6 Amazing Healthy Ice Cream Recipes for this Summer

Health is the first priority. Or at least that’s what all of us keep saying. But why? Is it really that important to maintain it? Yes. And that can’t be stressed enough. A healthy body is a gift that you can give to yourself and your loved ones. Health is related to so many branches of a human life; emotionally, spiritually, physically, and everything else. The most vital factor for any kind of well-being, health, tops the list. And if you lack health, you lack much more than just that!

If you are not leading a healthy life and not following a healthy lifestyle, you are in for some surprises. Surprises in the form of health problems which won’t make you too happy. From simple headaches to bad tummy pains, all can get worse beyond your imagination. And the weird part is, you won’t realise when it’s all happening.

You usually continue with the same lifestyle, ignoring all the good health facts and the bad effects that your lifestyle has to offer. Slowly, you pack on bad stuff inside your body and then comes the diseases! Diseases that will either make life very hard to live or will not give you any life span at all!

You want to enjoy every part of the food and all the good things it comes with. Food plays a huge part in one’s life. You just don’t want to eat to fill your stomach. You also want to eat for your taste buds. We do have a lot of unhealthy food these days, but all it takes is a little wisdom to know what’s going in our plate, and how. If you take out just a little bit time to know how you can replace each bad meal with a better version of it, you will always be leading a great, healthy life!

Hiccups in Leading a Healthy Lifestyle:

Having said that, is it really so hard to maintain our health? Yes. You would’ve probably tried eating and being healthy a lot of times and fallen right back to the old, unhealthy versions. This is the most common thing that happens when someone wants to change the way they live.

Food:

The reason that tops the list is our love for food. Food is one of the main stress busters in life. You find so much comfort in food that you turn towards it all the time whether its happiness, sadness, tensions, nervousness and even when sick.

The trouble is, the food we eat isn’t mostly too clean. In the pursuit of making food tastier and appetizing, you take extra steps. And these extra steps are often unhealthy and very harmful.

Also, commercial food advertises itself in such better ways that you are tempted to leave boring home food. Homemade efforts somehow always lose out to KFC, McDonald’s and biryanis. No matter how much you try, you will always hear outside food inviting you. This is also the biggest reason that food chains are so popular.

Workouts:

Another major side to the laziness of following a good and healthy lifestyle is the pain to workout. Undoubtedly, working out isn’t an easy task for everyone. This is especially true for people who aren’t too familiar with the fitness world and know nothing about it, they’re the ones who really have a hard time.

Firstly, no one is aware. No one is aware of the importance of exercising and the need of sweating. People either are too lazy or are simply unaware. Working out your heart and body is essential for good health. Cardio does wonder for your body and the heart. Also, while strength training, you are training your body for being strong!

But yes, all this is easier said than done. The first step for exercise too is to have a basic healthy body. Weak people, people with lesser haemoglobin levels or any such choric diseases will make them tired very soon. Hence, you should take proper steps for them and then gradually start the workouts.

A lot of other aspects like age, bone density, genes matter too. Hence, in a lot of ways, taking the pain of working out can be very discouraging for a healthy lifestyle.

Stress:

Today, stress plays a big role in a bad lifestyle. You work so hard each day for bettering your life, to earn good money and fame, that all the health importance that you’ve been thinking for so long, goes right outside the window. Stress affects your health so badly that you wouldn’t even know how it’s changing your mind and body.

Because of so much stress already, you will not want to live a life that’s not easy. And easy is, of course, a bad lifestyle. Fast food, sleeping late, smoking and drinking alcohol and sleeping right after, all this is way much easier than doing the opposite in a bad lifestyle.

Hence, all you want to always do is, jump right back into the easy life and be happy, without noticing the harm that it’s going to cause you sooner or later.

Your Sweet Tooth- the Biggest Indulgence!

Avoiding your sweet tooth is one of the biggest fights for health and we have all been there at least once!

We have so many innumerable sweets and dessert dishes around the world that it’s really hard to keep up the fight. The sugars, the smell of pure ghee, the fruits used, other ingredients all make us drool over and over again. Sugars when inside the body make us crave for more. We rarely eat any healthy sweets or healthy snacks.

The first fuel tank in our bodies, that is used for immediate energy is sugar. When we talk, walk, sleep, work, do any activity, the body uses the sugar that’s flowing around inside the blood. It’s only when the sugar is missing from the body, the body uses something else as fuel.

Needless to say, when we have an overflow of sugar in the body and less of its use, the body ends up storing the sugar fuel as fat! And rest, as we all know, is history!

For all this to stop, we need to really keep our sweet indulgence in check. But is that so easily possible? Among all the sweets, ice creams are the most famous among all age group. We have countless flavours from all around the world. We all love ice creams, don’t we?

We have a few extremely healthy versions of ice creams here that use all natural ingredients and will not let you pack any bad fats in the body. What more? They are also delectable and excellent in taste!

Check out these yummy, guilt-free ice cream recipes

Banana Ice Cream:

Banana, is a very easily available fruit but it can be changed into a delectable ice-cream, is beyond our wildest imagination. But check this recipe and find for yourself.

Ingredients:

•  2 frozen bananas.
• splash of ½ cup almond, coconut, or cow’s milk. You can use any milk that you fancy.

Method:

Blend, till smooth.

You will end up with a bowl full of rich, creamy banana ice cream that is sugar-free! Dairy free if you don’t use cow’s milk too. You can make tons of flavours for this base. You can add toppings and sauces. But this is the classic banana ice cream and the healthiest version ever! Ever since this basic formula has been known, people are trying all sorts of ice creams at home.

Calories: 145; Total Fat: 2.1g; Saturated Fat: 0.2g; Trans Fat 0g; Cholesterol: 0mg; Sodium: 8mg; Carbohydrate: 29.2g; Dietary Fibre: 4; Sugars: 14.4; Protein: 3.2g

Raspberry Ice Cream:

Ice creams are just not snacks when it’s 45 degrees outside. Ice creams are soul food to many! And what we need with them is that incredible tangy-sweet flavour which stands a class apart. This healthy ice cream recipe will leave you feeling fresh and light, taking care of your cravings!

Ingredients:

• Pop 1 cup frozen banana
• 1 cup frozen raspberry and 1/3 to ½ cup of any milk of your choice!

Method:

• Now blend everything in a high-speed blender until you have a thick, rich, creamy consistency.
•  Enjoy your ice cream with toppings! Chocolate chips are the best pair!

Alternatively, you can use any berry. Blueberries, blackberries, strawberries and more.

Calories: 215; Total Fat: 2.8g; Saturated Fat: 1.6g; Cholesterol: 10mg; Carbohydrate: 49.2g; Dietary fibre: 11.1g; Sugars: 31.9g; Protein: 6.3g

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice-Cream:

Want to get a little creative and try something new? Here it is! The simplest, tastiest, nutrition-filled ice cream ever.

Ingredients:

• 2 frozen bananas, 40 grams (a big handful) of spinach
• 2 tablespoons of coconut milk. You can use any milk and also water.
•  A few drops of peppermint extract with chocolate chips (how much ever you want).

Method:

Blend this all up till you have a creamy consistency. Plate it out and top with more Chocó chips!

Spinach, in an ice cream! Can it get any healthier?

Calories: 168; Total Fat: 4.1g; Saturated Fat: 2.1g; Cholesterol: 0mg; Carbohydrate: 33g; Dietary fibre: 3.5g; Sugars: 18.4g; Protein: 1.5g

Banana and Dark Cherry Ice Cream:

As we know banana is the main ingredient, you can actually go with any fruit and it’s the same yummy taste.Now try this with cherries! The dark cherries have this sweet-tangy flavour and the bananas make it that creamy ice cream consistency.

Ingredients:

• Blend ½ cup milk.
• Few frozen bananas with a few cherries.
•  Add in a little vanilla extract to get a sweet flavour.

Method:

Blend, till smooth.

Very apt for all that instant sweet cravings!

Calories: 215; Total Fat: 2.8g; Saturated Fat: 1.6g; Cholesterol: 10mg; Carbohydrate: 49.2g; Dietary fibre: 11.1g; Sugars: 31.9g; Protein: 6.3g

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream:

Who can resist chocolate? Similarly, peanut butter is everyone’s favourite too! So let’s see this recipe that has all the favourites!

Ingredients

• Pop 2 frozen bananas
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoon milk
• 1 tablespoon peanut butter
• optional sugar-free or stevia.

Method:

Put it in the blender and blend until you have a thick creamy consistency.

Nutrients per ½ recipe: Calories: 170; Total Fat: 5.3g; Saturated Fat: 1.4g; Cholesterol: 0mg; Carbohydrate: 30.5g; Dietary fibre: 4.3g; Sugars: 14.9g; Protein: 4.2g

Strawberry Yogurt Ice Cream:

One ice cream for dairy lovers! This has a base of yogurt. You can use Greek or regular yogurt.

Ingredients:

• 500 grams of frozen strawberries.
• 250 ml of low-fat yogurt and stevia
• Brown sugar or sugar-free according to your taste! Use a food processor or a blender.

Method:

Throw in all the three ingredients. You can always cut down on sugar as per your taste to make it healthier. Pulse it and let it mix very well.

After making these, you will never want to turn towards ice creams, gelatos or fried ice creams in the market. Always freeze your ice creams until the time you are serving it, or, have them immediately when made. You can always make these look incredible with the variety of toppings of fruits, dry fruits, chocolate chips, dry and sweet ginger pieces, sauces and more yogurt.

Yogurt is extremely healthy if you do not mind having dairy. You get all versions like full fat, low fat and flavoured! If you are vegan and dairy free, go for bananas.

Banana is a great base for ice creams and it cannot get any better in nutrition. Remember, if you are one of those who do not like the flavour and smell of bananas, you can always add a few drops of almond extract or vanilla extract. The smell won’t trouble you. If your ice-creams get stuck, all you need to do is, scrape down the sides of the blender, add in some liquid, the milk or water and push all the items back towards the blades and grind again!

All these recipes and more of your own creations are all healthy alternatives to the commercial ice creams and sweets and deserts. You have no added sugar, no dairy. And the best part is the base ingredient is extremely nutritional and easily available in the market.

Serve and enjoy!