Cara Stewart, RD, LDN, member of the Penn Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery team, explains how to incorporate ice cream into a healthy diet. Whether you prefer chocolate, vanilla or a specialty flavor like mint chocolate chip, nothing screams summer like a delicious ice cream cone.
Well, get out your scooper, folks, because ice cream is no longer on the "do not eat" list for people trying to lose weight.
While ice cream can be loaded with calories, saturated fat and sugar, a variety of reduced-fat and light options are now available, which means you can enjoy this summertime treat without sabotaging your diet.
It's easy to go overboard once you start eating ice cream. To prevent overeating, use a small spoon to savor every bite and scoop your ice cream into a bowl instead of eating directly from the container. Another option is to purchase individually packaged treats like ice cream sandwiches or ice cream bars.
Always remember to check out the nutrition label before you dig into your ice cream treat. Even some ice cream varieties with the label "light" can be deceiving, which underscores the importance of reading the nutrition facts. Stick to nutrition labels that follow these guidelines:
- 120 calories or less
- 4 grams of total fat or less
- 3 grams of saturated fat or less
- 15 grams of sugar or less (equal to approximately 3 teaspoons of table sugar)
These are examples of healthy ice cream choices:
- Breyers® Double Churned light ice cream
- Edy's® fat free frozen yogurt or Slow Churned light ice cream
- Turkey Hill® fat free frozen yogurt
- Whole Fruit® no sugar added sorbet
- Skinny Cow® low fat fudge bars or ice cream sandwiches
- Healthy Choice® fudge bars
- Rice Dream® frozen yogurt
- Cara Stewart, RD, LDN
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