In the low carb universe there's always a huge controversy over how to count yogurt carbs. Full count, half count or zero count?  I've read about the "yogurt exception" where some think that most of the lactose is eaten by bacteria so you count fewer carbs.

Here's my take:

When food is lab tested to get nutritional label info there's XXX amount of carbs, fat, protein, vitamins and trace minerals present. They don't whisk a specially selected yogurt container to the lab, it's bought off the shelf just like a consumer.

Whatever digestive "activity" the bacteria had going is done. If the "enzyme bacteria" activity continued as some suggest, then commercial yogurt would taste less sweet each day, right?

Try this experiment and see for yourself:

Buy 2 identical yogurts (your usual brand and flavor) and leave them in the refrigerator. Eat one on Day 1, eat the other on Day 14. If the bacteria continued feeding on the sugar at an accelerated speed, then the Day 14 yogurt should taste less sweet?. It might actually taste sour if the bacteria are consuming the lactose and reproducing insatiable spawn who also need to eat.

OK, what do they taste like? Day 1 and 14 taste identical. No mass quantity of sugars were consumed during the 14 days. No yogurt exception.

Or, call on Alton Brown of the Food Network TV program, Good Eats. He did a show on yogurt and says the 2 bacteria types stop working within XXX hours. I never believed in the yogurt exception so I didn't pay attention to the actual hours, but it was a short number.

Let's not ignore that carbs (sugar) come in many forms in commercial yogurt: lactose, sucrose, fructose, corn syrup, tapioca and potato starch to name a few. The live yogurt bacteria aren't munching through it all.

Bottom line is that all yogurt carbs should be counted. I don't like most yogurt for Kimkins diet because this is where the yocheese desserts sprout forth and calories pile as high as a yogurt & fruit cream parfait.

Don't cut your weight loss success short by seeking out "fuzzy math". If you eat it, count it.

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