I scream, You scream, We all scream for Ice Cream

 

Did you know that this Sunday is National Ice Cream Day??  Yep, in 1984, President Ronald Reagan designated July as National Ice Cream Month and the third Sunday of the month as National Ice Cream Day.  And did you know that the average American goes consumes almost 5 gallons of ice cream each year? Crazy.  However, I know personally my family and I will be working our way towards that goal this weekend.

The question for me however (and I’m sure some of our readers) is how do I make a healthy decision as it relates to ice cream?  Especially when there are terms like premium , low fat, sugar free, vegan and many more on the packaging.   So how do you choose best one for your family?

Here are some tips we found:

• Choose an ice-cream with less than 125 calories and 5 g of total fat and 15 grams or less sugar.
• Frozen yogurts are more creamy than low fat ice cream and half a cup of frozen yogurt contains only 100 calories and less than 2 g of saturated fats.  (But if you are looking for probiotics benefits of yogurt you may be in for disappointment as most of the frozen yogurts do not contain active bacterial culture).
• Vegan or people allergic to dairy can opt sorbets  or ice cream made from soy milk.  Sorbets are fat free and dairy free however they may not be low in calories (due to being made from  mostly fruits and sugars.
•  Labels like low fat , diet, diabetic friendly may not always be low in calories too, so always review the nutrition label.  Also many of these have artificial sweetners which you may not be comfortable with your family consumming.
• Remember your portion sizes… A pint of ice cream is not a single serving  :)  it’s FOUR servings.
• Choose vitamin-packed fruit purée (not fruit “syrup”), fresh fruit, or nuts, which contain healthy fat, protein and fiber over toppings such as chocolate chips, candies and sprinkles which increase your calories without any nutritional benefits.
• Serve your ice cream in smaller bowls and eat with tea spoon or ice cream spoon rather than normal spoon to take smaller bites.
• Invest in your own ice cream maker if you want to have total control over the ingredients and calories in ice cream

What will my family be consuming?  Well if my dad was in town I would be requesting his homemade strawberry ice cream which tastes like a little bit of heaven.

But since he’s traveling the remote sections of the world right now – My family and I will  just settle for an all natural ice cream brand that’s ingredients list is easy for me to understand (cream, sugar and milk), while making sure we practice portion control.

Send us your photos of your family celebrating National Ice Cream Day or share them with us on Facebook…  we hope you have a fun weekend!!