Greek Yogurt Nigeria: 9 Benefits, How to make & Where to buy

Interested in Greek yogurt?

Good!

In this blog post you'll discover everything you need to know about greek yogurt including:

• How to make greek yogurt (with just 2 ingredients)
• Where to buy greek yogurt in Nigeria.
• 7 ways to Use Greek Yogurt
• Health Benefit of Greek Yogurt

And more. Let's get started:

What Is Greek Yogurt ?

Greek yogurt (sometimes called strained yogurt) is a creamier, flavourful and less sweet type of yogurt.

It is typically made by combining milk with live cultures (bacteria), which is then strained to remove the liquid whey that naturally occurs in milk.

The straining process also removes some of the lactose sugars, salt, and water. That's why greek yogurt is thicker, higher in protein, and lower in sugar and carbs than standard yogurt.

Is Habib Yogurt Greek Yogurt?

Habib yogurt is not greek yogurt. However, you can make greek yogurt using Habib yogurt because it contains  live culture (bacteria) which is needed for making greek yogurt.

Habib yogurts might start making greek yogurts in the near future but as at the time of writing this they don't.

Examples Of Greek Yogurt In Nigeria

Just to name a few, examples of greek yogurts in Nigeria are SantiFoodCo greek yogurt, keziafoods greek yogurt, Zivas yogurt, healthnhealthy greek yogurt. 

How To Make Greek Yoghurt In Nigeria (At Home)

The good news is that making Greek yogurt at home is quite easy and requires just 2 ingredients. So you can hardly mess it up. 

Anyway, here's how it's done:

There are a thousand and one places you can buy greek yogurt in Nigeria. You can buy it in many major supermarkets in Nigeria (like Shoprite). Also, you can buy from online vendors on Instagram, Jumia, supermart and so on. But before you buy, ensure you read this:

Warning About Buying Greek Yogurt

Take note that many commercially sold greek yogurt out there may not be made the organic way. Thickening agents like corn starch, condense milk, carrageenan or gelatin can be added in to shortcut the process.

Also, since Greek yogurt has a less-sweet taste, producers tend to add more sugar and artificial sweeteners than usual to appease to consumers taste.

Long story short, ensure you are only buying organic, unsweetened Greek yogurt.

Warning About Buying Greek Yogurt

Greek yogurt can be used in a variety of interesting ways like:

- Used as a substitute for mayonnaise.

- Used in place of oil in marinating fish, chicken and pork.

- Used as a base for fruit smoothies instead of using juice or milk.

- Used as a substitute for cheese and macaroni and other baked pasta dishes.

- Used to make dips served with dates.

- Used as topping instead of sour cream 

Also, it can be served on its own or served it as a side dish or dessert.

Finally, let's look at some of the health benefits of Greek yogurt...

Health Benefit Of Greek Yogurt

Eating Greek yogurt may be good for your health thanks to the nutrients like calcium, protein, probiotics, iodine, vitamin B-12, and more it contains.

Which gives it some potential health benefits including:

1. Aids Weight Loss

Greek yogurt contains almost twice as much protein and less sugar than regular yogurt.

And as we know it, dietary protein is a weight watchers best ally. Because among many things, protein helps keep you full longer, which can help you consume fewer calories overall, thus you lose weight.

2. Help Improve Bone Health

Greek yogurt is rich in both calcium and protein. Calcium can help enhance the health of your bones and reduce your chances of developing the bone disease, Osteoporosis [2]

Also, studies [3] have shown that protein is also important for bone health.

In addition, Greek yogurt also contains vital bone-building nutrients like Vitamin D magnesium and phosphorus.

3. Good For Building Muscle Mass

Greek yogurt pass as a great muscle building food. Because is contain a significant amount of protein, which has been proven to help increase muscle in people that lift weights [4]

4. Help Improves Gut Health

Greek yogurt comes loaded with probiotics [5]. And probiotics are the good bacteria that may help improve the overall gut health. 

5. May Assist In Lowering Blood Pressure

Some study suggests that fermented milk with probiotics may help reduce blood pressure [6,  7 ]. And Greek yogurt is a form of probiotic fermented milk.

Note that some other research results suggest otherwise, so at this point it still inconclusive. In essence, some some see result while other don't get significant result.

6. Encourages Good Mental Health

Some studies have linked consumption of about 100g probiotic yogurt a day to better mental health, less stress, anxiety and depression [8, 9]

7. Reducing The Risk Of Type 2 Diabetes

A 2014 study suggests that consuming more yogurt can help reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Note that this applies to only yogurt and not other dairy products.

8. Helps Prevents Yeast Infections

You see, Yeast infection happens when good bacteria in the guts and vargiana tracks are out-numbered.

Since Greek yogurt contains a good number of probiotic bacteria, it can help prevent this from happening.

In other words, consuming more Greek yogurt may help prevent yeast infection by keeping a healthy balance of good bacteria in the gut and vargiana.

9. Help Strengthen Immunity

Greek yogurt contains Vitamin D and probiotics. Two anti-oxidants that can help boost immunity. For instance,  probiotics may help promote the number of white blood cells to neutralise the effect of pathogens.

Summary

Conclusion

Greek yogurt is thicker, creamier, and less sweet kind of yogurt. Which is rich in protein calcium and probiotics among many other useful nutrients.

Regular intake of organic Greek yogurt may be beneficial to your health in so many ways including your gut health, mental health and immune health just to mention a few.

And the best part is you can easily make Greek yogurt yourself at home with only 2 ingredients. Check the recipe above to learn how.