Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Greek Yogurt Review, Part V

I'm not a big fan of Activia yogurts. Owned by Dannon, they've made some pretty aggressive marketing claims about their yogurts and lost a $45 million dollar lawsuit against them for false advertising concerning the digestive benefits of Activia and DanActive ( you might have noticed Jamie Lee Curtis no longer talks about regulating your bowels in those commercials - they can't say that anymore! ) But mainly, Activia yogurts are not Clean due to the excessive sugars added to their yogurts.

So, not missing a beat, Activia now has a Greek yogurt in their lineup. In the interests of being fair, I bought a cup of the vanilla flavor and brought it home- knowing full well, it isn't Clean and I wouldn't be recommending it for Clean Eating.



Ingredients: Cultured Grade A nonfat milk, water, sugar, fructose, milk protein concentrate, modified corn starch, contains less than 1% of: maltodextrin, modified food starch, natural vanilla flavor, malic acid, potassium sorbate ( to maintain freshness ) sodium citrate, Vitamin D3, natural flavors

Why do they have to put so much junk in their yogurt?? Why the added sugar? Other companies make yogurt just fine and dandy with 3 or 4 ingredients...

The nutrition label was a bit much, too.
Calories in 6 oz? 190
Sodium : 135 mg
Potassium: 450 mg ( this, however, is very good for a yogurt! )
Total carbs: 34 grams
Sugars: 29 grams ( ugh! That is one of the highest on the market for a 6 oz serving! )

I ate it, knowing I had been good earlier in the day, and would be "good" that night as well. It was creamy, but without that distinctive Greek yogurt tang we've come to expect ( Probably a 1 out of 5 on the tangy scale ). Like Greek yogurt one step down from "with training wheels on it" - it was that far removed from the Greek yogurts we've come to expect on the market today.  I found it overly sweet, and a little odd mouth feel at the end which wasn't gritty - but it detracted from the creaminess of the yogurt.

Activia Greek yogurt is just their attempt to jump on the Greek bandwagon with a product that is more sugary pudding than anything else.

Skip it. Unclean, and you deserve better. And shame on Jamie Lee Curtis for promoting such unhealthy carp.