Should you eat ice cream?
Last reviewed: 14.06.2024
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With the arrival of warmer days, more and more people remember this typical “summer” treat - ice cream. Although some believe that it is not entirely useful. What do experts think about this?
Ice cream is loved, without exaggeration, by millions. But not everyone can afford to use it daily. And the point here is not the cost of the product, but the fact that it is high in calories and often contains a lot of artificial additives. The researchers decided to imagine: what could happen if we consumed cold sweets every day?
Nutritionists say that you should not “label” foods: for example, this food is good, and this one is bad. This sorting often leads to feelings of guilt and anxiety, which can subsequently negatively affect eating behavior. Indeed, ice cream contains a large amount of sugar and fat. However, such a product may well end up on the dietary table if you adhere to a sense of proportion. For example, 80g of regular vanilla ice cream contains on average about 30g of sugar and 10g of saturated fat. This is practically the norm for such components per day, if you adhere to the recommendations of American cardiologists.
Despite this obvious disadvantage, ice cream may also contain some nutritional components. Thus, the sweet mass contains calcium, vitamin B12 and magnesium. Balancing fats and sugars helps prevent fluctuations in blood glucose levels, so a serving of ice cream should be preferred over other popular sweets such as candies and gummy figures. In addition, ice cream often contains cream or milk, vitamin A, choline (vitamin B4) is a bioactive substance that is a precursor to the neurotransmitter acetylcholine.
Many will say that today most ice cream does not contain cow's milk and cream, but their substitutes that imitate the milk taste and aroma. Indeed, this is a fact. Such products may contain soy or coconut milk, and each of these ingredients has its own nutritional value.
After much discussion, nutritionists finally came to a consensus: ice cream can be included in the diet every day, but portion sizes should be controlled and the overall nutritional value should be ensured. Counting the calorie content of food eaten is also important. It’s interesting, but if you consume a sweet product responsibly – in the right quantities and of the appropriate quality – then you can make it part of a healthy diet. It is important not to forget that ice cream is still a dessert, and not a main food product. The recommended “dose” of the treat per day is half a cup, or an average of 70-80 g. About 100-120 g of ice cream can be consumed by people who need to gain weight, or by those who require an increased calorie intake.
You should support the idea of conscious eating and avoid perceiving food as a pleasure, after which a feeling of guilt sets in.
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