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As Seen in Prevention Magazine
and Prevention.com
"I get fat if I don't eat ice cream."
 Rita Solomon
Age: 35
Pounds lost: 50
When Rita finally welcomed ice cream into her life, she felt
like a new woman: a new, 50-lb-lighter woman. "In high school,
dieting was the thing to do, whether you needed to or not,"
she recalls. Unfortunately, as she dieted, she gained weight.
"I restricted myself so much that I started binge eating.
By the time I was a sophomore in college, I weighed 170 lb."
That's when Rita invested in a trip to Green Mountain at Fox Run weight loss spa
in Ludlow, VT. "They gave us pizza and ice cream!" she recalls.
"At the time, I thought it was ridiculous."
 But once Rita lifted the taboo on "fattening"
food, she dropped the weight. Today, after gaining and losing
45 lb through two pregnancies, Rita is still 121 lb (at 5'7"),
despite eating ice cream as often as she likes.
"It's all about balance," she explains. "When you know you
can enjoy ice cream every day, it's not such a big deal when
you do."
One Scoop or Two?
While this diet provides a fabulous daily treat, it isn't
an excuse to go hog wild. For best results, follow these simple
rules for dishing out the creamy stuff:
- Choose ice creams with 125 or fewer calories per serving.
- Never, ever eat ice cream straight out of the container.
"Pint diving" is hard to resist, especially at the end of
a nerve-racking day. But the "I'll have just a few spoonfuls"
mind-set is a slippery slope. Soon you'll be literally scraping
bottom.
- To keep your calorie count in check, Prevention worked
out a foolproof system. Each 1/2 cup serving is the size
of a tennis ball. If you wisely choose ice cream that has
125 or fewer calories per serving (and about 10 percent
of your calcium RDA), then you get at least two tennis balls'
worth a day if you're a woman, three if you're a man.
We may call it the Ice Cream Diet, but don't let that stop
you from thinking outside the icebox. As long as your treat
meets the calorie and calcium goals--and isn't loaded with
saturated fat--go for it! I often opted for fat-free milk
chocolate pudding. Other successful dieters indulged in thick
chocolate shakes or velvety smoothies. Making the smoothies
with yogurt can also turbocharge your weight loss effort.
A recent University of Tennessee study found that dieters
who ate this calcium-rich food lost 22 percent more weight
and 61 percent more body fat than a control group that reduced
calories but didn't increase calcium.
Hankering for the decadent taste of Häagen-Dazs? You
can indulge in full-fat premium ice creams, but don't do it
more than once every 2 weeks (to keep artery-clogging saturated
fat to a minimum). With all dessert options, check the label
for calories, and adjust your serving size.
No weight loss program is complete without exercise. The
Ice Cream Diet recommends 30 minutes of aerobic exercise 3
to 5 days a week and 20 minutes of strength training 2 or
3 days a week. All of our successful losers were diligent
about getting in their workouts.
Here are some of our favorite flavors:
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The
Dream Creams |
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Flavor |
Cals per
1/2 cup serving |
Daily value
of calcium* |
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Edy's Black Cherry Vanilla
Swirl Frozen Yogurt |
90 |
30 percent |
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Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia
Frozen Yogurt** |
170 |
15 percent |
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Healthy Choice Chocolate
Cherry Mambo Ice Cream |
120 |
10 percent |
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Healthy Choice Mint Chocolate
Chip Ice Cream |
120 |
10 percent |
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Healthy Choice Peanut Butter
Cup Ice Cream |
120 |
10 percent |
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TCBY soft-serve fat-free
frozen yogurt |
110 |
10 percent |
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Turkey Hill Vanilla Bean
Light Ice Cream |
110 |
10 percent |
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*Based on a 1,000-mg
RDA
** You can have Ben & Jerry's frozen yogurt every day;
just adjust your serving size. |
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