The 10 Worst Ice Cream Treats in America

Indulgence. It’s part of what makes life worth living—giving in to temptation, letting go of one’s inhibitions. And one of our nation’s favorite indulgences? A smooth, cold, creamy, delicious scoop of ice cream.

Ice cream is as American as apple pie (it’s no wonder the two so often go hand-in-hand). Unfortunately, so is obesity—a 2009 report found that overweight and obesity rates remained steady or increased in every single state of the nation. The good news is that you can help fight this epidemic without sacrificing life’s small indulgent pleasures. Here, you’ll learn how to indulge more often but with less damage. We've uncovered the 10 worst ice creams in America. Avoid them, and choose their equally delicious—but much healthier—counterparts, and you’ll be able to indulge AND lose weight!
 

Worst Fruity Scoop

Cold Stone Blueberry Muffin Ice Cream (Love It size)

320 calories
20 g fat (13 g saturated, 0.5 g trans)
31 g sugars

The Love It size at Cold Stone is about 8 ounces, which is equivalent to ordering two scoops at Baskin-Robbins or Ben & Jerry’s. Order any ice cream in this size and you can expect to spoon down about a day’s worth of saturated fat. One extra hint: Toppings can make or break an ice cream. Most of the cookies and candy bars at Cold Stone have between 100 and 200 calories per serving, so limit the indulgent toppings to Nilla Wafers and Yellow Cake. Fruits and nuts, of course, will always be your safest bets.

Eat This Instead!

Tart and Tangy Yogurt (Like It size) topped with Yellow Cake and Blueberries

260 calories
2.5 g fat (0.5 g saturated)
41 g sugars

Fattiest Scoop

Ben and Jerry’s Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream (½ cup)

360 calories
26 g fat (14 g saturated)
24 g sugars

There’s only one peanut butter ice cream in the country with more calories than this one, and that’s Häagen-Dazs Chocolate Peanut Butter. But as far as saturated fat goes, this one is the national loser. Luckily, one of the most popular flavors has a lower-calorie version. Just don’t eat too much, or you’ll develop a gut like Jerry.

Eat This Instead!

Half Baked Frozen Yogurt (½ cup)

180 calories
3 g fat (1.5 g saturated)
23 g sugars

Worst Supermarket Scoop

Häagen-Dazs Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream (1 scoop)

360 calories
24 g fat (11 g saturated)
24 g sugars

Still the single worst ice cream we’ve ever encountered. You’d have to chew your way through five Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups to consume the amount of saturated fat in one scoop of this. On the flipside, Häagen-Dazs’s new Five line isn’t quite lean, but we applaud it nonetheless for its commitment to simple, timeless recipes. Every flavor has exactly five ingredients, which leaves no room for artificial coloring or cheap, corn-derived fillers.

Eat This Instead!

Five Caramel Ice Cream (1 scoop)

240 calories
11 g fat (7 g saturated)
28 g sugars

Worst Kids' Ice Cream Dessert

Uno Chicago Grill Kids' Sundae

430 calories
19 g fat (10 g saturated)
46 g sugars

Weighing in at an astounding 1/3 pound, this abominable sundae is as caloric as your child's entire meal should be.

Drink This Instead!

Kids' Slush

70 calories
0 g fat
16 g sugars

Worst Gas Station Ice Cream

Toll House Ice Cream Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwich

520 calories
23 g fat (9 g saturated)
44 g sugars

Considering so few frozen ice cream treats creep above the 300-calorie threshold, we’re astounded that Nestlé stuffs this sandwich with nearly as many calories as a Big Mac. You can have 2 Toll House Chocolate Chunk cookies and a scoop of Breyers All Natural Vanilla ice cream and still save 110 calories. Or you could just switch to this brand new sandwich option and use the 340 calories you save on something better.

Eat This Instead!

Breyers Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream Sandwich

160 calories
4 g fat (2 g saturated)
15 g sugars

Worst Malt

Dairy Queen Hot Fudge Malt (small)

620 calories
24 g fat (18 g saturated, 0.5 g trans)
74 g sugars

Drinkable ice cream is nearly as bad of an idea as fried ice cream, but believe it or not, the former tends to be saddled with more sugar and more fat than the latter. You’d be wise to expunge shakes and malts from your list of acceptable desserts. At 230 calories apiece, the best sundaes at DQ are the banana and pineapple flavors—but to quell a serious hankering for chocolate, this is one of the best sundaes you'll find anywhere.

Eat This Instead!

Hot Fudge Sundae (small)

300 calories
10 g fat (8 g saturated)
36 g sugars

Worst Ice Cream Sundae

Baskin-Robbins Oreo Layered Sundae

1,330 calories
61 g fat (31 g saturated, 1 g trans)
146 g sugars
189 g carbohydrates

Warning: Not a single sundae from Baskin-Robbins contains less than 500 calories. Furthermore, anything with chocolate that can be sucked through a straw should be avoided at all costs. That means the only real viable route at the popular dessert parlor is to stick with a single scoop of ice cream. (At least you’ll have 31 flavors to choose from.)

Eat This Instead!

Oreo Cookies 'n Cream Ice Cream (4 ounces)

Worst Drive-Thru Dessert

Dairy Queen Turtle Pecan Cluster Blizzard (large)

1,460 calories
81 g fat (42 g saturated, 1.5 g trans)
122 g sugars

The decadent offerings at DQ span the nutritional spectrum, ranging from smart indulgences to caloric catastrophes and everything in between. So choose wisely or you’ll end up wolfing down three-quarters of your daily caloric allotment without ever leaving the driver’s seat. Being smart at DQ means skipping over the malts and Blizzards entirely and opting instead for a relatively restrained sundae. Stick to a small and you can have any flavor your hungry heart desires.

Eat This Instead!

Small Chocolate Sundae

280 calories
8 g fat (4.5 g saturated, 0 g trans)

41 g sugars280 calories
15 g fat (9 g saturated, 0 g trans)
27 g sugars
32 g carbohydrates

Worst Shake

Cold Stone PB&C Shake (Gotta Have It size)

1,750 calories
118 g fat (64 g saturated, 2 g trans)
700 mg sodium
140 g sugars

There were dozens of contenders in line for this dishonorable distinction, but Cold Stone’s PB&C was by far the worst. The combination of peanut butter—good in small amounts, horrendous when liquefied in bathtub-size quantities—and chocolate ice cream outpaces even the worst cookie- and candy-strewn shakes that clutter Cold Stone’s embarrassing shake menu. Suck this thing down and you’ve just blasted away nearly a day’s worth of calories, more than 3 days’ worth of saturated fat, and almost as much sugar as an entire 15-ounce box of Chewy Chips Ahoy! Cookies.

Eat This Instead!

Sinless Strawberry Bananza Smoothie (Love It size)

220 calories
1.5 g fat (0 g saturated)
34 g sugars

Worst Ice Cream Dessert

Uno Chicago Grill's Mega-Sized Deep Dish Sundae

2,800 calories
136 g fat (72 g saturated)
380 g carbohydrates

We’ll concede that desserts are intended to be decadent, but there’s a dramatic difference between indulgence and recklessness. Add one of these ice-cream–covered cinder blocks onto the end of one meal per week and you’re looking at more than three extra pounds of body fat each month. Think that extra flab is just inconvenient? Actually, according to numerous studies, it increases your risk of developing a host of conditions from diabetes and high blood pressure to esophageal cancer. Some of those risks are magnified when you factor in the 4½ days’ worth of saturated fat gluing this thing together like toxic cement. Technically this dessert is intended to be split four ways, but the last we checked, it doesn't indicate that on the menu. And even if you were to split it with four friends, you'd still each consume an extra 700 calories after your meal - about as much as if you'd eaten more than three McDonald's hamburgers for dessert! Split the Granny Smith All-American with a friend for a better option.

Eat This Instead!

Granny Smith All-American

660 calories
30 g fat (16 g saturated)
90 g carbohydrates