The Problem with Fast Food Yogurt


In an effort to regain the market share lost to a rising health conscious society, fast food restaurants such as McDonald's, Burger King and Wendy's have scrambled to introduce healthy options to their menus.

While Burger King and Wendy's have added garden and low fat chicken salads to their selections, McDonald's has gone a step farther by offering fruit and and yogurt salads.

While this is a good first step, it's the rest that may concern you. If you think you are just eating yogurt and fruit (and a little granola), think again.

Not all the ingredients in The Rest columns below are inherently bad for you. Many of the ingredients are just there to get the products to market and make them last long enough to still be consumable. Others such as corn syrup and other sweeteners are there just to feed most of America's addiction to sugar.

The Rest column serves to demonstrate how much more stuff is in your so called healthy foods. The Good column shows what is actually in a healthy diet and what is really more than good enough for your health.

Both columns are a reminder that making fresh yogurt at home and adding fresh natural ingredients is really what good health is all about.

Fruit 'n Yogurt Parfait With Granola

The Good The Rest
  • Yogurt made from cultured reduced fat milk
  • Whey protein concentrate*
  • Kosher gelatin, natural (plant source)
  • Sugar
  • Food starch-modified
  • Fructose
  • Cornstarch refined
  • Artificial flavor
  • Potassium sorbate (used to curb the production of yeast and mold in aging food)
  • Artificial color
  • Whole grain rolled oats
  • Honey
  • Sunflower oil,
  • Apple puree concentrate
  • Soy lecithin
  • Cinnamon
  • Crushed oranges
  • Strawberries
  • Blueberries
  • Natural flavor (vegetable source)
  • Brown sugar
  • Crisp rice (rice flour, barley malt extract)
  • Dried high maltose corn syrup
  • Salt
  • Baking soda
  • Sodium aluminum phosphate
  • Konjac flour (stabilizer)

Snack Size Fruit & Walnut Salad
The Good The Rest
  • Apple Slices
  • Red Grapes
  • Yogurt made from cultured reduced fat milk
  • Whey protein concentrate
  • Kosher gelatin, natural (plant source)
  • Walnuts
  • Peanut oil
  • Soy lecithin
  • Sugar
  • Food starch-modified
  • Fructose
  • Dry honey**
  • Calcium ascorbate
  • Cornstarch
  • Artificial flavor
  • Potassium sorbate
  • Artificial color
  • TBHQ
  • BHT
  • Salt
  • Wheat starch
  • Maltodextrin
  • Xanthan gum
  • Artificial flavor

* You can add whey protein to your homemade yogurt to increase its protein content. NutraBio's whey concentrate is non-denatured, low fat and carbohydrate, instantized and  USDA Kosher.

** Dry honey sounds healthy but it is made by adding other sweeteners such as corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, maltodextrins  and sugar syrup to prevent a natural caking action that follows the dehydration process.

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