Thursday, June 23, 2011

Arctic Zero Ice Cream Review





First off .. let's just say it and get it out of the way! I am an ice cream freak! In fact- I have been eating it for a month straight. All kinds, all types. I don't know why. Its a crave that I cannot ignore. A crave that unfortunately keeps me bikini not ready. But most fat free ice creams taste like water. :) And they have a lot of artificial sugars or fat. This ice cream, Arctic Zero takes the candles and the cake. Or you get what I am saying. The monk fruit and organic cane sugar that sweeten this are what sold me on it. A pint of my favorite Ice Cream, Blue Bell Cookies & Creme...

A one pint container of Blue Bell Cookies n Cream ice cream contains 680 calories. One serving is 1/2 cup and there are 4 servings per container.

Yep! And I usually eat the whole thing ... I am not going to lie. I can't stop myself. Its delicious. :)
So I know if I polish off this ice cream, I am in the clear. No worries. No guilt! Ask anyone who knows me, I have immense food guilt. 
What surprised me most. The unique flavors. I love pumpkin anything and was tickled to death to get pumpkin ice cream, which you can usually only find anything pumpkin in Oct - Nov. I don't really get that anyway. I hate seasonal things. Who says strawberries and watermelons are only for summer, and gingerbread and pumpkin for Thanksgiving and Christmas? That's crazy! Most of the stuff is artificially flavored anyway! LOL! But I love me some pumpkin coffee. SO I thought, let me add a scoop of this pumpkin Arctic Zero to my regular Pumpkin Coffee! (Torani is my best friend) So there are pictures of that interesting addition to my daily routine below.
Yes, I am aware, what is the point in adding something thats supposed to help you not over do calories on sweets... to straight sugar and whipped creme.. Hmm.. I don't know. I'll have to get back to you on that, but it sure was tasty!
But more than me being surprised about the Pumpkin Spice was me being surprised about a Maple Vanilla flavor. It was so good, I might be putting it on pancakes! LOL  And that I actually liked it, because when I seriuously did not think I would! I actually liked all of them, the chocolate mint was good and the coffee was also good. The chocolaty peanut butter, divine! Cookies & Creme (.. amazing!) was Giana's favorite and Noah's was strawberry, really no surprises there! 
BUT - As much as I like this ice cream. I have to call them out on something. They claim on the site its a "protein shake" ice cream. Or similar to.
I have to call them out and say 4g of protein hardly qualifies it for that category. A 8oz glass of milk has double that. If your looking for protein, one cup of cooked lentils has 18g. If you are looking for a low fat alternative to traditional ice cream, then look no further. 

Protein Nutrition & another list of High Protein foods.
While it is very low in sodium, carbs, and other things, it has little nutritional value, and to be perfectly frank, there are tons of foods with more protein. SO I don't want that coming back on me, that I said that. That's a claim that they make. Not I. Lets get a breakdown of ingredients.


 I am not going to lie and say it tastes just like my Bluebell, for it doesn't. It was quite good though. I liked the pumpkin spice, and cookies & creme the best!
What I wasn't impressed with was simply the lids. They were more like paper, and were not completely functional for re-use for more than one serving. When you peel them off they aren't sturdy. Not that they rip, but they are thin and bend and tend to stick to the ice cream. I also noticed this ice cream got significantly harder than other brands. I had to let it melt a little before I could dig in. What's great about it is: with it being so low calorie, I don't get the food guilt that I normally get  after I workout that day, then polish off a bowl of ice cream. (I always justify ice cream by saying women (especially child bearing and even more so with each child it increases exponentially) are at risk for osteoporosis - and I am totally serious here. So forget about the fat, honey, you need that calcium! LOL! Eat all the ice cream you want girl! LOL!


The bare facts:
Arctic Zero retails in stores for between $3.49-$4.99 a pint.
Over the last 20 years, the calorie count of most foods has nearly doubled, mostly due to larger portion sizes! This helps curb that for sure! For all you Amazon heads (like I) Arctic Zero is available on amazon direct from them! How awesome is that? Click here to see on AMAZON +pricing. I take surveys .. well not too much now, because I am always so involved with Locomotion of Expressions. (Did anyone ever tell you its hard to keep a blog running?) It is!  :)  I will only take paying legit surveys and have taken them for 7 years straight , so if ya need any referrals *wink*wink!*  A lot of the sites pay cash but most pay with Amazon. Well.. the good ones do. I accumulate about 90$ every 3 months just answering questions on the computer- to spend on Amazon. I am forever adding things to my Wish List and Shopping Lists so I'll remember to get them when I have more "survey money". This is something I can now get. 


If you are a Facebook addict or Twitter fiend you'll be glad to know I have links for you, of course!




You can friend Arctic Zero on Facebook or follow them on Twitter @myarcticzero!


Arctic Zero Frozen Dessert Flavors:Chocolate




Vanilla Maple




Chocolate Peanut Butter




Strawberry



Mint Chocolate Cookie



Cookies & Cream




Coffee





Seasonal Flavors:




Pumpkin Spice





Do yourself a favor and find a find a store near you. Arctic Zero is sold at many Ralph's stores. I do not have one.. but there's always amazon! (With it's amazing free shipping!)


Everyone remembers the old children's' rhyme about how we all scream for ice cream. But in today's more health conscious environment, ice cream has become the guiltiest of pleasures. Ice cream may make you scream all right, but in an entirely different way than we used to. Fortunately, Arctic Zero® has changed the equation. Now you can have an ice cream-like treat that has less than 150 Calories per pint. It's like a delicious-tasting frozen protein shake you can spoon.


What is your favorite flavor Arctic Zero? (tell me in comments below!)

Benefits Of Arctic Zero®
We've all heard of "super foods," but who's ever heard of a "super dessert"? Arctic Zero®is the world's first one. It feeds the muscle and starves the fat. Your body wants nutrition; your muscles crave protein. Arctic Zero® satisfies this need by delivering the highest quality whey protein concentrate that you can put in your body. But we'll get to that in a minute. 

Things worth noting:
• Arctic Zero® is very low calorie--with only 150 calories per pint,--It was developed for you to enjoy guilt free
• Arctic Zero® is all natural, low carb, fat free, gluten free, lactose intolerant-friendly, a great source of fiber (8 grams of fiber per pint), and high in whey protein concentrate
• As hard as it may be to believe, even with the benefits listed above, it tastes great!
Now let's start with the protein. 
We don't use the standard whey protein that you can simply buy in the stores. We use a high quality whey protein concentrate. It's more quickly assimilated by your muscles and Arctic Zero® contains the essential amino acids your body needs. 

Whey protein concentrate found in Arctic Zero®:
• Naturally helps stimulate appetite suppression in our bodies and contributes to a sense of fullness
• Helps in weight loss, specifically fat loss--Recent studies suggest that the essential amino acid leucine that is abundant in whey protein concentrate improves body composition
• High quality whey protein concentrate is rich in leucine to help preserve lean muscle tissue while promoting fat loss
• The whey protein concentrate found in Arctic Zero® contains more leucine than milk protein, egg protein, and soy protein
• The whey protein we use Is a naturally complete protein that promotes lean muscle mass and is a rich source of branched chain amino acids (BCAAs), containing the highest known levels of any natural food source
• Whey protein concentrate found in Arctic Zero® is an easy to digest protein, and can quickly provide nourishment to muscles
• Our whey protein helps to maintain a healthy immune system by increasing levels of glutathione in the body--glutathione is an anti-oxidant required for a healthy immune system
• It stabilizes blood glucose levels by slowing the absorption of glucose into the bloodstream--this in turn reduces hunger by lowering insulin levels and making it easier for the body to burn fat.
Recent Studies On Whey Protein:
Whey Protein may help prevent cancer. Whey protein has been shown through animal and in vitro studies to inhibit the growth of several types of cancer tumors. Dr. Thomas Badger, head of the Arkansas Children's Nutrition Center in Little Rock, found that feeding rats whey protein resulted in their developing 50% fewer tumors than rats fed casein. The rats fed whey protein also developed fewer tumors than rats fed soy protein and the tumors took longer to develop. Whey protein also has the ability to help prevent bone loss.
A recent study conducted at Boston University showed that elderly individuals who consumed low levels of protein had a significant loss of bone density four years after the start of the study, especially in the hip and spine areas. A nutritious diet including whey protein may help keep bones and muscles healthy and strong. It's also often the preferred choice for high protein products recommended by physicians following surgery or burn therapy. Whey protein also contains components with protective anti-microbial properties, such as lactoferrin.

Whey protein may also help T-cell activity, decrease the wasting tissues during illness, increase well-being, and speed overall recovery.

To view a list of specific references, see the following:
www.wheyoflife.org/benefits.cfm
www.wheyoflife.org/references/references_wpi.pdf
Fiber and natural sweeteners found in Arctic Zero®:Arctic Zero® is also a great source of fiber. We added 8 grams of fiber to each pint of Arctic Zero in the form of chicory root because studies have shown that consuming 8 or more grams of chicory root increases calcium absorption in the human body.
Arctic Zero® is sweetened with a proprietary blend of organic cane sugar and monk fruit concentrate. Why did we choose these two sweeteners? We looked at a variety of natural sweeteners, some from the jungles of South America, Africa, Antarctica, the moon, you name it; some from fermented fruits and vegetables, the list goes on.

We didn't want to use any sweeteners that would add weird flavors to our products, or weird after-tastes. Nor did we want any of the sweeteners that produced uncomfortable bloating and digestive upset, some even create the need to camp-out in front of a bathroom.

We wanted an all natural sweetener that had all the benefits of low calorie and low glycemic, without any weird flavors or side effects.

The monk fruit concentrate found in Arctic Zero®comes from the sweetest melon in the world and has been used in Asia for over 1,000 years. Monk fruit concentrate is 150 times sweeter than sugar and one gram of it replaces 40 teaspoons of sugar! See why we love it?
The combining of organic cane sugar with monk fruit concentrate not only allowed us to increase the sweetness of Arctic Zero® but also allowed us to drop both the grams of sugar and carbohydrate count by more than 30%!

My Arctic Zero Pumpkin Coffee!

The ingredients : Whipped Creme, Keurig Brewed Coffee, Torani Pumpkin Spice syrup and Arctic Zero Pumpkin Spice Ice Cream.

Mix well!
Enjoy!

*Disclaimer* Arctic Zero has not paid me to endorse this product. Samples were provided to me for review purposes only. The opinions contained within this post are 100% mine!

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