Crazy for Chobani?

After being a part of a #weightwatchers tweet chat a couple weeks ago that talked extensively about Chobani Greek Yogurt, I decided to give it a whirl.

I want to preface this blog by saying, I went into this super excited about trying Chobani because of all the rave reviews I'd read on the chat.

The first thing I noticed was the price. Granted, I picked it up at my local grocery store, which is notoriously more expensive than if I had gone to a national chain like Target or Wal-mart. But $1.25 for one container of yogurt seemed a bit expensive. Particularly when I can get another brand of yogurt (albeit, non-greek) for nearly 1/3 the price for the same quantity.

As far as taste is concerned, the Lemon flavor tasted great! The only downside was that it was pretty chunky and I personally am not a fan of chunky anything. I don't know if the chunkiness was due to the lemon, or if that's how greek yogurt is (this is my first experience with greek yogurt, too).

Comparing nutrition facts to my other favorite lemon yogurt, Chobani has 10mg less sodium than the other, the same amount of carbs, and actually 3g MORE sugar. There is more than double the protein, which is good because that means it's a good snack to have when I'm having a morning or afternoon hunger attack. Chobani's Lemon flavor also lacks the vitamins that the other name brand has (Vitamin A, D, Phosphorous), and doesn't match or beat the amount of Calcium (15% Chobani vs. 20% other brand).

I have 2 more flavors in my fridge to try...and I haven't looked at the nutrition facts for them, but I'm assuming it's about the same comparison.

But, I'm curious--why all the buzz about Chobani? Because of the protein factor? Does that outweigh everything else I mentioned above? Or am I missing something? If I can get used to the texture, and if I could get some sound reasoning as to why it's better than the other yogurt, I might be swayed to cough up the extra cash for it.

I look forward to your feedback,

Meg

It's been a long time gone

Sorry it's been so long! It's been a very long two weeks.

My grandfather passed away on his 93rd birthday (March 6th), so the following week saw me flying to Omaha, NE and then driving 4 hours to where my grandparents live(d)--Omaha/Minneapolis are 2 of the closest airports, Sioux Falls, SD is actually a little closer, but only by 2 hours. Enough with the details though.

My eating habits have been atrocious to say the least. My grandma lives in an apartment, so that left the Smith family to stay in a hotel. And what comes with a hotel? No food. There was a continental breakfast, but aside from that, we were on our own.

So....bad eating habits ensued. I tried my hardest to eat from the veggie tray, but most of what my family had was everything from Pizza to A&W to McDonalds to KFC (my grandfather's favorite) to a really *interesting* Mexican Restaurant to Village Inn. That coupled with the fact that there was 5" of snow on the ground, so I couldn't go for a walk or run--Last week was not my week.

This week, has been a little bit better. I've lost about half the weight I packed on last week. I joined a thing at my office gym that they give you a 30 minute circuit to do (either strength, flexibility, or endurance, or a combination of strength/endurance). You have to do it twice a week in order to be eligible for a prize at the end of the 10 week program. I did my first set of circuits on Thursday, and then my second set yesterday. My thighs are SORE today. Of course, it could also be because after I did my circuits yesterday, I jumped in my car and went on a 2.7 mile walk with my friends a few miles from their house. They call it 'the hills' for good reason. 3 very steep hills. I definitely got a GOOD sweat going. It felt AMAZING.

I need to start training for my 5k walk in May. Care to join me? Care to make a donation?

The Team Link: http://annapolisarthritiswalk.kintera.org/hiptobesquare

My page: http://annapolisarthritiswalk.kintera.org/meggers08

Yours in health,

Meg

Take those feelings and shove it!

My diet this week has been TERRIBLE. And I mean diet in the sense of what I've been eating. I fully realize that what I'm attempting to do is a lifestyle change, but in the holistic sense of the word, my diet has been terrible.

I will say, this week started well. I had 2 days where I ate salads, I was being mindful of what was being eaten, what the portions were, etc. Tuesday evening began my downfall. Wednesday found me pigging out. Thursday was ok. Lunch consisted of a lean pocket and yogurt. Dinner was the rest of the bag of twizzlers. Nothing more, nothing less. And today all I wanted to do was just stuff my face. Human garbage disposal. Eat, eat, eat, eat, eat. Sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar. 1 bottle of water.

And even as I'm ordering what I'm ordering, I'm thinking, "this sounds disgusting. I don't want this food." And yet, I still eat it.

This week has been an emotional roller coaster for me, too. My grandfather is not doing well (prayers for him, please). And Thursday, I gave a speech in a contest about my experiences with a tragedy. And there's this whole other thing called work and working in DC and all the drama that's going on with that lately....I'm going to become a gray-haired woman before I'm 26!

So many emotions come what's going on in my life right now--am I trying to stuff them away with food? Or am I using food as a comforting agent to make me feel better after stress? And if that's the case, how do I fix it?

I'd say, dive right in to exercise. Except, right now my knees are screwed up (found out today at Physical Therapy that they think one of my tendons is messed up, which would explain the pain...not a lot there can be done about that except for Rest Ice Compression and Elevation), and I'm already doing as much as I can, working out 5-6 days/week--which probably explains the weight loss I'm seeing on the scale and miraculously no weight gain...yet.

Any suggestions on how to not take those feelings and shove 'em? How do you deal with cravings and overeating?