Are the carbs from low calorie protein Ice Cream good or bad carbs ?

I am talking about the low cow protein ice cream (240 calories and 24g of protein for a whole pint)
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Replies

  • tlpina82
    tlpina82 Posts: 229 Member
    I know it's semantics since Ann has explained that "Carbs are Carbs", but the pop culture understanding of Good vs Bad carbs are related to processed vs unprocessed sugar.

    Meaning 100 calories from a watermelon (A little over 320 grams of the fruit, Contains about 20g of sugar.
    Now, that sugar is wrapped in natural fiber which slows its absorption, plus vitamin A, C, iron, Magnesium and traces of other minerals depending on the ground it was grown.

    Versus 100 calories from High Fructose Corn Syrup (About 37 Grams of the "goo") which is just what is is. 30 grams of pure sugar with no additional nutritional value and no fiber to slow down the absorption.
    So it's a straight shot of sugar into your bloodstream.

    Now... In that sense, Low Cow would be considered "Bad Carbs" since it uses Corn Syrup as a partial sweetener (They save the calories by adding Steviol to complete the sweet taste).

    Regardless, your body processes the sugar the same way.
  • tlpina82
    tlpina82 Posts: 229 Member
    WinoGelato wrote: »

    Do you know a lot of people that drink straight HFCS? Even if you are comparing natural sugars to watermelon to consumption of ice cream that contains HFCS, the ice cream isn’t completely devoid of nutrition as you suggest. It offers dairy, fat, and in the OP’s example, protein. If a person is low on protein or fat for their day, and had met other nutritional requirements, the ice cream could be a better choice than the watermelon.

    The fact remains that trying to distill any single food or ingredient down to “good vs bad” is not helpful because it’s always going to come down to contest and dosage. As Ann said, there are no good carbs or bad carbs, there are no good foods or bad foods. There are no good sugars or bad sugars. They are all just components of an otherwise heathy or unhealthy diet. [/quote]

    No one suggested drinking corn syrup out of a bottle and you also missed the point.
    Also, i don't remember suggesting that the ice cream was devoid of any nutrition.
    We are talking apples and oranges.

    1 to 1 sugar is sugar. Extracted from its natural source, the sugar is the same. Fructose + Glucose.

    However, when wrapped in fiber, the sugar has a slower rate of absorption and lower insulin response.

    Ice cream has no fiber, and since sugar(or HFCS) is not fat soluble, the sugar is available in its purest form to be absorbed.
    The combination of glucose, fat content in the ice cream and the liver processing the fructose into glycerides causes an insulin spike. This insulin spike causes the liver to push fat into the bloodstream at a faster rate causing yet more insulin to be released until the blood sugar and PH are stabilized. This does not happen when eating fruit or any other natural sugar.

    Dr. Gerald Reaven (Endocrinology researcher with focus in insulin resistance and diabetes) claims that this process of fat production and insulin, repeated over time, can result hyperinsulinsim, and ultimately insulin resistance regardless of body composition.

    And I won't even get into the Saturated Fat discussion as it will go nowhere.

    So I would argue that coming here and telling people that sugar wrapped in saturated fat is the same as natural sugar wrapped in fiber, vitamins and minerals is not only wrong, it's irresponsible.

    At a molecular level, sugar is sugar. But in real life application, all sugar is not the same.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,843 Member
    Unless a diabetic is speaking for himself, 99% of the attacks on sugar in particular and carbs in general are just more virtue signalling.

    Why "virtue signalling" instead of "confused due to the demonization of sugar and carbs in the media"?
  • TonyRyad
    TonyRyad Posts: 6 Member

    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    There are not good or bad carbs. There are not good or bad foods (except poison foods, spoiled foods, or foods you're allergic to).

    By the end of the day, you want to have gotten good overall nutrition (enough protein, fat, carbs, fiber, plus varied colorful veggies and fruit for micronutrients), and you want to be very close to your calorie goal.

    Some of the protein and fats and carbs can come from ice cream, even from regular ice cream, not just special ice cream.

    Carbs are just carbs. Even if you're diabetic, and find some carbs spike your blood sugar so you need to avoid them, which carbs that is will depend on the individual, so you need to test. If you're diabetic, it may matter how many carbs you eat at a time, or combined with what other foods.

    If you don't have any medical conditions that affect how your body processes carbs, specific foods' carbs aren't good or bad, they're just carbs.

    There can be good overall nutrition or bad overall nutrition (and a range of relative goodness/badness in between). Strive for good overall nutrition the majority of days, and you'll be fine.

    Enjoy your ice cream!

    Actually no, there are complex carbs with a low glycemic indice (sweet patatos, brown rice, beans etc) and simple carbs which are bad with a high glycemic indice (white flour, processed sugar, white bread, pastries etc)
    Please get your facts