Now that I'm back at my old company, I'm desperately trying to avoid the seemingly automatic 10 pound weight gain that occurs somewhere between all of the yummy lunch options in Del Mar and the catered food left over from meetings. Which means: I'm going to have to start packing healthier snacks for work.
- Baby carrots and hummus
- Pumpkin seeds
- Raw almonds
- Celery and almond butter
- Buffalo or Turkey Jerky
- Apples
- Mixed berries
- Kiwis
- Dark chocolate with sea salt (not sure if this counts..)
However, one thing that wasn't allowed on the diet was dairy products. Now that I'm off FMD, I'm researching ways to incorporate dairy snacks into my diet so that I can get my calcium while simultaneously curbing my less-healthy dairy cravings for my star-crossed lover: cheese.
After researching healthy dairy snacks, it sounds like I'm missing out on this whole Greek yogurt thing - I'd never had it before. So I decided to give it a try, figuring that it would be great to mix with some granola or fruit. Which led me to doing the Greek Yogurt Taste-Off Challenge, sponsored by Yoplait, in order to find the best Greek yogurt.
The challenge pits Yoplait Greek 100 Strawberry yogurt against Chobani Simply 100 Strawberry, both of which have strawberries mixed in. I decided to try the Yoplait first, since that's a brand I'm familiar with. When I got my wisdom teeth out two years ago, Yoplait's regular yogurt was all I could eat.
I didn't know what to expect from their Greek yogurt but to be honest it tasted just like sweet, regular yogurt. There were a ton of browning strawberries mixed in, which visually has always been unappetizing to me. I'd rather add fresh fruit in separately. It was tasty but a little too sweet, which won't help me with my cheese cravings. Then I found out they sweeten their yogurt with sucralose and fructose, two things that are strictly forbidden on FMD.
I tried the Chobani Simply 100 Strawberry and though at first taste the sour flavor and thick texture was a little off-putting, after a few bites, I started to feel like this could definitely substitute for my cheese fix. The strawberries were at the bottom, so I didn't even have to eat those if I didn't want to, whereas they were unavoidable in the Yoplait. And Chobani uses stevia to sweeten their yogurt up a bit, which is FMD-approved. Seems like the Chobani is the one for me.
I'm still not sure how much, if any, dairy to work into my snack rotation, but I'm curious to hear if you have a favorite healthy snack. Do you eat Greek yogurt? If so, now it's your turn to do the Yoplait Taste-Off! ;)
