Halo Top. Yay or Nay?

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Replies

  • RelCanonical
    RelCanonical Posts: 3,882 Member
    I use HT when I need a hit of protein at the end of the day.

    Flavors I like:
    Peanut Butter and Jelly
    Gingerbread House
    Caramel Macchiato
    Sea Salt Caramel
    Strawberry
    Pumpkin Pie


    Flavors I had to throw in the trash because they were so bad:
    Pancakes and Waffles
    Blueberry Crumble
    Rainbow Swirl (aka Play-doh)

    I couldn't finish the pancakes and waffles one either and I'm usually not picky at all when it comes to sweet things.
  • Carlos_421
    Carlos_421 Posts: 5,132 Member
    edited January 2020
    I mean they're decent ice cream for the protein and calories if you want an indulgent snack.

    Problem is you've got to take out a home equity loan to keep them stocked if you like ice cream.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    zyxst wrote: »
    I read rave reviews of HT on here. When it finally came to Canada, I took a closer look and found out it's about the same calories per serving as ice cream, but more expensive.

    And yeah, I did originally think the calories were for the WHOLE pint, not per serving.
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Interesting.

    Here in the US, a whole pint (at 240-360 calories for the pint, most flavors I've seen below 300) is in the ballpark of a 1/2C serving of most premium full-fat real-sugar ice cream (250 and up, usually).

    Still not worth eating the HT, IMO, though. ;)

    Yes, as a Ben & Jerry's fan, this calorie comparison was my experience as well.

    @zyxst what brand were you using as a comparison?
  • NordicAlien
    NordicAlien Posts: 110 Member
    I really like the Peanut Butter Cup, and it doesn’t seem to aggravate my blood sugars (diabetic). Can’t say if it’ll be that way with other diabetics.

    Birthday Cake was OK. It tasted a lot like actual birthday cake, which meant I was satisfied after a small scoop. I guess that’s good?

    My favourite low-cal ice cream is probably Oppo’s Chocolate and Hazelnut, but the Halo Top Peanut Butter Cup is a good second.
  • reginakarl
    reginakarl Posts: 68 Member
    I enjoy getting whip cream in a can an spraying it in a bowl and it seems like ice cream then.
  • debtay123
    debtay123 Posts: 1,327 Member
    I like some of the flavors of HT- BUT I like chilly cow or enlightened much better--- Aslo Ht(dairy free is horrible) to me. Could not stomach even more than a few bites- I do like the "slow churned" Edy brands of ice cream- they are delish and only 50 or so more calories--
  • lalabank
    lalabank Posts: 1,009 Member
    I like Enlightened better but some flavors of HT are pretty good. I usually eat the birthday cake. I eat a very low carb, super low sugar diet so any treat that fits this sweet spot is pretty rad for me. I tolerate sugar alcohols pretty well and HT don’t bother me.
    If I wasn’t so macro focused I’d probably pick a different treat.

    Lol I did eat about a pint a day for like four months...
  • emeraldeyes2020
    emeraldeyes2020 Posts: 231 Member
    They taste great but still carbs are a little high for me if I eat a whole 375ml pot I can’t stop at the suggested 2 scoop = 1portion 😋
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,740 Member
    I think Halo Top is pretty all right...I am a bit meh about it. I eat it in 2 or 3 servings, and I'm kind of a 'large serving' person for a lot of things but was never one to down a whole little tub of regular ice cream even in the past, so, I dunno.

    Favorite Halo Top flavors for me have been green tea mochi and oatmeal cookie. I liked the birthday cake one, too.

    I really like Chilly Cow best, though. Brownie batter or the chocolate-java chip version.

    And Arctic Zero is foul. I had to throw it out.
  • maureenkhilde
    maureenkhilde Posts: 849 Member
    I have tried a variety of the different so called lightened up ice creams. Halo Top is my favorite, followed by Rebel.

    I like the Carmel Sea Salt, Strawberry and the Vanilla Bean.

    I understand what the portion size is. But I buy and literally take out of its container and put in smaller individual containers and into freezer. This way I can control my brain from having me eat the whole container in a sitting.
    And I only buy once a month.

    Personally I like Publix Frozen low fat Yogurt so much better, but I cannot control myself well with that. And it is not good for my diabetes. So the Halo Top once in awhile does it.
  • wilson10102018
    wilson10102018 Posts: 1,306 Member
    Caramel Sea Salt is the best one. I think Breyers fat free (or is it no sugar added? The one with 110 calories per serving which is, I recall 3/4 cup) is a lot better with a marginal difference in calories unless you are eating 4 servings or so.
  • acooperm
    acooperm Posts: 4 Member
    Nay! It doesn't taste like real ice cream. I keep Breyers Extra Creamy Chocolate ice cream in my freezer for when I want a low calorie dessert. It's only 110 calories for half a cup which is just enough for a small cone, or sometimes I mix a large spoonful of the ice cream with half a frozen banana. Delicious!
  • SuzySunshine99
    SuzySunshine99 Posts: 2,989 Member
    just_Tomek wrote: »
    acooperm wrote: »
    Nay! It doesn't taste like real ice cream. I keep Breyers Extra Creamy Chocolate ice cream in my freezer for when I want a low calorie dessert. It's only 110 calories for half a cup which is just enough for a small cone, or sometimes I mix a large spoonful of the ice cream with half a frozen banana. Delicious!

    I am willing to guess that its because it not??? Also, nowhere does it claim to be.

    The packaging says "ice cream"....their website calls it "ice cream". So, yeah, they kind of do claim that it is ice cream.
  • nighthawk584
    nighthawk584 Posts: 2,023 Member
    I use HT when I need a hit of protein at the end of the day.

    Flavors I like:
    Peanut Butter and Jelly
    Gingerbread House
    Caramel Macchiato
    Sea Salt Caramel
    Strawberry
    Pumpkin Pie


    Flavors I had to throw in the trash because they were so bad:
    Pancakes and Waffles
    Blueberry Crumble
    Rainbow Swirl (aka Play-doh)

    I must be the ONLY ONE that likes the Rainbow swirl, because my store dropped that one. haha
  • MichelleWithMoxie
    MichelleWithMoxie Posts: 1,817 Member
    I like the dairy free flavors a lot better. Especially the DF cookie dough.

    Ben & Jerry’s has a new “low cal” ice cream, moophoria, and the cherry Garcia is bomb 🤤
  • g12586s
    g12586s Posts: 7 Member
    I love the chocolate chip cookie dough and eat 1/4 or 1/2 a container a few nights a week second best is the caramel macchiato third vanilla beat I really think people just consider it diet food and have some sort of view that it’s not healthy it fits in my macros great and I don’t crave anything less healthy or sugary
  • SuzySunshine99
    SuzySunshine99 Posts: 2,989 Member
    just_Tomek wrote: »
    just_Tomek wrote: »
    acooperm wrote: »
    Nay! It doesn't taste like real ice cream. I keep Breyers Extra Creamy Chocolate ice cream in my freezer for when I want a low calorie dessert. It's only 110 calories for half a cup which is just enough for a small cone, or sometimes I mix a large spoonful of the ice cream with half a frozen banana. Delicious!

    I am willing to guess that its because it not??? Also, nowhere does it claim to be.

    The packaging says "ice cream"....their website calls it "ice cream". So, yeah, they kind of do claim that it is ice cream.

    Nope. Not around here. Its its a frozen dessert. To be called ice cream, it had to have a certain amount of cream.

    Ah, regional differences then. I’ve always seen packaging like this that says “light ice cream”.
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  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    It's probably a Canadian labeling law thing, like the silly rule that you must call almond milk "almond beverage."
  • fuzzylop_
    fuzzylop_ Posts: 100 Member
    I actually don't know how halo top gets away with calling themselves ice cream in the US even, since it doesn't appear like they would pass the 10% threshold for milk fat in the CFR. It doesn't bother me either way, since I don't eat dairy, but it's odd, and I'm sure there's something I don't quite understand about the CFR standard.

    https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRSearch.cfm?fr=135.110
  • jdhcm2006
    jdhcm2006 Posts: 2,254 Member
    edited January 2020
    It's okay, but I'd rather just make room to have Ben & Jerry's. I find it to be more satisfying.

    I did an experiment on myself, where I weighed the container, allowed myself to eat however much I wanted from the pint, and then weighed it again to see how much I ate. For both Halo Top and Ben & Jerry's, I ate either a little less than a serving, an exact serving, or 10-20 grams more than the serving size depending on the day and how hungry I was when I started to eat the ice cream. However, I was more satiated after the Ben & Jerry's. I still wanted something more after the Halo Top, which meant that even though the calories in Halo Top were less than Ben & Jerry's, I ended up eating around the same amount of calories because I would eat something else after the Halo Top to be satisfied and comfortably full. I did not do this with Ben & Jerry's.

    This showed me, that I can naturally (or intuitively) control the portion of ice cream I eat. After awhile I find that my body just doesn't want anymore. Because of this, I stopped buying low calorie ice cream and I just get the regular version.

    But YMMV. If you find that you are a volume eater, then go for the low calorie ice cream. I am not a volume eater, I'd rather eat a small amount and be comfortable full over eating a large amount and still be hungry.

    That said, chocolate of Chilly Cow & Halo Top are good.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    fuzzylop_ wrote: »
    I actually don't know how halo top gets away with calling themselves ice cream in the US even, since it doesn't appear like they would pass the 10% threshold for milk fat in the CFR. It doesn't bother me either way, since I don't eat dairy, but it's odd, and I'm sure there's something I don't quite understand about the CFR standard.

    https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRSearch.cfm?fr=135.110

    It gets to call itself "light ice cream" -- it's based on a variety of regs that have to be looked at together. See, e.g., https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/7/58.605
  • vivo1972
    vivo1972 Posts: 129 Member
    Halo Top is meh

    Brewers Delight is nice. The vanilla tastes like ice cream

    Ben and Jerry's Moophoria Cherry Garcia is lush - about 5-600 cals per tub I think
  • Safari_Gal_
    Safari_Gal_ Posts: 1,461 Member
    I’ve only had the red velvet halo top and I thought it was pretty good. It saves time not whipping out the ice cream maker!
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,149 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    zyxst wrote: »
    I read rave reviews of HT on here. When it finally came to Canada, I took a closer look and found out it's about the same calories per serving as ice cream, but more expensive.

    And yeah, I did originally think the calories were for the WHOLE pint, not per serving.
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Interesting.

    Here in the US, a whole pint (at 240-360 calories for the pint, most flavors I've seen below 300) is in the ballpark of a 1/2C serving of most premium full-fat real-sugar ice cream (250 and up, usually).

    Still not worth eating the HT, IMO, though. ;)

    Yes, as a Ben & Jerry's fan, this calorie comparison was my experience as well.

    @zyxst what brand were you using as a comparison?

    Whatever brands were there. Scotsburn, Haagen-Daz, Chapman's, Breyer's, Ben & Jerry's.
  • Ninkasi
    Ninkasi Posts: 173 Member
    I don't like any of the flavors of Halo Top or similar brands. I would rather have a Haagen Dazs mini (3 ounces, ~200 calories) of real ice cream every once in a while when I really want it, which is rarely.
  • extra_medium
    extra_medium Posts: 1,525 Member
    They're great. Not as great as real ice cream, but a great swap. I prefer most of the Enlightened flavors to Halo Top, but they are not as easy to find.
  • Nah. As someone that used to struggle with BED, I feel like it's just setting yourself up for failure if one day you chose to start switching over to regular pints. I think it's better to just use portion control and budget in reg ice cream or find other substitutions for your sweet tooth. Plus reg ice cream is soooo much better (and cheaper) than those glorified frozen protein shakes.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    Nah. As someone that used to struggle with BED, I feel like it's just setting yourself up for failure if one day you chose to start switching over to regular pints. I think it's better to just use portion control and budget in reg ice cream or find other substitutions for your sweet tooth. Plus reg ice cream is soooo much better (and cheaper) than those glorified frozen protein shakes.

    As someone who likes to practice volume eating sometimes, I'm fully capable of recognizing when I'm eating a food that isn't going to fit into my goals if I eat a large portion.

    So I'll eat a giant bowl of roasted broccoli for dinner and that doesn't set me up for failure if I'm eating pasta the next night. And I can have a whole pint of Halo Top on Tuesday, but also measure out a serving of regular ice cream on Friday.

    I'm not saying that this can't be a problem for a specific individual, but it's not a universal thing.

    Sometimes I want to exercise portion control on something high calorie. And sometimes I want to eat a big serving of something. The two strategies can perfectly co-exist (at least for me).
  • LeannJeffers
    LeannJeffers Posts: 486 Member
    I've tried a few of them. My favorite one is the Red Velvet and the Chocolate Banana. The other ones I can total leave at the store.
  • Motorsheen
    Motorsheen Posts: 20,508 Member
    Halo Top ?

    Nah....

    If you're going to be a Bear, be a Grizzly.


    national-banana-split-day-640x514.jpg