'Healthy' Ice Cream Is Dumb. Long Live Real Ice Cream.

Chris Mohr, PhD, RD

July 2, 2020 6:28 PM

I remember it clearly. It was the 1990s. I had to lose weight to play football and I went out with some friends to our local ice cream shop near my house.

'Healthy' Ice Cream Is Dumb. Eat Real Ice Cream.

Torn by the idea of not being with friends, but confident I shouldnt have all those calories and fat in real ice cream (again, it was the 90s), I convinced my dad to stop at a store to buy me something to eat while I longingly watched my friends enjoy their freshly churned goodness.

So I plowed through an entire pint of a popular low-fat, artificially sweetened, artificially flavored pint of frozen dessert. My gut wretched the entire night. So much so that its stuck with me for decades.

Fast forward to today and now you can find every kind of alternative ice cream in the store you could possibly need thanks to nutrition fads and dreams of six-pack abs. Want high-protein? Need gluten-free? Looking for a lactose-free, sugar-free, almost-calorie-free frozen treat? The current avalanche of non-dairy ice creams is enough to give you a brain freeze.

And also a health halo.

Im here to say, that as a registered dietitian , barring any dairy or other allergies, you should be eating real ice cream.

Young couple arm in arm eating ice cream in amusement park at night, Santa Monica, California, USA BusinessInsider USA Images

Real ice cream is so much better than the fake stuff. Fake ice creams are full of water, thickeners, and chemical sweetenersand also strangely lacking in something else: satisfaction.

In terms of calorie counts, I would rather not even have people counting. The shorter the ingredients listand the fewer health claims on the labelthe better off you are.

Of course, its important to also monitor overall portions when it comes to ice cream, but it is also important to do the same with any food. Portions do matter, but the enjoymentor what Ill call conscious indulgenceof the highest-quality foods are so much more rewarding.

Fellow registered dietitian and cookbook author Dana White , agrees with me: You dont get that same experience in a pint full of imposter ingredients that set out (and fail) to do what ice cream does so simply. Im always suggesting people seek out the highest-quality, real ingredients and that goes for real ice cream as well.

Smiling Friends Eating Ice Cream and Holding Cones in Hands BusinessInsider USA Images

Im so committed to the value of enjoying real ice cream that my wife and I surprise our kids with ice cream at bedtime at least once per summer. Well pick a night, put our kids to bed wait about 10 minutes, so theyre not quite asleep, then run into their room and scream PAJAMA RAID! and take them out for ice cream.

Real ice cream, which always delivers.

Disclaimer: Chris Mohr was once a spokesperson forThe Dairy Council, but he is no longer.

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Chris Mohr, PhD, RD