Question: I like ice cream and eat it almost every day. Is there a kind of ice cream that tastes good and is still OK for your health?
Answer: Almost everyone likes ice cream. I know that I eat ice cream or frozen yogurt on a regular basis, but I am picky about the amount of fat and calories I consume. The problem is that many of the really "good" ice creams contain so much fat and so many calories that they are quite detrimental to a good diet.
A recent review of frozen desserts in the Nutrition Action Health Letter provided a guide to frozen desserts based on the amount of fat and calories in each. The top ratings went to frozen desserts with less than 300 calories and two grams of saturated fat per cup.
(Note: You should be aware that most product labels provide calories, saturated fat, calcium and other information based on a half cup. When eating ice cream, most people eat at least a cup — about two scoops — so they need to double the values to get a real sense of how good or bad the dessert might be.)
Super-fatty ice cream: Although "super fatty" is not used on the label, some premium ice creams contain a lot of at and many more calories than anyone needs. For instance, a cup of Ben & Jerry's World's Best Vanilla has 500 calories and 32 grams of fat, 22 of them saturated. A cup of Haagen-Dazs' Chocolate Peanut Butter has 720 calories and nearly 37 grams of fat.
Since most experts recommend a maximum of 20 grams of saturated fat for an entire day, a cup of this ice cream can max out your fat and saturated fat intake with just one helping.
Regular ice cream: Breyers is a typical "regular" ice cream. It has less fat than the higher-priced ice creams, but the vanilla version still has 280 calories and 18 grams of fat, 10 of them saturated, per cup. When Oreos, M&Ms, Snickers, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and other extras are added, the calories often climb to more than 300 (the fat goes up, too.) You can think of this ice cream as "sirloin steak in a cone."
Light ice cream: "Light" typically means that the level of fat is cut in half. Calories drop to about 200 for vanilla, but fancier flavors often have calorie counts of 300 per cup. Light ice creams rarely have more than six grams of saturate fat per cup, and some have only three or four — a level much better for your heart and arteries.
Frozen yogurt: You can't assume that frozen yogurt is low in calories or fat. Ben & Jerry's and Haagen-Dazs' frozen yogurts typically run from 350 calories to 450 calories per cup, with more moderate saturated fat levels from three to eight grams. Most frozen yogurts have slightly less fat and slightly more sugar than light ice creams.
Breyers Natural Vanilla, for example, has 240 calories and six grams of fat, three of them saturated, which gets it an honorable mention. Many frozen yogurts are low-fat or fat-free, which is even better.
Low-fat ice cream: Although difficult to find, there are a few good low-fat ice creams. Healthy Choice low-fat ice creams are tasty and have only four grams of total fat and 250 calories per cup.
Sorbet and sherbet: If you can do without the creaminess of ice cream, you could try sorbets. They are typically fat-free and contain only 150 calories to 200 calories per cup. Both sorbet and sherbet have lots of added sweetener.
Non-dairy: If you want to avoid dairy products, try a frozen dessert made from soy or rice. Many of them taste as good as ice cream and are often low in saturated fat. You won't get as much calcium, and the soy in them won't protect you from breast and prostate cancer, and some are high in calories.
Be careful when buying a milkshake. For example, Burger King's Old Fashioned Milkshake contains 700 calories and 41 grams of fat (26 of them saturated). An "Old Fashioned" is worse for your heart than eating a Whopper or a McDonald's Quarter Pounder with Cheese.
Wendy's Frosties and McDonald's shakes contain only about half the calories and a quarter of the saturated fat. Many places that make shakes from scratch will mix them with low-fat or no-fat ice cream and skim milk. In terms of health, it's worth the effort to check.
Garth Fisher is the former director of the Human Performance Research Center at Brigham Young University.