frozen dessert
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Best: Enlightened
Enlightened's nutrition facts are pretty hard to believe because its products taste amazing. They don't taste watered down like most faux ice creams, while being very, very low in sugar, calories (70-100) and fat. They also pack in fiber (about 20%) and protein (about 16%). Check supermarket aisles for their recently launched ice cream sandwiches which taste particularly great.
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Best: Arctic Zero
One pint of this dessert has just 150 calories — of course, odds are you'll eat the whole thing since it's not particularly flavorful. That said, even if you eat the whole pint, it's still low in calories, sugar (5g), has no fat and almost no cholesterol. It doesn't have nearly as much protein or fiber as Enlightened, but it's still a great option. Coffee packs the most taste.
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Diana's Bananas
This brand makes a few varieties of chocolate dipped bananas. If you're really having a tough time getting fruit into your diet, this is a viable aid, but otherwise, this one is best skipped. High in fat and sugar compared to the aforementioned options, it has hardly any fiber or protein and one piece has, depending on which variety you get, as much as 215 calories. The chocolate used is also very unlikely to be high quality as it lacks flavor.
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Best: So Delicious Almond Milk Dairy-Free Frozen Dessert
These almond milk-based desserts are a decent pick. While they're not super low in calories (about 130-160 per serving), they don't have much sugar (about 7g), have 20% fiber, some protein and even the chocolate options are pretty low in fat (about 4-7%).
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Best: So Delicious Dairy Free Coconut Milk Desserts
Coconut milk-based frozen desserts aren't as good of a bet as almond milk-based ones in terms of saturated fat and sugar, but they are higher in fiber.
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So Delicious Soy Milk Dairy-Free Frozen Dessert
Not only isn't this particularly low in calories or high in fiber/protein, but soy is not a great alternative to dairy. Click here to read about why you might want to eliminate soy from your diet.
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Blue Mountain Raw Ice Cream
People often buy raw vegan desserts assuming they're a free pass. Unfortunately, while the ingredients list may be clean, raw vegan desserts are usually nut- and/or date-based, making them very high in saturated fats and calories (we're talking over 200 calories, over 25% saturated fat and about 20g of sugar). This is not the best choice unless you're a raw vegan and desperately need fat and calories in your diet (again, because this offers a clean source for that).
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Ben & Jerry's Frozen Yogurt
Of course, Ben & Jerry's ice cream is something you want to avoid, but what about its frozen yogurt? Avoid that too. In fact, when you look at a product's ingredients, they're listed from the most used to the least used and yogurt cultures are last in the list of Ben & Jerry's frozen yogurts — instead you'll find things like corn syrup and liquid sugar. Expect one serving to have around 200 calories and 25g of sugar.
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Haagen-Dazs Sorbet
Just like Ben & Jerry's no one buys Haagen-Dazs ice cream thinking they're making a healthy food choice, but they might think they are making one when they buy sorbet. Sadly, when one serving has a whopping 36g of sugar...you might as well eat a candy bar.
