July is National Ice Cream Month

[Ed. Note: Visit All-Creatures.org's desert recipes and find lots of delicious vegan "ice cream" substitutes.]

By Robert Cohen, NotMilk.com

"Indigestion is charged by God with enforcing morality on the stomach."
- Victor Hugo

Friday (July 1st 2011) was the first day of America's month-long homage to ice cream.

In 2011, the nations with the top 3 consumption rates of ice cream will be the USA, New Zealand, and Denmark.

According to http://www.baking911.com/frozen/icecream.htm : "Children ages two through 12, and adults age 45 plus, eat the most ice cream per person."

Bad news for ice cream lovers. Early in 2010, researchers (Zhou G, Zheng D, et. al.) identified viable samples of Bacillus cereus in 40 ice cream samples. Their work was published by the International Journal of Food Microbiology
(Int J Food Microbiol. 2010 Feb 28;137(2-3):143-6).

One to six hours after eating bacillus cereus, infected ice cream lovers experience nausea, vomiting, and abdominal cramps.

There is no unhealthier substance eaten by so many  people than ice cream. Picture the Japanese cuisine, and sushi immediately comes to mind. Imagine a representative Korean food and you think of kim chee (spicy/pickled cabbage). Italy is pasta or pizza. France is snails (yeech). Germany is beer.

The United States of Atherosclerosis? Ice cream.

From an International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) press release:

In 1984, President Ronald Reagan designated July as National Ice Cream Month and the third Sunday of the month as National Ice Cream Day. He recognized ice cream as a fun and nutritious food that is enjoyed by a full 90% of the nation's population. President
Reagan called for all people of the United States to observe these events with "appropriate ceremonies and activities.

The U.S. ice cream industry generates more than $21 billion in annual sales and provides jobs for thousands of citizens. About 9% of all the milk produced by U.S. dairy farmers is used to produce ice cream, contributing
significantly to the economic well-being of the nation's dairy industry."

Two Question for the dairy industry based upon their ice cream press release:

1. Had President Reagan's Alzheimer's set in when he  referred to ice cream as "nutritious?"
2. Since 1 slice of Armour bacon contains 3 milligrams of cholesterol, and since there are 392 milligrams of cholesterol in one pint of rich vanilla ice cream, wouldn't an ice cream eater be getting the same cholesterol contained in 131 slices of bacon after consuming that pint?

Notmilk challenges you to replace cuisine's worst  food with some of the best alternatives.

If you visited my home and opened the refrigerator, you would find it filled with containers of fresh fruit.

At this moment there are quart containers filled with strawberries, blueberries, cherries, pineapple and cantaloupe. Let's compare one-pint portions of some
of those fruits each to one pint of rich vanilla ice cream.

Data derived from USDA's Nutrient Database:

Calories in One Pint

Ice Cream.....1064
Strawberries..0092
Blueberries...0168
Cantaloupe....0106

Fat in One Pint

Ice Cream.....69.32 grams
Strawberries..00.86 grams
Blueberries...00.98 grams
Cantaloupe....00.60 grams

Sugar in One Pint

Ice Cream.....88.40 grams
Strawberries..14.08 grams
Blueberries...29.48 grams
Cantaloupe....24.52 grams

Fiber in One Pint

Ice Cream.....0.0 grams
Strawberries..5.8 grams
Blueberries...7.2 grams
Cantaloupe....2.8 grams

Cholesterol in One Pint

Ice Cream.....392 milligrams
Strawberries..000 milligrams
Blueberries...000 milligrams
Cantaloupe....000 milligrams