An Aggie treat gets a healthy twist
The most famous dessert on campus, Aggie Ice Cream, recently went on a diet of sorts, adding new healthy items to conform to the Be Well program, said Caroline Shugart, employee wellness coordinator.
Customers wanting a treat without the calories have three new dessert options and one main meal choice that all conform to the Be Well criteria, which promotes healthier eating and a healthier lifestyle, Shugart said.
Without sacrificing taste or quality, the three Be Well desserts are all affordabley priced and contain less than 250 calories, Shugart said.
“There are healthy options (at Aggie Ice Cream) and we should encourage a nice sandwich with a small dessert,” Shugart said. “You never say no to yourself, just smaller portions.”
The smaller Be Well portion sizes include a 2-ounce scoop of any flavor of ice cream , formally called a mini scoop or a kiddy scoop, that can be topped off with fruit or a waffle cookie. Both options cost the same as a medium-sized scoop, said Don McMahon, director of the Gary Haight Richardson Dairy Products Laboratory ,the place that makes Aggie Ice Cream.
The other Be Well dessert option is a yogurt parfait, which contains USU-made yogurt and is topped with fruit and granola. At about six ounces of yogurt, two ounces of fruit and a tablespoon of granola, the parfait runs for $1.63, a modest price for a healthy snack.
Felicia Stehmeier, sophomore majoring in acting, said she saw a sign for the yogurt parfaits one day and decided to buy one. Now, Stehmeier said she frequently comes to Aggie Ice Cream to get the parfaits.
“I love these because they taste really good,” Stehmeier said. “I love yogurt and I decided to Be Well.”
McMahon said the Be Well items provide new options, but he considers Aggie Ice Cream in general to be a healthy food in terms of calcium and other nutrients. While there is a considerable amount of butterfat in the ice cream, McMahon said “that’s part of the appeal.”
“An important part of this overall health and wellness is our state of health actually depends upon our emotions as well as the foods we eat,” McMahon said. “Aggie Ice Cream has long held a place where depending upon how your exams went that day, you can come and celebrate, or if they didn’t go to well, you could come and cheer yourself up.”
Besides new desserts, Shugart said she worked with Lisa Clawson, Aggie Ice Cream sales manager, and McMahon to create a main course option that would be healthy and affordable.
This main course involved changing the method sandwiches were built and priced at Aggie Ice Cream, a change Clawson said would help the store become more competitive with other sandwich joints.
Sandwiches at Aggie Ice Cream used to be priced by the ounce, McMahon said, which meant that after meats and cheeses had been added, topping the sandwich off with extra vegetables equalled a higher price. To meet the needs of the Be Well program, sandwiches were changed to a set price that would allow customers to add as many vegetables as they desire, McMahon said.
“The customer can then choose what kind of bread, dressing or cheese and then they can add as many vegetables as they want,” McMahon said. “In a sense, people who are wanting to add more vegetables into their daily diet would have an easier way to do that without any disincentives regarding cost.”
A third change at Aggie Ice Cream to conform to the Be Well program was the switch from using 2 percent milk fat in the chocolate milk that is distributed to food services, to 1 percent milk fat, McMahon said.
While the Be Well options sound nice, are they actually being purchased?
Clawson said she has noticed many customers purchasing the new sandwiches and Be Well dessert items.
“I think there’s a growing awareness,” Clawson said. “I know we just recently put out a small scoop with fruit and waffle cookie coupon that Caroline and other people in that program are distributing and getting out the word. I’ve actually seen quite a few of those coupons come back.”
McMahon said Aggie Ice Cream has always had healthy items, but before the Be Well items were added, many customers didn’t know about them.
“Having these options means you can get different choices,” McMahon said. “We’ve always had these options, but what we’ve done is make it more apparent to people and try to take away any disincentives to add into their diets anything that will be a health benefit to them.”
The search for more Be Well items at Aggie Ice Cream continues, McMahon said, as a line of yogurt-based smoothies is in the works.
–seth.h@aggiemail.usu.edu
Felicia Stehmeier, sophomore majoring in acting, said she often stops by Aggie Ice Cream to purchase the fruit and yogurt parfaits which she says is by far her favorite Be Well option. (Debra Hawkins)