Ice Cream for Good Health and How to Make Healthy Ice Cream

There is not a person on the planet who doesn't long to eat healthy ice cream. With so many new products on the market promising us healthy alternatives, it comes time to do some research. Is it better to cut down on the fat or how much we put in the bowl? The helthier alternative to Ice Cream is Sherbet. The healthy alternative to Sherbet is Ice Milk. So if you want to really splurge and enjoy life, what about a ice cream float made with ice milk, instead of ice cream and save lots of calories. It sure is a delight to feast on.

When we look at the amount of calories in a few scoops of vanilla ice cream, the second alternative would be simply to eat less and top it with some fresh homemade strawberry syrup. We can have one scoop of ice cream, top it with a whole banana sliced and then some strawberry syrup, made right on our stove. Prefer blueberry instead. Take a cup of maple syrup and a small package of blueberries. Stir till the blueberries burst and melt like in the syrup and you can serve this right over a scoop of ice cream.

There are many alternatives to cutting down. The other way to cut down and be healthy is with some frozen yogurt. There are many 2000 yogurt flavors all over the states and they will take frozen yogurt and mix it with your favorite toppings from M&M's to bananas. I love bananas and walnuts. Now you are talking about the most delicious snack ever.

When looking for a healthy version of ice cream, what does that mean? We should be looking at: 

• Fat - 4 grams or less
• Sugar - none
• Cholesterol - minimal
• Calories - 110 or less
• Fiber - 2 grams or more.

 Which ice creams fall into these criterias:

1. Starbucks low fat ice cream
2. Ben & Jerry's low fat frozen yogurt
3. Dryers low fat peanut butter cup

Who has the lowest calories:

1. Borden's fat free ice creams - 90 calories per 1/2 cup
2. Bounty cherry dark - 1 oz - 70 calories
3. Carnation berry swirl bar - 70 calories
4. Cool Creations mini bar - 110 calories
5. Healthy Choice vanilla - 100 calories
6. Simple Pleasures light - 90 calories
7. Ultra Slim fast -Vanilla Fudge Cookie - 110 Calories

A really good article on healthy ice cream from Webmd:

http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/the-best- of-the-light-ice-creams

The portions here are very small and I wonder if they would fill anyone up. So I have decided the other choice is to make my own healthy ice cream. So I am listing a few recipes to give you a choice of which one is really healthy. I think I will win.

My favorite one is made with whipping cream 

•  1 cup of whipping cream or 2 tablespoons of the dry mix
•  2 tablespoons of honey
•  1 cup of milk

* fruit or a chocolate bar (smash the fruit or simply use a bar of chocolate for flavor)
Put all ingredients in the blender and blend on high speed for 3 minutes. Pour into a shallow bowl and freeze. Stirring every 30-40 minutes. It is so delicious. I also substitute and use chocolate whipping cream and add no extra chocolate, as stated in the bottom.

Frozen Yogurt 

•  1 pound of yogurt that is drained of all the whey
•  1 cup of frozen fruit, such as peaches, cherries, strawberries, blackberries
•  1 tablespoon of honey
•  1/4 cup of water

 Place all in a blender and blend until smooth. Freeze as the ice cream above.

There is no limit to making healthy ice cream. I suggest making small amounts, as for sure you will want to eat the whole package. Life is very short and pleasures come and go, but for sure the one thing that will last a lifetime, will be memories of ice cream. I still cherish those days with my dad and I do miss him so, but these days I am alive and eating healthy.