Many people indulge in that favorite summer treat of having a cone of ice cream on a hot summer day. For others it may be enjoying your favorite flavor as you watch your Penn State Nittany Lions play a football game. If you were at a Penn State game, the only logical place to go would be the Penn State Creamery for your indulgence. I thought it would be interesting to see what the nutritional facts are about some of the various flavors that they provide.
Some people are simple and enjoy just a plain scoop of vanilla ice cream on an ice cream cone. If you would consume 1/2 a cup of their Alumni Swirl which consists of Vanilla Ice Cream with Swiss Mocha Chips and Blueberry Swirl, you would get a whopping 170 calories and 80 of those would be from fat. For those of your looking at protein to carbohydrate ratios it is 2 grams of protein to 20 grams of carbs and 9 grams of fat. That means that almost half of your calories are from fat and let’s not forget about the cone. The cone itself if it is just plain will add another 17 calories to your total.
Now if your a choc-o-holic, then you might wish to indulge in the Death by Chocolate version of their ice cream. For the same 1/2 cup serving size this will give you 170 calories per serving with 80 of those coming from fat. The protein/carb ratio is 3 to 23 on this, so it will net you 3 more carbs than the Alumni Swirl and 1 more gram of protein. Most people consume at least 2 to 3 scoops of ice cream per serving and they may add some additional toppings like chocolate syrup, nuts, candies, and caramel. If you add 2 tablespoons of caramel topping to your delightful concoction then you will add an additional 27 grams of carbs and 110 calories to your total. Maybe you would like some bananas or strawberries to go on your ice cream, then you can increase your calories and carbs even higher pushing you towards almost 100 grams of carbohydrates or more.
You might have the inclination for ice cream, but want a healthier alternative like frozen yogurt. If you choose their Black Raspberry Frozen yogurt then you might reduce your caloric intake slightly by only ingesting 120 calories per 4 ounces. The carbohydrates equal 20 and protein is 3 grams and your calories from fat drop to 35. The problem is most people do not consume 4 ounces of frozen yogurt, so you might be consuming more calories than if you ate the ice cream .
This gives you an idea of how quickly calories can add up in one split-second decision to indulge while you are at a football game. This is not even considering the fact of pre-game food and beverages, plus anything else that may venture your way during the course of the game and post-game. Be careful in what you choose and how much you choose to indulge in because it may hurt your progress that you have spent countless hours working on.