Be honest: if you saw a pint of keto ice cream sitting next to regular ol’ ice cream, would you assume it’s a better choice?
I’ll be honest with you; the first time I saw the Enlightened Keto Ice Cream, I thought to myself, “wow, a new line of healthy ice cream!”
I’m here to break it down for you, though. While it might seem healthier than regular ice cream, that doesn’t necessarily mean it is.
Let’s get the obvious out of there way here. If you eat a keto diet, obviously one of these ice creams is more appealing to you. But I’m here to address everybody else.
A lot of people associate keto with healthy. Since so many people out there swear by keto as a means of losing weight, a keto ice cream might seem like a better choice if weight loss is your goal.
But let’s look at this ice cream vs some Edy’s Slow Churned, which is technically a light ice cream, but isn’t necessarily marketed as a “healthy ice cream.”
If we look at the same size serving, there is quite a large difference in calories and fat. Sure, the keto ice cream has 1g net carb and virtually no sugar (thanks to sugar substitutes) but the Edy’s is otherwise more favorable across the board.
If you’re wondering how in the world the ice cream reads 10g carbs, but only advertizes 1g “net carbs” don’t you worry. It’s not as confusing as it might seem…
If numbers scare you, allow me to summarize.
Your body doesn’t fully digest fiber or sugar substitute, meaning they have very little caloric impact. If you eat 50 calories worth of straight fiber for example, it’s going to shoot right through you, if you know what I mean.
Because of this, a lot of people choose to not count fiber or sugar alcohol as part of their carb count. This is when it becomes total subjective, though. For me personally, I don’t bother with net carbs, because it’s way too much work. I’d rather just count the total carbs and be done with it!
But for the keto dieters out there, calculating net carbs is essential to figuring out exactly how many carbs they can consume on the day, since you have the keep that number incredibly low.
Back to the ice cream comparison.
I’m operating under the assumption that you don’t view sugar as the enemy, because I certainly don’t! If you’re anti-sugar, I suppose the keto ice cream would look like a much more appealing choice here.
But if weight loss is your goal and you are not following a keto diet, there would be no reason to choose that ice cream.
If you tried the keto ice cream and you happen to love it, more power to ya.
But to the average person out there who sees this product and assumes it’s a better option for them, that very well might not be the case.
It’s not just the keto label, either. It’s important to not just blindly make a decision based on the label and what sounds healthier.
Take this label, for example…
Marketing is a very powerful thing.
The name “Skinny Cow” makes you think that the product is lower calorie, but the box also talks about the light ice cream. It states that the ice cream contains 1/2 the fat compared to regular ice cream. But when you look at the nutrition, you can see that there is 10g of fat, which is definitely not low fat.
This is why it’s so important to learn how to read the nutrition label and make your decisions based on your own preferences, not what the label says.
Do your homework and check out the nutrition labels on the food you want to try. Compare the nutrition of different “healthy” options with regular ones, and see how they stack up.
You might just be surprised.
