Ice Cream vs. Frozen Yogurt

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When that sweet tooth starts whispering sweet nothings into your ear, and you get that craving for something cold, sweet and soft, what do you reach for? Do you go with the traditional choice, such as a creamy, rich ice cream with cookies, mints, etc., or do you make the healthier (although not really healthy) choice of sweet frozen yogurt? Personally, I’ve always lived by the philosophy that if you’re going to splurge, you should splurge right. Meaning, if you’re going to spend some extra calories on a sweet treat, why not go all-out with something like a sundae with cookies ‘n cream Blue Bunny ice cream, topped with hot fudge AND caramel, with roasted walnuts on top (sounds good, doesn’t it!)? This philosophy works great and all if you only eat ice cream once in a while; it doesn’t work so great if you’re like me and require a sugar fix pretty much daily. When ice cream is in the freezer, it doesn’t last very long, because my sweet tooth and I both know it’s there, and willpower is no match for Blue Bunny Homemade Vanilla ice cream (insert whichever flavor is your un-doing; this is mine).

 

 

One day, while perusing the ice cream aisle on my weekly grocery store visit, I happened upon the frozen yogurt freezer. As I was comparing the labels, it was apparent that the frozen yogurt was a better choice, calorie-wise, so I decided to give it a try. I’m not going to try and say that frozen yogurt is just as good as regular ice cream, because in my opinion it isn’t, however it does taste VERY good. If you’ve never tasted frozen yogurt, let me try to describe it for you. The consistency is the same as frozen ice cream, so texture isn’t an issue when switching. The taste is actually sweet, and they offer a lot of different flavors as well. For example, the brand that I bought was Kemp’s Fro Zing, and they offer flavors such as Raspberry Vanilla, Mixed Berry Vanilla, Cherry, Strawberry, Mango Peach, Blueberry, Pomegranate Blueberry, and Cherry Vanilla. I’ve tried a few of these flavors, and they are delicious.

 

 

When it comes to choosing a brand of frozen yogurt, make sure to look at the ingredient label. Some brands will kill off the live active yogurt cultures during the freezing process, yet some brands will keep them intact. You’ll want to choose a brand that has the live active yogurt cultures intact, because these are very good for the body’s digestive system; they benefit us the same way as regular yogurt does. Kemps is the only brand I’ve tried personally, and they do keep those cultures intact; I’d recommend trying Kemps if it’s available in your area.  This is what it will look like on the ingredients label:

Ingredients: CULTURED NONFAT MILK, NONFAT MILK, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, BLUEBERRY BASE (HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, SUGAR, WATER, CORN SYRUP, BLUEBERRY PUREE, NATURAL FLAVORS, CITRIC ACID), CORN SYRUP, SUGAR, CREAM, MALTODEXTRIN, LACTIC ACID, TAPIOCA STARCH-MODIFIED, MONO & DIGLYCERIDES, LOCUST BEAN GUM, CELLULOSE GUM, GUAR GUM, LIVE ACTIVE YOGURT CULTURES, CARRAGEENAN.

When comparing calories and health value, frozen yogurt is the way to go. Comparing a serving of Blue Bunny Vanilla ice cream to Kemps Fro Zing Vanilla frozen yogurt, the difference is staggering:

 

Brand	Calories/From Fat	Total Fat	Cholesterol	Sodium	Carbs	Sugar	Protein
Blue Bunny	160/80	9g	55mg	50mg	16g	16g	3g
Kemps FroZing	110/10	1g	< 5mg	45mg	23g	18g	2g

As you can see, frozen yogurt is much healthier than traditional ice cream, containing less overall calories, calories from fat, total fat, cholesterol, and sodium than ice cream contains. So, after all is said, which do you prefer, ice cream or frozen yogurt? Leave it in the notes!