My alliteration is failing me. I could not think of a funky alliterative title for this post. So. Yogurt!
Recently I went looking for information about healthy snacks for late in the day that will also help me sleep. Found a few. Some of them won’t work at all for me. (Hello, almond allergy. I miss almonds. And cashews. And…but I digress. Again.)
One of them surprised me a bit: yogurt. To help with sleeping? Ok…Quite literally did not see that coming.
So, ok. I like yogurt. Husband likes yogurt. Our fridge is regularly stocked with Chobani and multiple flavors of AE yogurt. And, yes, most of them have too much sugar. I keep forgetting to add things like Epicure sweet dip mixes, for example, to plain yogurt. Silly me! No, really. Using the dip mix adds LESS sugar. It does! It’s also really tasty.
There are lots of ways to mess up sleep patterns. There are lots of things to do to fix them. So I can’t say for sure that eating yogurt has been the best fix ever…but it seems as if I’m sleeping better if I have yogurt near-ish bedtime, and it hasn’t seemed to impact weight loss. Ok. So I’m sortakindaseriouslyish trying to remember to have more yogurt.
AND then of course because it’s me…I went looking for the health benefits of yogurt.
All together now: “Yogurt has probiotics!”
All together now: “What does that mean?”
*insert laughter here*
Short version: probiotics are live bacteria that are promoted/expected to provide health benefits. Everything I’ve read says that more research is needed and the actual benefits are unclear. At any rate, look for the words “active cultures” on the label, otherwise, pasteurization will have potentially killed the useful bacteria cultures.
Yogurt provides lots of protein and nutrients such as calcium & vitamin B. Usually it’s also fortified with vitamin D, which, together with calcium, is important for strong bones. It has the potential to benefit digestive health, stave off or decrease the severity of yeast infections, strengthen the immune system, and help balance your gut’s microflora to improve gut health.
So…long story short? Yogurt can be really good for you. It’s probably going to be better for you to take plain yogurt and add fruit or low-sugar flavorings. But try it! There are so many varieties nowadays, you have lots of options!
Cheers! Here’s to your health!