Good, or rather very good, alone or in company, with friends, family, partner, in summer or winter… everyone goes crazy for ice-creamone of the most consumed foods by us Italians.

Excellent at any time of the day, this is one of those little pleasures which bring joy and make daily life lighter.

To eat ice cream it is truly a pleasure, but many do not know that ice cream is not only good, but also healthy and rich in nutrients and unique qualities. Therefore it is not necessary to consider it a change in the diet or a food that can harm the body, on the contrary it can be perfectly included in a correct diet.

Where did ice cream originate? The delightful story

Now let’s talk about lactose-free ice cream, homemade ice cream with or without ice cream maker or fried ice creambut the origins of ice cream still arouse a lot of curiosity

When and where ice cream was invented it’s still an open question. Someone took it back to the time of Isaac, who offered ad Abraham a combination of snow and goat’s milk.

With their “nivatae potiones”, even the Romans consumed an ancestor of ice cream made with snow, fruit and honey.

Even him ArabsDuring the Middle Ages, they froze fruit juices in containers placed in crushed ice.

There ice cream recipe it has traveled through the centuries, but has taken on an appearance a little more similar to the one we knew in the sixteenth century. It was Bernardo Buontalenti to create a mixture of milk, cream and eggs.

It was he who brought Italian ice cream into the modern era Francesco Procopio of Coltelli in the seventeenth century. Determined to find a new form of livelihood, he began to change and enrich the recipes using an old machine to produce sorbets. He is responsible for having inserted sugar instead of honey and for having used salt together with ice to lower the temperature of the mixture. It is also to him that we owe the first real ice cream shop, the Café Procope in Paris.

We have to wait until 1948 to have the first ice cream stick: we’re talking about Mottarello. Afterwards there was the launch of the Croissant. Twenty years later, the first freezer ice cream arrived, the Little jar.

The ice cream is good and healthy

In addition to being delicious, in fact the ice-cream it is also refreshing and also offers a good dose of vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, proteins, fibers and lipids, as it is made with natural ingredients rich in properties such as milk, fruit, nuts, chocolate and much more.

For some time ice cream was demonized because it was believed to contain ahigh percentage of fat and therefore it was not suitable to be included in a balanced diet, but in reality the studies of numerous nutritionists and medical experts have shown that ice cream is not only not greasy, but also good for your health and can be consumed absolutely with peace of mind. It also represents a valid meal replacement since the basic ingredients that it contains can provide complete nourishment to the body.

In a balanced dieta quantity equal to approximately 100 grams of ice-cream has a caloric intake which varies between 150 and 300 calories, giving approximately the 10/20 percent of the amount of calories which should be taken throughout the day as part of a balanced diet.

This means that whenever you want you can choose to eat a nice cup of ice cream with many flavors or an excellent cone as a replacement for the main meal without having too many regrets. Obviously, as always, it is advisable not to overdo it because it is important to know that the fat which is found in ice-cream is usually of animal origin and for this reason it can lead to an increase in cholesterol levels, which is why you should not exaggerate with the portions.

What ice cream is good for you?

From a nutritional point of view the various types of ice cream can be grouped into two groups main:

• milk-based ice creamsuch as fruit or cream ice cream
• water-based ice cream like sorbet or ice lolly.

The energy value of the milk-based ice cream is usually considered medium/highwhile on the contrary the calorific value of the water-based ice cream and instead medium low. Furthermore i milk-based ice creams they provide a consistent protein content of high biological value.

Both two types of ice cream are produced sweets with a high content of simple carbohydratescomposed mostly of sugars.

THE fats found in ice cream furthermore they are mainly those derived from milk. In milk-based ice creams the percentage of fat varies between 3.3% and 22.7% while in those a water based fat intake is less than 1%.

THE ice creams containing milk can be considered one good alternative to contribute to thecalcium intake. The ice-cream it also has a low sodium content for this reason it can be consumed in the diet of people who need to control their sodium intake.

Finally in recent years, in some ice creams was reduced the total content of fat, making it healthier and increasing the percentage of unsaturated fats. If you instead consume the water-based ice creamnowadays there is a greater la percentage of fruitthis means that the vitamin levels.

How to eat ice cream without gaining weight

Is it possible to eat ice cream without compromising our figure? As we have seen, yes. You certainly need attention, but this doesn’t mean it’s impossible to enjoy a nice ice cream without gaining extra pounds.

The caloric intake resulting from the consumption of ice cream is quite high, however, based on tastes, the assimilated calorie index can be reduced. The quantity of ice cream also has a great impact on our figure but if consumed without exaggerating it does not carry the risk of gaining weight (at least in most cases).

Choose the chocolate ice cream it is clearly not very suitable if we think about calories and this applies to many other flavours. While as regards fruit ice cream, the calorie intake is decidedly low.

Let’s see some tips for eating ice cream without it blowing the scales: it’s possible:

• Opt for a fruit ice cream that does not have eggs and milk inside
• Do not exaggerate with the quantities taken during the day
• Avoid a sedentary lifestyle and do some exercise which is always good
• Avoid ice creams that have been made with hydrogenated vegetable fats
• The same goes for partially hydrogenated ice creams
• Also avoid ice creams that contain a high presence of vegetable oils

There are no dangers of consuming packaged ice creams with these components, given that the ingredients are listed on the labels. Or for loose ice creams there must be a table stating what is present in the ice creams and it is precisely the law that imposes this.

Ice cream diet, the summer menu

The ice-cream can be easily inserted into the daily diet through a balanced diet. Here, for example, is a weekly summer menu that includes ice cream.

First day

• Breakfast: 125 g of low-fat yogurt
• Lunch: fior di latte ice cream, 200 g of strawberries
• Dinner: 80 g of risotto with vegetables, 130 g of beef carpaccio with celery, tomato salad

Second day

• Breakfast: a glass of lemon tea, 3 biscuits
• Lunch: fruit ice cream, 200 g of fresh fruit
• Dinner: 80 g of tuna pasta and ricottatomato salad, a slice of wholemeal bread

Terzo Day

• Breakfast: 150 g low-fat milk, 2 wholemeal biscuits
• Lunch: yogurt ice cream, 200 g of fresh fruit
• Dinner: 70 g of cold pasta

Fourth day

• Breakfast: a glass of fruit juice
• Lunch: mixed ice cream
• Dinner: 70 g of pasta with fresh tomato and basil, a slice of grilled salmon, a slice of wholemeal bread

Fifth day

• Breakfast: a glass of grapefruit juice + barley coffee
• Lunch: fruit ice cream, 200 g of fresh fruit
• Dinner: octopus salad, salad, a slice of wholemeal bread

Sixth day

• Breakfast: 125 g of plain yogurt, 30 g of cereals
• Lunch: chocolate dipped ice cream
• Dinner: 70 g of pasta with clams, a slice of chicken with boiled courgettes, a slice of wholemeal bread

Seventh Day

• Breakfast: banana smoothie with skimmed milk
• Lunch: mixed ice cream
• Dinner: 80 g of cold pasta with cherry tomatoes, chives and basil, a slice of wholemeal bread