Siggi Hilmarsson was raised in Iceland on a traditional Icelandic diet -- fish, potatoes, dense rye bread and plenty of skyr yogurt. After moving to the U.S. in his mid-20s to attend Columbia Business School, he become homesick for skyr, the traditional Icelandic yogurt he grew up with. He found yogurts in the U.S. too sweet and with too many ingredients. So he got busy and made his first yogurt batch in his apartment kitchen. That was December 2004.
"My great-grandma used to make skyr," said Hilmarsson, who spoke at the recent Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics annual meeting in Nashville. "I had to call her to find out the secret. I became obsessed with making it."
His goal was to replicate his childhood skyr -- with simple ingredients, not a lot of sugar -- which became his motto. He feels that philosophy applies to a lot of other foods as well.
Hilmarsson kept experimenting with his homemade yogurt, soon moving his operation to a local agricultural college in upstate New York. Within a year, he had quit his corporate job, set up yogurt production with a small dairy farm in Chenango County, New York, and started selling his products at an outdoor farmers market in New York City.
"Yogurt has a sugar problem," said Hilmarsson. "Coke has 39 grams of sugar; traditional U.S. yogurt can have 29 grams in a 6 ounce serving. The difference is people don't think about Coke for breakfast or as a health food, but they do yogurt. There's a disconnect with the amount of sugar."
He expanded the market for his high-protein, low-sugar yogurt to Whole Foods. In 10 years, his company is one of the fastest growing yogurts in the U.S., with 27 percent less sugar than any other brand, and in 90,000 stores.
"My philosophy is to eat food that makes you feel good, not just when you eat it, but 30, 79, 90, 120 minutes after you eat it -- a delayed gratification," said Hilmarsson. "We went through a lot of painful years to get where we are today. We're going to stick with what we know -- simple ingredients, not much sugar."
Q and A
Q: How often should I weigh myself to lose weight and then keep it off?
A: How often is likely different for each person, but overall research suggests that regular weighing can help you reach and maintain a healthy weight. A recent analyses of studies concluded that checking your weight somewhere between daily and weekly helps prevent weight gain and supports weight loss. Regular weighing can act both as a reminder to continue behavior changes you make and as a way of catching and reversing small weight gains before they become big ones
In one study of people trying to lose weight, those who checked their weight daily lost more weight and changed more eating and exercise habits even compared to people who checked several times a week. However, in studies like this, it's not clear whether checking weight more often led to more behavior change and weight loss, or whether the people more prepared to change behavior were the ones more consistent in weighing themselves. But it does no good to weigh yourself more than once a day; all you see are shifts in water balance. For some, this behavior can be a sign of developing an unhealthy obsession with weight.
Many factors influence whether weight checks help you. Don't use weight checks as fuel for self-criticism, but as feedback on the effects of recent eating and activity choices. In other words, it's not just getting a number that is helpful, but what you learn as you take a few minutes to think about why your weight did or did not change. Then make plans accordingly for behavior choices you want to make over the next few days.
Information courtesy of the American Institute for Cancer Research.
Recipe
Here's a recipe using Siggi's yogurt that's high in fiber and low in sugar.
PUMPKIN & SPICE OVERNIGHT OATS
1/3 cup old-fashioned oats
1/3 cup almond milk
1/3 cup Siggi's 0 percent plain yogurt
1/4 cup pure pumpkin puree
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Sprinkle of nutmeg to taste
Pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon maple syrup
Combine all ingredients in a container. Make sure it is mixed well. Cover and store in the refrigerator until the oats absorb all the liquid, at least four hours or overnight. Can be served warm or cold. Makes 1 serving.
Per serving: 190 calories, 12 g protein, 29 g carbohydrates, 7 g sugars, 3.5 g fat, 0 g cholesterol, 6 g fiber, 330 mg sodium.
Charlyn Fargo is a registered dietitian at Hy-Vee in Springfield, Illinois, and the media representative for the Illinois Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. For comments or questions, contact her at charfarg@aol.com or follow her on Twitter @Nutrition Rd.
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