Could Ice Cream Possibly Be Good for You?
theatlantic.com
theatlantic.com
I was rocked back on my heels one day when our dietician said the best possible recovery drink for us was chocolate milk. She made the case based on both the nutritional content, but also on the palatability, affordability, availability, and psychology of it.
"You could make a protein shake but those taste like crap and you're going to be exhausted when you get home. Buy a jug of chocolate milk, slug it back, and drive on."
I think there's also the added psychological 'relief' that comes with being able to indulge once in a while when you're spending the entire day being disciplined; like 'cheat days.'
Another interesting thing is that they thought the ice cream effect could be a case of "reverse causation" (people with diabetes or health problems drop ice cream, making it seem ice cream eaters are healthier), yet when taking this into consideration ice cream was still a bigger factor than yogurt! Yet subsequent studies that refer to these ones claim that the "ice cream effect" has been written off as a case of reverse causation when actually this didn't write it off at all!
So in summary, scientists cannot explain why ice cream has the effect they measured, which is slightly stronger than yogurt, but it was kept out of the health food narrative simply because they suspect something is off -- but they cannot say what!
It's basically the same as the Pacojet, whose patent has now expired - thinking a combination blender and drill press, which will mill down a frozen-solid cylinder of ice cream / sorbet into soft serve, within just 2-3 minutes. The advantage is obvious - you can prepare ahead of time and blend when you're ready to serve, and you can do several flavors in short succession if you have enough ice cream tubs.
https://allscreamforicecream.com/ninja-creami-an-ice-cream-r...
I’m a big fan and happy to answer any questions.
How long does this take to freeze a room temperature ice cream batter?
(Regarding the article, I’m skeptical of the claim.)
Officially they say to wait 24 hours to freeze but I’ve tasted it to work at around 16-18 hours. 12 may work but isn’t quite as good in a pinch. Note that it depends on the composition of your recipe.
Also, does the creami only make things a soft-serve texture? Slightly harder ice cream is where it's at, in my opinion.
The reason those have a weird mouthfeel isn't because they don't have fat, but because they're made from powder.
> does the creami only make things a soft-serve texture?
The texture is somewhere between soft serve and traditional ice cream right after you spin it, but if you refreeze the pint and then microwave it for a few seconds it's closer to traditional icecream.
Could there be a parallel with some of the purported benefits of "cold exposure" eg. cold showers, ice baths etc? Does consuming a frozen food trigger some sort of mild shock response along similar lines?
(Warning: I'm just an internet moron trying to connect dots..)
If your research grant comes through from the ADA ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Dairy_Association ) and you need another subject for the "firm" or "spoon soft" group, feel free to drop me a line.
I stopped eating as much ice cream when I stopped cycling as much, easy way to gain weight quickly. However, I noticed I could eat 1 tub per week without any weight gain if I averaged 50 miles per week (must be hilly though)
the opposite of a great truth is also true
'icecream is good for you' is a Great Truth
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/28/opinion/ben-and-jerry-isr...
I also thought this was quite a tell:
> His 2002 study found that overweight and obese people reported eating fewer dairy-based desserts than other people. “I don’t believe that the heavier people consume less desserts,” he said. “I believe they underreport more.”
Or maybe, overweight and obese people eat fewer desserts because they know (or think they know) that desserts make you fat? It's like that old trope that you never see thin people drinking diet soda. And especially if they're switching from desserts to things that are counter-intuitively less healthy (skipping dessert, but eating more of an unhealthy main, for example), it could even comport with the data these "scientists" are choosing to ignore.
1. the lesson that correlation is not causation (except of course, here it might be)
2. because I was hoping someone would explain the scientist's hot take that ice cream is healthier than bread
In all seriousness, they precede that quote by saying: "it’s got fat, it’s got protein, it’s got vitamins." So I think it's the comparative lack of these things in bread that he is concerned with.
Could ice cream possibly be bad for you? It's made from a number of completely natural healthy ingredients, organic in every sense.
People shouldn't in general consume too much sugar too often (risk of type II diabetes). If you're too fat you should try to get less fat. Eating a lot of ice cream is not going to help you there, but otherwise it's going to be very good for you. If it was the only thing you ate, it should work better than many other single ingredient diets.
Ice cream may reduce it, but I'd expect ice cream with less sugar would be more effective. (Depending on what it's replaced with of course.)
>Among diabetics, eating half a cup of ice cream a day was associated with a lower risk of heart problems
They're diabetics. You might be surprised how many people are able to comply with the directive "don't overdo this, or you'll die a horrible death".
Though you shouldn't be.
Also, ice cream is pretty different than milk.
Sweets eaten in reasonable quantities can be part of a healthy diet to maintain weight - though generally for weight loss you'll want to cut out as much sugar as you can or find better sources for it since our bodies are terrible at processing it.
1. https://www.coca-colacompany.com/au/brands/coca-cola 10.6g per 1/2 cup (ish) vs. https://smartlabel.unileverusa.com/077567274731-0001-en-US/i... - 19g per 2/3s of a cup