We require 2 teaspoons of sugar in a day if you are looking to lose weight and about 4 teaspoons if you just want to manage your current weight. But don’t just count the sugar consumption in your tea and coffee but all the other sources that you might consuming sugar indirectly like your sweetened soda’s, colas, candies, sweetened cornflakes and flavoured yogurt. Often diet programs and nutritionist brag about eating yogurt in the diet as it has probiotics, vitamins and minerals, protein etc which promote better health and is low in calories as well. But is flavored yogurt as healthy as non-flavored yogurt?

Calories in Yogurt

  • Flavored yogurt which comes in a variety of mouth watering flavors doesn’t contain the real fruit in it but contains the pureed form which is high in sugar content. 
  • Compare the ingredients of regular yogurt and flavored yogurt to understand the difference in calorie intake.
 


Health and Yogurt
We are not saying that flavored yogurt is the main reason behind your weight gain. What we mean is that foods like flavoured yogurt are often marketed as health foods. They might be relatively more healthy than the other processed foods but they still are hidden source of high calorie food that are often misunderstood as fat free.

When talking about weight loss it is not just important to eat healthy foods but manage calories either by portion control or choosing healthier options. Sugar provides instant energy and no nutrition. Read more about health benefits of yogurt.

People who have blood sugar problems could experience a sudden increase in sugar levels with flavored yogurt. Instead flavor your yogurt separately with fruits that you want. Flavored yogurt is also high in sodium content causing water retention in the body and resulting in bloating. Read tips to reduce water retention and bloating.

Checklist
Read the nutrition label at the back of the flavored yogurt content and avoid if it contains alternative sugars like fructose, glucose, sucrose as they are not healthy. Also avoid flavored sugar with high amount of sugar. You can add natural sweeteners like honey etc. Choose Greek yogurt or just plain yogurt which will improve health and help you lose weight. If you still cant have plain yogurt the way to add natural flavour is to chop fresh fruits like strawberries, mangoes, papaya, grapes, pomegranate to name a few.

Its important to get your diet checked by a health expert to ensure you are not consuming excess calories hidden in the name of healthy or low fat foods.