Are Chobani Flips Good for Weight Loss?
Chobani Flips aren’t great for losing weight because they have about 15 grams of sugar in each serving. That’s a lot of sugar when you’re trying to lose weight.
I’m a nutritionist and I really like Greek yogurt too. But it’s healthiest when it’s plain, just like it comes naturally.
Plain Greek yogurt usually has only 5 – 6 grams of sugar, and that’s just from the milk, not added sugar.
Chobani Flips, on the other hand, have a lot of extra sugar added to them, plus other ingredients to make them taste better.
So, basically, Chobani Flips is a processed kind of Greek yogurt that doesn’t help much with weight loss.
If you are still here, stick around because I want to make sure you understand why these processed yogurts aren’t good for weight loss. I’ll explain it all in this article. Come on.
Nutritional Value Of Chobani Flips
Chobani Flips come in many flavors, and it wouldn’t be right to just talk about one that has a lot of sugar. So, I decided to list all the flavors they have. This way, you can see everything in one place. Here’s what I found.
Note that the nutritional info is sourced directly from the official website of Chobani.
| Chobani Flip Flavor | Serving Size | Total Calories (kcal) | Carbs (g) | Sugar (g) | Protein (g) | Fat (g) | Fiber (g) |
| S’more S’mores | 4.5 | 150 | 21 | 17 | 9 | 3.5 | <1 |
| Almond Coco Loco | 4.5 | 190 | 21 | 18 | 10 | 8 | 2 |
| Key Lime Crumble | 4.5 | 160 | 22 | 17 | 9 | 4 | <1 |
| Salted Caramel Crunch | 4.5 | 150 | 21 | 16 | 10 | 3.5 | <1 |
| Cookies & Cream | 4.5 | 150 | 22 | 18 | 9 | 3.5 | <1 |
| Peanut Butter Cup | 4.5 | 180 | 23 | 20 | 10 | 6 | <1 |
| Strawberry Cheesecake | 4.5 | 150 | 20 | 16 | 9 | 3.5 | <1 |
| Cookie Dough | 4.5 | 160 | 21 | 19 | 9 | 4.5 | <1 |
| Perfect Peach Cobbler | 4.5 | 150 | 20 | 17 | 9 | 3.5 | <1 |
| Mint Chocolate Chip | 4.5 | 160 | 22 | 17 | 9 | 4.5 | 1 |
| Peanut Butter Dream | 4.5 | 180 | 20 | 17 | 10 | 6 | 1 |
| Chocolate Haze Craze | 4.5 | 190 | 20 | 18 | 10 | 8 | 2 |
| Red Velvet Cupcake | 4.5 | 160 | 22 | 18 | 9 | 4 | <1 |
| Coconut Caramel Cookie | 4.5 | 170 | 22 | 18 | 9 | 5 | <1 |
| Coffee Brownie Bliss | 4.5 | 160 | 22 | 19 | 9 | 3.5 | <1 |
| Cinnamon French Toast | 4.5 | 160 | 24 | 18 | 9 | 3.5 | <1 |
| Peppermint Perfection | 4.5 | 150 | 19 | 15 | 10 | 4.5 | 1 |
| Boston Cream Pie | 4.5 | 170 | 22 | 18 | 9 | 5 | <1 |
| Lemon Meringue Pie | 4.5 | 160 | 20 | 16 | 9 | 5 | <1 |
| Rocky Road | 4.5 | 170 | 19 | 15 | 9 | 7 | 1 |
Potential Benefits Of Chobani Flips
Even though Chobani Flips doesn’t have many benefits, there’s one that’s worth talking about.
They’re High in Protein
The main benefit, especially when thinking about weight loss, is that they’re high in protein.
Yes, they’re high in sugar, but they’re still Greek yogurt. Greek yogurt has more protein because it’s made by taking out a lot of the liquid and other stuff from regular yogurt.
This leaves you with a thicker yogurt that has about twice as much protein as regular yogurt. And protein is really important for weight loss.
It helps make sure you’re losing fat and not muscle. Eating enough protein not only helps you hold on to the muscle you have but also builds more.
Downsides of Chobani Flips For Weight Loss
There are three major downsides of this product, Let’s start with the first one.
They are high in Sugar
While learning more about Chobani Flips, I came across a Reddit thread where someone asked if they’re okay with weight loss. I found an answer that I agree with, and I’ll explain why in detail. You can see the answer in the image below.
Here’s the science behind it: When you eat Greek yogurt with a lot of sugar, like Chobani Flips, the sugar starts a chain reaction in your body.
After you eat it, the sugar quickly turns into glucose in your blood. This makes your pancreas release insulin, which helps your cells use glucose for energy.
But, if you eat too much sugar, your blood sugar can drop quickly after the insulin does its job.
This drop, known as a ‘sugar crash,’ can make you feel hungry again and crave more sweet stuff, leading to overeating.
Eating too much sugar often can also cause insulin resistance. This means your body doesn’t respond to insulin as well, and glucose stays in your blood instead of getting used by cells.
This can lead to higher blood sugar and more fat storage, especially around your belly.
For weight loss, this is a problem because it makes it harder to lose weight and you might even gain more fat.
It has a lot of flavor-enhancing ingredients
Chobani Flips have a lot more ingredients than plain Greek yogurt. This is because they’re made to be a special, tasty treat. Plain Greek yogurt is simple.
It’s just basic yogurt that you can add flavors to or eat as it is. But Chobani Flips are different. They’re meant to be a quick, yummy snack.
They mix Greek yogurt with things like lemon juice concentrate, cocoa butter, fruit pectin, and other artificial flavors to make it taste like dessert. These extra ingredients make it sweeter, change the texture, and add more flavor.
This also helps it stay good longer on the shelf and comes in many different tastes for different people.
Here is an image directly taken from Chobani’s official website for the key lime pie flavor.
Here is an image of the ingredient list of Amazon fresh plain Greek yogurt.
The problem with Chobani flavored yogurt having more ingredients than plain Greek yogurt is that it’s more like a dessert than actual Greek yogurt.
As you can see in the pictures, real Greek yogurt should only have one ingredient: cultured pasteurized skim milk.
But Chobani Flips has a long list of extra ingredients that make it super tasty, almost like a treat that makes you overeat. As a nutritionist, I believe that losing weight isn’t just about shedding pounds.
It’s about changing bad eating habits to good ones. Part of this is eating foods that are close to their natural state, which Chobani Flips aren’t.
They are high in calories
A non-fat Greek yogurt usually has about 80 – 100 calories per serving. Chobani Flips have more, around 150 – 200 calories.
The difference in calories isn’t huge, but a lot of these extra calories in Chobani Flips come from sugars and other ingredients.
It’s important to remember that not all calories are the same. For example, 100 calories from vanilla ice cream and 100 calories from a caprese salad affect your body differently.
Ice cream can quickly raise your blood sugar, causing an insulin spike and then a sugar crash, among other issues. On the other hand, a caprese salad, especially one with lots of green leafy vegetables, has the opposite effect.
Dr. Rob Lustig has a lecture explaining why a calorie isn’t just a calorie, which is really helpful to understand this better.
So, 100 calories from plain Greek yogurt and 150 calories from flavored yogurt affect your body differently.
The flavored one can cause a blood sugar spike. Plain yogurt has less impact because lactose, the sugar in milk, has a low glycemic index and load, meaning it doesn’t spike your blood sugar like added sugars do.
Tips for Adding Chobani Flips To Your Weight Loss Diet
So if you reached this far and still want to have your flips no matter what. Here is what you can do.
Eat it in the Morning If you Have to
After a long night’s sleep, your body is in what’s called a catabolic state. This means it has used up its stores of glycogen and protein.
Glycogen is the glucose stored in your muscles and liver. So, while you were sleeping, your body used the energy from your last meal and its glycogen stores.
After 7-9 hours of sleep, these stores are pretty much empty. According to Gabrielle Lyon, the morning is a crucial time for your body to get protein to start building muscle again.
If you want to eat Chobani Flips, the morning is a good time to do it. Have it with your omelet or protein pancakes to get the most benefit. Just be careful not to eat too much sugar.
That’s why I suggest protein pancakes instead of ones with lots of maple syrup.
Also Read: Are Pancakes Good For Weight Loss?
Eat it As a Pre-Post Workout Meal If You Have to
Let’s say you go to the gym and have a really tough workout. Maybe you do cardio some days and resistance training on others, always making it harder over time.
This is different from people who only walk or do light workouts at home. Of course, this depends on if you have any injuries or health issues. But if you’re just overweight with no injuries, you should be able to do moderately hard workouts.
When you work out hard, like lifting weights or doing squats, you create tiny tears in your muscles. This is actually good because it’s how muscles get stronger. But, your muscles need protein to repair and get stronger.
After a tough workout, your muscles are a bit damaged, and you’ve used up a lot of your energy from carbs. This is a time when eating a tasty snack like Chobani Flips can be okay if you really want to.
It doesn’t matter if it’s before or after your workout. People used to think you needed protein right after working out, but recent research shows it’s not that strict.
Whether you have your protein half an hour before or two hours after your workout, it still works. There is a best time to eat protein after working out, but it’s a bigger window than we used to think.
Control Your Portion If You Eat it At Other Times
If the times I mentioned earlier don’t work for you, then the next best thing is to watch how much Chobani Flips you eat.
For instance, if you want to have Chobani Flips as a midday snack, I’d suggest eating only half of the serving size on the nutrition label.
This way, you only get half the sugar, which isn’t as bad as eating the full serving. By doing this, you’re not overloading your body with a bunch of added sugar and other ingredients.
You’re giving it a smaller, more controlled amount, which is better. Remember, ‘better’ is the key word here. Don’t get me wrong, it’ll still raise your blood sugar, but not as much as if you ate the whole thing.
Alternatives To Chobani Flips for Weight Loss
There are much better alternatives to flips including options from Chobani itself.
Chobani Zero Sugar Yogurt
You might not know this, but Chobani also has a Greek yogurt with no sugar.
They sweeten it with things called allulose and monk fruit, which are like artificial sweeteners but don’t raise your blood sugar.
So, you could switch to this zero-sugar version instead of the Flips to avoid extra sugar.
But, it’s important to know that even though it doesn’t have sugar, it still has a lot of other ingredients to make it taste good. It’s not as plain and simple as regular Greek yogurt.
Oikos Triple Zero Greek Yogurt
The ‘Triple Zero’ in Oikos means it has no sugar, no fat, and no artificial sweeteners. This is another good option. It’s packed with protein and has almost no sugar.
I’ve written more about Oikos Triple Zero in a detailed post, which you can read by clicking here.
But, like the Chobani yogurt, Oikos also adds stuff to improve the taste. So, if you’re allergic to anything or sensitive to certain ingredients, it’s a good idea to read the nutrition label carefully.
Plain Greek Yogurt
I definitely have to include plain Greek yogurt as an option. Personally, I think it’s the best alternative.
It’s very natural, low in sugar and calories, and doesn’t have all those extra flavoring ingredients that other yogurts have. You can make it taste better in your own way.
I usually recommend adding some own fresh fruit like grapes, blueberries, or strawberries. Just a small amount is enough to sweeten it without adding a lot of calories.
You can also throw in some nuts and seeds if you want to add some healthy fats.
Conclusion
So, Chobani Flips aren’t good for weight loss because they’re a processed type of Greek yogurt. To be good for losing weight,
Greek yogurt should only have natural sugars from lactose and no added sugar. It also needs to be low in calories.
Chobani Flips don’t meet these criteria because they have added sugar and are higher in calories.”
FAQ
Is Chobani yogurt good for losing weight?
Chobani yogurt can be good for losing weight, especially the plain or low-sugar varieties, as they are high in protein.
Is Chobani Flip low fat?
Chobani Flip is not low-fat. It contains regular fat content from yogurt.
How much sugar is in Chobani flips?
Chobani Flips contain about 15 grams of sugar per serving.
Do Chobani flips have artificial sweeteners?
Chobani Flips do not have artificial sweeteners. They contain added sugars for flavor.