The Hemp Connection:
Greek yogurt

I recently blogged about Greek yogurt, and how most major brands contain no vitamin D. Given the realities that many women consider yogurt to be a nutritional equivalent to milk, and vitamin D is increasingly being recognized as a factor in PCOS and other health issues, this is a really important thing to know. I have become increasingly frustrated with the amount of nutritional advice encouraging Greek yogurt consumption without mentioning this.

Last night I noticed that Yoplait has come out with its own Greek yogurt, containing twice the protein of regular yogurt and 20% of the recommended Daily Value for vitamin D. I would strongly recommend going with the plain version and adding fruit to sweeten it, to avoid excessive added sugar, but otherwise, it's probably the best Greek yogurt out there for anyone who is concerned about their vitamin D levels.

If you go to the link above, you can get a coupon you can use when you try it, too!

Enjoy!

I'm grateful to see Amber's post this week. It's very real. And it confirms, for all of you, that changing behaviors isn't a perfect journey. In fact, there will be great days, and there will be far-from-awesome ones. If you're living with the fantasy that life is going to be just peachy when you lose weight/have a baby/get a boyfriend/pay off your debts, get over it. Real people have real problems. It is not whether or not you have problems that is important, it is how you handle those problems when they arise that is key.

What Amber didn't mention in this post, is that she is almost 2 weeks into being nicotine-free! So what's especially hard for her right now is that when things get stressful, not only does she not have food to turn to, she doesn't have cigarettes. Kudos to her for riding through it and being able to be introspective and insightful in the middle of a hormone/withdrawal storm. She's not giving herself enough credit for just what she's managed!

I introduced Amber to our resident yoga teacher, Sarah Jones, who is going to give Amber some pointers that can help both with the nicotine withdrawal and the stress management. Yoga is a very powerful tool for both. I look forward to hearing how the collaboration turns out.

Keep up the great work, Amber! Glad you liked the fries!

xoxo

Monika

A new client and I found this recipe online during her consultation. If you use Yoplait Greek yogurt, you can use this to increase both your protein and vitamin D intake.

Enjoy!

1/2 cup nonfat plain yogurt

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

3 tablespoons canola mayonnaise

1/3 cup low-fat buttermilk

1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice (fresh is best)

1 tablespoon chives, chopped

1/4 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

Directions:Prep Time: 25 mins

Total Time: 25 mins

In a recent post I mentioned that lake trout has a higher omega-3 content than salmon…actually almost twice as much if you look at some charts!

So how are you going to cook it? Think salmon recipes. They're very similar and I've found that the recipes work well interchangeably.

With this on my mind as I was shopping yesterday, I found some Greek tzatziki (yogurt/dill/cucumber sauce) on sale and thought it would be great on some trout fillets. I found this recipe online, so apparently someone else had the same idea!

Enjoy!

I love Greek yogurt, but I hate the price. Truth is, the reason it costs more is that it contains more"yogurt" than regular yogurt. So you're paying for it by the gram of protein you're actually getting. You're also paying for the cost of making it, which is pretty much nothing more than straining the water out of it. It's super easy to do in your own kitchen.

Here are some photos from my own Greek yogurt making in my kitchen over the weekend.

I took a container of plain regular yogurt and dumped it into a strainer that was placed over a mixing bowl. I just let it sit there for about 3 hours and let the liquid drip into the mixing bowl, as you can see.

Here is the liquid I strained out of an entire container of plain yogurt.

And this is how much Greek yogurt you can get out of the container when you strain it. Well, maybe a half cup more, I had a snack and didn't remember until I took that out of the bowl that I wanted to take these photos.: )

Now you can understand why the ready-made Greek yogurt costs more than regular yogurt--you're getting a whole lot more for your money! But you can still save money if you're willing to do the two minutes of labor it takes to strain it yourself.

Also, since it's pretty hard to find Greek yogurt containing vitamin D, you can buy a plain version that DOES contain it and get the additional nutritional value.

Enjoy!