A Case for Ice Cream: Enjoy Your Favorite Treats Guilt-Free

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 Today I want to make a case for ice cream. Number one, it's probably my favorite dessert. But the main reason I want to talk about ice cream is because for a long time, I would only eat the fake stuff - the low sugar, low fat ice cream. And also for a long time ice cream was one of my go-to binge foods.

And when I started to heal my relationship with food and began to explore full fat yogurt, more than just a small drizzle of olive oil, butter… ice cream was one of the last things I tried since it was a binge food. I didn't really trust myself around ice cream yet. And I just anticipated a binge. In my head, I would rather consume a carton of light ice cream, than a carton of full fat ice cream. So I would always just choose the light ice cream.

But a crazy thing happened, which shouldn't surprise anyone. I didn't even really want to binge on the full fat ice cream once I had it. It was like, it had a completely different effect on my brain. Then several years ago, I heard about a study that was done that backed this up. And honestly, I feel like other people have this experience too, of being more satisfied with the real deal than they are with like a light or diet version.

But anyway, this study was, I just looked it up again to make sure I have all my facts right. But the study was done in 2011 and it was called the Mind Over Milkshake study. And they gave two groups of people a 380-calorie shake and they told one group it was a 140-calorie smoothie-like shake - they called it a sensible shake with no fat or sugar - and they told the other group it was a 620-calorie like super indulgent milkshake.

Then they took a look at the ghrelin responses in each group. And ghrelin is your hunger hormone. I always think of ghrelin like a gremlin in your belly, like super hungry. But it's supposed to increase when you need to eat. And then it's supposed to decrease after you've had a satisfying meal.

And even though both groups consumed the exact same shake, the group who thought it was indulgent had a larger drop in ghrelin. And then the group that thought it was the sensible shake had no ghrelin response. Theirs remained relatively flat, meaning the indulgent group was physiologically less hungry than the sensible group. And the indulgence group reported greater satiety. So physically, mentally, they felt more satisfied too. Crazy right?

All that to say, if you're currently only eating low fat or low sugar versions of your favorite treats, try the real deal. I know it's a little scary at first, but just savor it and release the guilt. And like anything, you're going to need some practice. I promise the more you practice allowing yourself to enjoy these treats, the less control they're going to have over you. The less you'll feel the urge to binge or overeat. And you'll feel so much more relaxed and actually be able to enjoy the foods you love, which is the goal. Right?

So take this with you, practice enjoying your favorite treats this week, and let me know how it goes. ♡