Healthy Swaps: Whey Hey – Low Calorie Sugar Fee Protein Ice Cream

Ever since I can remember, I have always had an incredible sweet tooth. I was the type of person to easily go through a whole packet of biscuits, munch my way through a family sized packet of crisps and devour a big bar of diary milk *covers face*

Whilst these baaaad eating habits have now been under control for approx 2 years through discipline and commitment to my kick-boxing training regime, I still get the odd sweet tooth craving. In my humble opinion, it is important not to fully deprive yourself of a treat or two during the week as part of a healthy, balanced lifestyle.

We all know that protein is an essential part of our recovery process post training, so you can imagine the sheer delight when I first learnt about Protein Ice Cream, in particular British Brand Whey Hey! As the name aptly suggests, their ice cream is made with Whey Protein Isolate which in a nutshell is extract from cow’s milk and is nutritionally good for you.

I was lucky enough to have been given the opportunity to try their products last week and below are my thoughts.

Whey Hey are currently available in 150 ml pots and come in three different flavours… Chocolate, Vanilla and Strawberry, with a view to add more in the near future.

The thing that stood out for me was the high levels of protein and low calorie content. I was also impressed that most of the carbohydrate numbers are fibrous as shown on the table below, making this delightful macro friendly treat  for those on a strict eating regime in the lead up to competition.

Apart from the obvious ingredient, Whey Hey is as natural as it comes. Made with no hidden preservatives  or other nasties usually found in your typical ice cream tub such as refined sugar, their products are Gluten Free and are naturally sweetened with Xylitol! *this is a massive bonus of me as I only use Erythritol and Xylitol as alternatives to refined sugar*

As far as taste goes, all flavours of Whey Hey protein ice cream are surprisingly yummy. I found the texture  (especially the vanilla flavour) quite sorbet like whilst being light, smooth and silky as you would expect ice cream to be. There was no sign of lumps or the powdery after taste you can sometimes get when consuming Whey in a liquid form but most importantly satisfied my sweet tooth craving.

To give it that special edge, I cheekily sprinkle  a 15 g serving of Linwoods Milled Flaxseed, Almonds, Brazil Nuts, Walnuts and Co-Enzyme Q 10 over the ice cream to give it an extra crunch *I love the combination of nuts and ice cream lol*. This ensures that I also get my all important omega 3’s in my system as well as providing Zinc, Iron and Magnesium to name a few. *who would have thought that eating healthy would taste so gooood*

Overall, Whey Hey gets a thumbs up from me. I now know where to go to get my sweet tooth fix. I can enjoy a tub of ice cream guilt free whilst getting those all important protein numbers in. Aside from fitness professionals and enthusiasts such as myself, I have found that people do not consume nowhere near enough protein as part of their diet so this product can indeed cross over to everyday people.

Whey Hey is currently available to purchase from Holland and Barrett and have just received news as I type that they have recently partnered with Ocado, a UK independent on-line grocery market to sell 500 ml tubs of their flavours.

If that isn’t a positive step in the right direction for this small brand, Whey Hey have also confirmed that British UK Model David Gandy has decided to invest in the business after sampling the products, giving the Whey Hey HQ something to sing about *Whey Hey Heyy*

Should you wish to find out more about Whey Hey, they can be found online by visiting their Whey Hey website or by following them on Twitter.