July 1, 2017

Is Ice Cream Right for Type 2 Diabetes?



Summer is here and I enjoy my ice cream.  I have a favorite and mine has only 11 grams of carbohydrates.  I like it because in is an ice cream bar and I don’t have to overeat.  According to a blog by David Mendosa, I should not be eating this as it uses carrageenan.

Carrageenan - a carbohydrate extracted from carrageen, used to make a beverage, medicine, and jelly, and as an emulsifying and gelling agent in various processed desserts and drinks

According to two experts whose advice I trust, Chris Kresser and Andrew Weil, the carrageenan is questionable.

Ice cream does not have to be off limits for people with type 2 diabetes.  While it is still best to enjoy ice cream in moderation, there are ice cream and frozen yogurt choices out there that will not derail a healthful diet.

Ice cream can be a delicious treat, but people with diabetes need to be particularly careful about which ice cream they eat.

Most ice cream has a lot of added sugar, making it something a person with diabetes should avoid.  Because of this, one of the first things they should consider when choosing an ice cream is the sugar content.  People with diabetes need to understand how their ice cream indulgence fits into their overall diet plan.

The Nutrition Facts panel on each container says that the serving size is 1/2 cup, undoubtedly due to the Food and Drug Administration’s size requirements.  This is inconvenient, because in all of recorded history no one has ever succeeded in eating just a fourth of a 1 pint container of ice cream.

The FDA has, however, begun to realize how unrealistic some of their service sizes are, and we can hope that this will change.  Meanwhile, we always need to check out the service size on any package we buy.

The best ice cream for a person with diabetes has the lowest sugar content per serving without relying on artificial sweeteners.  To check the amount of sugar in ice cream, look at the total number of carbohydrates on the nutrition label and the ingredient list.

For someone with diabetes, the best choice is an ice cream with less than 20 g total carbohydrates in a half- cup serving.

Almost every brand of ice cream has lots of marketing information on the container, which is designed to catch the eye.

People with diabetes may find a product that says reduced sugar or half the calories of regular ice cream. Although the claims may be true that the particular product has less sugar than another variety, the actual sugar content may still be much higher than recommended per serving amount.

The amount of protein and fat in the ice cream can have a direct impact on how fast sugar is absorbed in the body.  Generally, if the fat and protein contents are higher than average, the sugar from each serving will be absorbed more slowly.

For more information, please read this article here. 

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