Frozen Berry Yoghurt - Healthy Alternative to Ice Cream
You can adjust ratios of yoghurt to berries and adapt flavourings to suit but here is a basic recipe for a really easy alternative to ice cream.
Serves 4
Blueberries, Blackberries and Raspberries
Ingredients
250g frozen berries
250g plain bio-live yoghurt
1 tbsp honey Optional
1 tsp lemon juice & zest
1 tsp vanilla extract
Method
Whizz together in a blender. You can serve straight away (won’t quite be ice cream texture but delicious) or freeze for later.
Top tip:
Larger supermarkets sell packs of frozen berries, which are handy and much cheaper than buying imported fresh berries in winter. During the summer months if you can get to a pick-your-own farm you can pick fresh berries and freeze yourself.
If you don’t have a freezer you can use fresh berries and yoghurt to make a smoothie instead.
Benefits of Berries
Berries are very rich in antioxidants which help keep free radicals (produced naturally in the body as a by-product of making energy) under control. If free radical numbers get too high they can damage the body so consuming plenty of antioxidant-rich foods helps reduce oxidative stress and DNA damage.
Berries contain important antioxidants, such as anthocyanins, ellagic acid, lutein, lycopene and resveratrol, which may reduce cancer risk, support skin integrity and help reduce inflammation. Berries are also rich in a special class of antioxidants called polyphenols - these are an important food source for our friendly bacteria so eating berries are not only good for you but for your gut bacteria too.
Although berries taste sweet, they are actually relatively low in sugar compared to other fruits. The fibre helps slow the release of the sugars they do contain down so they are a great choice for a dessert.
Berries also provide lots of important nutrients including vitamin C, vitamin K, manganese, selenium and folate.
