Eat Out Eat Well

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Ice Cream, Gelato, Sorbet, Sherbet, Or Granita?

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Amazingly, after a brutal winter and an almost non-existent spring, Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start of summer has come and gone and what is more summer than strolling down the street, ice cream (or gelato or frozen yogurt) cone in hand?.

The cold deliciousness of frozen desserts are hard to beat.  The choices abound – although eating a three scoop sundae with hot fudge, whipped cream, and other assorted toppings doesn’t rank at the top of the health-o-meter.

But, why not fit in the occasional indulgence?  With all of the options there are healthier, yet still delicious, choices to be had.  If on occasion you go for broke and set your sights on that sundae, just plan ahead to fit it in – and maybe go for two scoops instead of three — and hold the whipped cream.

The Difference Between Ice Cream And Gelato; Sorbet and Sherbet

Ice cream means different things in different countries. In the US, the government regulates what can be called ice cream but in some other countries ice cream can mean all frozen desserts.

Ice cream and gelato are usually dairy based.  The main differences are in texture, fat and air content, and ingredients. Gelato is made and stored at a higher temperature than ice cream, making it softer, smoother, and quick to melt. Both are usually made from sugar, milk, eggs, and flavorings although gelato is often made from fresh fruit. Gelato has less butterfat than ice cream, usually about 4 to 8% compared to ice cream’s 10 to 20%.

Gelato has a higher sugar content. The sugar/water combination acts like anti-freeze and prevents it from freezing solid. Most US commercial ice creams are frozen in an assembly line freezing process while gelato is frozen very quickly in small batches.

Both are churned during the freezing process which incorporates air. Most commercial ice cream contains about 50% air while gelato contains much less, generally 20-35% which produces a denser product with more intense flavor.

Ice cream, with its higher fat content, can be stored, frozen, for months while high-quality artisan gelato when stored carefully at consistent, low temperatures, only keeps its peak flavor and smooth texture for several days.

 

What’s In Them

According to federal standards, to be called ice cream, a frozen dessert must have a minimum of 10% milk fat: economy brands usually have the least and super premium brands have more.   Less than 10% makes it ice milk or light ice cream.

  • Premium ice cream has between 11% and 15% butterfat which makes it richer, denser, higher in calories, and often comes in gourmet flavors.
  • Regular ice cream – what you usually find in larger containers in the market — is somewhat less dense and contains 10% to 11% butterfat (perfect for milkshakes).
  • Economy ice cream, by law, has 10% butterfat.
  • Light ice cream has either 50% less fat or 33% fewer calories than the producer’s regular ice cream. Here’s the hitch: because of the starting point of fat content, light versions of premium ice cream can have more fat and calories than the regular version of other brands.
  • Reduced fat ice cream must, by law, have 25% less fat than the regular ice cream produced by the same vendor.
  • Soft serve ice cream is the same as regular ice cream but is served at a higher temperature.
  • French Style Ice Cream also called glace, has a custard base that includes eggs which makes it silky and rich.
  • Gelato (plural, gelati) has more milk than cream (if any) so its fat content is significantly lower. It doesn’t saturate your taste buds as much as ice cream so the flavor seems more intense. It is often flavored with fresh fruit, nuts, chocolate, and other natural flavors. Gelato is served at a higher temperature than ice cream — it usually looks more like frozen yogurt or whipped cream than ice cream.
  • Sorbet, which means water ice, is made from fruit, wine, or liqueur, but not milk, sometimes flavored with herbs and spices, and then whipped to lighten its texture. It is sometimes called, or used as, a palate cleanser.

  • Sherbet, like sorbet, is traditionally fruit flavored but with milk added for creaminess. By law it contains between 1 and 2% butterfat — which makes it lighter in flavor and texture.

  • Granita is similar to sorbet but not whipped. Ice crystals give it a granular appearance and crunchy texture.

 

Nutritional Information

In general:

  • 3.5 oz of milk based gelato has between 120 and 160 calories, 4 g to 8 g of fat, and 30 g to 45 g of carbs
  • Milk and soy based gelato has between 3 g and 5 g of protein and sorbet, with no dairy, has no protein
  • A 3.5 oz serving of American ice cream averages 240 calories, 15 grams of fat, and 24 g carbs
  • These numbers are for naked ice cream and gelato – without sauce, toppings, nuts, and whipped cream.

Originally published in the May 2011 newsletter:   Eat Out, Eat Well.

 

Prep For Your Big Event And Snag An A . . .

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A  for Awesome, because that’s how you’ll feel.

Don’t you hate it: you’ve been so much attention to what you eat and your healthy eating habits are really getting grooved.  You’re starting to feel and look great, but, oh boy, you have to go to something big.  It could be a wedding, a dinner party, or dinner at a fabulous restaurant.

First thought: I’m going shopping for something great to wear.

Second thought: The food is going to be awesome.  Is this going to make me blow my careful eating and, then, forget it — it’s all down hill from there.

The Dilemma

You want to enjoy yourself and be able to have some of the restaurant’s “specialty of the house” or a bunch of hors d’ oeuvres followed by a delicious piece of cake at your friend’s wedding.

What To Do?

Prep like your final exam is tomorrow.

Remember cramming for finals?  Hit the books and collect some information.  Research the menu of the restaurant you will be going to or call your host or event planner to find out what will be served at your event.

Many restaurants have their menus online – or you can stop in for a preview.  If you nicely give your host, the caterer, or the event planner a solid reason for wanting to know the menu, you’ll be surprised at how accommodating most can be.

After you’ve researched what can be ordered and/or what will be served, you can then come up with your plan.   If you want that fantastic dessert perhaps you decide to keep your hand out of the breadbasket.  Do you want to have wine with dinner?  Maybe forego a cocktail (or two) – and its calories – before dinner.  Want the very special hors d’oeuvre?   Maybe dessert gets jettisoned.

The point is:  You are in control and can choose what you want to do.  But planning is important.  Make up your mind what you’re going to do ahead of time and commit to it.

A game time decision means that you’re making decisions when too many enticements are already in front of you.  That’s not easy to do.  So, do your research, come up with a plan, and stick to it.  Allow yourself something special – don’t take that away.  But, maybe stick to one or two special treats, not an ongoing feast.  You’ll feel fantastic, in control, and tremendously proud of yourself.  You’ll have had something delicious -– and your new clothes will still look just as great.  Most importantly, those new healthy eating habits are still intact and have and will continue to serve you well.

Have You Noticed That Some Well-Known Chefs Are Shrinking?

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In girth that is.  The chef’s weight loss is frequently motivated by a health scare – although sometimes just by vanity or wanting to be more mobile and agile in the kitchen — many star chefs have devised their own plans for losing weight.

Fortunately, for them, they have knowledge and their skill in the kitchen at their disposal to make food more flavorful, perhaps downright delicious, while cutting back on the use of sugar, fat, and salt.

What The Slimmed Down Chefs Do

According to an article in The Daily News, what they do is:

  • Reengineer their palates:  Richard Blais of Top Chef fame followed a vegan diet for 30 days to jump start his 60 pound weight loss.  He says it was a palate cleanser that made him aware of how sweet, fatty, and salty his food was.  Art Smith, Oprah’s former chef, lost 95 pounds by changing the way he ate – incorporating more whole foods, eating six meals a day, and making uncomplicated food, often following the same menu most days of the week.
  • Eat smaller portions:  Aside from eating smaller meals more frequently, some chefs like Houston’s Ronnie Killen, who lost 215 pounds, eats four ounces of a 16 ounce steak and saves the rest for another meal.
  • Find new ways to add flavor and devise new ways to add taste but not tons of calories:  New York City’s Michael Psilakis poaches garlic in olive oil and then adds the garlic to various foods to really punch up the flavor of lower calorie items like mussels and gigante beans.  Many of the chefs use onion, garlic, and many herbs and spices for flavor.
  • Indulge occasionally (or have a planned cheat day):  Many of the chefs, like Art Smith, build in a cheat day or leave room in their calorie budget for the occasional indulgence by eating lighter meals and fewer calories in anticipation of the indulgence.
  • Exercise:  almost all of the chefs move around more than they did.  New York’s Rocco Dispirito became a triathlete, but Art Smith, who has a rigorous workout routine, says he sometimes just blasts music and dances.

 

The Bottom Line

Whatever routine a chef follows, they all seem to have become aware of  portion sizes.  They’ve learned about calories and the overabundance of sugar, fat, and salt in many recipes.  And, they move more.  They do not deprive themselves.  They may restrict the amount of food that they eat – but they are eating whole food with good flavor and they’re making room for the occasional, not daily, indulgence.

Art Smith cautions that dessert is a treat. As he says, “If you have dessert every day, then it’s no longer a treat.”

Try following their strategies when you’re cooking at home – or even when ordering in a restaurant.

If we could just get more chefs to offer smaller portions of delicious and healthy whole foods in their restaurants and food companies to do the same with their prepared products it would be a whole lot easier to lose and/or maintain weight and to be mindful of portion size.

Obesity Spreads Through Social Ties

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Take a good look around you – at your family and friends.  Do the bulk of them seem to be overflowing their chairs?

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (N Engl J Med 2007;357:370-9)  seems to indicate that if you’re struggling with your weight, there is a good chance that your friends and family are, too.

Using data collected over 22 years from a “densely interconnected social network” of 12,067 people who took part in the Framingham Heart Study, the researchers found identifiable clusters of obese people, determined by a body mass index ≥30, present in the study’s network at all times.  The clusters and the risk of obesity extended to three degrees of separation.

Here’s what they found:

  • A person’s chance of becoming obese increases by 57% if he or she has a friend who becomes obese. In a mutual friendship, the person’s risk of obesity increases by 171% if the friend becomes obese.
  • Among pairs of adult siblings, if one sibling becomes obese the chance that the other becoming obese increases by 40%.  This is more prevalent among siblings of the same sex (55%) than among siblings of the opposite sex (27%).  Among brothers, the chance of becoming obese increases by 44% if a brother becomes obese, and among sisters there’s a 67% increased risk if a sister becomes obese. Obesity in a sibling of the opposite sex doesn’t seem to affect the obesity risk of the other one.
  • Among married couples, when one spouse is obese the other is 37% more likely to become obese. Husbands and wives appear to affect each other similarly (44% and 37%, respectively).
  • Neighbors in the immediate geographic location don’t seem to have an effect on a person’s obesity.
  • Pairs of friends and siblings of the same sex seem to have more influence on the weight gain of each other than pairs of friends and siblings of the opposite sex. In same sex friendships, the probability of obesity in one person increases by 71% if the friend becomes obese.  For friends of the opposite sex there’s no significant association.  In same sex friendships, a man has a 100% increased chance of becoming obese if his male friend becomes obese.  For female friends, the spread of obesity is a non-statistically significant 38%.

As the researchers conclude, “obesity appears to spread through social ties.” Makes you think, doesn’t it?