It?s amazing. Here I am, absolutely obsessed with healthy eating and yet I have a dog who thinks that plastic is a great source of nutrition!

I came home from work today to find that Jasper had eaten the handle of a plastic shovel. This is no real surprise, he?s given coat hangers and pens a really good chew before, but now he?s not only chewed the plastic shovel, but swallowed half of it. I?m sure he?ll be fine ? most things seems to pass through him without a problem (or even a wince), but I do keep looking over to make sure he?s still breathing.

Anyway, although it?s in no way healthy, ice cream does have a nutrition content of sorts and as it?s unrealistic to think that you?ll never eat it again, it?s my job to guide you towards a healthier choice.

This means that I?m sitting at the table surrounded by various brands of chocolate fudge brownie ice cream and thinking that as writing days go, this rates pretty highly.

However, as I?m lactose intolerant, I can?t test out any of the dairy ice-cream which means that I also have a few friends here too. In fact, it?s amazing how many of your friends pop over, when they hear about an ice-cream tasting session.

Now, I?m writing this on Wednesday night, in the middle of a huge thunderstorm. It?s really not the kind of night for ice cream (although some would argue that night is a good night for ice cream) but never mind ? there?s important work to be done.

You see, even with ice-cream, there are great tasting, healthier choices out there. And although I?d only recommend having it as a treat, this is how you can treat yourself to desert without it treating you to a few extra inches round your waist.

As you can see from the chart, the normal Ben & Jerry?s Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream is full of both fat and sugar ? definitely the worst offender. It has a whopping 13g of fat per serving and 25g of sugar too. Remember the sugar content is important, because excess sugar in the bloodstream can get stored in the body as fat. And trust me, unless you?re tucking into this whilst running a marathon, you don?t need 25g of sugar in your bloodstream!

Unfortunately, the full fat Ben & Jerry?s is also full of flavour too and it has definitely won the taste test hands down round here.

But it?s probably a little unfair to test these deserts one after the other, because sure, when you taste them in succession you can?t help but make a comparison. Yet if you just consider the others individually, they also get good reviews.

The Ben & Jerry?s frozen yoghurt is definitely a hit and everyone is surprised by how good it actually is. It is still high in sugar, but the fat content is drastically lower.

The Soy Dream gets a mixed reception. I it, but then I haven?t had real ice cream in years. Still, as a dairy-free desert, it?s good, the consensus being that it?s definitely chocolatey ? just lighter and a little icier than the others. And, having tried a different brand ? Soy Delicious ? which was about the most undelicious thing I have tasted, this was a really pleasant surprise. Soy Dream does have a higher total fat content than the Ben & Jerry?s, but the saturated fat (the bad fat) content is the same.

In fact, as Ben & Jerry?s has so much more sugar, the total calorie count actually ends up being higher than Soy Dream. Soy Dream is also a better alternative for those who are looking after their heart ? the sodium is 1 or 2 percent higher but still low, and it doesn?t contain any cholesterol.

So, the good news is that for those who are lactose intolerant, dieting or looking after their heart, there are definitely plenty of healthier options out there. These are also wise choices for those who simply want to optimise their health and wellbeing ? so give them a try.

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