Do You Have One Minute? 3 DIY Bone-Smart Ice Cream Recipes Ready In 60 Seconds - Save Our Bones

It’s mid-summer here in the Northern Hemisphere, and the temperatures are really heating up. When the summer heat gets intense, there’s nothing quite like cooling off with a generous scoop of refreshing ice cream.

The problem, of course, is that commercial ice cream is a highly acidifying product because it contains milk, lots of sugar and a host of other bone-damaging ingredients.

Savers know that no food is strictly off-limits on the Osteoporosis Reversal Program. But when there are delicious, bone-smart alternatives to “naughty” treats, why not embrace them?

So today I am going to share three alkalizing DIY ice cream recipes that are good for your bones and absolutely delicious. And you don’t even need an ice cream maker!

Why Commercial Ice Cream Is Bad For Bones

The ingredients in a typical carton of commercial ice cream contain thickening agents, emulsifiers, sweeteners, artificial color, artificial flavor, and the like. Here are a few of the common ingredients found in typical store-bought ice creams.

  • Amil acetat (artificial banana flavor)
  • Benzyl acetat (artificial strawberry flavor)
  • Sodium benzoate, a carcinogenic substance that is used as a preservative. Sodium benzoate damages cellular mitochondria.
  • Polysorbate 80, which is added to slow down the ice cream’s melting. It’s an immune system suppressant, and it also is implicated in infertility. It’s used as an ingredient in many vaccines, including the flu shot.
  • Piperonal, an artificial vanilla flavor that is also used as an ingredient in products designed to get rid of head lice.
  • High fructose corn syrup (HFCS), a ubiquitous sweetener composed of free fructose and glucose molecules that can cause tissue damage. In addition, HFCS is made from genetically-modified corn.
  • Artificial colors such as Yellow #5, Red #40, and so forth are acidifying chemicals whose effects on the brain are well-established, especially in children.1

Some ice creams claim to be “natural” and boast just a few ingredients. But even if ice cream contains just milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla, it’s still an acidifying food loaded with cow’s milk and empty sugar calories.

In contrast, the ice cream recipes below contain nutritious, bone-renewing ingredients and are 100% alkalizing. I suggest you top these with shredded coconut, mini (dark) chocolate chips, nuts, granola or your favorite topping.

Let’s start with a delicious cherry ice cream that really “tastes” like summer.

Cherry Charm

Alkalizing Greek yogurt is the base of this deep red treat.

Yield: 2 cups

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup organic, plain, Greek yogurt, divided into 2 portions of ½ cup each
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups frozen cherries
  • ¼ cup slivered almonds
  • Stevia or monk fruit sweetener to taste

Directions:

  1. In a blender, whirl frozen cherries (do not thaw first), ½ cup yogurt, and vanilla extract. When it’s smooth, pour mixture into a small loaf pan.
  2. In a medium bowl, mix the other ½ cup yogurt with sweetener and drizzle this over the cherry mixture. Lightly swirl it into the cherry mixture with a butter knife. Sprinkle slivered almonds on top.
  3. Place in the freezer for a minimum of four hours.

Island Bliss

This is a creamy-white ice cream that evokes visions of palm trees and tropical beaches.

Yield: 3 cups

Ingredients:

  • ½ cup unsweetened, flaked coconut
  • ½ cup organic coconut milk
  • ¼ cup raw, organic honey (you can substitute stevia or monk fruit sweetener to taste, or use part honey and part sweetener)
  • 2 peeled, frozen bananas
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

In a blender, place all the ingredients and whirl until thick and smooth. Freeze in a loaf pan for four hours or more.

Caramel Swirl

Caramel is a delicious, rich flavor that lends itself beautifully to this recipe. You’ll notice it contains a bit of sea salt to balance out the rich sweetness of the caramel flavor.

Yield: 3 cups

Ingredients:

  • 2 tablespoons raw honey (you can substitute stevia or monk fruit sweetener to taste)
  • ¼ cup organic, plain, Greek yogurt
  • 10 milk substitute ice cubes (simply pour your favorite milk sub into ice cube trays and freeze)
  • 1 peeled, frozen banana
  • 6 dates, pitted
  • ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt

Directions:

Whirl yogurt, honey, frozen “milk” cubes, and banana in a blender until creamy and smooth. Add the sea salt and dates and blend until they are just combined. You can serve this right away; it will be the consistency of a milkshake or thick smoothie. If you want it firmer, simply freeze in a loaf pan for a few hours.

Saving Your Bones Includes Enjoying The Good Things In Life

When you hear about a “nutritional plan” to build bones, it might sound daunting and restrictive. But as you can see from the fun recipes above, the Osteoporosis Reversal Program includes delicious and easy ways to rejuvenate your bones and enjoy life.

In fact, enjoying life is a crucial element in the Program.

Your state of mind actually has a significant impact on your bone health. You see, when you boost your mood through nutrition and exercise, it starts up a positive, bone-building cycle. A positive mood makes you feel more energetic, so you feel motivated to prepare bone-heathy meals and engage in more exercise. Then the bone-nourishing nutrition and exercise make you feel even better, and bone-damaging cortisol levels are sharply lowered.

And there’s more to this amazing cycle. As you’ll read below, research shows that your state of mind actually influences your food choices.

Scientifically Proven: Your Mood Affects Your Choice Of Food

When scientists analyzed what foods people chose when in a good or bad mood, they discovered that those in a positive mood tended to choose much healthier options than those in a bad mood. Researchers believe this is because a positive mood allows us to see past immediate gratification to the long-term benefits of healthful foods.2

In other words, a positive mood puts things in perspective. A negative mood propels us toward immediate gratification at the potential expense of long-term goals.

Eating fun, delicious, colorful foods is part of the good-mood cycle that keeps you on track toward bone rejuvenation. Over the years, many of you have asked for a Save Our Bones cookbook, and as Bone Appétit was developed (and released in 2013), I wanted to make sure the recipes depicted bone-healthy foods in a colorful, fun, creative way. And of course, the dishes had to be delicious!

Eat Your Way to Stronger Bones!

Discover over 200 mouth-watering bone healthy recipes for breakfast, smoothies, appetizers, soups, salads, vegetarian dishes, fish, and plenty of main courses and even desserts!

Learn More Now →

Enjoying your food is just an important an aspect of bone-smart nutrition as vitamins and nutrients are. Recipes like today’s and those found in Bone Appétit are proof that eating your way to bone health can be delightful, fun, and delicious.

Till next time,

References:

1 McCann,Donna,PhD, et al. “Food additives and hyperactive behaviour in 3- year-old and 8/9-year-old children in the community: a randomized, double- blinded, placebo-controlled trial.” The Lancet. Volume 370, Issue 9598, Pages 1560 – 1567, 3 November 2007 doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(07)61306-3

2 Gardner, Meryl P., et al. “Better moods for better eating?: How mood influences food choice.” Journal of Consumer Psychology. July 2014. Vol 24, issue 3, pages 320-335. Web. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1057740814000060

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Comments on this article are closed.

  1. Donna Carbone

    Hi Vivian,
    Your advice is so helpful. But I have a lot more going on besides Osteoporosis. I just had my 2nd lung cancer surgery. Both stage 1A. Never had chemo or radiation. I did get my 1st flu shot (I’m 62). And also a pneumonia vaccine. I feel I need to. Sometimes its hard to know what to do. Thank you for all of this.

  2. Eleanor

    Since caramel is not listed in the Ingredients in the last recipe are we to assume you are recommending it as the milk substitute?

  3. channah

    i would love to make your banana loaf but i am vegan so i don’t ear yougurt or eggs can you please suggest a substitution thank you

  4. Jean

    I will only try the middle recipe unless I substitute the yogurt. it is, after all, still cows milk.

    • Elene

      I’m confused as to why yogurt would be alkalizing if milk is acidifying. ??

  5. Lydia Boril

    Thank you for the valuable information.

    Lydia Boril

  6. Raymonde Savoie

    Hi Vivian,
    Thanks for these great recipes! The one thing I will substitute is the Greek yogurt, which is dairy. I can’t have dairy foods at all and it has nothing to do with lactose, but with milk PROTEINS, which are in ALL dairy products.

    What I will use instead and this is for anyone who doesn’t use dairy, is COCONUT YOGURT, made with ‘cultured coconut milk.’ It’s made by “So Delicious” and does contain cane syrup, but not fructose-sucrose. The vanilla flavour will be super with this recipe. Thanks again.

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      Thanks for mentioning a substitute, Raymonde! A dairy allergy to casein, the protein in dairy, is entirely different from lactose intolerance.

      Coconut milk yogurt can also be found in plain, unsweetened varieties.

  7. Trish E

    I have all the ingredients for the 3 icecreams, but the only problem is – I live in “Sunny Queensland” (Aust) and we’re in the middle of winter at the moment. On top of that, we’ve just experienced the coldest winter for 20 years, with SNOW falling this morning just a few hundred kilometres from where I live. So believe me, I am really looking forward to Spring (Sept) when I can get into these recipes. I too love icecream, but can’t eat the commercial stuff as it makes me sick. I wonder why!!!

    My health has improved so much since I have been following this program. I even returned to donating blood yesterday after 9 months away, as my iron and calcium levels are back to normal after only 3 months on the program. Thank you Vivian.

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      Hi Trish,
      That’s wonderful news about your health, but it sounds like the weather has been less than agreeable in your location!

  8. Joan Connor

    As I love ice cream but don’t eat it use Greek yogurt instead so delighted with this recipe thank you Vivian.

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      You are welcome, Joan! I am sure these recipe will help your ice cream craving.

  9. Connie

    Thanks so much for these delightful recipes! I’m going to buy the ingredients I need and try them all. Appreciate you so much! Summer just isn’t right without ice cream, and now I won’t feel guilty.

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      Feel free to share which ones are your favorites, Connie. 🙂

  10. Chitreakha

    Dear Vivian – Thank you for the wonderful ice cream recipes. I love yogurt and I make a lot of smoothies but never tried homemade yogurt ice cream. I will try to make it as soon as I get the ingredients. Thanks again.

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      Enjoy your homemade ice cream, Chitreakha!

  11. shula

    Thank you for the valuable information.

  12. Anne

    Thank you for the lovely ice cream recipes. Am going to try out the cherry flavour this weekend.

    Anne

  13. Kristi

    Do you have a healthy ice cream recipe that tastes like Mocha Chip?
    My problem is that I don’t like the taste of yogurt and I don’t want coconut, banana, or peanut butter flavors in ice cream. My favorite flavor is Graeter’s Mocha Chip which comes from Cincinnati. I’m not sure what is in it, but it’s absolutely delicious, so it’s probably a lot of harmful ingredients!

    Thanks!!

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      Hi Kristi,
      You’d be surprised how neutral banana flavor can be when mixed with other flavors. 🙂 Don’t be afraid to experiment! Try swirling a tablespoon of brewed coffee with a couple of frozen bananas and add a few mini chocolate chips. If that doesn’t work, try some other combinations. And let us know how it goes!

  14. Jan D

    Thank you, thank you, thank you!
    You just made summer even better …

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      You are welcome, Jan! I hope you enjoy the ice cream recipes.

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