I was eating my yogurt concoction a few nights ago. Matt laughed at me.

“What?”, I said.
“You’re nodding your head.”
“You’ve never seen me do that before? I do it when I am eating something delicious.”
“Yeah, but it’s yogurt and fruit. That combination is a no brainer.”
“But it’s yogurt and fruit the way I like it. Not like those pre-arranged jobs in the plastic pots.”

I spent a lot of time picking out healthy yogurts the other week at the market. Before I became obsessed with reading food labels, I assumed all yogurt was healthy. That’s the way they market it: “It helps you fit into that bikini” and they show some girl all frumpy and she starts to eat Yoplait and then she puts on a ugly bikini and gets gawked at by brohams at Muscle Beach. Or the one with the interracial lesbian couple who are always lounging around, so happy and full of life because of yogurt. Or maybe they are stoned. Feed your kids Go-Gurt and it makes them ride skateboards with lots of safety gear and call you a “cool mom” so you get to be all smug while you clean the kitchen and prep your husband’s dinner because, god damn it, it better be ready by the time he gets home or so help me, God…

What was I talking about? Oh yeah, yogurt. This isn’t a case of me being a yogurt snob. This is me being yogurt picky. Very picky. I found that a lot of low-fat and fat-free yogurts had tons of added sugar. That’s not really fat freet once your body processes those sugars. And sugar free yogurts were full of perservaties. I’ve come a long way from smoking cigarettes and downing cans of Diet Coke (aka The Metropolitan Female Diet or The Self Concious Teenage Girl Diet).

Even Whole Foods’s generic brand’s, 365, had crap loads of sugar (though, it says it’s naturally milled sugar). I was disappointed because 365 yogurt is dirt cheap and has live active cultures (it helps your bowels). AND they put the fruit on the bottom, just the way I like it: I eat the regular yogurt that’s on top, then induldge in the fruity gooey goodness at the bottom as a reward (the adult version of my love of Conehead Sundaes from Friendly’s - with the Reese’s Pieces surprise at the bottom).

So I came up with my own yogurt snack. I prefer tart things over sweet things and unlike store bought fruit yogurt, you can control the sweetness level in this.

You can make this a few hours in advance and bring it to work.

Cooking time: One minute.

Makes one cup.

• One part (appx 1/2 cup) plain low-fat yogurt. I used Stonyfield Farm Organic lowfat plain.
• One part (appx 1/2 cup) cup frozen berry mix. I used Whole Foods 365 organic berry blend.

Place berries in a microwave safe bowl. Sprinkle berries with your preferred sweetener if you don’t like tart things. I recommend succant or turbinado sugar (i.e. Sugar in the Raw) if you want to be healthier. Microwave berries for one minute or until thawed. Or longer if you like it hot. Layer or mix berries and yogurt. Top with natural granola if desired.

Cost: Cheap for super health food. Approximately $1.45 per serving (over 11 ounces). Even cheaper if you don’t use organic. The costs comes out to be the same as two Danon Light & Fits (one container is $.69 for 6 ounces).

Cost Breakdown:
Yogurt $.45 (32 oz container , $3.50)

Berries $1 (10 oz sack, appx $3)

Health: Pretty damn good. You get your fruit and dairy. 1.5% fat and about 12 grams of natural sugar (not including added sweetener). Check out the ingredient comparison to a macro brand:

Ingredients in Danon Light & Fit (strawberry flavor): Nonfat yogurt [cultured grade A non fat milk, modified corn starch, kosher gelatin, vitamin A palmitate, vitamin D3], strawberry, water, contains less than 1% of modified corn starch, natural and artifical flavors, sucralose, sodium citrate, malic acid, postassium sorbate (to maintain freshness), red 40.
No live active cultures, not organic and not vegetarian friendly [gelatin]. But it is kosher! L’chaim!

Ingredients in d.i.y. assembled yogurt: Organic strawberries, blueberries and blackberries. Cultured pasteurized organic low fat milk, inulin (natural dietary fiber), pectin, and six, count ‘em, SIX kinds of live active cultures.