Nutrition Nugget: Cool Whip

[00:00:20] Molly McNamee: I'm having salad with a side of fries

[00:00:29] on Instagram. She sent this one as another one of those mystery foods like Velveeta so I added it to my list. And it's funny because I'm also seeing so many healthier summer dessert recipes that use Cool Whip, and I was like, "We have to talk about this." So admittedly, I have my own history with Cool Whip.

[00:01:21] Admittedly, though, I have not looked at this stuff in probably 20-plus years. So that's the sort of the premise of where we're coming to this from. Now, for those who are not familiar, Cool Whip is essentially an alternative whipped cream. Full disclosure, it is technically imitation whipped cream, and from what I found, it was invented by a food scientist named William A.

[00:02:17] First, it was made by a company called General Foods, which was later bought by Kraft. Today, it's a Kraft Heinz product, and originally it was also dairy-free, which gave it another selling point, I suppose. Today, though, there is some dairy in there. At the same time, I mean, we'll look at the ingredients, but part of me says with all the other things in there, I still think it has a long shelf life and nothing in there is gonna go bad.

[00:03:08] So light and fluffy, it adds a cloud of perfection to everything from pies to sundaes. Just dollop and enjoy." So they call it a whipped topping, and they have a bunch of varieties now. There's a zero sugar option, a fat-free option. There's one that's extra creamy, and then of course the original. And for our purposes today, I'm inclined for us to look at the original.

[00:03:58] The zero sugar one [00:04:00] likely has a bunch of alternative sweeteners and potentially more fat as well. Like I said, definitely read the label of whichever one you're inclined to explore if you are So then on the page for the original Cool Whip, after repeating that like cool and creamy, delicious and dreamy thing, it says, "It adds a cloud of perfection to everything from pies to ice cream sundaes.

[00:04:49] Our eight-ounce tub of Cool Whip stays fridge fresh for two weeks. Just dollop and enjoy." And I don't know. We haven't even gotten there yet. Like I said, [00:05:00] I'm pretty sure there isn't an ingredient in there that will really spoil, so it's funny to me that they're sort of giving that shelf life, but I do think that's a common question on the internet.

[00:05:40] Then it says three grams of carbohydrates, of which it's zero grams of fiber and two grams of sugar. That's one gram of added sugar. And then there's also big fat zeroes across the board for the micronutrients, right? Those vitamins and minerals. So if you're one of those people who only look at calories, [00:06:00] you're probably thinking, "No big deal."

[00:06:25] Water, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated vegetable oil, that's coconut and palm kernel oils, skim milk. Then contains less than 2% of light cream, sodium caseinate, natural and artificial flavor, xanthan and guar gums, modified food starch, polysorbate 60, sorbitan monostearate, sodium polyphosphate, beta carotene for color.

[00:07:29] Now, this happens because in food labeling, they're allowed to round down if it's .5 grams or less per serving. So this is a powerful reminder to read the ingredients and to recognize that if we have multiple servings, zero plus zero does not equal zero when they have rounded down and we see something in the ingredients that's not clear in the numbers nutrition facts.

[00:08:28] Many of these are also not naturally occurring ingredients. So, you know, frankly, as I look at this list, I think the only one that occurs naturally is water. Everything else in there is manmade to some degree. So that might make it a no for you. To discuss some of why I hear people today opting for Cool Whip, I think with the skim milk in today's version, [00:09:00] it's no longer non-dairy or dairy-free.

[00:09:33] And so that brings us to the question that I always ask. It's this as opposed to what? So if it's Cool Whip instead of old-fashioned whipped cream- Let's compare those ingredients. So if you have like actual legit old-fashioned whipped cream, those ingredients are heavy whipping cream, which is usually a combination of milk and cream.

[00:10:26] So yes Certainly where you would've used whipped cream, you can use Cool Whip. With that said, I'm going to, with love, ask you not to put this in your smoothie if you're looking for your smoothie to be health promoting. And consider how much of this you're having if you're gonna have it. As with anything sweetened, even if it's not sugar, you can still get an insulin response from sweet flavors, and those tastes can keep us craving [00:11:00] those tastes, right?

[00:11:31] So anyway, like I said, I don't think much in there could go bad. For me personally, it's a no on the Cool Whip in general. And still, if I am at someone's house and there's a dessert or something made with it, the Cool Whip ingredient may not be my deal breaker. I think the beauty of all of this is that you get to decide for yourself, and now at least, you get to make informed choice, and I think that's where [00:12:00] the power lies.

[00:12:22] Molly McNamee, thank you one more time for joining us this week.

[00:12:29] Jenn Trepeck: Oh, good. I'm so glad. And friends, if you are not already a member, join us in the Happy Healthy Hub. You'll go to asaladwithasideoffries.com/membership. This shows your support for this podcast, this community, and above all, your health.

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