Each week, we'll be offering original recipes and unique ways to use those Super Foods that pack nutritional power. After all, you are what you eat -- make it count!

If you scan a list of Superfoods, typically listed by doctors, nutritionists, and health magazines in alphabetical order, it will take a while before you land on yogurt. It's usually last on the list. But it's definitely not the least of these foods that allegedly enhance health, defy aging, and impede the progression of all sorts of illness and disease.

Just consider the dairy protein, the calcium, the friendly bacteria, the scrumptious taste, and the creamy texture and you've got one super health food. Add vitamins, fiber, essential fatty acids, antioxidants, and probiotics -- intended to help control both weight and regularity -- and WOW, yogurt packs quite a nutritional punch. Go organic, and you'll enjoy less sugar; fat; and artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives.

Twelve daily ounces of yogurt in your regular diet is all you need, and it's good for people of all ages -- especially those wishing to shed a few pounds. The authors of a 2003 study at the University of Tennessee monitored 34 obese people on a low-calorie diet. Sixteen were given 400 to 500 mg of calcium in the form of a daily supplement, and 18 ate a diet higher in calcium -- 1,100 mg per day -- in the form of yogurt. After 12 weeks, both groups lost fat. But the yogurt group lost more -- 10 pounds of fat to the supplement group's six pounds. Those who ate yogurt watched their waists shrink by more than an inch and a half. The supplement-taking subjects lost only a quarter of an inch.

Yogurt, because of it's fermented and cultured properties, is one of the foods researchers now call "functional" foods -- they function to actively promote optimal health. This is why you should give yogurt a try. And what better time than the present. Holidays are perfect for experimenting with new creations and introducing new dishes.

Are you ready to brave some new yogurt recipes? Here are a few you might try.

Any-Time-Of-The-Day Parfait
Apple Yogurt Dip
Low-fat Hummus with Yogurt
Vegan Hip Whip and Yogurt Pie
Yogurt and Cucumber Dip