Rants & Raves: So Delicious!!!!!!

Coconut Ice Cream! 

Once again it's summer and the heat and humidity are so intense. Makes you want to run outside and assault that wonderful cooled van full of melty delicious treats jingling down the sidewalk!!!!! But if you're like me, digesting processed dairy and high amounts of sugar leave you feeling just awful, and, well, worse than you did before >:(  Luckily for us the company SO Delicious, who started with SOY Delicious, have delved into producing other non-dairy frozen products made from almonds, rice, and (drumroll here,) coconuts. Now there are a number of companies in on the coconut ice cream movement, but I'll explain why SO Delicious gets my vote. They have an even more specified line (within their coconut line!) of reduced/no sugar added products. In beautiful bright aqua containers they come in vanilla bean, chocolate, mint chip, toasted almond chip, and butter pecan, (so far...) Like their fully sugared counterparts they're vegan, gluten free, and soy free (big victory there.) But they're sweetened with erythritol: a sugar alcohol with a glycemic index of 0 and the least irritating to the tummy of all the sugar alcohols, and a small amount of monk fruit: a gourd native to China and Thailand who's sugars are not absorbed by the body, and who have been used in Eastern medicine for centuries to treat diabetes. This means that instead of 17-22 grams of sugar in a half cup (the average for most coconut ice creams) there is 1. And it's super easy to digest and absolutely DELICIOUS. Ok, ok it's not the MOST natural of the foods I eat, and yes it is processed, but luckily, it's kinda pricy. I've yet to see it sold for lower than six and a half dollars per pint. Available in a number of health stores but Whole Foods and Wegman's both carry it too. Also this is not a product for anyone who still thinks all fats = unhealthy. You'll see the light someday but until that day this still contains between 8-11 grams of fat per half cup. This doesn't concern me that much, I am a big proponent of good fats (see my post about coconut oil,) but it does contain a fair amount of gums and stabilizers. This is then the perfect equation for a once in while treat, just like ice cream used to be, and I'm happy about that ;)

BKBTY