What Is Healthy Ice Cream?
You do not need years of research to know that the ingredients are what determine healthy ice creams. Ice creams that are healthy are either free of artificial flavors, gluten, and sweeteners or contain them in very low quantities.
Despite that, it is essential to read through the ingredients list when you visit the grocery store.
How Can Ice Cream Benefit Your Health? What Are The Main Advantages?
Most people are not aware that ice creams have positive benefits to our bodies, and some of them include;
- They are a good source of vitamins, and the common ones being vitamin A, B, C, D, E, and K.
- Healthy ice cream may reduce the risk of getting cancer and help keep bones healthy
- They are brain stimulants and can improve your mood.
Top 10 Healthy Ice Cream Brands In The U.S.
After understanding the benefits you can expect from healthy ice cream, it is time to determine the top healthy ice cream brands in the U.S. Try out these brands for a better experience.
1. Halo Top Ice Cream
Who hasn’t heard of the Halo Top ice creams? They are the best-selling brand in the country.
Despite the brand producing different flavors, they all have low calories, about 300 calories per pint size. Another main characteristic of the Halo Top brand is that they use natural ingredients for their products.
There are many types of flavors to pick from, including the vegan and non-dairy varieties. There are also other flavored options made with coconut oil.
Most people prefer them to regular ice cream because it is a natural product. It contains sugar substitutes that do not promote tooth decay.
Some of the benefits of enjoying this brand’s ice cream are that they contain prebiotic fiber, vegetable glycerin, protein concentrate, natural flavors, and colors.
2. Yasso Frozen Yogurt
The second brand is Yasso frozen yogurt, a product of Yasso. The company is still dominating the ice cream industry by making products with the proper calorie levels of approximately 100 calories per pop.
This brand makes 17 flavors of frozen yogurt bars. Some of the flavors include; Peppermint Crunch, Coffee Brownie Break, Party Animal Frozen Yogurt, Sugar Cookie, Caramel Pretzel Mania, and many more.
The main characteristic of this brand is that its products contain fewer proteins and have low sugar levels.
Some of the benefits of enjoying Yasso products are that they contain mix-ins that are brownie chunks and sprinkles that add flavor. They are also creamy and delicious.
3. Ben & Jerry’s Vegan Ice Cream
Ben & Jerry’s Vegan ice cream is eco-friendly. They are known for their non-dairy products as the main ingredient used to make the flavors is Almond. Other components include bean gum and pea proteins.
What makes this brand special is that they always try to suit all the customer’s needs by constantly creating new additions to their flavors. A good example is the introduction of Cinnamon Bunny, chunky monkey, chocolate brownie fudge, and peanut butter flavors.
Most people love these additions as they consist of small chunks of various yummy stuff.
One of Ben & Jerry’s Vegan ice cream’s main advantages is that they are suitable for lactose-intolerant persons.
4. Chilly Cow
We know Chilly Cow for the quality ingredients that they use in their ice cream flavors. The main ingredients used are ultra-filtered fat-free milk, sugar, cream, sweeteners, and many others.
The flavors to expect from the Chilly Cow brand are chocolate chip cookie dough, brown butter salted caramel, cookie and cream, mint dark chocolate chip, chocolate brownie butter, sweet cream peanut butter, and others.
Some of the benefits that the Chilly cow brand products have is;
- They contain low calories that are between 180 to 190 calories.
- All flavors are creamy.
- They contain low-fat ingredients, but it is a high protein ice cream.
One of the drawbacks of this ice cream brand is that it contains a variety of sweeteners.
5. Enlightened
This is another well-known ice cream brand in the U.S. The main characteristic of all the ice creams they produce is that you have to place your pint in the microwave for about 30 seconds to make it creamy.
This brand’s common ingredients are saturated milk, erythritol, milk protein, cream, and sugar.
Enlightened has a variety of flavors to pick from, including Chocolate, Vanilla, Butter Pecan, Cookies & Cream, Birthday Cake, Marshmallow Peanut Butter, Movie Night, Brownies & Cookie Dough, French toast, S’mores, Glazed Donut, Sea Salt Caramel, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Red Velvet, Mint Chocolate Chip, Cold Brew Coffee.
The products from this brand are a common choice for many Americans because they have low-calorie levels, between 60 and 100, for every serving. As you can see above, they have many flavors that can satisfy your changing ice cream preferences.
They are also high protein ice creams and consist of natural ingredients.
6. So Delicious
So Delicious Dairy Free has been making its products for over 30 years now. One of the reasons they have a large customer base is that they are Non-GMO Project approved.
They mainly produce all their ice cream flavors using cashew, soy, coconut, oatmeal, and almond milk.
So Delicious has various ice creams; dairy-free almond milk, cashew milk frozen desserts, dairy-free oat milk, dairy-free coconut milk, vanilla bean, and dairy-free soy milk.
You will love the So Delicious ice creams because they have no artificial flavors, colors, or preservatives. They are no hydrogenated oil or trans fats.
Their ingredients are not only plant-based, but they are organic and GMO-free.
7. Cado
Your first hint of the main ingredient used should come from its name. Cado ice creams substitute milk and use avocado as its base component. Other significant elements include organic avocado puree, tapioca starch, cane sugar, and organic cocoa powder.
There are mainly three flavors: deep dark chocolate, simply lemon, and mint chocolate chip with a rich chocolate taste and smooth texture.
The main reason why most people love it is that the base ingredient, which is avocado, is a natural source of healthy fats. Other reasons include:
- They are suitable for vegans.
- Cado flavors are gluten-free.
- They are also soy-free and organic.
- These ice creams contain low calories, about 80 for every serving.
- They are suitable for lactose-intolerant people.
8. Breyers
This top ice cream brand uses skim milk, cream, and other approved components as its ingredients.
The brand is known for the variety of flavors they have. They include; Snickers, Oreo Cookies & Cream, Waffle Cone, Samoas Girl Scouts, Blasts Thin Mint Girl Scouts, Chocolate, Strawberry, Coffee, Vanilla Caramel Gelato, French Vanilla Butterscotch, Blondie, Butter Pecan, Tiramisu, Heath Bar, Ice Cream Cake, Chocolate Truffle, Peach, Cherry Vanilla, Triple Chocolate Gelato, and Raspberry Cheesecake Gelato.
For every 100 grams of ice cream, you consume about 162 calories.
Breyers products’ benefits are that they contain vitamin A and C, have no extra sugars, and have a protein content that is 7 grams for every serving.
9. Rebel
For this brand, their products contain zero grams of sugar. Instead, they use erythritol as a sweetener.
There are eight flavors available; Peanut Butter Fudge, Butter Pecan, Cookie Dough, Strawberry, Coffee Chip, Mint, Chocolate, and Vanilla.
One of this brand’s advantages is their ice creams are low-carb and are keto-friendly heaving 1 to 2 grams of carbs for every serving. They also have the right calorie amounts of 150 to 200.
Remember that these ice creams require softening. Please do this by placing them in a microwave for about 30 seconds.
10. Solero
Our final pick is the Solero brand, known for mixing vanilla and exotic fruits to create a perfect blend.
They use skim milk, peach puree, and different types of fruits. Some of the common ones are passion fruit, mango, and pineapple.
Most people love their products for the following reasons;
- Their servings contain less than 100 calories.
- They are gluten-free.
- There are no artificial colors or flavors.
Conclusion
‘Ice creams have no benefits’ is a myth that we should get rid of. Research shows that your body gains a lot from them when consumed in the right quantities.
This article well states some of the benefits of consuming healthy ice cream. If you have no idea which nourishing ice cream to take, there is a list of the top brands to consider above. These brands use different ingredients, but what they have in common is that they are healthy and low-calorie ice creams.
We compiled this list for anyone looking for fat-free ice cream, so try them out today for an exciting taste.