Look Before You Eat: LAist Deconstructs Oreo Cookie Frozen Treats

For better or worse, we looked at the nutrition values of two of LAist's favorite food groups: Oreos and ice cream. / Photo by mihoda via flickr.

As we learned earlier, July is National Ice Cream Month, a legacy left to us by President Ronald Reagan in 1984. According to the International Ice Cream Association, “He recognized ice cream as a fun and nutritious food that is enjoyed by a full 90% of the nation's population.”

LAist wholly agrees that ice cream is a totally fun food. Sometimes Pinkberry, Red Mango or Cantaloop treats just won’t do. But c’mon, the “nutritious” claim by the IICA and Ronnie is a bit dubious. And we found out just how dubious.

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Now this particular LAist poster luuuurves Oreo Cookies, and combine them with some sort of vanilla ice cream in a shake, a frappe, a malt – or simply mixed-in and dropped in a bowl – and it's heaven. So the other day, we got a mailer from Baskin-Robbins to try their Oreo Cookie 31 Below, a soft-serve concoction with Oreos. We were so in. Why not? It was a hot summer night and buy one and get one free seemed like such a good deal. But then LAist did something that totally busted the ice-cream run: We looked up the nutrition content of the Oreo 31 Below. Here’s what we found (and it's not pretty):

The 16 oz. serving of the 31 Below had 980 calories, 41 grams of fat. And you thought a Big Mac (540 calories, 29 grams of fat) or a Whopper with cheese (770 calories, 48 grams of fat) were bad?

We looked up other nutrition content of similar Oreo Cookie-type desserts. And the list is pretty depressing:

> Dairy Queen Oreo Cookie Blizzard: 334 grams (about 12 oz.), 690 calories, 26 grams of fat;
> Jack in the Box Oreo Cookie Ice Cream Shake: 339 grams, 770 calories, 40 grams of fat;
> McDonalds McFlurry with Oreo Cookies: 337 grams, 550 calories, 17 grams of fat; and
> Cold Stone's Like It Milk and Cookies Shake: 485 grams, 1090 calories and 63 grams of fat.

And we didn't even want to look at the sugar or carb counts.

So go ahead and enjoy those Oreo ice cream treats - in moderation, of course. And remind yourself that it's okay to indulge if you eat nothing but carrots and celery for the rest of the day...at least that's how we justify it.