Showing posts with label frozen yoghurt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label frozen yoghurt. Show all posts

Monday, 31 December 2012

Piling on the Pounds with Fro Yo Swirled Frozen Yogurt

Sometimes a misconception can lead you into a lot of trouble and at other times, the results can be quite subtle. This is what happened to a friend of mine recently when she discovered that she had gained five pounds in weight and could not understand how. It seems that she had been told that fro yo was healthy and so she had been eating froyo frozen yogurt every day. I don’t meant that she was eating fro yo frozen yogurt at every meal, but just that she had been getting through tubs of fro yo swirled frozen yogurt as a dessert for weeks!

The main reason for the confusion was the way that frozen yogurt has been marketed. You only ever hear about how much better for you fro yo is than ice cream and how it is a healthier alternative dessert than many others. This can be misleading and for someone on a diet, or someone who has a sweet tooth, the thought of a dessert which is not bad for you can make them get very happy and excited. The thing to do is to try and find out a little bit about anything new which appears on the market and which sounds too good to be true.

While it is true that froyo frozen yogurt is made from milk and not from cream, as is the case with ice cream-hence the name, it still contains calories. A lot of people tend to get confused with the terms low fat and low calorie. If something is low fat, it can still be high in calories which are not good news for anyone. Even I started to think that a bagel was healthy because it was advertised as 97% fat free, but then I checked it out and saw how many calories it contained. Then you have to think about the extra things such as the butter and cream cheese without which a bagel seems to be incomplete.

The scenario is the same for fro yo frozen yogurt and there are certain things that you need to know about it. Sometimes it can be better to have a small scoop of ice cream instead of fro yo, depending on the company you choose and the way that you have it served. The problems arise when you start to add extra toppings such as fruit, nuts, sauce and sweets or sprinkles. Also the portion size tends to become a bigger problem because people think that since it is low fat, they can have more of it.

Even some flavours of fro yo swirled frozen yogurt can be very high in calories, as my friend found out. These days there is no excuse for saying that you did not know about something or the other. We live in an age where almost all information is readily available to us with just a few clicks of a mouse, or by typing in a few words on our laptops or even our phones.

Monday, 12 November 2012

Learning about Nutrition Facts for Frozen Yoghurt is Simple


Many years ago, food was sold in containers which were simply to hold the food and drink in until the product reached the intended destination. However, that changed with the advent of food labelling and packaging. These days, the containers in which food is served also serve the purpose of educating people about the contents. For example, you will find the nutritional value of frozen yoghurt on the side of each tub.

Nutrition facts, frozen yoghurt or for anything, now play a large role in the way that we shop and in the choices we make when we are buying food for our families. We are all more aware these days of making healthy choices and so we need to make sure that we check each label before we make a purchase. These labels make it clear as to the amount of calories and nutrients which our food contains and it is sensible to compare a few different brands and types of each food before you choose, especially when buying a new product.

Frozen yoghurt is a cream free dessert made from yogurt and other dairy products. It is served in various flavours along with fresh fruit (banana, mango, kiwi, blackberry, strawberry, blueberry, and pineapple), dry fruit (raisins, almond, coconut) and liquid (honey, pomegranate juice) toppings. It is considered to be a low fat alternative to ice cream and a rare dessert to be counted amongst healthy foods.

Calories in frozen yoghurt

The calories in a single serving of frozen yoghurt will vary depending upon the type you choose. One large scoop of regular or low-fat frozen yoghurt contains about 150 calories. One large scoop of non-fat yoghurt contains about 1/3 fewer calories. Soft-serve cannot be scooped, but 1 cup of soft-serve contains roughly 230 calories.

Fat in frozen yoghurt

One scoop of regular frozen yoghurt has about 4 g of fat. Low-fat frozen yoghurt contains about half that, while fat-free frozen yoghurt may contain up to about 1 g of fat. Some soft-serve frozen yoghurt contains high levels of fat--about 8 g per 1-cup serving--while others contain hardly any fat.

You need to be aware of the fact that apart from the actual frozen yoghurt, the choice of toppings on your dessert will make a difference. Many of the toppings offered at frozen yoghurt shops are high in added sugar, calories and fat and alter the nutritional content of the yoghurt. The best toppings for frozen yogurt are fresh fruits, whole grain cereals, nuts and seeds. These are packed with fibre, vitamins and minerals that benefit health.

When you are searching for the nutritional facts for frozen yoghurt you can find all the information that you need on the internet. This will make it easier for you to understand the labels on the packaging and to know just what things you need to be on the lookout for. Making healthy choices is all about being aware and having the sense to check labels and read the nutritional value.

Fro Yo Swirled Frozen Yoghurt is the Latest Popular Dessert


I heard the term fro yo- frozen yoghurt- a few years ago when a nephew took me out for a treat. Since then, fro yo has caught on so well that there are now so many companies which produce and market the treat as an alternative to ice cream.

Fro yo- yoghurt which is flavoured and then frozen- is lighter than ice cream and often has a tangy flavour. It is lower in sugar and fat and therefore touted as being a healthy dessert which can be enjoyed by adults, children and even babies. Even those who cannot tolerate milk can often have a small amount. However, remember that yoghurt contains lactose, a protein in milk that is difficult to digest if a child has lactose intolerance. Symptoms include stomach pain, gas, nausea, cramps, bloating or diarrhoea.

Yoghurt offers several health benefits, including protein and probiotics, but may not be a good choice for all children. If your child has health problems, talk with the doctor about whether yogurt is a healthy option to include in the diet. For some kids, a moderate amount of yogurt may be suitable, while other children may need to avoid it completely.

You also need to be aware that some yoghurt is loaded with sugar and fats, so be careful. A container of yogurt can contain up to 26 grams of sugar, making it easy to exceed daily intake recommendations. If your child really enjoys yogurt, look for one that is geared for kids, some of which are lower in sugar. Reading labels is the best way to find a yogurt that aligns with your child's health goals.

It is hard to get kids to stich with a healthy diet in these days of fast food and unhealthy snacks. When faced with the choice between a healthy piece of fruit or an ice cream cone, it must indeed be a very special child who will choose the former. This is leading to many health problems for the young people of today with obesity and diabetes on the increase and this in turn leading to further problems such as heart disease.

When you are looking for healthy yoghurt, frozen or not, choose a non-fat yoghurt, which contains no fat, but still includes all the nutrients that make yogurt a healthy food. It is also recommended choosing a yogurt that contains 15 to 20 calories per ounce, or 90 to 120 calories for a 6-ounce container.

The thing to be careful with is that although fro yo has very little or no fat, it is easy to make the mistake of adding so many extra calories with the topping that you select. Fro yo swirled frozen yoghurt is the new favourite dessert in my family but I have to ensure that when it is served there are no toppings such as heavy syrups and sauces. These add calories as do nuts, dry fruit and other toppings, even fruit if it is too heavy such as bananas.

Sunday, 21 October 2012

Teaching Children to Enjoy the Taste of Frozen Yoghurt

In common with almost every child I know my niece loves ice cream and would happily eat it with every meal, in fact she would rather eat it instead of every meal, including breakfast! The good news is that my sister is sensible enough to not allow this and to try and persuade her to select alternative desserts, such as frozen yoghurt, or fro yo as it is also known. My sister has tried to offer this a number of times, with varying degrees of success, depending on the flavour of the dessert and the choice of toppings given.

Froyo (frozen yoghurt) has gained in popularity in recent years as an alternative dessert for those who enjoy eating ice cream but do not enjoy trying to lose all the calories which pile on due to the consumption of this delicious treat. Since frozen yoghurt is virtually fat free, due to the use of skimmed milk instead of cream, it is a healthier choice and fro yo has become a 2 billion dollar industry, with the majority of consumers being female.

Fats are a natural part of many foods, including most dairy products. When you take them away, the flavour and texture suffers, so it makes you wonder how manufacturers make low-fat and fat-free frozen desserts so smooth and creamy, and still tasty?

Food engineers have been amazingly resourceful about finding ways to fake the texture and flavour of fat. Although it is easy to think that it’s simply a matter of churning it twice, the truth is in fact much more complicated than that. Manufacturers use all sorts of emulsifiers, binders, and thickeners to mimic the texture and taste of higher fat products, but the good news is that most of these additives are derived from foods like soybeans, eggs, and corn.

While all frozen yogurts are not created equal, they are fairly comparable and although most frozen yogurt is non-fat or very low in fat the calories still add up. Most non-fat “original” or “plain” (typically the lowest-calorie flavour at most frozen yogurt shops) is about 30-35 calories per ounce with about 20g of sugar—meaning that a large 16-ounce cup weighs in at 380 calories and 76g of sugar before adding any toppings. This is where the problem lies.

When we see the words “fat-free” we automatically, and most incorrectly, assume that we can eat as much as we can without suffering from the consequences such as putting on weight. We tend to forget that “fat-free” does not mean calorie free and we tend to overindulge, especially on the toppings.

When it comes to giving frozen yoghurt to children, be inventive and use different colours and flavours and sell it as ice cream to them. You can add various toppings and these can range from fresh fruit and sauce to sprinkles and marshmallows. It all depends on how much of a sugar rush you wish them to have and how willing they are to try new things and flavours.

Eating Frozen Yoghurt in London in the winter

The first time I tried frozen yoghurt, or frozen yogurt as it is sometimes spelled, it was in the middle of a particularly cold winter’s day and I remember think that surely this would be a better thing to eat in the summer. Eating frozen yoghurt in London, in the middle of Leicester Square was very enjoyable and I found the taste more pleasant than the ice cream available in a nearby shop.

Frozen yogurt, UK usually consists of milk solids, some kind of sweetener, milk fat, yoghurt culture (Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus are common cultures), natural or artificial flavourings, and sometimes natural or artificial colouring. The end result is a dessert which is tarter than ice cream, but still offering a sugar rush and filling your mouth with a rich creamy texture. There are fewer calories in frozen yoghurt, with approximately 110 calories per a half cup serving, than in an equal amount of ice cream and this is due to the fact that most of the fat has been removed from the milk and cream is not used.

Frozen yoghurt, UK took off in the 1980s, reaching sales of £17 million in 1986. Yoghurt contains friendly bacteria that help keep your digestive system healthy, but these friendly flora are only helpful if they’re alive when you eat them. That’s why you should look for the words “contains live and active cultures” on any yoghurt package to be sure you’re getting the good stuff. The good news is that freezing does not kill beneficial bacteria. In fact, it preserves them in a state of suspended animation until you eat them, at which point they warm up and resume their regular helpful activities, like fending off harmful bacteria, aiding with digestion, and producing certain vitamins.

Though all the fat from frozen yoghurt variety gets removed, some cholesterol remains behind; although a half cup serving contains only 5 mg of cholesterol, making frozen yogurt a healthier alternative to ice cream. The only problem with this is that people do not take into account the fact that if you add toppings which are other than fresh fruit, and even with that you have some calories, the calories will pile up and you could end up consuming more calories than you had originally planned to.

To put this into perspective, you have to realise that a single serving of this dessert contains enough calories that to burn them off you would need to do one of the following activities:
  • 31 minutes walking
  • 13 minutes jogging
  • 9 minutes swimming
  • 17 minutes cycling
Like regular yoghurt, frozen yoghurt can be a healthy accompaniment to a meal and is very good for your health, as long as you are aware of the best toppings to choose. There are popular chains which have sprouted up all over the country and offer so many different flavours to choose from that it can take a while to decide which frozen yoghurt in London you wish to taste first.