Like It, Love It, Gotta Have Ice Cream Now!

I hugely indulged last night — something that was very much so unnecessary after my New York City cheesecake binge.

But I did it anyway.

Dan and I decided to “get out of the house for a change” and apparently that equates taking a trip to Cold Stone Creamery.

Now, if you are unfamiliar with this joint, lemme brief you a bit. Cold Stone is a wondrous place where one has the ability to not only choose the flavor of ice cream he or she wants, but to also choose what goes into it. These magical treats have been cleverly dubbed “mix-ins” by Cold Stone. Really creative, right?

Anyway, one nutrition-wise aspect of Cold Stone is that one does have the ability to lighten the caloric damage a bit by choosing “Sinless Sans Fat” ice cream and lighter mix-ins like fruit or chocolate shavings.

I did nothing of the sort.

I, instead, created this beauteous concoction which consisted of full-fatty, straight to the hips mint ice cream, a brownie, chocolate chips, chocolate fudge and Oreos:

I know — it really was that good.

But, as if to make matters worse, when I got home — we got our ice cream to go — I decided to take a quick peek at my Eat This, Not That book BEFORE I ate my ice cream.

Turns out I am not the best of decision makers when I am faced head-on with 18 different ice cream flavors and more mix-ins than Willy Wonka could have ever dreamed of creating.

But for those of you who are much wiser, and actually think before you shove your face with ice cream, here are the suggestions that Eat This, Not That recommends you choose — and completely skip all together — when visiting Cold Stone:

Eat This

Cake Batter Light Ice Cream (with Chocolate Shavings Mix-in — 6 oz. “Like It” size) 330 calories, 11 grams of fat (6.5 g saturated), 39 grams of sugar
Sinless Sans Fat Sweet Cream Ice Cream (with yellow cake, strawberries and blueberries — 6 oz., “Like It” size) 250 calories, 2.5 grams of fat (.5 g saturated), 23 grams of sugar

Chocolate Light Ice Cream (with Smucker’s Fudge mix-in in a waffle cone) 480 calories, 13 g fat (7.5 saturated), 54 grams of sugar

Raspberry Sorbet (with raspberries and Nilla Wafers — 6 oz., “Like It” size) 270 calories, 2.5 grams of fat (0 g saturated), 44 grams of sugar

Not That!

Cake Batter Ice Cream (with Cookie Dough Mix-In — 6 oz., “Like It” size) 560 calories, 28 grams of fat (13.5 g saturated), 58 grams of sugar

Our Strawberry Blonde (with Strawberry Ice Cream, graham cracker pie crust, strawberries, caramel and whip topping — 6 oz., “Like It” size) 595 calories, 26.5 grams of fat (15.5 g saturated) 57 grams of sugar

Dark Chocolate Ice Cream (in a dipped waffle cone) 650 calories, 35 grams of fat (22 g saturated), 60 grams of sugar

Raspberry Ice Cream (with graham cracker pie crust — 6 oz., “Like It” size) 520 calories, 28 grams of fat (14.5 g saturated), 38 grams of sugar

I really don’t even want to know how many calories were in mine, seeing as how I got a “Love It” (They come in “Like It,” “Love It” or “Gotta Have It”) size and many more mix-ins than the “Not That!” suggestions list here.

I guess I will just have to tell myself that a little indulgence is OK every now and then, right? And, hey, it’s not like I picked the “Gotta Have It.”

Although, I have done that before, too . . .