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Some Lower Calorie Alternatives If You Like Your Ice Cream With Toppings Rather Than Naked

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Some people like their ice cream without any embellishment, and for others, the more the better.  Sometimes there’s nothing better than an ice cream sundae or a waffle cone with a bunch of toppings.

Ice cream can be topped with just about anything can be made with just about anything and I freely admit that for me, the best part is choosing what goes on top of ice cream, not the ice cream itself.

So Many Choices

You can put just about anything on ice cream  — and most likely — someone, somewhere in the world has chosen some pretty random and unique toppings to put on their plain old vanilla or some esoteric flavor that they love.

Toppings Can Add A Mountain Of Calories

The problem is, of course, that the standard fare:  toppings like hot fudge, whipped cream, peanuts, walnuts in syrup, crushed heath bar, caramel sauce – can all add hundreds of calories and not much nutrition to your sundae or cone.  It is likely that nutrition is not your first thought when visions of ice cream dance in your head, but calories (and perhaps nutrition) might be.

Here’s the nutrition in some common ice cream toppings:

  • Smucker’s Spoonable Hot Fudge Topping:  2tbsp, 140 calories, 4g fat, 24g carbs, 2g protein
  • Smucker’s Spoonable Ice Cream Topping Pecans in Syrup Topping:  1tbsp, 170 calories, 10g fat, 20g carbs, 1g protein
  • Regular Redi Whip:  2tbsp, 20 calories, 2g fat, 1g carbs
  • Cool Whip, extra creamy:  2tbsp, 32 calories
  • Regular M&M’s:  10 pieces,103 calories, 5.2g fat, 12.1g carbs, 1.9g protein
  • Peanut M&M’s:  about 16 pieces, 200 calories, 10.15g fat, 23.48g carbs, 3.72g protein
  • Peanuts (1oz): 160 calories, 14g fat, 5g carbs, 7g protein

Some Stand-bys That Are Lower In Calories

  • Rainbow Sprinkles (Mr. Sprinkles):  1 tsp, 20 calories, 0.5g fat, 3g carbs, 0g protein
  • Chocolate Sprinkles (jimmies):  1 tbsp, 35 calories, 0g fat, 6g carbs, 0g protein
  • Smucker’s Spoonable Ice Cream Topping, Light Hot Fudge, Fat Free:  2 tbs, 90 calories, 23g carbs, 2g protein
  • 10 mini marshmallows:  22 calories, 0 fat, 5.7g carbs, .1g protein
  • 18 gummi bears: 140 calories, 0 fat, 43.5g carbs, 0 protein

Think Outside The Box For Lower Calorie Choices

If the world is your oyster in terms of toppings, why not think about fruit, cereal, or a crushed up 100 calorie pack of anything?

Here are some other suggestions:

  • Smucker’s Spoonable Pineapple Topping:  2 tbsp, 100 calories, 0g fat
  • Regular Redi Whip:  2 tbsp, 20 calories, 2g fat, 1g carbs
  • Fat Free Redi Whip:  2 tbsp, 5 calories, 0g fat, 1g carbs
  • Cool whip, light:  2 tbsp, 16 calories
  • Cool Whip, fat-free:  2 tbsp, 15 calories, 43.5g carbs, 0 protein
  • 1 mini box of raisins (.5 oz):  42 calories, 0.1g fat, 11.1g carbs, 0.4g protein
  • One medium banana: 105 calories, 0 fat, 27g carbs, 1g protein
  • One cup strawberry halves: 49 calories, 0.5g fat, 11.7g carbs, 1g protein
  • Sugar-free Jello pudding:  60 calories
  • One cup Froot Loops:  118 calories, 0.6g fat, 26.7g carbs, 1.4g protein
  • One cup blueberries:  83 calories, 0.5g fat, 21g carbs, 1.1g protein
  • Crushed pretzel sticks, 1 oz:  110 calories, 1g fat, 23g carbs, 3g protein

What’s The Difference Between Low Fat, Reduced Fat, Light, Lean, And Extra Lean?

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How much time do you spend in the supermarket aisle confused by the labels on mayo — or cookies — or just about every other item in the packaged bread aisle?  What do reduced fat, low fat, light, fat free, or low in calories actually mean?

You practically have to walk around with a cheat sheet — or whip out your cell phone to use an app — to figure out if something actually lives up to the fatty or lean promise on the product’s label.

Checking Labels Will Give You A Clue

Packaged food labels list ingredients in descending order by weight, not amount. The first ingredient listed has the greatest amount by weight — the last ingredient is the one with the least amount by weight. That’s why preservatives are usually at the end of the ingredients list.  A ton of chemicals are not necessary to increase shelf life so a little bit will do it — but fat, sugar, and grains have more heft and usually are closer to the beginning of the ingredients list.

Fat Labels

Labels have to include the total amount of fat, saturated fat and unsaturated fat.  This carves the way for the low, reduced, and fat free categories.

  • Low fat means 3 grams of fat or less per serving (or per 100 grams of food)
  • Reduced fat means the food product contains 50% (or less) of the fat found in the regular version
  • Less fat means 25% or less fat than the comparison food
  • Fat free means the product has less than 0.5 grams of fat per serving, with no added fat or oil

The Low down On Low, Light (Lite), Lean, And Reduced Calories And Fat

  • Reduced calorie (calories, not fat – see above) on the label means there’s at least 25% fewer calories per serving than in the regular (full calorie) version of the product
  • Low calorie (calories, not fat – see above) means 40 calories or less per serving and less than 0.4 calories per gram of food
  • Light (fat) means 50% or less of the fat than in the regular, full calorie, version
  • Light (calories) means 1/3 fewer calories than the regular, full calorie, version
  • Lean (meat, poultry or seafood) means less than 10 grams of fat, 4.5 grams of saturated fat, and 95 mg of cholesterol in a 100 gram serving
  • Extra lean (meat, poultry or seafood) means less than 5 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat, and 95 mg of cholesterol in a 100 gram serving

Confused???

Are you confused by the labeling rules?  You’re not alone.  You really need to read labels and look for the amount of fat grams, not just assume that a product labeled reduced fat is indeed low in fat.

For instance, a product labeled reduced fat just means that it contains at least 50% or less fat than the original full fat version of the same product. Unfortunately, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it is a low-fat product.

Here’s an example:  Look at a box of cookies or a container of ice cream labeled reduced fat.  If the fat content in the original full fat product is 20g and the fat has been reduced to 10g — a 50% reduction – the manufacturer is allowed to call the product reduced fat even though its fat content is still a little over 3 times higher than the 3 grams of fat per serving that officially qualifies as low fat.  Premium ice cream can really snooker you with this labeling simply because the full fat version may have so much fat that the reduced fat version – even with 50% less fat – still contains a significant amount of fat.

The trick is to look carefully at the calorie count and fat breakdown on the nutrition label and note the numbers for each.  A check of the ingredients label can also give you valuable information about the type of fat in the product.

Remember, these regulations apply to labeled packaged food products, not prepared food like you find in salad bars or for takeout.

Kids Need To Learn About Food

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by FoodRevolution. Browse more data visualizations.
Food Revolution Day on the 19th of May is a chance for people who love food to come together to share information, talents and resources and to pass on their knowledge and highlight the world’s food issues. All around the globe people will work together to make a difference. Food Revolution Day is about connecting with your community through events at schools, restaurants, local businesses, dinner parties and farmers’ markets. The intent is to inspire change in people’s food habits and to promote the mission for better food and education for everyone.

 

Are You Really Hungry Or Is It All In Your Head?

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Argument.  Stress. Overwhelm. Fatigue.

Cookies in the shopping cart.  Candy bar from the gas station.  Chips from the vending machine.  Raiding the refrigerator for leftovers followed by ice cream.

Sound familiar?

You could be stuffed to the gills but all you can think about is getting that cookie, candy bar, chips, or leftovers and chowing down – even though you’re not hungry and probably won’t enjoy what you’re about to eat.

There’s Real Hunger And There’s Head Hunger

Real hunger or physiological hunger is your body’s way of telling you that it’s time to eat food because your body needs nourishment.  It’s when you have that empty, rumbling feeling in your stomach, a headache, maybe some lightheadedness and difficulty concentrating.  It usually starts around four hours (plus or minus) after your last meal.

Head hunger or psychological hunger doesn’t really have physical symptoms and can happen at any time. It can be triggered by emotional situations, habits you associate with food or eating (like watching TV, working on the computer or driving in the car), by food cravings, or can be a form of procrastination.   Whatever triggers your head hunger can make you think you’re hungry when you’re really not.

Emotions:  Common Triggers For Eating

Emotions are common triggers for eating. Head hunger is a form of emotional eating that is usually in response to stress, sadness, loneliness, anger, fear, fatigue, overwhelm, or boredom.

Head hunger also serves as a distraction because the eating it provokes can be a way to distract yourself from difficult situations, projects, and encounters.

The feelings and situations that create head hunger are a part of your life.  Eating won’t make them go away.  Eating in response to head hunger often keeps you from figuring out what’s causing the feeling in the first place.

“I want chocolate” might really mean “I need comfort” or “I worked my tail off and I really need to be recognized for it.” Those trips back and forth to the fridge or the vending machine might be the ultimate form of procrastination – is there a project that needs to get done that you’re struggling with?

What To Do

Wouldn’t it be great if it was as simple as figuring out what’s causing your head hunger and dealing with it.  Actually, that’s the answer. Eating can’t really satisfy your emotional needs.  Left unmet, those needs will trigger your head hunger over and over.  So, you overeat, you mentally beat yourself up, you feel awful, and the whole process is triggered all over again.

To break the pattern, first stop beating yourself up when you do eat in response to head hunger (as opposed to eating because you’re starving and your stomach is growling like crazy).

Devise a plan to figure out what caused you to eat in the first place.  Try keeping a written record of what happened and how you felt before your head hunger took control. Looking back at a series of entries might give you a clue.  Once you get a handle on your triggers, come up with a plan to deal with them and make a “go-to” list of ways to reward, calm, comfort, and/or distract yourself without resorting to eating when you’re not actually physically hungry.

Allow yourself to figure out what “real” hunger actually feels like and the feelings that accompany true hunger.