Delicious Non-Dairy Ice Cream?

As it turns out, this is a real possibility!  Recently, I purchased a couple of books titled "Eat This, Not That."  The purpose of this collection of books is to help consumers make smart choices while out to eat or in the gorcery.  I will definitely be posting more on other items in this book; it has been pretty fascinating to me.  I have to admit - I have felt pretty responsible when it comes to label reading at the grocery - but this book opened my eyes.  I have understood that huge amounts of sugar is not good (but tastes DELICIOUS, right? *wink, wink*), so I thought I was doing a pretty decent job on my food selections.  Well golly gee I sure wasn't.  As it turns out, my delicious little packets of instant oatmeal (blueberries and cream, thank you very much) had 12 grams of sugar per packet.  Sugar that was listed as the SECOND ingredient!!  Sugar that was straight up added sugar.  So what?  Well apparently, you might as well have a scoop of ice cream instead of oatmeal.  

This got me thinking about ice cream (because I LOVE IT!), because you know I try to practice "safe ice cream eating."  Safe ice cream eating includes seeing a "low-fat" on the label, or "frozen yogurt," or any kind of fruit - because fruit = healthy, right??  :)  Those are healthy choices, right?  Ummmmm....wrong.  Turns out there is a ton of sugar or high fructose corn syrup in so many ice creams that try to pass themselves off as healthy options.  "Eat This, Not That" recommends a few smart choices, but my favorite has to be Turtle Mountain Purely Decadent made with Coconut Milk.  It is surprisingly completely non-dairy, relying on coconut milk as the main ingredient.  This does contain a higher amount of fat, but the fat is monounsaturated, which is a healthy fat - similar to the fats found in avocado and olive oil (which are also more filling).  I LOVE the Coconut flavor (there are real flakes of coconut- try it with a drizzle of low sugar chocolate syrup) and the Mint Chip.  There is something that really catches my attention about these ice creams...and it's the fiber content.  Yes, I said fiber content and we're still chatting about ice cream.  I don't know about you, but I don't think it has even dawned on me to think of ice cream as a potential fiber source.  These ice creams contain 6 grams (!!!) of fiber per 1/2 cup serving.  They do conatin 13 grams of sugar, but it comes from healthier sources like coconut milk and agave syrup.  

Obviously, we will and should never count on ice cream to be a source of balanced nutrition, but we have to know that we will want a treat now and then.  It is refreshing to find a healthier option that tastes really, really good.  Let me know if you end up trying it!  I found the most variety of this brand at Whole Foods.  

Here is a link for more info about the ice cream:  http://www.turtlemountain.com/products/purely_decadent.html

*remember, it is the purely decadent made with coconut milk

Here is a link for more info about the "Eat This, Not That" collection:  http://www.eatthisnotthatbook.com/uof/eatthisnotthatbook/bundlecc/?keycode=087946