Nutrient Packed Morning Yogurt Bowl with Sweet Potatoes, Berries, Nut Butter, and Seeds

This yogurt bowl has been one of my absolute favorite breakfasts for the past several months. It’s got roasted cinnamon sweet potatoes, bananas, berries, seeds, and nut butter. My wonderful friend Anya shared it with me a while back and ever since I’ve been addicted! I’ve changed up the recipe a little since she has shared it with me and have made it rather customizable. There is an option to add protein powder for an additional protein kick, or you can do without. You can also choose whatever berries, seeds, and nut butter you like. 

One reason I really love this bowl is that it’s very nutrient dense. It’s packed with lots of healthy fats, protein, essential vitamins and minerals, and lots of probiotics (if you use a yogurt with live active cultures, which I highly recommend). 

What is a live culture yogurt anyways?

Well to understand this, we must first understand what yogurt is. Yogurt is milk that has been fermented by bacteria. These bacteria are the good kind, many of which are referred to as probiotics. You know those little tiny things that are good for your gut, digestion, mental health, fighting off infections (including but not limited to yeast infections), absorbing nutrients, and maintain the right balance of helpful bacteria. (1, 2)

Live and Active Cultured Yogurt stops after fermentation and keeps all the wonderful probiotics and good bacteria which are so beneficial for your overall health. 

On the other hand, yogurt that does not contain live and Active Cultures, goes on to be pasteurized after fermentation. Pasteurization is a sterilization method that involves bringing something, in this case yogurt, to high temperatures to kill off bacteria. The intended target is harmful bacteria, but unfortunately this process is not selective so the good bacteria gets killed off too. When this happens you lose the probiotics and all of the great benefits they have to offer. (1, 2)

Note that many yogurts are made with pasteurized milk but since the pasteurization is done before fermentation, these yogurts can still contains live and active cultures.

A note about buying yogurt. Not all yogurts are created equal so here are some tips for finding a healthy yogurt.

Healthy Yogurt Tips

1. Buy yogurt with live and active cultures- I know I already explained this. However I just wanted to remind you to look on the container to be sure your yogurt has them. It should say “made with live and active cultures” or something along those lines. (1, 2)

2. Buy plain unsweetened yogurt- Consuming excess amounts of sugar has been linked to obesity, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and even depression. So when buying yogurt, you want to make sure it’s free of sugar. Most plain yogurts are, but you always want to check the ingredient list just to be sure. While you’re there make sure it’s got simple ingredients and no preservatives. A yogurt ingredient label should have milk, a yogurt culture, and a few different bacteria. 

3. Buy Whole Milk Yogurt- I think it is much more natural to eat the whole food rather than take parts out of it. Like eating whole milk yogurt instead of low fat. Nature knows what it’s doing. That’s why whole milk yogurt contains lots of healthy fats and fat soluble vitamins that are great for your body. Also when you take the fat out, it doesn’t taste as good. That is a natural sign that food is lacking nutrients. To make up for this lack of flavor, sugar is usually added to the yogurt and as we know sugar can lead to a multitude of health problems. 

Now that you know the basics about finding a healthy probiotic filled yogurt, let’s get to cooking! As I mentioned above, today’s recipe is a yogurt bowl topped with roasted cinnamon sweet potatoes, bananas, berries, seeds, and nut butter. It makes for a delicious nutrient packed breakfast, perfect for fueling your body for the day. Anyways I hope that you enjoy this recipe as much as I do and I hope it brings health and happiness to you and your loved ones! 

With love from my kitchen to yours,

Kayley

P.S. My current favorite yogurt is Straus Whole Milk Plain European Style Yogurt! 

Nutrient Packed Morning Yogurt Bowl with Sweet Potatoes, Berries, Nut Butter, and Seeds

AuthorKayley O'Brien

Nutrition:

Sample Bowl–

Other Ingredients You Might Want to Use-

(3, 4)

Notes:

* Nutrition is based on the products I use. I provide a nutrition table so that you can quickly check to see if your food products match or so that you can easily calculate the nutrition for any changes you want to make to the recipe. I think this helps if you have very specific diet goals and/or fitness and/or health goals. I also wanted you to be able to see exactly where I get the numbers for my nutrition facts so that you can see that they are reliable and learn more about macro breakdowns of food.

*Also I only calculated half the oil because a lot of it sticks to the pan and you only end up eating about half of it.

Works Cited

1. Butler, Natalie. “Yogurt with Lactobacillus Acidophilus.” Healthline. 15 November 2018.https://www.healthline.com/health/food-nutrition/yogurt-with-lactobacillus-acidophilus#what-to-buy

2. “Live & Active Culture Yogurt.” aboutyogurt.com. Accessed 2 July 2019. http://aboutyogurt.com/live-culture

3. Nutritionix. Gladson. https://www.nutritionix.com/ Accessed 21 January 2019.

4. “Nutrition Label of yogurt.” Straus, Petaluma, CA, 2019.