Oikos Organic Greek Yogurt and a New Coffee Challenge

By: Matt Frazier

Some car fairy must have heard me complaining about having to drive so far to Erin’s car guy, because yesterday the exact same problem started happening in my car!  So here I sit, in a Panera Bread, while the car guy fixes it.  Yes, Erin’s car guy.

I recently switched back to regular yogurt from soy, primarily because I didn’t like the taste of soy yogurt, but also because I’m trying to reduce the amount of soy I get on a regular basis.  I have no problem eating tofu or tempeh every now and then; I’d just prefer that my daily smoothie not be a soy bomb.  I’ve been buying Nature’s Promise Organic Yogurt, but I’ve been really tempted to spend the extra cash for the Greek yogurts that are all the rage nowadays. They’re loaded with protein, and even though I don’t fret over nutrition facts, as a vegetarian endurance guy I do try to get extra protein when possible.

So you can imagine my excitement when, this weekend, I got a package from the nice people at Stonyfield Farm, makers of Oikos Organic Greek Yogurt (yes, I get excited about this stuff).  In the package were coupons for lots of free yogurt to review on my blog, this nice reusable shopping bag (modeled by the lovely Erin), and even a handwritten card to thank me for trying their yogurt!  Talk about good customer relations, and I’m not even a customer (though I soon will be, read on).

Greek yogurt, I’ve now discovered, is about a billion times creamier than regular yogurt.  So much creamier, it’s hard to even compare the two as the same food.  Greek yogurt is thick like sour cream, which means it would be excellent for cooking (and would have been great in buffalo tempeh wraps).  And oh by the way, Oikos is 100% organic, 0% fat, has 23 grams of protein per cup as compared to 11 grams per cup of regular yogurt, and has 9 grams of sugar per cup as compared to 16 for regular.  These stats, by the way, are for the plain; I really only use yogurt in smoothies and in cooking, so this is the kind I’ll be eating most of the time.

The taste of this yogurt is just as you’d expect– really creamy, so much so that the plain tastes a lot like sour cream and would be nearly indistinguishable in cooking.  And it made for a deliciously creamy smoothie this morning.  The vanilla would be suitable as a dessert topping; we mixed it up with some Bear Naked granola and it was scrumptious (which says a lot, since I don’t eat this type of girly snack).

30 days without coffee

In other news, I was inspired by Pete’s saying in his guest post that he had given up coffee as part of his new diet, the result of his reading this blog.  So what kind of inspirition would I be if I continued to drink it regularly?  The answer, NMA’s-in-training, is “not any kind of inspiration at all”!  I’ve also realized that as much as I love the buzz and the energy I get while I’m drinking coffee, I really hate the way it makes me feel for the rest of the day. I don’t get that crash that people talk about; I just get a lot of anxiety.  And as relaxed a person as I usually am, I’m really vulnerable to anxiety; I even dealt with a pretty significant issue a few years back.  Who needs that from their breakfast?

So here’s what I’ve decided: no coffee for 30 days.  Not once or twice a week; none of that wimpy, ineffective moderation.  If you were to get really creative, you might even call this a 30-Day Challenge!  So that’s that.  I have no doubt that I’ll be able to do it, having committed to my decision.  And after 30 days (June 26, 2009), I’ll decide if I want to allow myself to drink it every once in a while or not.  If so, fine.  If not, all the better.

What change do YOU need to make for the next 30 days?