I don't typically rant about nutrition.
I am not a calorie counter, in fact I barely check the nutritional facts about food. Typically though, I eat well. I eat lots of fruits and vegetables, not many fatty foods, and few deserts.
But there is one thing that I'm starting to see that really pisses me off.
The new frozen yogurt fad.
They all boast the: "Healthy Alternative to Ice Cream!"
They also follow this formula.
Color:____ + Fruit/plant:______ = Overpriced frozen yogurt.
Ex: Red Mango
Orange Leaf
Pinkberry
Somehow, this magical combination of fruit and color, plus the "modern" decor covered in simple geometric shapes, bright colors, and "do it yourself" dispensers gives people the opportunity to feel "cool and hip for 15 minutes" (I swear, this was said in all seriousness by another blogger) while spending a ton of money on not a lot of food.
Lets look at some numbers.
Red Mango's "Classic Vanilla Bean Yogurt" is only 110 calories. Sounds great! Until you check the serving size. It's 110 calories for 1/2 a cup, which is significantly smaller than the average frozen yogurt eater. On average, people consume around 5oz per serving. At this serving size, the amount of calories goes around 200 calories.
Now don't get me wrong, your average 5oz of "Cold Stone Creamery" is still 320 calories, which is significantly more.
But wait.
The Cold Stone Creamery calories already includes all the cookies, chocolate syrup, marshmallows, fruit, cereal, and chocolate chips that Red Mango offers to pile onto your yogurt.
With all these toppings, the calorie count can bounce up to anywhere between 280-320 calories. Not exactly the "healthy alternative".
But this is just the average. Some people pile tons and tons of frozen yogurt into their cups, and some people visit their favorite frozen yogurt place once or twice a week.
The calories add up.
But this isn't really where I'm concerned. Again, I don't count calories. Here's one of my main issues.
People think that eating frozen yogurt is just like eating regular yogurt.
WRONG.
Frozen yogurt has a third of the protein of regular yogurt, less enzymes and probiotics, and its significantly higher in sugar. In fact, some frozen yogurt actually has MORE sugar than ice cream!
But here's my main issue:
PLEASE, stop acting like you're "eating healthy" when you choose to eat frozen yogurt. Don't be proud because you spent significantly more on frozen yogurt than ice cream. It is not "cool and hip", it does not make you suddenly "higher class", and it does not make you more intelligent.
Stop the bullshit, and eat there if you really like frozen yogurt, not because you think it makes you look like the cool kid on the block.
