With the heat they start to crave ice cream, but… are there healthy ice creams? I have good news, yes!

Do healthy ice cream really exist?

A few days ago I was reading this article  that talks about ice creams and if children can or should take them. And the truth is that I was perplexed when reading things like (and I quote verbatim) ” Whether creamy or in the form of a refreshing pole, they are a rich source of nutrients ” or “they are recommended in balanced and healthy diets ” and ” ice cream has many benefits for the health of the little ones because they provide them with many nutrients ”and she was even more surprised to see the source that wrote those lines.

A reference hospital such as the Hospital de San Juan de Dios in Barcelona cannot promote the consumption of these products, much less to children. I am the first to defend that a child eat ice cream, but at a specific moment, sporadically and always making it clear that it is an unhealthy food for occasional consumption. Not confusing the population and cataloging it almost as compulsory consumption.

Types of ice cream

Why are they sporadic foods? It certainly doesn’t have to be this way, it will always depend on the type of ice cream. To do this, let’s see what types of ice cream there are and which are the most recommended:

• Cream or milk ice cream. Made from water, milk and its derivatives, such as cream, butter, powdered milk, sugar and fats. In addition, they can incorporate other ingredients such as eggs, chocolate, nuts and additives. Those made of cream usually have 8% dairy fat and those made of milk, meanwhile, 2.5%. In this way, they provide your children between 100 and 300 calories, which is between 15 and 20% of the total daily calories they need.

• Popsicles, sorbets and slushies . They look healthy because “they are ice” and ice is water. But the truth is that dyes and sugar are added to that water. A lot of sugar, between 15 and 20 grams per 100 g (which is actually one serving), 80% of the sugar intake a child needs, and depending on age, more than 100%.
• Frozen yogurt or frozen yogurt ice cream. Another healthy fake. We think we are eating yogurt, but nothing further. According to the  Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU) , the so-called “frozen yogurt” or ” frozen yogurt ” is nothing other than a yogurt ice cream, like chocolate or strawberry ice cream.
  The organization has indicated that these products contain a high percentage of sugars and saturated fatscompared to a normal yogurt. The organization has presented the nutritional values ​​of the products of eight brands (Yogoo, Yolado, La Sirena, Hacendado, Smöoy, La Yoghourtería Danone, Llaollao, Ö! Mygood), and has reached the following conclusions: the sugar and the fats contained in these products they are much higher in quantity than yogurt, they have little heart-healthy fats and the dairy bacteria present are very low.
  “If we consider them ice cream, their amounts of sugar and saturated fat are not unusual,” concludes the report.
• Homemade ice cream. Here yes, we have found the healthy version. Once again the homemade one and with natural foods.
  They are homemade ice creams, they are made at home and use only real food for their preparation. Mainly fruit and ice, if we want an ice cream polo, sorbet or granita or adding milk also if we want one of cream or milk. You can find recipes in this post. 

So can we have ice cream?

We are adults or children, we should not have ice cream every day, and less if they are not homemade.

Ice creams are for occasional consumption due to, as we have seen, their high fat and sugar content.

Despite what some may believe (and write), they are not a healthy or recommended food. That they are made with milk does not mean that it is a source of calcium, because 1, the amount of calcium is not relevant and 2 the rest of the components bring much more harm than the benefits that calcium could give.

We can also obtain calcium from many other sources, such as spinach.

“Ice creams also provide protein, vitamin B2 and phosphorus and their accompaniments, such as chocolate or nuts, provide good quality fats.” It should be said that the chocolate that contains 90% (if not 100%) of these ice creams are sugar with cocoa, so the nutrients of cocoa, and its fats, would not stand out in these products.

And as for nuts, they normally contain between 1 and 3% of the total product, something like 10-30 grams, a fairly fair portion of this food. So if there are some fats that stand out in ice cream, they are saturated and harmful.

We cannot let them fool us, looking for an argument that makes us feel good about eating ice cream, when we know that it is not. We just like to read things like “protein source, rich in B2 and phosphorous” so that we don’t have any regrets or guilt after finishing delicious (and insane) ice cream.

However, that does not mean that we can not cool down in summer with ice cream or enjoy them to deal with the heat, we should not be so radical.

Much less with children. If they like them and enjoy, we cannot deny them sharing an ice cream with family or friends, but always making the child aware that it is not healthy and never having a full freezer (unless they are homemade).

It is very common that as soon as it starts to get a bit hot, ice creams become an essential part of the shopping list, and that is a big mistake.

As we have seen, ice cream in general is rich in fat and sugar, which is directly related to being overweight and obese. They also alter palatability and displace the consumption of other healthy foods.

However, if it is homemade fruit-based ice cream, things change, and I say go ahead! We will be eating fruit, refreshing ourselves and most importantly, happy and enjoying a tasty and healthy ice cream.