Is Yogurt good as a Main Source of Protein?

We have written other articles on yogurt focusing on its calorie content and more specifically its sugar content. we are still finding that this is one of the most confusing foods to patients. At least once a week the issue of how good yogurt is for us is brought up in one of our consultations.

We saw a 49 year old woman who is trying to lose weight. She had never had a weight problem up until about 5 years ago. Now she just can’t take off these 20 lingering pounds. She told us she ate pretty healthy. But as always, what is healthy? This patient typed out to be a Bear, the Hauser Diet that needs to eat a diet balanced between carbs, protein, and fat. While going over the foods she needed to be eating she was amazed at the small amount of dairy allowed. Light and Fit fruit-flavored yogurt, among multiple glasses of milk, are a staple in her daily diet.

While we were discussing what she currently eats, she said that she snacks on yogurt and popcorn. Then she thought she should only be eating 3 times a day. When we told her it was okay to have a snack or two through out the day, she just had to watch what she snacked on, she said, "but when I snack, I’m never satisfied." we pointed out that her snacks were mostly carbohydrate based. Her reply was, "but I thought yogurt was a good source of protein." This is not uncommon. This patient, even though a Bear, may need to focus on protein during her snacks since the carbohydrate based snacks are not fulfilling.

After going over the principles of the Hauser Diet and what changes she would need to make, her thought was that if she could just even change her dairy intake habits, that may be all it takes to help get some pounds off. Although this person is just starting out and we don’t know what the results will be, there is a great chance that making these small changes will be able to give her the jump start she was missing. If you are one of those people who say, "I don’t get it. I eat healthy and I still can’t lose weight", you may need to get a little more information on what is healthy for you. Let’s figure it out before 20 pounds becomes 25!