Although I am typically not a proponent of dairy products, I have gotten into eating organic yogurt occasionally. Consequently, I have been trying an assortment of different yogurts, trying to find the best one and as a result I have learned some very interesting things.

I try to buy organic yogurt mostly because (hopefully) it is coming from cows that haven't been fed other animal parts or been injected with a variety of hormones and antibiotics like the "factory-farmed" animals. I usually read the labels closely to see what additives have been included in the mix and what flavourings or food colourings have been used and in what quantities. Finding organic yogurt in the regular grocery stores is next to impossible so sometimes I am forced to buy a non-organic brand or do without unless we shop in a health food store. Years ago, I remember Astro brand yogurt was considered one of the healthier choices because it was supposedly "all natural". Evidently that has changed...a lot. A couple of weeks ago, I picked up three different brands so that I could do a taste test and a true comparison and I proved to myself the importance of reading labels BEFORE leaving the grocery store. My flavour of choice is vanilla and here are my findings:

The Astro "Smooth'n Fruity" French Vanilla tastes "desserty", sort of like vanilla pudding and unless you get the "original" it is loaded with artificial or modified everything plus a number of other undesirable ingredients. The Liberté Organic brand has no artificial ingredients but has the strongest yogurt taste of the three and is fairly expensive in comparison to the others. My favourite one without question is Olympic Organic original with a smooth creamy taste and loads of natural flavour with nothing artificial in it, made here in BC. It was interesting doing this comparison because I assumed that vanilla yogurt is vanilla yogurt with few differences. It goes to show what I know!

Today we took Helen, Karley and Makai to Granville Market for lunch and then we all walked along The Drive enjoying the few hours of sun that the forecast called for. Karley and Ian are going out to the show tonight while we baby-sit, so we (the "grand" babysitters) headed back to the motorhome to relax before our duty calls. We will all have a fun evening!