A while back, the Santa Clarita Valley Transit Authority called and asked us if we’d like to participate in their week-long, in-house Health Fair. Having never done something like this, I asked what they had in mind. Being a “health” exhibition, the SCVTA recommended we point out the differences between yogurt and that age-old default frozen dessert… ice cream.
And since PY is the home of Dannon frozen yogurt here in the SCV, the info that we’d provide would be particularly important to the Transit employees. I researched, over a long weekend, and prepared hundreds of copies of a multi-page packet. Interestingly enough, after reading tons of doctors reports and a plethora of studies throughout the years, the only thing I could come up with regarding ice cream was the title on the front page: “Ice Cream = Fat.” Under that I gave examples such as: “Ice cream contains greater than 10 percent and as high as 16 percent fat in many premium brands, as well as 12 percent to 16 percent sweeteners, usually a combination of sucrose and glucose-based corn syrup sweeteners.” I also gave an example of one particular “non-fat” vanilla fudge ice cream that contains 150 calories per half cup, due to its high sugar content. And that was… it. All I could think of writing about “ice cream” without continually re-hashing the same devastating information ad infinitum. The following four pages, however, were what grabbed the attention of everyone at the Health Fair. Those pages extolled the virtues of what is unquestionably the healthiest alternative to ice cream you can find: Yogurt. And in our particular case…Dannon Frozen Yogurt!
Your body needs to have a healthy amount of “good” bacteria in the digestive tract. One of the words you’ll be hearing in relation to yogurt is “probiotics.” Probiotic, literally, means “for life,” referring to the organisms that can result in a health benefit when eaten in adequate amounts. The benefits associated with probiotics are specific to certain strains of these “good” bacteria. Many provide their benefits by acting directly on body functions, such as digestive or immune functions. Keep in mind that the only yogurts that contain probiotics are those that say “live and active cultures.” In fact the health benefits of yogurt are so impressive that you’ll want to tune in here next month for more about this incredibly healthy alternative to “fat.”
Planet Yogurt in the Pavilions Shopping Plaza, near Tilly’s and is located at 27023 McBean Parkway in Valencia. Please call 661-254-2471 or visit www.planetyogurtonline.com.