Aden’s Ice Cream Therapy

Let’s face it; there are very few of us who don’t like some form of ice ‘cream’ – be it the full dairy, dairy free, sorbet, gelato, water ices or frozen yoghurt. And many of us will admit to a tendency to indulge in this guilty pleasure a little too often.
Eating Ice Cream is one of those experiences that is closely associated with pleasurable memories: Summer holidays, the sound of the Ice Cream vendor coming down the street, visits to the beach, birthday parties or any of a myriad of other celebrations. The very first taste of Ice Cream has the ability to transport us back to half forgotten memories and favourite people long since gone. We can recall those events with a sense of wistful nostalgia and a gentle longing for things of the past.
As a comfort food, Ice Cream ticks all the boxes:

It’s instant. We don’t need to perform elaborate preparations in order to get our “fix”.
We can share it with others (but we don’t have to) and sometimes sneaking a bowlful without sharing can add to the guilty pleasure.
We don’t have to have a lot – at least that’s what I tell myself BEFORE I open the freezer door after midnight.
We feel so much better really quickly after our indulgence – usually within a few minutes.

There are of course issues and difficulties in maintaining a safe nocturnal supply. This is especially so if you have to share your household with kids and teenagers with hollow legs. Their ability to sniff out a tub of Ice Cream is uncanny – and as many a household will testify, it seems that an open tub is an empty tub. So what can one do?!
Sometimes hiding in plain sight is enough: At least one tub of ice cream was kept from prying eyes when my kids were growing up – simply by labelling the top of the tub “Lambs Hearts”.
As a youngster, I grew up in the Cornish countryside – there were 5 teenagers, 3 grand-parents and 2 parents under the one roof. We had two giant size chest freezers outside in the garage. Ice Cream was bought in 1 gallon tubs – 4.5litres – but the freezers had locks on them. Growing up in that house, raiding the freezer for Ice Cream was almost a capital offense.
It might be worth looking at why we need access to some form of comfort food:

The experts tell us that even though the brain weighs only about 2% of our total body weight – it uses up about 20% of the calories that we consume. They also tell us that the energy requirements of the brain have to be supplied in quite specific formats. The brain does not normally utilise fats or proteins in order to do its job of coordinating the various activities of the body. In order to think, the brain needs a near constant supply of sugar. Pretty much any sugar will do but the short chain sugars (such as glucose and sucrose) are best.
Brain work – problem solving; studying; complex physical tasks (driving, sport, wrangling pre-schoolers) – result in rapid depletion of the blood sugar levels that the brain needs.
Depression and other mental health considerations are also important. There are many labels given to those of us who have additional mental health concerns and most of them are unhelpful unless they lead us to get the right sort of help that we need. Until we are able to find that right sort of help, we search out things that make us feel better. Unfortunately, sugar is one of them.
In times of severe stress – or, if you prefer, distress – the brain sends chemicals to the liver telling it to release the store of Glycogen because it may be needed imminently by our muscles. It’s no use having a “Fight or Flight” response if we don’t have the energy reserves available for our muscles to do the fighting or fleeing. When we have that surge of adrenalin that makes our heart beat faster and our mouth goes dry, you can be sure that at that moment there is an increase in our blood sugar level.
When the “Fight or Flight” response dies down, we feel drained – even without the perceived threat leading to a punch up or requiring us to run away. Not only are our blood sugars now low, but also the chemical Acetyl Choline has been depleted. Acetyl Choline is essential for creative thought processes and is, therefore, less important than survival processes during the times when we are under attack. Adrenaline is an antagonist of Acetyl Choline – it beats it every time because that’s its job. Without an intake of easily digested sugars, it takes about 4 hours after Adrenaline levels return to normal that Acetyl Choline is available for creative thought, thus enabling us to analyse our actions and work out what we could have done better.

As an aside: It’s not clearly understood yet – how or why it happens – but there is growing evidence that laughter stops the over-production of Adrenaline, thereby avoiding the need for a full on “Fight or Flight” response. When we think of a shared stressful experience, there is often one person who sees the funny side of it; cracks a joke and we all laugh and the problem diminishes. Although we don’t understand the mechanism, there is plenty of empirical evidence that Laughter Therapy is great for reducing the effects of chronic stress.

As part of our (evolutionary) history, we have spent thousands of years searching out the highest calorie foods available in order to give ourselves the best chance of survival. So our brains have developed a system of rewarding us when we provide it with a sugar laden serum. We consume sugar; sugar energises our muscles and aids our capacity to think and the brain releases massive amounts of Dopamine – the feel good hormone.

The trick for us is to find ways in which we can get the brain to release Dopamine in normal, healthy amounts, without us resorting to a near over-dose on Ice Cream or other sugary and fatty foodstuffs.
There is little doubt that over indulgence on Ice Cream can be pathological – it can lead to disease, especially if full fat Ice Cream is consumed in unhealthily large quantities over a sustained period of time.
So we have to look for ways that we can harness the feel good factors of Ice Cream without over indulging. It seems counter-intuitive – we want to find a way of consuming Ice Cream that triggers the release of Dopamine but that doesn’t lead to the negative health consequences caused by over indulgence.
In thinking this through I remembered a similar issue I had a couple of decades ago. I found that I could release some of the stresses of work by self medicating using alcohol – mostly cheap whisky. I didn’t need the pick me up of the sugar hit – I needed to calm my thought processes down in order to relax at the end of the day: A job that alcohol does well. It also causes a rush of Dopamine – and even though the Dopamine rush diminishes over time with alcohol (like a lot of mind altering recreational drugs we need more, as well as more often, in order to achieve the same effect) – the combination of feel good hormone and quietened brain activity is, so often, the cause of people developing a dependence on alcohol.
About this time, I just happened to have been given a bottle of pretty good Single Malt Scotch. I didn’t want to waste it by quaffing it down by the tumbler full. Instead I used my posh lead crystal whisky glass and measured out my ration of a single tot (no more than 30mL) and added a few drops of water to “release the beast” and heighten the flavour.
I made having a glass of whisky an event to be embraced – not an attempt to escape my reality. I made it into a ritual of mindful contemplation. The Dopamine was released. My mind was calmed without being anaesthetised. My alcohol consumption diminished well before it could become a problem.

Was there a way that I could adapt this principle to Ice Cream and develop it into a Therapy rather than have it grow by stealth into a Pathology? I set out to find out ways to elevate the occasion from one of escape to one of celebration.

I rapidly discovered that ritual was more important than calories. Research in the Hospitality industry has highlighted a few simple steps to elevate a dining experience into one of luxury:

Dim the lights – soft lighting gives a sense of intimacy and draws the diners to pay greater attention to each other
Soft classical orchestral or instrumental music – no singing. Vocal songs inevitably stimulate memories (both good and bad) and they demand attention. Soft instrumental music stays in the background and facilitates quiet communication with a sense of privacy
Real napkins and a real tablecloth – this screams indulgent extravagance
Waiting Staff being attentive but not hover. Should only be present at the table when needed

So, in remembering these principles, I set about examining my solo consumption of ice cream to help me identify the things that made it ‘special’ in order to establish the ingredients needed for Aden’s Ice Cream Therapy.

Celebrations require planning and preparation especially if we want to experience a sense of decadence or extravagant generosity.
What the ice cream is served in is as important as the ice cream.

I prefer cut glass that has gone out of fashion and have accumulated Stuart Crystal comports collected from Charity Op-Shops or Thrift Stores – never paying more than $5 each for them. I also have saucers for them so that I have somewhere to put my spoon when finished.

What you eat the ice cream with is important. Again I have a selection of teaspoon sized spoons that are only used for ice cream therapy. It feels really good to eat ice cream out of a cut glass, lead crystal bowl with a solid silver spoon.
Where you eat the ice cream is also important. Not in front of the telly – wait until the film is over to experience the therapeutic benefits of ice cream. Not in bed – that feels more like an escape than a celebration. Alone – or in company – sit up at a table; make an effort and reap the reward.
Use good quality ice cream. Less of the best is better than more of the mundane.
Small sized scoops. It is not necessary to consume vast quantities. A total of two scoops really is enough – think posh restaurant.
Two (or at most 3) flavours of ice cream. It really doesn’t matter what the flavours are – having more than one flavour always brings with it a sense of occasion. If providing the ice cream for others – don’t provide a choice; if your ‘patient’ has an issue with any ingredients, you will already know about it (I made some coconut ice cream for a friend who followed a vegan diet. Their appreciation showed me that that level of consideration was – to them – extravagant generosity).
Two different biscuits. Think triangular petticoat tail wafer AND a Corinthian wafer tube, or a wafer and an Amoretti Biscuit, or a wafer and a couple of mint chocolate twig-sticks.
Two toppings. Nuts AND sauce, or Baileys and chocolate coffee beans, or Tia Maria and Chocolate sprinkles. Silence the inner-critic with the generosity we usually reserve for others.
Take your time. Although therapeutic, this is not an unpleasant medicine that has to be gulped down. Treat it as a reward – delayed gratification after a difficult day.

If you want to prove the efficacy of ice cream therapy then provide it to some friends without telling them what you are doing. Everyone likes an ice cream. A while ago, I had half a dozen friends over for a pizza, darts and pool evening. After the games, I produced ‘dessert’ in the form of Aden’s Ice Cream Therapy and received a chorus of “Wow”s and acknowledgement of the decadence. We sat around the table, savouring the occasion and chatted – talked, opening up to deep and meaningful conversation – in a way that we’d not achieved before. As the evening drew to a close, we acknowledged that the ice cream indulgence seemed to be the trigger for, or somehow facilitated, the opening up of our conversation.
Alone or in company, Aden’s Ice Cream Therapy has way of self-soothing at the same time as feeling like a really good reward. Go on – you know you want to try it.