This or that?

#1

Today an acquaintance posted a delicious, healthy snack for her toddlers… a very ripe banana, sliced and partially frozen, tossed in a blender with some mini chocolate chips. She mentioned that her toddlers thought it was ice cream!

So I got to thinking… which would be better? The snack she created or 1/2 cup of Breyers 1/2 the fat ice cream??

What would you say?? Would the banana treat or ice cream be better? (I’m not going to say anything to her, this was simply a practice for my own curiousity! :grin:)

(matt ) #2

Full fat ice cream if you are eating ice cream. I hate bananas so I’m biased.

(Crow T. Robot) #3

The best answer is neither, of course. However, the banana dessert would be better IMO. While it has sugar, there’s very little fat, somewhat mitigating the damage. Ice cream has a lot of both. Sugar and fat together are the worst.

(melinda) #4

Sugar free / carb smart ice cream. Bananas are sugar sticks and she probably used some kind of milk chocolate. Low fat ice cream is gross and sugar/chemical laden.

(Michelle) #5

Ditto. Sugar + fat is the super bad combo. Would do banana and chocolate.

#6

I’m definitely not eating ice cream! Frozen butter and cream cheese, yes… I was mostly just curious about comparing them for sugar content…

#7

I agree and I choose neither! I was just interested in the comparative sugar content… so often fruit is given a pass as healthy and the reality is, the sugar content is just as bad, if not worse, than “sugary” foods!

(Doug) #8

Regular ice cream has a huge amount of sugar in it - since it’s cold, our taste buds don’t respond as readily to it, so the recipe calls for enough sugar to overcome the temperature factor, like 60 grams in 2 cups of ice cream. And heh - when did I ever eat only 2 cups?

#9

I was interested in the carb smart stuff too… unfortunately it was still incredibly high with 14g of carb for 1/2 cup… too much for me! :slight_smile:

#10

So, I was wondering about the sugar comparison between the two… turns out the banana concoction would contain at least 6 teaspoons of sugar (more with a riper banana), while the ice cream would have about 4 1/2 teaspoons… (I do realize there are other considerations, but this was what I was curious about!)

#11

Another question for curiosity sake… if the banana concoction just had sugar, no fat, it wouldn’t send satiety signals, right? Whereas ice cream with fat would send satiety signals, despite the sugar?

#12

Interesting! I didn’t know that!

(Doug) #13

Have to laugh - ice cream, when warmed to room temperature, is SO SWEET. :neutral_face:

#14

Pass on the Breyers and would go for Luv’s Keto ice cream, dark chocolate with coconut. Although I am not completely convinced that the erythritol doesn’t affect insulin levels. And for the little ones, neither.

#15

I was simply curious about the sugar content comparatively between “healthy bananas” and “sugary ice cream”… turns out the banana has more sugar…

(melinda) #16

Yeah, but minus sugar alcohol is like 6g net carbs. I still don’t keep it around the house though- too dangerous!

(Doug) #17

Daisy - from what I’m seeing, it’s pretty darn close, much closer that I’d have expected. Bananas are around 23% carbohydrates (including a little bit of fiber), with the balance being almost all water. Ice cream is around 24% carbs. Used to be, the “single serving” size for ice cream in the U.S. was half a cup - that’s like 68 grams or 2.4 ounces. :smile: Bwahahahahaaa!! Who’s out there, eating only half a cup?

As I understand it, they are changing things now, to where one cup will be a “single serving.” Roughly the same amount of carbs as a big banana.

#18

That’s basically what I found also! Although the more ripe the banana, the higher the sugar content. I’m not going to say anything to my friend, because I’m not looking to argue. I’m just glad that I’ve learned to question “common” health and nutrition, and instead search information out for myself.

(Doug) #19

It’s interesting stuff. :slight_smile: I was wrong in assuming; bananas have lots more sugar than I’d have thought. Tangentially, I was thinking of the relative amount of satisfaction we get from bananas or ice cream. I like the fruit quite a bit, but ice cream seems a lot more like “a treat” to me.

When it comes to “half the fat” ice cream or “low-fat” ice cream or ice milk, wow - they’re just not the same, in my opinion.

(Jenn Monaghan) #20

It’s so hard not to say anything when you see friends and family feeding their babies sugar!