What’s The Real Deal With The Health Claims
We know what you’re thinking. A low-calorie, low-sugar, high-protein ice cream that tastes as good as you hope still has to have a catch, right? Here’s the thing. Time talked to Woolverton about the health claims that went along with Halo Top, and this is what he had to say: “Everybody has their own definition of healthy. For us, foods that are as unprocessed as they can be. … It can fit into diet without breaking the calorie bank.”
On the other side are nutritionists, who warn there’s a danger in Halo Top. Barry Popkin of the University of North Carolina says Halo Top’s boast that you can eat the whole pint and not feel guilty isn’t helping people struggling with things like binge eating and portion control. Others are also concerned that relying on Halo Top as a source of protein means you’re not getting the nutrients and vitamins that come with a well-rounded diet. So, being a better choice doesn’t make it a great choice, but if you’re trying to eat better and you need to satisfy that sweet tooth… dig in!
An Insurgent Ice Cream Company Pitches 240 Calories A Pint And One
Since this is a story about Halo Top, its all but mandatory to open with an anecdote about the moment I first became aware of the magical ice cream that doesnt make you fat.
For me, that might have been when a friend started eating a pint nightly in the months leading up to her weddingso she could fit into her dress. Or when a gym-rat acquaintance began posting videos of himself wolfing down a whole pint after every workout. Or the time I tried my first spoonfulchocolate, the best flavor, of coursein which, armed with the low expectations that accompany a 240-calorie dessert, I thought to myself, this stuff is actually pretty good.
Maybe youve heard of Halo Top? Seen the barren freezer section at Whole Foods scoured clean of every flavor ? Witnessed the barrage of social media posts featuring influencers buried in bathtubs of low-calorie ice cream á la Roger Daltrey?
Consider this. Back in April, Halo Top debuted seven of its flavors in Wal-Mart stores across the country. Within a month, according to sales figures provided by the company, their products accounted for the seven top-selling SKUs in the entire ice cream category. That meant that, at one of the nations largest retail chains, the least sold flavor of Halo Top outsold the best-selling flavor of every other brand. How did a low-calorie dessert invented by a lawyer with an aversion to sugar disrupt a billion-dollar industry? The answer says as much about human psychology as it does about culinary ingenuity.
Is Halo Top Ice Cream Healthy
Wondering whether Halo Top really deserves a halo? Find out here.
Ice cream thats so low cal you can eat the whole pint in one sitting? Sounds too good to be true! Because, like most things in life, it is.
I know I am sometimes the bearer of unwanted news, and I really dont want to be. But when products pop up that I dont believe deserve all the buzz theyre getting, I feel compelled to share that with you.
Since Halo Top has become so popular I think its time we take a deeper look at whats really in it. Though Halo Top claims to be a treat you can overindulge in with no consequences, the story is not that simple.
So put that pint down for a minute, and consider the following before you decide whether or not to pick it back up for another bite.
You May Like: Reduce Sugar Level Immediately
It Was Created By An Attorney With A Sweet Tooth
Pick up a pint of Halo Top, and you’re not supporting a big corporation. You’re supporting ex-attorney Justin Woolverton and his relatively small team. Woolverton was working as an LA lawyer , when a simple kitchen experiment changed everything. When he talked to CBS News, he said a huge part of what drove him to come up with Halo Top were his own difficulties with sugar. “My body doesn’t do well on sugar. When you have a hypoglycemic episode, you just turn white… You look like a zombie.”
Not content with what he found at the store, he sprung for a $20 ice cream maker and started experimenting. When he hit on the recipe that later became Halo Top, he told the Los Angeles Times, “I thought, ‘This is really good. I’ll bet others will like it, too.'” First on board was another disillusioned lawyer, Doug Bouton. They met through an amateur basketball league, and the rest is dessert history.
Is Halo Top Ice Cream Keto
The short answer is yes. You can make room for Halo Top in a ketogenic/LCHF diet, so its safe to call Halo Top a keto ice cream. However, while the premise of Halo Top is that you can eat the whole pint without guilt, thats not generally the case if youre keto. Sticking to one or two servings is ideal. That said, its not impossible to eat the whole pint and stay in ketosis, but you may have to eat close to zero carbs for the rest of the day because an entire pint of dairy Halo To, which contains four servings, has between 24g and 40g net carbs. Flavors range from between 6g and 10g net carbs per 1/2 cup serving.
Recommended Reading: How To Control Pp Sugar
Got Halo Top Just Eat The Real Ice Cream Says One Dietitian
People keep asking me if Halo Top ice cream is healthy. Halo Top, is low-calorie light ice cream that claims to be healthier than regular ice cream because of their pint’s low-calorie count and slightly higher protein content. But is Halo Top actually better for you?
Let me just say that I love ice cream. Going out for a cone is a weekly summer activity and there’s usually a pint or two in my freezer . There’s no denying that Halo Top is much lower in calories than most ice creams. There are between 240 and 360 calories per pint of Halo Top, whereas premium ice creams, like Ben & Jerry’s, have that many calories in just 1/2 cup .
Related:Healthy Homemade Popsicle Recipes
If you’re a Halo Top fanatic-by all means, feel free to indulge in this frozen dessert over real ice cream. It’s just that, despite the whopping calorie savings, I think real ice cream beats out low-calorie frozen desserts, and here’s why.
Is Halo Top Keto Ice Cream Healthy
Consuming low-carb and low-calorie ice cream such as Halo Top ice cream is okay, as long as you eat it in moderation.
While Halo Top is using healthier sugar alternatives like stevia and erythritol, it is still a highly processed food, so while it is a healthier option in comparison to regular ice cream brands, it is not exactly a health food.
Read Also: How To Reduce High Sugar Level Immediately
So Is Halo Top Actually Healthy
In terms of ice cream, yes. I wouldnt go as far to say that its healthy in general, but downing a pint of Halo Top is a smarter choice than downing a pint of traditional ice cream. However, you have to understand that youre likely getting less ice cream in that pint of Halo Top than you are in a pint of traditional ice cream.
Halo Top uses several low-calorie sweeteners and a fine-tuned recipe to mimic the taste and feel of traditional ice cream while keeping key nutrition facts much lower. Justin Woolverton, Halo Tops founder, revealed in an interview with LAist.com that the process of creating the companys recipes took considerable trial and error.
There was a ton of experimentation at that point in scaling up the recipewhich ingredients worked and didnt work, how to replace the sugar in the ice cream , et cetera. Honestly that period alone took months, Woolverton said. It certainly was intended to be a health food in the sense that I made it in order to have an ice cream that didnt have a ton of sugar and some protein for satiety. Halo Top also uses many high-quality organic ingredients in their recipes, which might help explain why their ice cream tastes so much better than other low-cal offerings. Its also great that you can eat an entire pint of Halo Top without feeling super guilty, since ice cream is one of those foods with wildly unrealistic serving sizes.
Breyers No Sugar Added Ice Cream / Breyers Fat Free Ice Cream
- Breyers No Sugar Added Ice Cream come in 1.5 QT tubs and are available in a few different flavours such as Vanilla, Caramel Swirl and Butter Pecan.
- Their Fat Free Ice Creams come in Chocolate or Creamy Vanilla flavours.
- Buy from large supermarkets including Kroger, Walmart and Target.
- The SmartPoint values above have been calculated on ½ cup of ice cream.
- Sugar is listed in the nutritional information.
Don’t Miss: Can Diabetics Eat Banana
Is It Really Good For You
Today, the ingredient list for a pint of vanilla reads as follows: “Skim milk, eggs, erythritol , prebiotic fiber, milk protein concentrate, cream, organic cane sugar, vegetable glycerin , natural flavor, sea salt, vanilla beans, organic carob gum, organic guar gum , organic stevia leaf extract.”
Much of that is pretty recognizable, but it’s also a bit more complicated than what’s in vanilla Haagen-Dazs: “cream, skim milk, cane sugar, egg yolks, vanilla extract.”
There are more ingredients in a pint of Halo Top, but fewer calories, fat and sugar. For comparison, one pint of vanilla Halo Top has 280 calories, 8 grams of fat, 24 grams of sugar, 20 grams of sugar alcohol and 20 grams of protein. One pint of vanilla Haagen-Dazs has 1,000 calories, 68 grams of fat, 80 grams of sugar and 16 grams of protein.
Therein lies the sell. “Halo Top is the first-ever ice cream, first and foremost, that’s actually good for you and actually tastes good, so it’s kind of an oxymoron,” says Bouton.
Whether Halo Top is “healthier” than regular ice cream depends on how much you’re eating, according to Lisa Moskovitz, a registered dietitian and the CEO of The NY Nutrition Group, a Manhattan-based nutrition counseling practice.
“If you can stick with the appropriate ¼ pint then it can make for a much healthier alternative than regular ice cream,” she says.
“Encouraging anyone to eat an entire pint of ice cream, low calorie or not, is encouraging binge eating,” says Ott.
Others love it.
Why Is Halo Ice Cream So Low In Calories
To keep calories low, Halo Top uses the zero-calorie sweetener Stevia. For added sweetness, it also uses organic cane sugar which is still sugar and erythritol, which is a type of sugar alcohol. Some early evidence also suggests that sweeteners might interfere with the bodys mechanisms for metabolizing sugar.
You May Like: High Blood Sugar What To Do
What Ingredients Are Used To Make Halo Top Ice Cream
Skim the ingredients list and, as with regular ice cream, youll find milk, cream, and eggs. Halo Tops sweetness comes courtesy of zero-calorie organic stevia, organic cane sugar, and the sugar alcohol erythritol. Youll also find prebiotic fiber, and milk protein concentrate for an extra punch of protein.
Mass applauds the company for choosing quality ingredients. When you check out the ingredients, they are going organic when they can, and they are choosing stevia over other sweeteners, she says.
RELATED: The Best and Worst Sweeteners for Weight Loss
But not everyones on board. Cindy H. Carroll, RD, RN, the founder of Nutrition to Fit You in Bedford, Massachusetts, calls out erythritol and prebiotic fiber as two not-so-great ingredients that can wreak havoc on your gastrointestinal tract, particularly if you have stomach troubles.
Halo Top Creamery Ice Cream
Halo Tops mission is simple: to make mouth-watering ice cream with less sugar, more protein, fewer calories, and fewer carbs. The company uses stevia instead of sugar for sweetness, and skim or non-dairy milk as the base. Some of their best and boldest flavors include oatmeal cookie, birthday cake, black cherry, mochi green tea, toasted coconut, and cinnamon roll.
If youre into the classics, the chocolate flavor has 80 calories per ½ cup serving and 13 total grams of carbs, 2 of which are fiber.
You can find Halo Top at local grocery stores in select states, or .
You May Like: How To Bring Down Sugar Level Quickly
A Lot Of Fiber And Protein
Halo Top also enhances the nutrition of their ice cream by adding prebiotic fiber into every batch as well as boosts the protein content by adding concentrated milk protein.
Since both protein and fiber are important to a flexible dieter, this is a big win win for me as well!
In case you couldnt tell, Halo Top is a great product and one that Ill be buying long after my free samples are finished .
Halo Top may not have the soft and really creamy texture of ice creams like Ben and Jerrys and Haagen Dazs but what it does offer is the ability for me to sit down with a pint and enjoy a great ice cream treat over a 1/2 hour opposed to for more calories getting just a 1/2 cup of the other guys ice cream which is gone in seconds.
Give Halo Top a try, its available at Whole Foods and other natural-type grocers country-wide or online here.
Is It Bad For Your Gut
According to Halo Top’s official ingredient list, most of the sweetness comes from organic stevia. You’re familiar with that, but you’re probably less familiar with the other secret ingredient: erythritol. Today says it’s been used for years in the diet versions of all your favorite sweets it’s a naturally-occurring sugar that doesn’t have the negative impact on blood sugar levels we’ve all come to expect. This stuff was huge in the ’90s, but there was a side effect: pretty severe gastrointestinal distress.
There’s the catch, right? Not exactly. A study led by the University of Tokyo looked at how much erythritol would have to be consumed to cause distress in a healthy adult. In fact, you’d have to eat about three pints of Halo Top to ingest enough erythritol to feel any discomfort . You do stop at one, right?
Don’t Miss: Blood Sugar Increase Symptoms
Is Halo Top Ice Cream Actually Healthy
I can confirm that Halo Top ice cream does indeed taste amazing.
After hearing hype for months about this low-calorie, high-protein healthy ice cream, I finally caved and bought a pint of their Black Cherry. I devoured it in minutes and was amazed at how much it tasted like traditional ice cream. If I went to a scoop shoppe and someone served me a bowl of Halo Top, I wouldnt think twice. I would think it was some pretty great ice cream.
But theres a common saying in the nutrition worldif its too good to be true, it probably is. Just because a products low in calories doesnt necessarily mean its healthy. Heck, zero-calorie diet soda has its own set of issues. So, is Halo Top ice cream actually healthy? Heres your answer.
What Kind Of Sweets Do You Have To Eat On Keto
There are many more Keto desserts are satisfied you
- Birthday cake shakes!! Not everyone likes to eat cake, and some choose cool and creamy to warm and spongy.
- Lemon curd.
- Chocolate pancakes and filling with peanut butter cheesecake.
- Peanut butter cookies.
- Test Ketone Levels and Correct Your Diet.
- Incline up Your Physical Activity.
Don’t Miss: How To Reduce Diabetes Instantly
Halo Top: We Ate All The Flavors So You Dont Have To
Lets play a game, shall we? Its called eat all the flavors of Halo Top and rank them.* If you want, you can play along by downloading my homemade score sheet here.
If youre unfamiliar, Halo Top is a low calorie, high protein, low sugar ice cream that is taking the nation by storm. You can literally eat an entire pint for less than 250 calories! That is CRAZY TALK, people!
The brand boasts, Healthy ice cream, that actually tastes like ice cream. And were not joking. While Halo Top is low-calorie, high-protein, and low-sugar, we use only the best, all-natural ingredients to craft our ice cream so that it tastes just like regular ice cream. We know it sounds too good to be true, so dont just take our word for it dig in and see for yourself just how good healthy ice cream can be!
Sounds tempting, right? Well we tried every flavor and while some certainly live up to the hype, others should probably not be on the top of your list. Dont get me wrong, every single pint was finished, but there were a few that were left in the way back of the freezer until my desperation got the best of me. Lets do this:
What Is The Healthiest Ice Cream Available Today
There are many healthiest ice creams you can eat like
- Ciao Bella Sicilian Pistachio Gelato.
- Chilly Cow Brown Butter Salted with Caramel Ice Cream.
- Nadamoo!
- Klondike Ice Cream with Original Minis.
- Skinny Cow Salt-Kissed with Caramel Greek Yogurt.
- Yasso Coffee Chocolate Chip comes with Frozen Greek Yogurt.
- Coconut Bliss Sweet Cherry Amaretto.
- GoodPop Coldbrew Coffee Pops.
Don’t Miss: Sugar Tablet Before Or After Food