10 Important Reasons Your Body Prefers Yogurt

My oh-so-silky yogurt with wild raspberries.

Raw milk yogurt is sooo good for you!  And it just works better than milk for a lot of people.  Here's why:

1) It just tastes so good!  Silky, creamy, tangy.  Who could resist?

2) Yogurt is higher in vitamins.  The bacteria in yogurt synthesize vitamin K, B12, and folic acid.

3) Yogurt is higher in CLA.  Yogurt made with the right culture will contain various CLA-producing strains such as bifidobacterium, lactobacillus acidophilus, and lactobacillus rhamnosus.  CLA is anti-carcinogenic, anti-diabetic, and an immune modulator.  On top of that, it helps reduce body fat!

4) Yogurt provides better calcium absorption.  Calcium needs an acidic environment in order to be absorbed and yogurt makes the colon more acidic.

5) Yogurt is a probiotic.  Well-made yogurt has greater than 1,000,000 living bacteria/gram, making it classifiable as a probiotic.  Probiotics help to increase HDL ("good" cholesterol), maintain immune system activity, and convert sugars into useful short chain fatty acids.

6) The fat in yogurt is largely protected from degradation.  Milk fat degrades quickly once it's handled.  Shaking to mix in the cream breaks apart the fat molecules and incorporates air into the milk causing rancidity.  Yogurt is just gently stirred, so no broken fat and no air.

7) Yogurt is pre-digested.  Beta-casein (milk protein) and lactose (milk sugar) can be hard for some people to digest, but both are largely broken down after culturing.

8) Yogurt is low-carb.  Since the lactose is mostly digested in yogurt, it's almost carb-free.

9) Yogurt has great shelf life.  High quality raw milk will maintain good flavor for roughly 2 weeks.  Yogurt can easily go 4 weeks or more.

10) Yogurt is highly versatile and easy to flavor.  Just add frozen or chopped fresh berries for flavor.  You can use yogurt to carry other supplements, making them more palatable.  You can use it for smoothies, frozen yogurt, with fruit, a base for salad dressings and dips, yogurt cheese, drinkable yogurt.  The list goes on.

Try some creamy, delicious yogurt and see what your body says!