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By Diane Griffith, HealthAtoZ writer
You deserve a treat every now and then - and who doesn't love ice cream?
Just beware of those super-sized, super-premium, create-your-own ice cream concoctions. One ice cream chain claims that "friends don't let friends eat grocery store ice cream." The truth may be that eating grocery store ice cream is less damaging to your waistline and your heart. Portion sizes continue to grow, and nutrition labels aren't available to guide us at the ice cream counter.
Super-sized creations
An example is the Baskin Robbins® large vanilla shake. It contains 1,070 calories and 32 grams of saturated fat - which is worse for your heart than eating three Quarter Pounders®.
A chocolate-dipped waffle cone from Ben & Jerry's® with nothing in it has 320 calories - and half a day's worth of saturated fat. That's the same as eating a half-pound rack of barbecued ribs. Want to add a scoop of Chunky Monkey®? That brings you to 820 calories and 30 grams of saturated fat - or a full rack of ribs.
The Häagen-Dazs Mint Chip Dazzler® - complete with three scoops of mint chip ice cream, hot fudge, Oreos®, chocolate sprinkles and whipped cream - has about 1,300 calories and 38 grams of saturated fat. That's equal to a T-bone steak, a Caesar salad and a baked potato with sour cream.
The Cold Stone Creamery's® Mud Pie Mojo® is made with coffee ice cream, almonds, Oreos, chocolate fudge, peanut butter and whipped cream. It weighs in at 1,180 calories and 26 grams of saturated fat - the equivalent of two Pizza Hut Pepperoni Personal Pan Pizzas®.
One scoop of Cold Stone's ice cream has about 380 calories. Each mix-in of cookies, candies, syrup and nuts adds another 100 to 150 calories. A waffle cone adds another 160. If dipped in chocolate, the cone alone has 330 calories and 12 grams of saturated fat.
Then there's the Friendly's Super Candy Shop Sundae®. It has three scoops of ice cream, peanut butter sauce, hot fudge, marshmallow, whipped cream and sprinkles, and is topped with Reeses Pieces® candy. The 1,300 calories and 39 grams of saturated fat in this sundae equal two artery-choking 12-ounce New York strip steaks.
Frozen yogurt
Because ice cream is so high in calories, you may prefer TCBY®. Nonfat yogurt is just that, fat-free - but that doesn't make it calorie-free. As long as you don't overdo it, nonfat yogurt is much better for your arteries and your waistline than regular ice cream.
Watch out for TCBY's "96 percent fat-free yogurt." It isn't fat-free at all. Whole milk is "96 percent fat-free," but it has 8 grams of fat per serving. Two-percent milk, which most people think of as "low fat," has 5 grams of fat per serving. According to the FDA, the only types of milk that truly are low-fat and may be labeled that way are 1-percent and skim (or fat-free) milk.
Other options
So what do you do if you love ice cream but don't want the fat and calories? If nonfat yogurt isn't your thing, there are other choices. A healthier option is to buy ice cream at the supermarket. You can choose from a wide variety of products, from fat-free to light to sugar-free to regular to super-premium. Comparing Nutrition Facts labels will help you make your choices wisely. You'll be able to avoid the supersizing and the extras, and control your own calorie count.
If you still prefer going out for ice cream, remember to keep it healthy. Stick to yogurt, sorbets, low-fat ice cream or ices, and skip the toppings.
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External Sources
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Center for Science in the Public Interest
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Food and Drug Administration
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