Product Review: Halo Top Ice Cream

Product Review: Halo Top Ice Cream (Chocolate Mocha Chip Flavor)

I have seen pictures of both Halo Top AND Enlightened Ice Cream ALL OVER my Instagram Feed and I’ve always been a little worried it was getting more attention than it should to stay on track of post-op weight loss. BUT being someone who tries and tries to keep an open mind, I decided to buy some, try some, put it into my daily food log and report back on HOW exactly this can fit into the post-op life WITHOUT jeopardizing post-op weight loss progress.

This time around I found Halo Top Ice Cream. I’ll compare it’s nutrition to Enlightened Ice Cream which I will have to review next!

I’ll go ahead and fill out my “normal” product review report but read through to the bottom to see nutrition info for both ice creams and how to stay on track with your macros if you use these products! To read more about “macro pie charts” and how to create your own on MyFitnessPal read this blog.

Name of Product: Halo Top Ice Cream (Chocolate Mocha Chip)

Where it was purchased: Hy-Vee (local supermarket in the Midwest)

Cost: $4.69 for one pint

How it might be used: When everyone in the family is indulging in ice cream and you’re horribly tempted but trying to make a good choice.

Thoughts/Review: Flavor is awesome. It states on the label that because they don’t use artificial softeners, it does freeze harder than other ice creams. They recommend leaving it on the counter for a few minutes and it will soften up. I found that to be true and very tasty! Much better than the Arctic Zero low calorie ice cream I reviewed a few years back.

It really all boils down to the nutrition here so let’s look at the nutrition and ingredient labels:

If you measure out your half cup serving you’ll have eaten 70 calories, 6 g protein, 11 g carbohydrate and 2.5 g fat.

This alone isn’t terrible you’re right, especially for ice cream but it’s all about the big picture. If you had fruit, beans or any sort of protein bar during your day already and end the night with a half cup…your pie chart will get carb heavy. If that happens once in a blue moon and you typically stay in line with a 20% carb level – it’ll be just fine. And if it keeps you from your families gallon of slowly-churned-overly-decadent-whatever than you definitely won!

As a quick comparison to Enlightened Ice Cream, here is a snapshot of their label for the cold brew coffee flavor (trying to find a similar flavor!)

Same serving size, 10 less calories, same protein, 3 grams more of carbohyrates and 1 gram less of fat.

My thought between the two brands in terms of NUTRITION is that they are so darn similar it might just be which brand you have access to. I have not tried the Enlightened Ice Cream to review it on flavor but have seen lots of great reviews on social media!

In Conclusion: It’s all about the big picture. You certainly don’t want to make ice cream a nightly habit but if you know yourself well and having a good option like this in the freezer will keep you from a bad night of ice cream indulging, then do it. But my best suggestion is to keep you food journal on your Smart Phone, be honest about everything you had and look at the pie chart to see how you did. If you were to make smart choices through the day (lean meats and vegetables) just so you can have your half cup at night…you could certainly still hit 50% protein, 20% carb and 30% fat!

Do you have a product review you’d like to share? Email me at steph@foodcoach.me for submission guidelines and tell everyone what you thought of the product you tried – good or bad!i