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Sneaking Health in Unexpected Places
Friday, July 20, 2012 - Courtney Sunday
The Ice Cream Truck/Shop
Your health is an everyday journey, but some days (and particular situations) can be tough to keep it up. We’re sharing tips on how to bring health into health-sucking situations so you can still fit into your fave pair of jeans (long after the fun is done).
Even if you’re too young to remember something as retro as bells on an ice cream truck, you probably have fond Pavlovian sounds all your own. Perhaps the blaring of Top 40 as your tattooed scooper expertly created a cup that floweth over. Perhaps the screeching of tires as the ice cream driver ground his truck to a halt. In every case, this meant one thing: ice cream joy.
Even though fro-yo, the more low-cal cousin of ice cream, is now becoming as ubiquitous as the green crowned lady who sells coffee, some Canadians remain purists. In this case, is there room in a summer for both short shorts and a thick cool treat? Our answer with this column so far has been yes, so we’ll remain with the trend. Some helpful hints:
1) Beware of the cone. Some cones are relatively harmless (when they are small and Styrofoam looking). Others are calorie bombs, like waffle cones at over 120 calories a pop or waffle cones plus chocolate. If this adds to your taste experience, have a low calorie frozen treat and take the cone as the main attraction. If cream is your crown, go cone-less and opt for the cup.
2) Those extra add-ins will also pump up the volume of the caloric load. Sprinkles, crumbled up cookie pieces, swirls of caramel in the tub…all nice and dandy but is it all nice and dandy? Choose one. Enjoy. This will not be the last time you have ice cream. You can have the other topping next time.
3) If available, try a popsicle or a fruit based ice stick. Still just as sticky but with less than half of the take home poundage.
4) At the store, roll with sorbet (not to be concerned with sherbet. Damn, you, English suffixes!). Sherbets contain full fat milk. Sorbets are made from ice and hence, even though they can be in sugar, they’re much lower in fat. Try one scoop. Commercial sorbets only have about 100 calories for a half cup.
Lick slowly. Get messy. Enjoy your healthier scoop.
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Courtney Sunday has two cats and a boyfriend who are very patient with her health and wellness obsessions. She teaches yoga, Pilates and indoor cycling and gives Thai massages through her Toronto business Om at Home Yoga. When she is tuckered out, she takes up the sport of sleeping.
