I had been trying Dannon Activia yogurt, which has the same Bifidobacterium culture; they just give it the fancy name Bifidus Regularis, which honestly makes me feel the company takes its customers for idiots. Apparently it worked, though; Dannon’s sales of Activia and Danactive soared to three times the expected projections. But I digress; that is the subject of a future review!

Armed with a fistful of coupons, I picked up eight packs of Yo-Plus yogurt at a substantial savings. The flavors are fantastic; Yoplait has always been great on using real fruit and creating tasty combinations. The whole family loves them; we usually eat yogurt every day.

We all started to experience some stomach pain. Even my one-year-old was in distress. We honestly couldn’t figure it out and didn’t attribute it to the yogurt until three days later. We have many food allergies and have learned from experience that it is best to re-read ingredient labels every time you purchase a product, as well as when we get ready to eat it (in case we missed something). What I hadn’t noticed before was the fiber added to the yogurt, called inulin. Our family is on a carefully moderated food plan and we get a good amount of fiber in our diet already. The extra fiber shouldn’t be an issue; but apparently the type of fiber is.

On the package itself it states that inulin wasn’t normally found in yogurt. I’ve recently dug a little bit deeper and found some disturbing facts:

Inulin feeds bad bacteria in your intestinal tract (which are normally inactive and fine) as well as the good bacteria. Depending on what is present in your system, it can cause a lot of problems when you consume too much in a super-refined form!

Inulin is found to cause mild to severe gastrointestinal issues in people depending on the amount consumed.

Inulin is yet another super-refined food substance like high fructose corn syrup. We’ve found that HFCS is linked to all sorts of health problems, as are many other naturally-occurring food substances that have since been refined down to chemical additives. Inulin is naturally found in onions and garlic and is good for you when you get it in whole foods and in reasonable amounts. We get plenty of it every day in our house already!

Yo-Plus could have been a great product had they not tried to boost sales with additives and claims on how this could “naturally boost your digestive health”. I’m sure they were lured in by Dannon’s success; now they are following in their footsteps with their own class-action lawsuit against false advertising. (Dannon has already settled theirs for $35 million, the biggest settlement ever to be made over false advertising of food products.)

I think that companies should quit messing with the food! I eat yogurt because I want milk and good bacteria in my system, and like the taste of fresh fruit added to it. Don’t add a bunch of sweeteners (milk and fruit both are naturally sweet), don’t add artificial flavors (what is wrong with just using the fruit?), and definitely don’t add stuff that supposedly makes up for my supposed diet deficiencies! Don’t add fiber to my yogurt, calcium to my juice, nor artificial sweeteners to my non-diet gum that has REGULAR sugar in it. (Surprise! Take at look at those the next time you’re in the checkout lane!) And, for the love of people who hit the top two allergens in the country, QUIT adding soy products to absolutely everything! (Another thing that you find in all that gum!)

Yogurt IS good for you. It is on the Better Homemaking Network’s Top Foods List (article coming soon). Plain with active cultures is best, of course; if you get fruit flavors, try to avoid artificial sweeteners or flavors and a lot of added sugar. Our family will be going back to making our own yogurt, mixing in fresh fruit purees. We still like regular Yoplait, and Dannon Activia, although it is a bit too sweet. We often mix in some homemade plain yogurt and they taste even better. Greek yogurt is the yummiest way to buy a plain variety, although it is a bit more expensive. It also makes a great starter to make your own!

The bottom line: Enjoy your yogurt, and get your fiber from the real thing; in other words, other healthy choices throughout the day. Fresh vegetables, fruits, and whole grains are all great sources.

I don’t even feel comfortable in giving the rest of this Yo-Plus away. No matter that I got it on the cheap; it burns me to have to waste food regardless of the reason or cost. But the best place for it is in the trash.

ETA:  Yoplait Fiber One yogurt also has inulin added to it.

Sources: Law Firm That Won Dannon Settlement Targets Yoplait

Inulin: Friend or Foe?

Yo-Plus for Digestive Health

You could GAIN WEIGHT in the first few weeks.  Does this mean you are a failure?  NO WAY!  The main culprit is when you start exercising when you have been sedentary in the past.  The reason:  MUSCLE.  You are building your muscle back up to a normal level during this time, and muscle weighs more than fat!  This is very important to remember.  You see, you WANT more muscle, because the more muscle you have, the more calories your body burns all day long, even when you aren’t doing anything!  Consider this your secret lose-while-you-sleep weapon.  This also means your body will need more calories to maintain its weight, which means you can eat more, and really should, to maintain the extra energy your new muscle needs.  This is why Weight Watchers advocates adding points to your daily intake according to the amount of exercise you have done that day, but only up to a certain amount.  For example, you shouldn’t add more than 200 calories if you’ve burned 200 or more while exercising.  Your goal at this point is to keep losing, after all!

You could lose weight very rapidly the first week or two, then slow down to a more reasonable amount.  Don’t be disappointed, nor expect that rapid weight loss to continue.  This is ENTIRELY NORMAL.  Especially if you are drinking the proper amount of water, and getting a decent amount of fiber in your new diet plan.  Some may experience it because they have reduced the amount of salt intake; today’s fast food diet is shockingly high in salt content.  Your body is losing its “water weight” as your system flushes out.  As you drink enough water for your body to stay hydrated, you will retain less water in your tissues.  This is also a good thing; consider it a bonus if you lose those fast pounds at first!

You COULD stay the same.  Despite following your new diet and exercise plan to a T, you are not losing!  Easily explained:  See both reasons for gaining and losing above.  What has happened, is that both of these processes are happening at the same time.  Fear not; stick it out for at least a month before determining any changes that need to be made.  The weight WILL start to drop at a reasonable amount after the first few weeks, if you are on an appropriate plan for your weight, age, and lifestyle.

What is reasonable?  Anywhere from one to three pounds per week lost.  Losing any more than five pounds a week is not healthy; it is likely you are losing muscle as well, and it will be way too easy to gain it back.  If you are losing too much, you aren’t eating enough to keep your body supplied with the nutrients it needs.  The old saying is true:  You didn’t gain it in a day, and you won’t lose it that fast, either.  Slow and steady wins the race to keep your body healthy for a lifetime!

I used to refuse to weigh myself except once every week or two. I can understand why this is important for some people, to keep from feeling bad about the numbers, and to be really happy with being able to see the progress.  I know many diet gurus advise this, since most people are so hooked on the scale.

But it just didn’t work for me. I know that my weight fluctuates based on how much I’m working out, how much water I’m drinking, even if I had a really salty snack the day before. I could show a two pound increase over the last week, yet still be losing overall, based on what time of the day it was!

So I started to weigh myself every morning. Of course, I still saw fluctuating, but it kept me motivated to keep that early morning weight down. If I was a bit up that day, I would watch what I ate more, and maybe exercise a little extra.  I’m never concerned unless I see an increase of two pounds over my best weight the week before.

Then, for about two months, I started weighing myself every time I entered my bathroom. It was really interesting to figure out how your weight changes throughout the day, anywhere from three to four pounds!  It varies before and after meals, workouts, and showers.  It was  kind of fun, and educational, too.

I don’t really need to do this, so I returned to weighing myself each morning. It seems my weight is lowest after waking up and moving around for about half an hour. And it is so much fun on days when I see new low numbers, when I dance around the room and announce to everyone what I weighed!

Pyrrh’s beginning measurements / ending measurements:

Weight: 170 lbs / 165.5 lbs
Stomach: 33.75″ / 33″
Hips: 41.5″ / 40″

This was with half-an-hour of aerobics and weight training every day but Sunday.   Looks like it all came off of my hips!

Mom lost a pound, with no increase in her activity.

Overall impression and review:

The way that the menus are published makes it hard to view conveniently; a printout results in strange columns with awkward page breaks, and each day’s soup recipe is on a completely different page.

The diet premise is sound. Whenever we did Weight Watchers we always made up a big batch of our favorite vegetable soup. We just added two more vegetables to our recipe to better match the Good Housekeeping version, and we like the improvement. Most of the soup variations would be better judged on individual tastes. We’ve got favorites, and will try new ideas.  After seven days of soup, it does leave us craving a steak or some spaghetti and meatballs!

I love strawberries, but there were so many of them; more fruit variety would have been great.

I personally prefer to have three snacks as well as three meals, and didn’t like when the menu didn’t allow for that. Admittedly, that wasn’t often; there was enough variety that I was able to save something from nearly every meal to eat a bit later on. The meals never left us hungry, either.

We liked the ideas well enough that we will try another week of it, with Good Housekeeping’s “Web Exclusives” variations. (After taking a couple days’ break for aforementioned steak and spaghetti!)

Pyrrh’s favorite meals:
Breakfast Day 4 – Honey-Cinnamon English Muffin
Breakfast Day 6 – Mexican Scramble
Lunch Day 5 – Waldorf Chicken Salad
Lunch Day 4 – California Turkey Pita
Dinner Day 1 – Minestrone Soup
Dinner Day 5 – Thai Shrimp Soup

Breakfast – Nutty Oatmeal
Both Mom and I had our peanut butter on the side. I just couldn’t bring myself to stir it into oatmeal.

Lunch – Ham Sandwich Supreme

I had to go on an extended errand today, and was able to take this sandwich with me. I ate with my husband, who said my lunch looked better than his! (I was drooling over his rib sandwich, though.) Mom substituted some avocado for the cheese, and I will definitely do the same if I am at home.

Dinner – Red Beans & Rice Stew

Who doesn’t like polish sausage? I admit I am not a red beans and rice fan, and except for the sausage, I didn’t like this soup very much. My mom and husband both liked it, though.

Breakfast – Mexican Scramble

Excellent breakfast; next time I will use a tortilla instead of a pita.

Lunch – Salmon & White Bean Salad

Mom thought this was great. I found it a little bland; I will add some vinegar or some fat-free Italian dressing next time.

Dinner – Goulash

This was very good and tasted like sausage soup.

Breakfast – Strawberry-Orange Smoothie

The smoothie was good. Instead of an English Muffin with butter, we had a mini bagel with 2 tbsp of fat-free cream cheese.

Lunch – Waldorf Chicken Salad

This salad was delicious. I had mine without the lettuce and it was plenty of food.

Dinner – Thai Shrimp Soup
I’ve never had coconut milk in soup before. This was a big hit with the entire family. I strained a cup of vegetables from the Basic Soup, heated them in the microwave, added some heated snow peas, used a cup of broth to boil the shrimp and soaked noodles for a few minutes, added it all to the vegetables, then put in the coconut milk, cayenne pepper, and lime juice. The hint of sweetness from the shrimp, peas, and coconut was fantastic.

Today I ate everything and was full for every meal, but ended up having to use my second 100-calorie snack tonight; I had some oatmeal.

Breakfast – Honey-Cinnamon English Muffin
We can’t seem to find English muffins without soy in them, and I’ve been too busy to make any, so we had mini bagels, instead. This was actually quite tasty.

Lunch – California Turkey Pita

I’ve yet to be able to open a whole pita bread without tearing it up, so I cut them in half, and stuffed each half. It was easiest to slice the avocado instead of trying to spread it inside (and risk further destruction of the pita), and I squeezed lime juice inside the finished sandwich. This was delicious and we hardly missed the mayonnaise. The baby loved her deconstructed version, and my husband has asked for this recipe again (with Miracle Whip on his).

Dinner – Southwest Chili
We used extra lean ground beef instead of the turkey, and I used taco seasoning for the spices. A small flour tortilla was used in place of the tortilla chips.
Again, this was a lot of food. I saved the cheese and tortilla for a quesadilla snack later in the evening.

We substituted All-Bran for shredded wheat. This was a lot of food, and I could not finish it. I think it would be great with half the yogurt, and some milk on the cereal.

Lunch – Black Bean Taco Salad

We had a small flour tortilla instead of the baked chips. I added a splash of lime juice to my salad, and melted the cheese onto the tortilla. Again, this was very filling. Next time I may just add the salsa and beans to my tortilla. I don’t need two salads a day, and there will be one for dinner.

Dinner – Greek Fish Stew

I boiled both the potato and fish at the same time in some broth, for about five minutes, then added it to the veggies from the basic soup (I just scooped out as little broth from the soup as possible). I put the cheese on my salad instead of the soup. The salad was fantastic, although I miss having some fruit to end the day with. I was so full I couldn’t finish all of my soup.

My husband declined the soup and ate some leftovers; the baby thought the Feta Cheese (pasteurized) was awesome.

I HATE Cheerios. But I ate them. I saved the walnuts and banana for after my workout. Mom mixed them into the cereal.

Lunch – Caprese Salad – 7 WW points

I used a small tortilla instead of pita bread, which we hadn’t found soy-free yet. Both dishes were very tasty. especially with the homemade hummus. Traditional Caprese (pronounced Capreasy) is made with fresh basil and a drizzle of olive oil, no vinegar, and isn’t marinated ahead of time. This was an interesting variation, however. We used a little more than a sprinkle of balsamic, and had to use dried basil; it is definitely better with fresh. I made this after breakfast and let it marinate in the vinegar a couple of hours.
By the way, 8 (3/4-in.) chunks part-skim mozzarella actually means 2 ounces. Have you ever tried to measure while cutting cubes of mozzarella? I just cut small cubes and weigh them.

Dinner – Mexican Chicken Soup – 8 WW points

I made a few adjustments to dinner, using canned corn, and chili powder instead of cumin. A fresh flour tortilla replaced the chips. The salad was a combination that we wouldn’t eat normally, but it turned out okay, even with just a vinegar dressing. I used canned mandarin orange segments, because peeling and segmenting an orange for a salad takes a lot of patience.

Again, my baby and husband both liked it, too.

Breakfast: Fruity Cottage Cheese – 6 WW points

(That white bowl is the cottage cheese.) Now I am the type of person that usually doesn’t even like her food to touch each other on the plate. But I did experiment and take a bite of everything at the same time, and it was surprisingly good. I ate the rest of it separately, though. And it was more food than I am used to eating for breakfast. I saved most of the strawberries for an after-workout snack.

Lunch: Tangy Roast Beef Sandwich – 8 WW points

I put mine on a small tortilla instead of bread. It was very tasty, but I will add a little bit of dill and mustard powder to the sour cream and horseradish next time.

Mom and I both had half a cup of the soup for an afternoon snack.

Dinner: Minestrone Soup – 6 WW points

I’m not a fan of minestrone (or any soup really, can you believe I’m on a soup diet?) but this was delicious. And it was very filling. I was happy to save the yogurt and raspberries for an evening snack. Mom wasn’t into the plain yogurt but said it got better when she mashed the raspberries into it. My 1-year-old enjoyed it all with some cranberry juice. My husband loved it, too, with some homemade bread to go with it.