a physician, I was one of those who started coaching very early in 2006. I was teaching my patients on how to lose weight. However, I did not know all the things that I know now, and so right now, my mission and my goal is to share with everyone all the things that I have learned along the way. So let's get down to the topic. So one of the benefits of including yogurt in your diet is because it is high in proteins. When you start to age, like myself, you sort of feel some muscles and some joints, especially those joints. They start to act up and they start to ache and pain. Listen, yogurt has high protein, which just really helps with your bone health, with your muscles, with your skin, your cartilage. Yogurt is important in giving you energy. Now, if you love to work out, like myself, after you've put in some energy and you've worked out, you feel post-workout, you feel like you need something. I encourage you to take one serving of yogurt to the gym with you and eat that post-workout, because those proteins up to an hour after your workout can release amino acids that can help to restore those muscles that you have just worked. Yogurt also contains vitamins and minerals. Yogurt can be fortified with calcium and vitamin D. Did you know that one serving of yogurt can contain 18 to up to 30% of your calcium requirement for the whole day? Yogurt also contains vitamin B12 and also riboflavin, which is important in your brain health. Yogurt also contains important vitamins and minerals like vitamin D, potassium, sodium and iodine. Yogurt also contains healthy fats. So I encourage you, depending on where you are with your healthy journey.
Speaker 1:I sometimes go for non-fat yogurt, but full-sat Greek yogurt is also important because the fats in the yogurt can help you feel full longer. It can help curb your cravings of healthy fats. Healthy proteins in yogurt are important. It can also help you with curbing your appetite. It can help reduce binge eating and help overall decrease the amount of caloric intake and that way yogurt can help you lose weight.
Speaker 1:Research now shows that yogurt helps with your immune system. It can help with yeast infections. Women, sometimes you have that itchiness, especially if you're a diabetic or especially if you have just taken some antibiotics. So you know that uncomfortable feeling with the itchiness and the discharge and just the irritation when you go to the bathroom to urinate. Yogurt can help you. I have read and I cannot prove this, try it if you want I have read that plain, plain Greek yogurt, unflavored, can be used as instead of yeast preparations over the counter. Plain yogurt without any added sugar can be applied in the vaginal area to help treat yeast infections.
Speaker 1:However, those of you who take antibiotics, you know some of us develop some irritation or inflammation or discomfort, bloating, gazziness, sometimes diarrhea after taking antibiotics. That actually happened to me once. I developed C diff colitis, which was just a whole lot of diarrhea. That happened after I had taken one course of antibiotics. For me it was difficult to treat At that point. Yogurt did not help me at all. So when I prescribe antibiotics to patients, especially those who have sensitive stomachs, in my practice I encourage them to start taking one serving of yogurt right at the beginning of the antibiotic treatment, because we know in medicine that yogurt, especially those with the live bacteria, help with gut health. It can help with bloating diarrhea and just help regulate things.
Speaker 1:So now that we've talked about some of the benefits of yogurt, I want to show you a variety of yogurts that I had. I went ahead and did some shopping and I want to show you some of the things that I look for in a good yogurt. I will start with the good and let's look at some of the good yogurts that I have here with me. So my first find is this one here, and on the front it says Greek yogurt and it says 17 grams of protein. It also says non-fat. It says grade A kosher. These are some of the facts that are written on this particular one here. When I look at the nutritional facts here, it's got 90 calories per serving, which I like. It's got 17 grams of protein, that I love. It's got zero fat, that I like, and again, for me, I can eat a full fat yogurt or a non-fat. This one has no fat here. It has a total of 7 grams of carbohydrates and the total protein again is 17 grams of protein and so less than 5 milligrams of cholesterol in this one.
Speaker 1:When I look at the ingredients, it has nothing but milk. I will give this one a thumbs up. This is a Greek yogurt. It takes about four cups of milk to form one cup of Greek yogurt. So what they do is just strain out the lactose in the milk and so you're just left with mainly the protein. So this is protein packed. I love the texture. It doesn't have anything else added to it.
Speaker 1:This one here is similar to the first one, as well as the Chobani. These are all nonfat, plain Greek yogurt. This one has 90 calories per serving as well. That's the same thing with this one. The ingredient in this one here has the cultured serving as well. That's the same thing with this one. The ingredient in this one here has the cultured nonfat milk the same with this one. So these ones are Greek yogurts. They both have the live and active cultures. So they have the probiotics added to this one, the active bacteria added to this one here.
Speaker 1:So I give these ones a thumbs up. So if I was looking for yogurt, I will consume these ones. These have the live bacteria in them, great for gut health, high protein, no fat and five to six grams of carbohydrate. So I'll give these ones a thumbs up here, right there and right there. So I've got some examples of other yogurts and these are just a few things and I'll make a few comments here on what I think about these ones.
Speaker 1:So my first person here is this guy right here by Great Value. It says original yogurt and this is just a one serving. It's a low-fat yogurt. It's not a Greek yogurt, it's just a low-fat Greek yogurt. When I look at the nutrition facts, it's got 120 calories per serving and it's got a total of 23 grams of carbohydrates and 4 grams of protein. Red, black, hold up, hold up, wait a minute. So of course, some of the carbohydrate in yogurt is natural from milk and it will be about 6 or 7 grams. So when I see 23 grams of carbohydrate and I know that one teaspoon of sugar has four grams of carbohydrate, so we're looking here, do the math, do the math. For me this is about five, a little over five teaspoons of sugar. Again, maybe one, a little bit over one teaspoon of that sugar was natural, since a lot of added sugars here. So thumbs down for this one. Added sugars red, I don't want it in my body. That's just me.
Speaker 1:Let's look at another example of a yogurt Now, this one here. I mean it looks just really attractive. It's got blueberries. I love blueberries. See, it's got a nice little container. I mean I just feel like this may jump in my lunchbox. I would be attracted to this one here. But let's look at the nutrition facts on this yogurt. This one here has 270 calories in this one serving. That's a whole lot of calories. So let's look at what's going on in this yogurt.
Speaker 1:This one has 33 grams total of carbohydrates. Whoa, 33 grams. So you do the math here. Eight teaspoons of sugar. I would say about one and a half or one and over. One teaspoon of sugar is natural, so it's got about seven extra teaspoons of sugar. So, when it's coming. And then it's got 11 grams of protein, which is nice, that's nice. Total fat is 11 grams also. Well, some of that comes from natural milk, which is okay.
Speaker 1:It's got several different things that make me worry here. It's got the blueberries that I love, so it's got the fruit. This one here has pectin, so let's stop it. Pectin is a thickening agent. I do not want to consume pectin, so I want to stay away from that. It's got cane sugar. That's part of the sugar there. It's got juice concentrate more sugar. It's got what is this Cane sugar that I don't want. So it's got several different things. It's got the life active cultures, which is nice for your gut health, but all the other things here I don't want in my body. 270 calories per serving just for yogurt and no. So I would say no to this one.
Speaker 1:The other ones here that I'll show you again. This one here is a greek yogurt, coffee and cream. I find it interesting because I love coffee. Do you know how much I love coffee? So in my previous life I would probably have reached for this one, but today I will not. Because again, total carbohydrates here 19 grams, not as high as the previous guy, but again too much added sugar here. And it's got the live bacteria, which I love. But it's got fruit juice. It's got cane sugar. It's just got all these other things that I do not want in my body.
Speaker 1:Let's go ahead and look at what's gone here. I love it. It's just a nice glass container. I think it's just awfully chic here. This is just five ounces. To tell you. This is just five ounces. I don't know that it's a whole serving, but it's five ounces Very little.
Speaker 1:These guys are smart. Little amount of yogurt here, very small Five ounces, not six like I would think. One jar has 170 calories. So let's look a little closer. Here. It's got your back the total cholesterol here 35 milligrams, and then it's got total carbohydrates 17 grams in this five ounces. Again. That's about four teaspoons of sugar.
Speaker 1:I don't want it in my body. It's got the pasteurized grapefruit milk. It's got cane sugar, which I don't want, and then it's got some natural flavoring. So be careful with these kinds of ones. Of course you have a smaller serving, but this guy here it packs a nice big punch of sugar. Nope, I stay away from this guy for that reason. You're on the budget here and I I don't like to spend a whole lot of money when I'm trying to be healthy, but sometimes when you spend a little extra you may get more quality.
Speaker 1:But let's look at these guys here. This is the Yoplait and this is the original one that has. This is the original one here and this is the one that says light If you are growing up in my era. So most of the time we went with the yoplait. If you go to much most grocery stores now they have this one here. Most of them, or some of the grocery stores, carry yoplait for less than 50 cents each.
Speaker 1:But let's look a little closer. So this is one of reasons why I personally, I would be avoiding these kinds of yogurts. So, first of all, the quality of the milk here is not the best here because these are not farm-raised cows. These are cows that sorry. These are farm-raised cows, so these are cows that are locked up somewhere. These cows are feeding genetically modified grains and so that's how they grow. So that's the kind of milk that they produce. It's just not the best quality.
Speaker 1:If I look at the ingredients, there's several ingredients in this one. It's got the grade A milk. It's got sugar, strawberries, modified cornstarch, so I do not want any kind of starch in my yogurt. It's got what is this Something? Phosphate, pectin, carnitine for color, natural flavor. I mean, it's just got a whole lot going on. And then it's got bioengineered food ingredients Again, both of them do. So I don't want to have that.
Speaker 1:When I look at the nutrition facts. Even the Yoplait Lite has 15 grams of carbohydrate. Now if you go with the regular Yoplait, this one has 27 grams of carbohydrate. When it comes to the protein, this one has five grams of protein only and this other one has six grams of protein only. When it comes to the fat, this one has no fat, of course, because it is the light, and this one has two grams of fat, which is not lot, but just all in all, these ones I will avoid. I will not be buying these kinds of yogurt because of low quality milk, too many engineered products in the milk itself and too many chemicals added to it, so I don't want it. And it's got a lot of added sugar, so I would stay away from those ones. So another thing I wanted to look at with you is this one here which is more of. It says Greek yogurt, strawberry banana.
Speaker 1:This is a yogurt drink here, and let's look at this one closely. This one is a one serving by Chobani. It's just a low fat Greek yogurt drink. It's just a low-fat Greek yogurt drink. It's got 140 calories. It has 18 grams of total carbohydrate here, 10 grams of protein right there, and then it's got 7 grams of added sugars again. So what's in it? It's got the low-fat milk that's cultured. It's got strawberry puree Well, it's got cane sugar, which I do not want. It's got natural flavors, chicory root fiber, fruit pectin, which I do not want in my body, and then it's got this vegetable juice concentrate and all these other things. So the yogurt drinks are just one of those things that I personally prefer to avoid, because these are also. They taste delicious, by the way, delicious because of the sugar, added sugar.
Speaker 1:Moving on to those of you who want to try the dairy-free alternatives, so I've got one here. This is the almond dairy-free alternative to yogurt. And I've got another one here, which is another yogurt alternative made out of coconut. You want to be careful with this, guys. I'm not saying you need to consume dairy products when you don't have that in your nutrition plan, but you just want to do your due diligence and look at it very closely. Right, here you have. This is the almond one. This is the almond yogurt alternative. It has one cup of a serving and it's got 190 calories. Here. It has 19 grams of carbohydrate and 5 grams of protein. So just a whole lot of added sugars going on. It's almost about the same with the coconut. This one here has 22 grams of carbohydrate and actually no protein at all in the coconut alternative of the yogurt. So when you're consuming this, know that you're pretty much consuming quite a bit of sugar here and it's not giving you any protein whatsoever.
Speaker 1:If I am a dairy-free and I do not want to consume yogurt, but I was looking for a way to consume protein, keep in mind that if you go for the yogurt alternative made with coconut, especially this one here it actually has no protein at all, so you may want to get your protein from other plants. That's it. Now. The last thing that I would look at with you today is this little deliciousness. But you really want to be careful with these guys here.
Speaker 1:I found this one here. It's got some nuts here. On the top it says coconut, almond and chocolate. Yum. So what you do is you peel that and you put it in your yogurt and you mix it up and I would assume it's really delicious, because that's almost the same thing that I actually do with my non-fat, plain greek yogurt.
Speaker 1:Now, I cannot eat this guy plain just like that. No, I jazz it up with some stevia. I like to chop, chop up nuts and throw into it. I like to chop up blueberry or strawberries and throw into it, or bananas, but I like to jazz up my yogurt. So it's just not blah, I'm playing, but that's a lot of the same principle here. Now I would rather jazz up my own yogurt so I know exactly what's in it.
Speaker 1:But if you want to go for convenience, keep in mind when you purchase something like this here and I have another variety here this one is the light and fit. It actually says light and fit on the top of it light and fit crunch and it's got this is the greek crunch. It's got strawberries and cheesecake and some kind of cereal on the top. What you do is pop that up and mix. It same thing here. But let's look at what's in this one. So after you mix it up, one serving nutrition facts gives you 300 calories. So keep in mind that these 300 calories and if you're consuming this as a snack, it is not a snack because it's a meal.
Speaker 1:At this point, too many calories for this snack. So where are the calories coming from? Cholesterol so total fat is 17 grams 17 grams of fat in this one here. Total carbohydrate 30 grams. So that's seven and a half teaspoons of sugar and protein. Where's the protein? Where's the protein? Here, protein is nine grams of protein. So the protein profile is good. But you've just got too much sugar. Seven and a half teaspoons of sugar. No, no, run away from that. Go get some nuts and put in plain yogurt with stevia and you'll be fine.
Speaker 1:And then the other one, which is its cousin, that says Greek yogurt, light and fit. So you want to be light and fit, you want a little crunch? You may reach for this. This one here actually has 16 grams of carbohydrate, so it's got four teaspoons of sugar, which I do not want. It's got so many ingredients, so many ingredients that I cannot see or read. So if I can't see it, I can't read it. It's just got too much going on here. Too many ingredients. I prefer to get a yogurt that has one ingredient. It says here cultured nonfat milk. That's like one ingredient. So if you want something healthy, make sure you go for those that have few ingredients, that are not artificial.
Speaker 1:To summarize, here's what I am looking for when I go to buy my yogurt. I'm looking for Greek style. Let's say Greek style yogurt, not Greek, because this does not come from Greece. They are Greek style yogurt. They are strained yogurt. They have a higher concentration of protein and a lower concentration of natural sugars.
Speaker 1:Which are the best ones? The best ones are the grass-fed ones. You know the happy little cow walking around the pasture. He's not being fed any modified corn or anything like that. Those are the best ones made of grass-fed. But however, those could be real pricey Sometimes they are difficult to find, so I'll go with the organic one. This yogurt is one of those that I could go with the organic one, but if you know me, I'm always trying to cut my costs because I want something sustainable long term. So I would just basically go with the greek yogurt, and right now I am trying to trim down a few pounds. I'm not saying that the whole yogurt is bad, because some fat we all need fat for our hormones, our skin and muscles and things like that to form properly but I will go with the non-fat if I'm trying to lose weight. That's just me what I'll do. You can still go with the whole one if you're trying to lose weight and you will be just fine. So there are a few things that I would be on the lookout for that.
Speaker 1:I do not want in a yogurt that I purchase. Number one is added sugar. So sugar on the bottom, avoid it. Something on the top like cereal and things like that avoid that too. Added sugars avoid those starches like corn starch you do not want to see that in your yogurt. Starches like cornstarch, you do not want to see that in your yogurt. Gelatin, pectin, which are thickening agents, you do not want to see that. Emulsifiers you do not want to see that.
Speaker 1:Fruit on the bottom, cereal on the top those are added sugars and, by the way, when they add these sugars to your yogurt, those actually kill or reduce that healthy bacteria profile that you want in the yogurt. So avoid those and other things that I avoid in a yogurt is the pasteurized one. So pasteurization kills that good bacteria in a yogurt. So we do not want to consume pasteurized yogurt. So I hope these tips help you when you go out to choose your yogurt and I hope that they help you in your healthy lifestyle change. So if you are struggling to lose weight, you are not alone. Thank you and I wish you all the success in your health and wellness journey.
Speaker 2:Thank you for tuning in to this episode of Thriving Through Menopause. We hope you found valuable insights and practical advice to support your journey. If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to subscribe to the podcast, share it and review. Your feedback is greatly appreciated. Remember, menopause doesn't have to be a challenge. It can be an opportunity for growth, renewal and self-care. Connect with us on social media, where we share additional resources, tips and advice to help you along your path. Once again, thanks for listening in and we hope you'll join us again on the next episode of Thriving Through Menopause. Until then,