The scorching summer heat can completely kill one's appetite, but the demand for ice-cold treats and drinks increases daily. Many people crave a cold beverage or a bowl of shaved ice every day. However, the ingredients in these cooling delights can cause your carbohydrate intake to exceed the limit, leading to unconscious weight gain. So, can you eat ice cream while trying to lose weight?
Many people think they can balance cooling down and losing weight by replacing a meal with ice cream, believing it will ease their mind. However, nutritionist Angela points out that this is a counterproductive behavior for weight loss. Weight loss requires consistency, and if you deprive yourself of everything, it becomes difficult to sustain. Therefore, indulging occasionally is acceptable. The key is to consider how you eat, what you eat, and how much you eat.
Some also ask if ice can cause a bigger belly. Angela laughs and mentions that when traveling to Japan and Korea, restaurants often serve ice water first, yet people in these countries aren't necessarily fatter. The key is not that eating ice makes you fat, but consuming too many toppings does, leading to a significant increase in calorie intake! From a traditional Chinese medicine perspective, excessive consumption of cold foods can lead to a phlegm-damp constitution, making one prone to edema and bloating.
Eating ice cream in summer is a common way for many people to cool down (Photo/Courtesy of Heho Health)
Considering popular ice treats commonly found in convenience stores, such as popsicles, ice cream, and soft serve, the dairy fat content in these products affects their calorie count. For instance, ice cream contains about 10% dairy fat, and two servings of ice cream are almost equivalent to the calories in 1.5 bowls of white rice. Soft serve, with a dairy fat content of about 3-6%, has lower calories. Common ice treats in ice shops include shaved ice and snow ice. Shaved ice, made with water-based ice cubes, has zero calories, with its calorie source being the syrup. Snow ice, made with milk powder, sugar, and cornstarch, has about 300-400 calories per bowl without toppings, which is quite shocking.
The toppings for ice treats come in various categories: jelly, beans, balls, and fruits. Jelly options like grass jelly, aiyu jelly, konjac, and agar have lower calories and can be chosen in multiple items, but watch out for the high calories in pudding. Common beans include red beans, mung beans, kidney beans, barley, and lotus seeds, which are fiber-rich starches that provide satiety; it's recommended to choose just one item. Balls like taro balls, sweet potato balls, tangyuan, tapioca balls, and pearls are processed starches, so it's best to limit to just one item. As for fruits, it’s important to distinguish between fresh-cut fruits and canned or dried fruits; fresh fruits are recommended, as canned and dried fruits often have added sugars that can lead to weight gain.
