A Simple and Healthy Dessert to Make in Your Dorm

As college students, we crave the sugar high that allows us to get through all the responsibilities we have to face: our class work, our on-campus jobs, internships, off-campus jobs, campus life and involvement, etc.

Unfortunately, while we may get a few hours or minutes of energy and enjoyment through desserts full of refined/added sugars, we are also teaching our bodies to rely on that momentary high to perform tasks well. When the sugar crash comes, many students find that it is incredibly difficult to focus on their ever-growing to-do list.

Added sugars have often been linked to other major health problems like some cancers, diabetes, and heart disease. Studies reported from Harvard School of Public Health show that the likelihood of being diagnosed with these illnesses decreases when the majority of people’s sugar intake comes from natural sources.

In order to combat this sleepiness, lack of productivity, and risk of serious chronic illness, here is a very simple and healthy recipe for Vanilla or Chocolate Banana Ice Cream that gives you energy from natural sugars without the major crash that added sugars produce. This recipe is refined sugar free, dairy free (but can easily be made with dairy products), gluten free, and can be made mostly with ingredients from our own Berry College Dining Hall!

Vanilla or Chocolate Banana Ice Cream

● Appliances Needed:

○ Blender (You could also spend a whole bunch of time chopping the ingredients.

However, if you have a blender or can borrow one, make it easy on yourself and

use the blender.)

● Vanilla Ice Cream Ingredients:

○ 2 Frozen Bananas

■ Just grab two bananas from D-Hall and throw them in your freezer or a

community freezer.

○ 1 teaspoon of vanilla

■ Vanilla Extract is not provided by the dining hall, but the POD offers a

vanilla flavor of Fairlife’s High Protein Milkshake that does not have added

sugars if you can’t get to the grocery store. It also adds 26 grams of protein

to the ice cream, which is always a win!

○ ¼ teaspoon of cinnamon

■ You can find cinnamon in the dining hall next to the coffee and tea station

○ ¼ cup of almond milk

■ Unsweetened almond milk can be found in the gluten free refrigerator in

the dining hall. You can also use regular milk if you don’t need this to be

dairy free.

● Chocolate Ingredients:

○ 2 frozen bananas

○ Cocoa powder

■ This might require a grocery run, but you can also substitute the chocolate

flavor of the Core Power Milkshake in the POD, which has no added sugar.

○ Two tablespoons of peanut butter

■ Packets of peanut butter can be found next to the sandwich station. These

do have added sugar, but the minimal amount used in this recipe should

not make too much of a difference. If this is a problem for you, most

grocery stores have peanut butter with no sugar added.

○ ¼ cup of almond milk

● Instructions:

○ Combine all ingredients into a blender or food processor. Blend until

smooth and creamy. It can either be enjoyed right away or you can chill it in the

freeze so the ice cream has more stability

For more information on how to kick sugar to the curb, visit https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/the-sweet-danger-of-sugar.

This recipe is inspired by Brittany Mullins of www.eatingbirdfood.com, the queen of healthy eating!