My brain lights up like the proverbial Christmas tree just thinking about ice cream. So, I can’t really blame myself for grabbing a sweet, creamy keto frozen treat boasting only 2 net carbs last time I was at Aldi’s. Two days later, I was rethinking that idea (again…) while huddled in bed like a bad rom-com cliche gobbling a pint of Ben & Jerry’s. How is that possible when you have KETO ice cream?? Sadly, trigger foods are anything you overeat, and might be connected with another more annoying issue in play. There’s some credible science out there that says your sugar-addicted brain can’t tell the difference between cane sugar and keto alternatives like monkfruit or erythritol. Anecdotally, this seems to happen more often to me when I eat these sweeteners in a creamy fat-laden format. Crap.
Portion Control Still Matters!!
Here’s the conundrum — a single pint of delicious low-carb ice cream, such as Aldi’s Sundae Shoppe keto-friendly options, has THREE servings. Depending on which variety you choose, each dishes up to 660 calories and 15g of carbs. That adds up to a mighty tempting trigger for people like me who were born without an off switch for sugar consumption. The old euphemism of having a “sweet tooth” exists (IMO) as permission to binge. Maybe pull the tooth?
I have proven again and again that the carton wins every single time over my determination to have just one serving. Apparently this is in part because the “send more” sugar receptors in my head fire out of proportion to the satiation sensor. I’m not sure that’s a scientific thing, nevertheless it’s real for me. It took some hardcore bingeing to polish off three (3!) pints of commercially made keto ice cream in five (5!) days. By then, with my abject shame as motivation, I suddenly had a flash of inspiration for a satisfying single-serving substitute.
Deconstruct Your Ice Cream
I’d just replenished the pantry with Trader Joe’s Unsweetened Flaked Coconut and Macadamia Nuts, a classic combo — so those became my crunchy flavor base. Then I started concocting the creamy component: a couple of tablespoons each of TJ’s Organic Light Whipped Cream Cheese, Shelf-Stable Whipping Cream and Kirkland Organic Greek Yogurt went on top. For a smaller hit of sweetness, I sprinkled on about 1.5 tsp of Golden Lakanto Monkfruit, then drizzled a little Kirkland’s Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk to thin it.
Although I didn’t try freezing what I call “deconstructed” ice cream (i.e. melty), I feel like taking the that extra step to delay gratification for an hour or two might be worth a try. The key is just don’t make more than one serving at a time.
Brandmoon: Words Matter 