From skwigg's journal:
I tried the mysterious Halo Top ice cream today. It has 24g of protein and only 240 calories in a whole pint. I was certain it would taste like something I scraped off my windshield in winter but it was actually really tasty. I bought 3 pints: Chocolate, Vanilla, and Lemon Cake. This afternoon, I had the Lemon Cake after lunch. When it's frozen hard, it has a vaguely icy texture, but once it gets even a little bit melty, it's very creamy and sweet. It also shrinks before your very eyes. I was amazed at how light the pints are. It's big and airy when it's frozen but as it melts it collapses somehow. Anyway, the point is, it tasted quite good, and in the moment, it was kind of fun eating the whole pint with no worries of stopping.
I didn't see any drawbacks at all until a couple hours later when I was absolutely starving. This stuff provides about the same level of appetite suppression as one of those 80 calorie non-fat diet yogurts. Even though I'd eaten it as dessert after a meal, it really just made me want something else, like a lot of something else. Had I eaten the same amount of Ben & Jerry's, I wouldn't have been hungry or thought about food again for 10 hours. With the Halo Top at lunch, I ended up eating a bigger dinner, extra bread, an (actual) ice cream cone, 2 fun size Butterfingers, and a handful of M&Ms before feeling pleasantly satisfied with dinner. LOL So, did the reduced calories earlier in the day help me in any way or did they just set me up to be dissatisfied and craving higher quality yum-yums? I seem to recall this is why I don't buy diet ice cream, but it's been awhile and I'd forgotten. I also thought the 24 grams of protein might do...something.
So, I have two pints left. I will treat each one like a scoop of protein powder, because that's basically what it is. I still need plenty of other food and possibly another dessert or richer mix-ins to go with it. Tomorrow, I'm planning to have the Vanilla flavor with lunch, but I will put sliced banana, melted peanut butter, and melted chocolate in it, and I will eat it after a slightly bigger meal. Next week, it's back to Ben & Jerry's and Haagen-Dazs. I think I actually eat less overall when I have those. A small amount is very satisfying, and a large amount will shut down my appetite for the rest of the day.
I do understand that I'm not normal. LOL Someone else might think Halo Top is the greatest thing ever and not have it send them on cupboard-opening and refrigerator-scavenging expedition. I think maybe I just need more food than that.
From skwigg's journal:
I found a way to eat that Halo Top protein ice cream in a way that is amazing. Let the pint get a bit melty, either in the microwave or leaving it out on the counter for a few minutes. Dump the whole pint (I used vanilla) into a big bowl. Slice banana all over it. Melt a big blop of peanut butter and some chocolate chips/chunks together in the microwave (my favorite Greek yogurt topping). Then drizzle the chocolate peanut butter all over the bowl of ice cream. It's magical! It's a whole lot of sweet ice creamy goodness with not many calories and 30+ grams of protein. I would eat this combo for breakfast every morning if it weren't $7 a pint. Adding the fat and eating it as part of a meal keeps me from feeling like I'm eating air. I'm undecided as to whether I will buy more. It's not a Ben & Jerry's replacement but it's quite good when you can't figure out what to eat and you want something fun.