Sadness = empty ice cream tub….

To me nothing says happiness like ice cream!

The cream cold slurpy mixture makes me smile even on my darkest days, and apparently i’m not the only one who feels like this.

Every chick flix has a scene where the sad lady sits in her jammies eating ice cream to cheer herself up and you think pfft that’s a bit stereotypical yet how many of us reach for that little frozen tub of smiles when we need a pick me up, I know I do!

The problem is when that little tub causes more harm than good; you need your fix yet the fix will gain you an all assess pass to your bathroom for the next several hours.

However, the lactose free vegan gods have decided to shake up the rest of the land and now there are so many option available to fill our sad space with delicious ice cream.

But why does ice cream make us feel good?

Ice cream boost….

Research has been completed that shows the introduction of fatty food actually changes the chemical balance within your brain, fatty foods including ice cream.

One study showed that several individuals who were exposed to sad music and pictures showed changes in their brain activity when introduced to fatty foods and they changed for the better too.

There has also been a study that showed eating ice cream for breakfast can actually make your brain be more alert, lower your levels of mental irritation and improve your mental performance, win win!

However, lets think about it seriously though if we eat ice cream every time we were sad or each day for breakfast surely the sugar content would have a effect on your weight, also studies show that sugar makes you more lethargic and sluggish.

But could ice cream replace anti-depressant medication?

Maybe not, but I would most definitely prefer to dispense ice cream over medication!

So ice cream may not be the perfect solution to reducing depression but it certainly make people feel better at times, so what if you can’t eat milk ice cream and just fancy a little pick me up?

Vegan ice cream it is then!

To moo or not to moo that is the question….

I have been lactose intolerant for many many years, it came on quiet suddenly and at first I had no idea what was going on. I was having milk in my tea and on my cereal but I was becoming sick after certain milk containing items.

After speaking to my GP they suggested I go dairy free for several weeks and see if that makes a difference then re-introduce dairy and monitor the effects.

I noticed on starting to re-introduce dairy that for me anything hot with dairy in was the worse, tea, coffee, custard and my favourite creme brulee.

Soft cheeses killed me off for days yet harder cheese not so much, I tried to avoid the bad dairy and continue with the ones that weren’t so bad but they then started to affect me so I had to go totally lactose free.

However, after I found out I had an allergy to gluten and have gone gluten free my lactose intolerance has become more tolerant. I can now manage the cold hard dairy items so much better than before when I was eating gluten, however I have chosen to stick, as best possible, to a vegan diet as I feel better for it.

But I still need that fix!

That cream ice cream fix when i’m feeling low or just fancy it. So what’s out there for us gluten free vegans like me.

It’s soy good….

Ice cream can come in many forms, soft or hard, in a tub or on in a cone, on a pancake or going solo. For me I would eat it out of a shoe if I had too ice cream is my love!

My favourite and probably will be forever is soft serve mister whippy ice cream from the ice cream van, but I have yet to find a dairy free alternative for this. But I’ve found a close second in Swedish Glace’s smooth vanilla.

Its so creamy and smooth, with that oaty taste from the soy giving it flavour without tasting to savoury in your mouth.

I accidentally left this ice cream out of my freezer once and just in the fridge so it melted, not wanting to waste it I added a banana and blended them together to make the most delicious milkshake I have ever had!

These guys don’t just do vanilla tub ice cream they have a few different flavours and have ice lollys too. However, I have only ever seen the vanilla tubs in supermarkets; supermarkets tend to have 1 possible 2 items from each company and they seem to only stock Swedish glace’s vanilla tub. I really want to try their raspberry ice cream it looks amazing!

Sorbet? Isn’t that just posh ice cream….

Sorbet has been around for many years but I’ve never wanted to try it to be honest, my dad told me it was a pallet cleaner used between courses to refresh your mouth. So why would I want it for my pudding?

Why, because it blinking lovely!

I’ve only recently tried sorbet whilst at the Body power convention last month, now I cant get enough of the stuff.

This weekend me a some Crossfit friends went to Cornwall for the One and all games after the competition was over we decided to visit a local beach as the weather was beautiful. As usual I wasn’t expecting to find anything suitable for me to have so was really surprised to find the local ice cream shop had 3 different vegan sorbet and gluten free cones!

Moomaids of Zennor was a little shop full of big surprises.

The staff were really friendly, they separate their gluten free products to reduce cross contamination and were very informative with their ingredients in the vegan sorbet.

I decided on their raspberry sorbet with a gluten free cone, I normal go for a tub but I thought if the option of a gluten free cone is there I should try it really, and so glad I did.

It was so tasty!

The raspberry was a clean sharp taste but still has a creamy texture to it, I raved about it so much that a friend of mine who is having some issues with dairy chose their dark chocolate vegan sorbet over regularly ice cream and said it tasted amazing!

This shop is a definite stop if your ever at Porthtowen Beach, id go back to this beach just for the ice cream if i’m honest!

On the go fix….

I don’t know where you are right now in the world reading this but here in the UK were having a lovely time with our weather, its so sunny and what goes best with sun but ice cream.

I had a lovely moment last week when I was in my local Tesco express. I had gone in to buy ice cream for the boys as a treat, not expecting to find anything for myself as I almost never do in express stores. I think everyone had the same idea because the  freezer was empty except for some little green boxes.

Little did I know these little green boxes were filled with Walls Cornetto gluten free vegan ice cream cones!

Made with soy these gluten free vegan cones were perfection on a hot day in a body shop. Cornetto were always a favourite for me as a kid, more for the cornet rather than the ice cream if i’m honest, especially for the chocolate bit at the bottom!

These Cornetto did not disappoint, it was like I was a kid again. And what made it best was the lads did not mind the gluten free cone or vegan ice cream, they enjoyed it as much as I did.

They weren’t to badly priced either at just over £3 for 4 ice creams in comparison to a single Corentto which is nearly £2!

I may have to stock up in my freezer with these bad boys.

Lets just hope this lovely weather continues so I can continue enjoying my ice creams.

Like bad weather would stop me!

Ice cream for the win!