Keto-Friendly Yogurt

The keto diet has gained popularity over the last few years.

This high-fat diet includes restricting carbohydrates so your body can break down fat and use it for energy instead of glucose. This process is called ketosis.

As a holistic nutritionist, I do not promote restricting carbs or calories for weight loss, but since the keto craze is buzzing, I figured I would weigh-in on how to do keto in the healthiest way possible.

The Issue With High-Fat Diets

Fat is not the enemy here. Your body needs healthy fats to function optimally for various processes of the body.

There are 3 important things to keep in mind when it comes to eating healthy fats: 1. the time of day you eat fats, 2. the types of fats you eat, and 3. the way you pair fats with other foods.

1. Time Your Fats Accordingly - The Standard American diet calls for high-fat breakfasts like plain Greek yogurt eggs, or bacon, but the truth is that fats should never be eaten early in the day.

   Fats take anywhere from 2 to 6 hours to reach your intestines, which is a long time. And that’s not including your lunch or snacks, piled on top of that throughout the day. This sets your body up to be bloated and sluggish and slows down your metabolism, making it extremely difficult to lose weight.

   Save your fats for later meals in the day. This is known as eating light to heavy. “Light” refers to low-fat foods like cold-pressed juices, fruits, vegetables, potatoes (NOT cooked in fat), whole grains, and legumes. “Heavy” foods are your healthy fats and animal protein. You do not have to restrict heavy foods. However, you will achieve maximum results if you only have them once per day, ideally at dinnertime. 

2. Eat Quality Fats - Ketogenic diets do not specify the types of healthy fats you should be eating. Being in the diet space has exposed me to some keto recipes, and let me tell you, these “keto-friendly” recipes are anything but friendly.

   Many recommend consuming lunch meats, cheeses, and dairy. However, many of these foods are highly processed and inflammatory, which leads to weight gain.

   Your body is like a garden. It thrives best when there is diversity. Your body needs variety from fruits, vegetables, and other healthy carbohydrates. If you’re not 100% plant-based and choose animal fats for dinner, look for words like “pasture-raised,” “grass-fed,” and “organic.”

3. Never Pair Fruit and Fat - The ketogenic diet allows for low-carb and low-sugar fruits like strawberries, green apple, and blueberries. However, fruit and fat should never be consumed together.

   Why? Fruit digests at a much faster rate than fat, due to its rich water content. Fat takes hours to digest properly, meaning that while the fruit is trying to move out of your stomach, the fat remains and causes a push-and-pull reaction in your gut, leading to fermentation and gas, causing bloating.

That being said, you don’t have to go low-fat or check the fat content of every serving size when you do eat fat. You just have to learn how to eat in alignment with what’s best for weight loss and digestion. How can you do that? Use the Stay Skinny Method™, my tried-and-true weight loss system.

While the Stay Skinny Method™ is not designed to be keto-friendly, it IS designed to be body-friendly. It gives your body the tools it needs to sustainably lose weight. If you suffer from stubborn weight gain and want to learn more about eating light to heavy and properly pairing foods, The Stay Skinny Method™ is your guide. I can promise you that if your goal is weight loss, the advice in this nutritionist-designed system will change your life.

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The Issue With Conventional Dairy

Consuming conventional dairy has its cons. While it may have a high protein content, it comes with many issues.

This is because cows today are raised in confinement and get little to no sunlight. They are fed GMO corn and soy feed and pumped with growth hormones and antibiotics, which directly impact the quality and nutritional value of their milk, causing digestive issues, inflammation, and weight gain when consumed.

From the vantage point of a holistic nutritionist, I believe it’s best to avoid all store-bought dairy for weight loss. That includes whole milk, nonfat milk, cheese, and yogurt.

Yogurt and Diet Culture

Yogurt seems to be a food that is widely eaten in diet culture. But not all yogurt is created equal. And most types of yogurt on the market are terrible for you.

Why? Because companies add artificial sweeteners, like sucralose, added sugars, “natural” flavors, gums, additives, thickening agents, and preservatives. Here is a popular mixed berry flavored yogurt on the market. Just look at the ingredient list:

“Cultured Non Fat Milk, Strawberries, Water, Modified Food Starch, Cane Sugar, Less Than 1%: Natural And Artificial Flavors, Vegetable Juice (For Color), Kosher Gelatin, Sucralose, Acesulfame Potassium, Sodium Citrate, Malic Acid, Vitamin A Palmitate, Vitamin D3, Active Yogurt Cultures L. Bulgaricus & S. Thermophilus..”

The nutrition facts don’t lie here. These ingredients are anything but healthy and can be found in most yogurt brands. It doesn’t matter if it’s marketed as dairy-free, low-fat, full-fat Greek yogurt, low-carb yogurt, lactose-free, milk-yogurt, etc. - there are virtually no health benefits to eating this processed dairy snack.

Coconut Keto Yogurt

If you want the best keto yogurt recipe, and one that is cleaner than store-bought regular yogurt, this can be your go-to recipe.

This recipe is amazing for two good reasons. It contains live, active cultures and probiotics that are gut-friendly without the inflammation you would get from milk yogurt. Secondly, it’s homemade, so you never have to question what’s in it.

Ingredients:

• 1 can organic unsweetened coconut milk

• 1/8 tsp yogurt starter

• 1/2 tsp gelatin (or use agar agar if you want to make it vegan/vegetarian)

• Honey to sweeten (or monk fruit sweetener if you don’t want to spike your glucose, however make sure it does not contain erythritol)

• Clean, unsweetened, oil-free granola (optional)

• 1-16 oz. Mason jar with a lid

• 1 cooking thermometer

Directions:

1. Heat coconut milk in a saucepan to 180 degrees F, but do not allow it to boil. Remove from heat.

2. Add gelatin to your hot coconut milk and stir thoroughly as soon as possible. It’s important the milk remains hot.

3. Add honey. Cover your mix and let cool to 95 degrees F.

4. Mix in your yogurt starter and stir thoroughly.

5. Pour into a Mason jar. Close the jar with its lid and let it sit at about 105 degrees for 7-9 hours.

6. There are a few ways to do this. You can use a heating pad, a dehydrator, or a pressure cooker. The longer you let it ferment, the more tart it will become.

7. Stir your mix and refrigerate for at least 6 hours.

Avoid The Keto Pitfalls

Sifting through low-carb diets and keto-friendly recipes is not for the faint of heart. There is a lot of bad dieting advice out there.

Trying to sift through the misleading ingredients, from yogurt to poor-quality dairy, can be overwhelming, to say the least. Not to mention, food pairing is rarely talked about in the health world. And then we wonder why we are so uncomfortably bloated and cannot lose weight.

The Stay Skinny Method™ is a practical system for those seeking a balanced weight loss approach. In this method, you’ll get cold-pressed juices and smoothies made from a variety of fruits and vegetables. You'll also get some healthy fats from nuts and seeds. You’ll learn to eat in alignment for your body with the clean-eating guidelines, get a healthy swaps list, and access to 38 easy, delicious recipes.

Amid diet culture chaos, let the Stay Skinny Method™ be your calm journey to weight loss and a healthier you. Say “goodbye” to counting calories, macros and net carbs and “hello” to easy, sustainable weight loss.

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