It is pretty clear that Americans love frozen desserts. The average person in the United States will eat ice cream, frozen yogurt or gelato about 28.5 times this year. Every year, the country produces about 1.5 billion gallons of these frozen treats. Since it hit the stores in the 1980s, frozen yogurt has become very popular. There were about 2,580 shops that sold frozen yogurt at the end of 2013 making frozen yogurt supplies very popular as well.
If you like these desserts, and it is estimated that 90% of American households do, there are ways to make the frozen yogurt cups you get for your family healthier than you think. Here are some tips to help you make the experience tasty and healthy:
- Skip the non-fat varieties of frozen yogurt. For a long time, before carbs were viewed as the enemy, fat was considered to be the worst thing in the world that you could eat. Fat free everything popped up on the market and people bought these products in droves. The problem is that manufacturers of non-fat products add a lot of sugar to compensate. Not all frozen yogurt that is fat free has been loaded with sugar but getting a version with some fat is your safest bet to avoid sugar overload.
- Limit how much sugar you add. When you are at the store and you are deciding what frozen yogurt and frozen yogurt supplies you will get, think about what you are putting on the dessert. Try to avoid getting a super sweet frozen yogurt and then adding a really sugary topping. Consider a more tart yogurt with a sugary topping or a sugary yogurt with a non-sugary topping.
- Go for fresh fruit. Most stores that sell frozen yogurt and frozen yogurt supplies have a ton of toppings. Some of these are fruit. In general, fruit is a good thing but it needs to be fresh. Often, when stored have the fruit, it is sitting in a sea of sugary syrup. If you are going for a yogurt that has less sugar, that is fine but it is easy to discount how much sugar you get with the syrup on fruit. When you do not consider fruit juice, the average American will consume 60 pounds of sugar in a year. Take care with the fruit!
- Find out what kind of sweetener is in the “sugar free” varieties. There are dozens of kinds of frozen yogurt on the market. These run the gamut in terms of flavors. Frozen yogurt supplies consumers even with sugar free varieties. When you are looking at sugar free frozen yogurt, ask what, if any, sweetener is used for the product. Some of these artificial sweeteners are worse than sugar. It is always good to know what you are eating. There are newer sweeteners that are on the market that are not as bad for you as the ones that were developed in the past.
- Watch how much of the toppings you use. Many of us cannot resist heaping on the toppings, and why not? They can be delicious! It is wise to use only one topping and to use only one scoop. That way you really get to savor that flavor and make the experience more healthy at the same time.
- Nuts are great toppings. There are some studies out that show that people who eat more nuts, such as almonds, weigh less than people who do not. This may be counterintuitive because nuts are known to have fat in them but it is true. So, when you are at the frozen yogurt shop, add the nuts! They are a great source of protein and will keep you full longer.
When frozen yogurt first hit the stores, it flopped. That is because the company had merely frozen the regular yogurt it was selling at the time. Since then, frozen yogurt has become a lot more like ice cream and gelato in the way that it is made and the way that it is consumed. Many varieties are hardly distinguishable from ice cream and are treated pretty much the same. This is great news for people who want a healthier frozen treat than ice cream.
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