Everybody stop and reread the title. “Healthy Ice Cream” sounds like an oxymoron. Surely ice cream can’t be healthy. It’s sweet, delicious, and there’s never enough of it; the unofficial definition of unhealthy foods. There’s no way someone actually made ice cream healthy without destroying it or turning it into the still-good-but-not-as-good-as-ice-cream frozen yogurt. Well hold the phone, because someone did.
Justin Woolverton, the founder and CEO of Halo Top, likes ice cream. A lot. He faced the same dilemma as we did, but unlike us, he decided to do something about it. He reinvented the recipe of ice cream in a way that would reduce calories and unhealthy stuff like sugar, increase proteins, all while still maintaining the texture and flavor of ice cream. Since that revolutionary breakthrough, he created the company Halo Top with over 17 flavors. Some of the fan favorites are flavors like Chocolate Mocha Chip, Peanut Butter Cup, Red Velvet, Oatmeal Cookie and Vanilla Bean, with more on the way.
Woolverton maintains Halo Top’s trademark low calorie count by using fruit based sugar alcohols that have way less calories than sugar does. The most used sweetener is called Stevia, a plant native to Paraguay that’s been used to sweeten foods for 200 years. They also use Erythritol, a natural sweetener in pears and grapes. This allows the ice cream to stay sweet and delicious without resorting to cancer-giving chemicals or processed grained sugar. 
Now before you start eating only Halo Top ice cream for dinner, Halo Top isn’t nutritionally building or a good substitute for annoying things like vegetables. It’s designed for “the diet conscious consumers, giving them the option to eat ice cream again,” Woolverton says. But still, stacked up against the competition, it sure looks like a nutritious choice. With 180 less calories, 15 less grams of fat, and 14 less grams of sugar per serving than brands like Ben & Jerry’s and Haagan Dazs, Halo Top is rising to the top of go-to ice creams for those break-up binge pints. It’s beat out those two popular brands for best selling brand in America last year.
So be healthy while you’re treating yourself to this innovative new ice cream. Go ahead, eat the whole pint.
Woolverton has found an interesting gap that has a very profitable trend behind it. It’s amazing to read that it was the best selling brand in America last year. This is good evidence for a shift towards healthier eating considering Americans consume so much ice cream and now they are looking for a healthier brand. I appreciate the company striving to be a healthy alternative rather than attempting to be a healthy snack. Many times businesses try to alter dessert categories into healthy food items and completely ruin the taste. It will be interesting to see how Halo Top does moving forward.
Halo Top has become plastered all over grocery stores, gas stations, and even our very own SAC! I think this was such a creative way to give Americans what they want, ice cream, but solve a problem like dense calorie and sugar intake so that the consumers don’t feel guilty eating it.
Everyone loves ice cream, the only reason people don’t each it all the time is because it is very unhealthy. Woolvertons idea to make a much healthier version on ice cream and use that as his marketing strategy is a great idea and obviously has worked very well. I also like how it has the number of calories right in the front of the packaging. It makes people believe there isn’t hidden sugars and carbs that they consumer doesn’t know about.