What's the Scoop on Ice Cream?
Recently I saw how twenty-five years ago our former President Reagan declared July to be National Ice Cream Month (as if the jelly beans weren't enough to contribute to America's desire for sweets). The Mercury News boasted how popular ice-cream sales nationwide are at about $702, 858, 3000 just in the month of July. (They should have reminded us of the obesity and diabetic epidemic along with it.) Don't get me wrong here, I enjoy moderate amounts of ice cream myself now and then, but really, is there a need to push the sale of it, especially when there are viable great tasting alternatives?
Try deliciously creamy Fage fat free yogurt (it needs only a hint of sweetener; stevia is my choice for a trul low calorie natural sweetener) with fresh strawberries or blueberries. I can work that in my daily diet guilt free every single day with about 160 calories compared to probably more than double that considering ice cream serving sizes and flavors. (The serving size for regular ice cream is a half cup for about 150-160 calories, but who eats a mere half cup as a serving, or even just the plain varieties which can double or triple the amount of calories.) Fage yogurt and fruit gives me a real nutrition punch (and the natural benefit of probiotics to support the digestive tract) rather than just a bunch of empty sugar calories that I may end up feeling guilty about especially if I eat more than the tease of a half cup serving.
I've also been know to make my own natural smoothies/shakes with a frozen banana, vanilla extract, stevia, protein powder and ice. Yum! It truly is what you get used to. I literally haven't "craved" ice cream in years because I use great tasting substitutions.
What's your favorite "scoop solution"
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Posted by: Betty | Aug 21, 2009 6:35:52 PM
I like to make ice cream using buttermilk as the base. I usually mix the buttermilk with frozen or fresh fruit, add some sweetener and vanilla or lemon juice. This ice cream should not be kept more than a day in the freezer.
Posted by: Ben | Jul 12, 2009 8:27:17 PM
1 scoop Vanilla Protein (especially Casein), 1 serving Frozen Yogurt, 3/4 cup milk, 2-4 ice cubes (depending how thick you like it) and you have a milk shake.
Now all that's left is to add in the flavoring of your choice (or no flavor if you like vanilla). Throw in some berries, banana, extract, whatever you want.
Then to make it even more nutritious add flax seeds, wheat germ, wheat bran, whole oatmeal oats, spinach (1oz won't change the taste at all, promise!), carrots (again it won't change the taste at all!), squash (won't change the taste!).
Try any combination of the above. The oats and flax will add a bit of a gritty texture to the shake so it won't be for everyone. I personally like the grittiness. But throw it up here and check out the nutrition... it's amazingly healthy and VERY yummy.
Posted by: Elaine Murphy | Jul 12, 2009 11:47:04 AM
Hi Julie, thank you for all your comments. I've never been a big fan of artificial sweeteners because they are, well, artificial. It usually comes out later about how bad they are. I was in a continuing education class and talked to a doctor about it and he even said it was linked up to cancer. Here's a link on a book about it with some medical references: http://www.splendaexposed.com/articles/2006/01/splenda_case_hi_1.html. If you use it, at least use it in moderation. Stevia is made from a plant source and is much better in my opinion. You can get it in health food stores and Truvia (brand name) is now available in some grocery stores and has been finally approved by the FDA.
Elaine
Posted by: Julie Eley | Jul 12, 2009 3:29:51 AM
Hi. How true on the ice cream month and jelly beans, and the obesity and diabetic epidemics! We all enjoy ice cream once in a while, but I agree with you about Pushing the sale of it with this problem when there are other great tasting alternatives as you said. I haven't had Fage. I use Splenda as a sweetener and love it. What's your take on that? Are there health concerns with that, as well? I haven't tried Stevia. Where can you get that? Yes, no-one I know eats 1/2 cup of ice cream! There are other alternatives that taste good and are much better for you. The smoothies and shakes are great. I think it's finding the right ones for each individual. I try to help others at my blog: http://www.weightlosstipsthatworkfast.com on Natural and Healthy alternatives to the quick fixes everyone looks for now. I'd appreciate your thoughts and suggestions, and thank you for your insight. It's always good seeing true 'assistance' blogs. Thank you.
Posted by: Maha | Jul 12, 2009 1:38:29 AM
I'm fortunate in that I've never been a huge ice cream fan, so I rarely crave it. I enjoy it on occasion, usually in the winter so it doesn't melt so quickly. However, since joining weight watchers, I've discovered that green tea ice cream is low in points and even has fiber. I can't vouch for whether it actually contains green tea though. Also at my local Asian market are these balls of ice cream wrapped in some kind of slightly sweet gooey layer of something. Three of these beauties are just one point. It's enough for a sweet treat now and then. And I'm totally with you on the Stevia and greek yogurt and fruit. It's super yummy!
Posted by: Elaine Murphy | Jul 11, 2009 4:30:12 PM
Hi Sam. Agave actually has about the same calories as white sugar. And, according to Dr. Ingrid Kohlstadt, a fellow of the American College of Nutrition and an associate faculty member at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health states that: “[Agave is] almost all fructose, highly processed sugar with great marketing.” Personally I'd stick with stevia, it has even fewer calories and so far seems to be a natural product, really "clean" without any of the complications from sugar or fructose. You might check out Dr. Mercola on his web site. He's a very holistic doctor who has has some very strong opinions on these kinds of things, and is usually backed with medical references.
-Elaine
