Ice cream is a treat. No matter how many calories you squeeze out of it and how many substitutes for this and that you pump back in, it’s not going to be as good for you as that organic green salad. We’re of the opinion that it’s completely healthy to treat yourself every now and then, to allow yourself some sugar, some carbs, some of those ingredients periodically labelled as toxic by ‘experts’ every few weeks.
Enjoying certain foods in moderation isn’t a new idea nor a niche idea, but recently we’ve seen a surge in many food brands making low-calorie versions of their product and marketing them in a way that encourages a guilt-free, binge eating attitude.
“We take issue with brands who encourage or promote a culture of gluttony. It’s our responsibility to focus more on having a healthy relationship with food of higher quality.”
– Dirk Mischendahl our founder and director at Northern Bloc.
As you can see, we take issue with this and it turns out we’re not the only ones.
In Kate Leaver’s excellent Elle article she discusses these issues, interviewing top academics, nutritionists and authors on the subject. The consensus from the article is that though the low-calorie ingredients used to lower the calories of products are technically safe to consume, the attitude they encourage is much more problematic.
Kate Leaver explains that Halo Top, for example, recognise one serving as half a cup but with taglines like ‘Save the bowl’, ‘No bowl, no regrets’ and ‘Stop when you hit the bottom’ they clearly motivate the consumer to eat the entire thing with no caution.
As Leaver explains, the guilt-free advertising is worrying as it ‘not only distorts our idea of what an appropriate serving size is and encourages bingeing; it also goes against the ardent advice any trained nutritionist or dietitian will give you in your first consultation: We shouldn’t be talking about food in terms of guilt, remorse or moral merit.’
Rather than urge people to carelessly binge on food with little to no nutritional we have a responsibility in the industry to offer better quality food that is more fulfilling, more satisfying with more nutritional value and encourage a healthy attitude towards its consumption.
Pixie Turner, registered nutritionist and author of The Wellness Rebel, is also quoted in this article commenting to that effect:
‘The thing with these alternatives is that they do not satisfy our cravings in the same way, so we tend to eat more than we would otherwise. Instead, just buy the ice cream you want for flavour, have a scoop or two, and really savour it. Be happy and content in your choice and not guilty. All food is guilt-free.’
Here here, Pixie, we couldn’t agree more. At Northern Bloc we make ice cream of the highest quality, a real treat with phenomenal flavours to savour where a few scoops is all you need.
Ditch the ‘guilt-free’ ice cream, treat yourself the right way with NB°C.
