Summer is finally here and it is the season to celebrate mint chocolate chip, rocky road and Cherry Garcia. Or perhaps you'd rather have a non-dairy scoop made from soy or rice. Before you send your diet into a tailspin, our nutrition expert, Leslie Beck, is here to give us the low-down on frozen desserts.
Q: Just how bad is ice cream when it comes to calories and fat?
If you're watching your weight or controlling your blood cholesterol, splurging on high-fat ice cream isn't recommended on a regular basis. And if you consider that a one-half cup (125 ml) serving of most Haagen-Dazs ice cream flavours deliver more saturated fat than a McDonald's Big Mac, ice cream can be a major splurge. I think many people don't realize just how big a splurge ice cream can be. Here's a look at the top four most decadent choices I could find at the grocery store:
Ice cream: sinful indulgences
Per 125 ml
Calories Fat (g) Sugar (g)
B&J Peanut Butter Tracks 380 25 27
Haagen-Dazs Cookie Dough Dynamo 330 21 25
PC Chocolate Fudge Crackle 200 12 17
Nestle Vanilla Fudge Drumstick 180 8 21
A standard full-fat ice cream like Breyers Classic or Nestle Parlour contains roughly 140 calories, 6 grams of fat and 16 grams of sugar (4 teaspoons worth) per 125 ml serving. Add-ins like chocolate chips, fudge, cookie pieces, and candy boost the nutrition numbers.
Premium brands such as Haagen-Dazs and Ben and Jerry's often hit 300 calories per 125 ml serving and have as many as 25 grams of fat (at least half of them saturated) and 28 grams of sugar (7 teaspoons worth).
Why the difference between brands? There's one ingredient you won't find listed on ice cream labels: air. Premium brands of ice cream (and frozen yogurt) that are dense and harder to scoop contain less air than inexpensive brands. Less air means more ice cream per 125 ml serving. In other words, you get more of everything: calories, protein, fat, sugar, and vitamins and minerals.
Q: If you love ice cream, what's a healthier choice?
Low fat, or light, ice creams deliver roughly one-half to two-thirds less fat than their premium counterparts but the calorie savings aren't always as big as you might think, thanks to an extra hit of sugar. President's Choice Chocolate ice cream has 190 calories, 11 grams of fat (4.5 grams as saturated fat) and 11 grams of sugar. A similar serving of President's Choice Blue Menu Light Chocolate has 140 calories, 5 grams of fat (3.5 grams as saturated) and 15 grams of sugar - an extra teaspoon worth.
No sugar added ice creams are sweetened with artificial sweeteners such as sucralose, sugar alcohols, and aspartame and contain anywhere from 2 to 7 grams of sugar per serving. Keep in mind sugar-free doesn't mean calorie-free. Most brands pack in 130 calories per 125 ml.
Chapman's makes lactose-free, gluten-free and nut-free ice creams for people with food intolerances and allergies. You can even buy organic ice cream from Mapleton and Organic Meadow.
Ice cream: guilt-free indulgences
Per 125 ml
Calories Fat (g) Sugar (g)
Breyers Classic Light Vanilla 110 4 14
Chapman's No Sugar Added Maple Walnut 120 7 5
Compliments Frozen Yogurt Strawberry 110 2.5 14
PC Blue Menu Raspberry Sherbet 110 1 17
Q: What about non-dairy frozen desserts? Are they healthy choices?
If you're a vegetarian, you can choose a non-dairy frozen dessert made from soy, rice or hemp. While these products certainly slash saturated fat (because they don't contain milk or cream), no all are low in fat. Tofutti Vanilla, made with soy protein and tofu, drives 52 percent of its calories from fat, mainly corn oil.
Cool Hemp derives its unsaturated fat from hemp seeds, a good source of a heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acid called alpha linolenic acid (ALA). A 125 ml serving of Cool Hemp Natural supplies 1.3 grams of ALA. (Adult women need 1.1 grams of ALA per day and men require 1.6 grams.)
Q: Any label reading tips for buying ice cream?
If ice cream is a regular part of your family's summer diet, read labels before you buy.
- Check saturated fat. To keep your intake of cholesterol-raising saturated fat to a minimum look for brands with no more than 3 grams per 125 ml serving. Almost all light and fat-free ice creams, frozen yogurts, sherbet, sorbet and non-dairy frozen desserts quality as do a few brands of regular ice cream.
- Practice portion control. A pint of Haagen-Dazs is not intended to be a single serving. Instead, visualize half a tennis ball. That's what one-half cup (125 ml) of ice cream looks like and it's the amount the nutrition facts on the label are based on. Eat your ice cream from a small bowl rather that straight out of the container.
- Look for calcium. Look for brands that have at least 10 percent of the Daily Value for calcium.
- Go natural. Choose brands with fewer ingredients, ideally less than eight. Fewer ingredients usually means fewer synthetic additives.
