Incredibly thick (not me, the yoghurt!) (Danone Shape Fat Free Yoghurt)

Member Name: hypno06

Product:	Danone Shape Fat Free Yoghurt
Date:	09/03/09 (216 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A substantial yoghurt,

Disadvantages: Artificial bits added.

Yoghurts in our house never last very long. My children love them and so because of the number we get through, I tend to buy the value versions, otherwise my yoghurt bill alone would be enormous!

Last week, however, I sent Mr Hypno to the supermarket and he came home with 2 packs of 4 Shape yoghurts because they were on BOGOF. I think he also saw "branded" products as a bit of a treat too.....

These yoghurts are fat free, and claim to have a "hunger control formula" making you feel fuller for longer. Now, I have never felt full after eating a yoghurt, especially a fat free one, so I had my doubts.......but not enough to stop me bringing one into work for a mid morning snack.

I am training for the London Marathon at the moment, and as a result of the increasing number of miles I am plodding, I find that I am hungry for most of the day, and need to "graze" continually. Aware that this is probably not the right habit to be forming, and due to the increasing number of crumbs on my desk, I am trying to regulate that grazing into a mid morning snack to keep me going until lunchtime, and another in the afternoon to see me through until after my run, when I can have a proper meal.

So the promise of this yoghurt, sceptical though I was, to keep me feeling fuller for longer, was something I felt was appropriate right now!

I had the blueberry version, simply because that is the only one that was left in the fridge after the rest of my tribe had helped themselves.

On opening the yoghurt lid, you instantly see that this is a very thick and creamy yoghurt. So many "diet" or low fat yoghurts are fairly runny, and I find that quite unappetising, so it was a welcome sight to see such a thick yoghurt. Wonderfully purple in colour, and with definite fruit bits in sight too, it looked quite good.

This is certainly a thick and creamy consistency, and as a result it took me longer to eat than many other yoghurts. This meant that I was tricking my mind into thinking that I had eaten more than usual, simply because of the amount of time taken to eat it......perhaps this is one of the ways in which the "hunger control formula" works?

Like many diet yoghurts, this has a list of ingredients that do not appear appetising, such as guar gum, aspartame, acesulfame K and the like, but sadly that seems to be the norm with so called "healthy alternatives". I would say that you have to decide what it is you want from your yoghurt - natural ingredients, with a few extra calories and fat grammes, or low fat, low calorie with some artificial bits and bobs added in.

Anyway, back to my experience.......the flavour was certainly fruity, quite sharp, and not with the artificially sweet aftertaste that I was expecting. The thick creaminess of this particular yoghurt did not make it feel as though I was eating a low fat product, so all in all, on a taste/look/texture basis, I give it the thumbs up. It certainly had more appeal than the cheaper value yoghurts I normally buy.

Did it make me feel fuller for longer? Well, I had no urge to nip out to the newsagents before lunch and buy a sneaky packet of crisps, or to eat my sandwich early, and had my lunch at a very respectable 1pm. This might have been because I am very busy at work at the moment, and didn't have time to think about eating, or it might have been because of the secret formula in this yoghurt.......I'll never know.

What I CAN say, though, is that it was certainly satisfying, took a good amount of time to eat, so I appreciated the fact that I was taking in food, and tasted good.

I wouldn't normally pay full price for 4 of these, but would look to pick them up again when they are on offer in the future.

Suitable for vegetarians, but made on a line handling nuts and wheat.

Summary: Thick and creamy.....and rather nice!