Real Talk: Should I Be Eating Full Fat or Low Fat Greek Yogurt?
When I first started taking steps for my health over a decade ago, one food I added in was greek yogurt. Most of us know that greek has a higher protein content per serving, so it totally makes sense over regular yogurt.
What’s greek yogurt anyway? Yogurt that has had the extra whey strained out of it is now greek yogurt. It has higher protein and less sugar than regular yogurt, and is usually more expensive because it uses more product to make.
However, plain yogurt can taste like a shoe - personal opinion ;) - so remember, start with small steps and progress as you go. When I first made the switch to greek yogurt, I used a flavoured kind (hello, strawberry). Which is definitely way higher in sugar. But baby steps, you know!
After time, I progressed to plain and flavoured it myself with a dash of protein power, or honey and berries. Just dropping that little reminder that you never need to go 0-100. Take one step at a time.
Now before we go on to discuss full fat or fat free, I wanted to mention a disclaimer here. This blog serves as information to what kind of yogurt or greek yogurt you may want to choose. Yogurt contains protein and calcium and potassium is an easy snack for many folks. There are other reasons folks would choose not to eat yogurt, such as it being a dairy product (for those that have sensitivities or prefer not to consume dairy in general). Although extremely important to understand if it works for you, this post won’t be going into that side of the discussion. This post is generally for folks who are choosing yogurt and want some insight on the kind they choose.
Ok next, lets chat full fat or fat free. This is a question that comes up regularly because we know that eating fat is necessary and having fat every meal, along with protein and carbohydrates, makes for a balanced snack. The difference between full fat and low fat/no fat in greek yogurt is the type of milk that is used. Full fat uses whole milk and low/no fat uses skim milk. They’re both good options and I recommend choosing based on how your daily nutrition shapes up.
You may find that full fat greek yogurt has a better flavour and consistency for you. You may find that even a little fat is more enjoyable for you, and liking what you eat is so important! You also may prefer that yogurt with fat is a simple stand alone snack without adding anything to it. I will note that fat in greek yogurt is saturated fat - which means its not the best kind nor the worst. The amount of saturated fat in Greek Yogurt 2% is not overly high and safe for your daily intake. However, if you’re high in the saturated fats through the day (butter, cheese, pork, beef are just a few examples), then you may want to consider how you can reduce your intake.
On the flip, you may prefer to get your fats from other sources such as avocado, oils, nuts and nut butters, hemp seeds, eggs and so forth. In particular, if you are pursuing body composition changes, you would need to be more intentional in your nutritional choices. If you are consuming adequate fat in the day from those sources, you may not need the fat in the full fat yogurt. Plus, you may want to bulk up your yogurt snack by adding in berries, granola, hemp seeds. Again, low fat/no fat may be a better base to do that if you are actively trying to reduce body fat since its lower in calories.
As you can see, either option can be a great option depending on your goals and your daily intake. I would just remind you that if you are taking the no fat yogurt route - make sure you are getting in other fats at that snack time to give yourself a balanced meal.
I hope this helped shed some insight for you - I know yogurt has been something I pondered about in my health journey prior to becoming a Certified Nutrition Coach through Precision Nutrition. To learn more about working 1:1 with me in making healthy lifestyle changes, I invite you to schedule a call with me by completing this form.
Until next time,
Jackie
