Digging Into Summer Treats: Get the Scoop on the Healthiest & Tastiest Ice Creams Around. Health.com Report!

It’s summer and nothing cures the summertime blues (or helps you beat the dog days of summer heat), than ice cream or frozen treats. Health.com came up with a great report on the “best of” ice cream treats in your market freezer section — and some from the ice cream stores as well. I was tipped off to this report and list by TwitterMom and PartyBluPrint blogger, Dawn.
The “best of” list is focusing on their criteria of:
superior taste,
stellar nutrition, and
countrywide availability.
Here, the five winners. (A standard scoop, by the way, is about 1/2 cup, or 3 to 3.5 ounces.)
Häagen-Dazs Mango Fat Free Sorbet

A blend of juicy, tropical mangoes, this treat has 120 calories, 0 grams fat, 20% RDA vitamin A, 10% RDA vitamin C
$3
“If you love mangoes, you’ll enjoy this sorbet. It’s very satisfying–you only need a little to feel content, and it’s very refreshing on a hot summer day,” judge Christine Palumbo, RD, says. And judge Kara Nielsen, a former pastry chef who now follows food trends, says, “It’s shocking that there is no fat. This sorbet is so creamy and totally indulgent.”
Ben & Jerry’s Black Raspberry Swirl Low Fat Frozen Yogurt
Black raspberry yogurt with thick black raspberry swirls made with real black and red raspberries with 140 calories, 1.5 grams fat, 15% RDA calcium $3.50
“This has a serious raspberry flavor and a beautiful creaminess. It feels like you’re eating a full-fat ice cream, not a healthy frozen yogurt,” Palumbo says. She and the other judges also like the ingredients, including hormone-free milk and fair-trade flavors.
Nutrition pamphlets are available at Ben & Jerry’s counters, and there are lots of healthy choices–sorbets, frozen yogurts, and even full-fat ice creams like the next winner. (The vanilla, chocolate, and coffee flavors have 200 or fewer calories, too.)
Ben & Jerry’s Strawberry Ice Cream
Strawberry ice cream with real strawberry pieces that’s really good. 170 calories, 9 grams fat, 15% RDA vitamin C, 10% RDA calcium $3.50
“It is delicious in taste and in feel–very honest and fresh,” says judge Gale Gand, a pastry chef and co-owner of Tru in Chicago. Palumbo loves that it has only eight ingredients–all natural. Ask for a kid-size cup to cut calories.
Baskin-Robbins Light Aloha Brownie Ice Cream

Light chocolate ice cream with ribbons of fudge and chunks of macadamia nut toffee
160 calories, 5 grams fat, 10% RDA calcium $2
“Rich, fudgy, chocolaty, and delicious,” Palumbo says. “If you need a chocolate fix, this will do the trick!” Baskin-Robbins’s BRight Choices flavors–like Cappuccino Chip, Premium Churned Light Raspberry Chip, and various sorbets–are healthy takes on their classics. We did have one beef: Baskin-Robbins’ products had more artificial ingredients than the other contenders.
Häagen-Dazs Cranberry Blueberry Fat Free Sorbet

A blend of tart cranberries and sweet blueberries with 100 calories, 0 grams fat, 8% RDA vitamin C. $3
“This has a nice flavor, is very refreshing and tart–but not too tart,” Gand says. Häagen Dazs shops aren’t overflowing with low-fat ice creams, but they do have other amazing fat-free sorbets besides our two winners. Our judges like that HD offers small cup sizes for portion control and that you can request nutrition information, which is kept behind the counter..
If you add a cone …
Cake cone: 17 calories, 0 grams fat
Sugar cone: 40 calories, 0.5 grams fat
Waffle cone: 121 calories, 2 grams fat
The trick is to scope out what’s available in your supermarket or local convenience store and stay away from the individual ice cream stores where the likelihood of choosing a more caloric, fat-filled *(albeit tasty) treat is more apt to happen — plus adding in those wonderful cones does add up too. However that Baskin Robbins one calls out to me. I hit the grocery store and buy individual cups from Ben & Jerrys and Haagan Das to keep portion control easy and the flavor assortment isn’t as great as it could be, it is expanding in the Ben & Jerrys line.
Stevie Wilson