Calories in Fat Free Frozen Yoghurt DO Exist and Can Be Misleading

If you have ever stopped to watch the way that people shop you will have noticed that these days many people spend a lot of time looking the packaging and reading the labels before they buy. This is mainly because we are becoming more aware of the nutritional content of our food and are more careful about what we eat. We have taken to checking and comparing calories in various foods, even calories in frozen yogurt and fat free frozen yogurt.

This is because when we were first introduced to fat free frozen yogurt we were given the impression that it did not contain many calories and was touted as being healthy. While calories in fat free frozen yogurt are fewer than in an equal amount of ice cream or normal flavoured yogurt, they are still present. When it comes to calories frozen yogurt is misleading because people see the fat free notice but forget that calories exist in other forms as well as fat.

While it carries the name ‘yoghurt’, it truly is much more like a soft serve ice-cream.  It varies a little slightly as it is generally lower in fat (due to milk being used instead of cream) and is slightly sourer.  Therefore, if you eat frozen yoghurt frequently and it’s sweet – that means it’s loaded with sugar! To manufacture a product that appears frozen but yet is still soft enough to be pumped through a machine it contains stabilizing agents, gums, preservatives and other manufacturing secret ingredients!  Don’t forget, it will most probably have artificial colours and flavours added too!

One average you will find that 4 ounces of frozen yogurt will contain about a 100 calories. This means that a 16 ounce serving will set you back about 400 calories and that is before you even factor in the toppings. This is where most people tend to make their mistakes. They think that since the yogurt is fat free, and therefore low in calories, they can add a lot of toppings. They do not realise that this where the calories pile up and before you know it, you have consumed more calories than if you had enjoyed a plate of ice cream instead.

I have been to a local fat free frozen yogurt place near our house and it is a good treat for the kids on occasion. The thing which surprised me was that they only had 8 flavours of the frozen yogurt but there were two large sections of toppings which each included 16 different toppings each! Added to this was the selection of bottles containing sauces and syrups, which bought up the number of toppings to almost 40. This is a lot to resist and so you need to be careful that you select the correct toppings. You should avoid anything too sweet and heavy such as nuts and chocolate as well as some of the canned fruits. Stick with fresh fruit or a few sprinkles if you feel that you need toppings.

There are Fewer Calories in Fat Free Frozen Yogurt than in Ice Cream

These days it seems that the world and its mother seem to be counting the calories in every single that is destined for their mouths and stomachs. This means that you will find people checking the calories of any foodstuff added to their trolleys and baskets and you will find the calories amounts listed in menus at restaurants and takeaways. I have seen women arguing about the calories in fat free frozen yogurt, as compared to ice cream and other desserts, as though their very lives depended on the outcome! There is no competition as there are fewer calories in frozen yogurt than in most ice creams.

The energy stored in food is measured in terms of calories. Technically, 1 calorie is the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water 1 degree centigrade. The calorie measure used commonly to discuss the energy content of food is actually a kilocalorie or 1000 real calories. This is the amount of energy required to raise 1 kilogram of water (about 2.2 pounds) 1 degree centigrade. Different foods contain different amounts of energy -- which is why a small piece of chocolate can have many more calories than a similarly sized piece of lettuce. However, since calories are a measure of energy, there cannot be, as some diet books claim, different types of calories. A fat calorie has the same amount of energy as a protein or carbohydrate calorie.

A person's caloric need is determined using a variety of mathematical equations. Age, height, current weight, and desired weight are taken into account. Diet is what you eat. Dieting usually refers to eating fewer calories to lose weight. The amount of calories in a diet refers to how much energy the diet can provide for the body. A well-balanced diet is one that delivers an adequate amount of calories while providing the maximum amount of nutrients. Naturally, different foods provide different amounts of calories. Some foods, such as ice-cream, have many calories; while others, like leafy vegetables, have few.

Healthy Alternative

In general, frozen yogurt can be viewed as a healthy alternative to ice cream — perhaps on par with frozen milk or some sorbets. The enzymatic benefits of yogurt can aid digestion, and some of the additional health benefits of yogurt remain in its sweetened and frozen form. It should not, however, be viewed as a “healthy” food, because it still contains relatively high levels of fat and might have extremely high amounts of sugar.

When it comes to calories frozen yogurt has the edge over other desserts but this is only true to the point that you need to eat the low fat frozen yogurt on its own, without the additional toppings which are so popular and so hard to resist. These are the things which can bump up the calories in frozen yogurt desserts to the extent that it can sometimes be better to have a small piece of your favourite dessert or ice cream.

Keeping an Eye on the Calories in Fat Free Frozen Yogurt

It seems as though half the world is starving and the other half is constantly on a diet. This is the impression which you get from the media and since it is such a powerful tool, the images created by the media can be long lasting and change the way that people think and behave. Let us take for example the way that so many people have started to choose low fat frozen yogurt as a dessert option, thinking that there are fewer calories in frozen yogurt than in ice cream.

Although it is true that when it comes to calories frozen yogurt does have the edge, the thing that people tend to forget is that if they eat twice the amount then the benefits are lost. This is also the case if you start to make unhealthy selections of toppings on your low fat frozen yogurt. The calories in fat free frozen yogurt come mainly from the additional sauces, sweets and even fruit which are chosen.

While frozen yogurt can taste tarter than ice cream, it is lower in fat than ice cream because of the substitution of pure milk in the place of heavy cream. This emphasis on a treat that is a little bit healthier is why frozen yogurt is more than a craze. As recently as the 1990s, it made up 10 per cent of the whole dessert market. Whereas ice cream contains a lot of sugar and salt to add taste to the final product, frozen yogurt allows for the substitution of ingredients like honey or agave nectar in place of sugar. While frozen yogurt is still not as healthy as normal yogurt, other benefits that it includes are more minerals and nutrients than regular, traditional ice cream.

Although the number of calories in frozen yogurt will vary from company to company and for each different flavour, in general a half-cup serving of whole milk frozen yogurt contains 110 calories. The same amount of regular ice cream contains 134 calories. A half-cup serving of low-fat frozen yogurt contains 107 calories, and a half-cup serving of low-fat ice cream contains 114. This is just a rough guideline and some companies produce low fat frozen yogurt which can contain up to 160 calories for a half-cup. The flavour will affect the final calorie count, but the most important thing to remember is the addition of toppings, and portion size.

Things such as nuts, hot toppings like caramel or hot fudge, candy toppings like sprinkles or crushed candy bars, fruit toppings like strawberries, and even more creative toppings like brownie bits will push the number higher than you would like to think. By all means choose consider the calories in fat free frozen yogurt carefully, but remember that if you only have it as an occasional treat, then you can afford to let the calories be high sometimes. This does not mean that you should pile your cone or cup up with every kind of topping available.