Originally Posted by Mel:
How in the world does plain fat-free yogurt have more calories than the Danon had?

One reason could be that the Dannon was/is bulked up with artificial sweeteners (and possibly other ingredients to add bulk, such as modified food starch, inulin, polydextrose, and other pseudo fiber substitutes that have questionable, if any, nutritional value--there was a big article on this in the last Nutrition Action newsletter). These ingredients have volume and weight but few or no calories (or nutritional value). So you're getting more yogurt (and more nutrition) for the same volume/weight with the plain, fat-free yogurt.

It's just like the chicken sold by Safeway Rancher's Reserve, which has 110 calories per 4 oz. Normally chicken has 120 calories or more per 4 oz. How do you make chicken lower in calories? Do you make the chickens exercise more and eat a low-fat diet? :lol: No, don't be silly. You inject the chicken meat with a sodium/water solution, so that a smaller amount of chicken weighs 4 oz. BTW--lest anyone think that I'm immune to these food traps or being self-righteous, the Safeway Rancher's Reserve chicken is my favorite and the only type of chicken I will buy (and one of the things I like about is that it is only 110 calories for a 4 oz serving, plus the added water makes it super juicy and tender) and I'm not adverse to buying a product that is loaded with artificial sweeteners and questionable fiber substitutes if it is lower in calories than the "whole food" product. So, um, "do as I say, not as I do." :o

But, having said all that, I'm not sure the Dannon did have fewer calories than plain, fat-free yogurt. According to my most recent Nutrition Action newsletter (which had a feature comparing different brands of yogurt), the Dannon Light and Fit yogurt had 60 calories (the newsletter came before the formula change, so I assume they evaluated the original formula yogurt) per 4-oz serving. Trader Joe's and Fage fat free Greek yogurt has 80 calories, but for 5.3 oz of yogurt. That works out to be the same caloric content. Trader Joe's and Fage are 1.325 times the amount of yogurt as the Dannon 60-calorie serving (5.3 oz / 4 oz). 60 calories x 1.325 = 80 calories.

And regular (non-Greek) plain, fat free yogurt is 80 calories for 6 oz. 4 oz of that would be only 53 calories, which is less than was in the Dannon.

Barbara- I did read that article in Nutrition Action, one of my favorite publications. I did not buy the 60 calorie cups, but the 40 calorie 1/2 cup containers, or the large container of Vanilla and ate 1/2 a cup (40 calories). So bumping up to 80 or 100 is a big bump.

I think I'll just skp the yourt and add a pile of fruit to my cottage cheese.

Originally Posted by Mel:
Barbara- I did read that article in Nutrition Action, one of my favorite publications. I did not buy the 60 calorie cups, but the 40 calorie 1/2 cup containers, or the large container of Vanilla and ate 1/2 a cup (40 calories). So bumping up to 80 or 100 is a big bump.

I think I'll just skp the yourt and add a pile of fruit to my cottage cheese.

Well, that hardly makes sense if it's the calories you're worried about. Cottage cheese, even fat free, has more calories than plain non-fat yogurt. 1/2 cup of FF cottage cheese has 80 calories. 1/2 cup of plain, fat free yogurt has around 50 calories (60 calories for Greek-style), which is pretty comparable to your 40-calorie Dannon yogurts.

Oh Robin, my grocery store has the 60 calorie stuff! I wanted to box it all up and ship it to you!!!!

Originally Posted by Glory87:
Oh Robin, my grocery store has the 60 calorie stuff! I wanted to box it all up and ship it to you!!!!

Oh I am soooo incredibly jealous!!!!

I will admit that I've succumbed and have been eating the 80 calorie ones. For now anyway. I know this sounds terribly lame, but right now I haven't the time to experiment with new foods. I will get around to it though. I DO hate giving them the business after they messed with one of my staples. I have found a couple of flavors that I can tolerate. Like the vanilla and the lemon. Some of them are totally unedible though. I am fortunate that I don't get headaches like some of you experience. I have cut down on the amount though. I haven't eaten more then 2 on any given day.

Ok, I'm incredibly ticked about the Dannon change too and have been looking around the web for people who feel the same. I've been doing some research, and what I have found is that the changes Dannon has made have absolutely NOTHING about customer preference or the flavor of the yogurt.

What it boils down to is this: Sugar and ASSpertame is cheaper than Splenda. Dannon made a cheaper product to improve their bottom line in the highly competitive yogurt market. I would gladly have paid a few cents more for the 60 calorie, 6 oz. Light & Fit product, but instead Dannon chose to make a cheaper product so they can continue to sell it for less.

We can still get the "Carb and Sugar Control" product with 60 calories, but it's only a 4 oz. cup.

So this is about money for Dannon. Not consumer preference as they would have you believe.

I promised feedback on my Yogourmet. I am actually really liking making yogurt from scratch. It takes less than a half hour to make two quarts of fresh, fat-free yogurt. It will keep for up to 3 weeks (I haven't tested this since I am going through it in about 7-10 days)

I am currently using NF milk powder and Activia for starter. I am adding 30% extra milk powder to boost the protein, so each 4 oz serving is 50 calories with 5g of protein. I am sweetening it with Splenda, Agave, Stevia or SF syrups (at serving time).

One recommendation - follow the probiotics recipe and incubate the yogurt for 8-10 hours. It is healthier and firmer.

Seems like we're not the only ones unhappy with Dannon.....
 

Guess who just called me???????????

Dannon. Hey, how'd ya guess? ;)

Anyway, they CALLED me!!! They said that they see that I had phoned them about Dannon Light and Fit yogurt and would I be willing to answer some questions. I of course said, "sure".

They asked me what I didn't like about the new product. She gave me a list and I had to answer yes or no to it. Stuff like - too much sugar - too many carbs - the extra calories - the aspartame - the taste - oh and I can't remember what else. But I said yes to all of it, since that's how I feel.

She then asked me if I had to choose just ONE thing to change to make it better for me, what would it be. Again, she gave me a list. All the things she listed truly bothered me and I told her so, but since I was only able to choose one, I said "lowering the calories".

I asked her if this call was prompted by a slump in sales and she said she doesn't have the answer to that. But come now, that MUST be it.

So, there's hope afterall. Wouldn't it be something if they changed it back to how it used to be? Dare I even dream it? :cloud9::cloud9::cloud9:

Dare to dream, Robin!!! That's too cool.


I'm still waiting to hear back from Applebee's (they said 48 hours, it's been 3 months) and Del Taco (they said 7 days, it's been 2.5 months). Both of these places took my favorite salads off the menus.

I prefer basic unflavored Greek yogurt with fruit to any manufactured product.

I know I am reviving an old thread here, but I am so very curious - did they ever change the Dannon yogurt back to the original recipe??? I may be buying a lot of yogurt soon to help me out with my weight loss.. and I do NOT want aspartame. This sounds like it would have been a perfect one.

Originally Posted by BingoWings:
I know I am reviving an old thread here, but I am so very curious - did they ever change the Dannon yogurt back to the original recipe??? I may be buying a lot of yogurt soon to help me out with my weight loss.. and I do NOT want aspartame. This sounds like it would have been a perfect one.

Nope. They haven't changed it back and the last time I spoke with them, they hadn't any plan to.

But luckily there are lots of other things to help out with weight loss, so don't be too down about it. Although I sure was when it first occurred. That's an understatement.

Apparently Dannon must be having a hard time selling their "new and improved" product. I realize this thread is over a year old, but the other day they had Dannon Light and Fit, (80) on sale at HyVee. The price was 10 for 1.90 (with coupon) or 10 for 2.90 without coupon. Pretty cheap.