Ice cream

When you're talking ice cream, you're talking a frozen desert made from cream, eggs, sugar and flavourings. You can make it yourself but most of us go for the brand names. Indeed there's nothing more delicious on a hot summer's day than a cone of refreshing ice cream. The problem is that the calorie count is rather high. And it leaps alarmingly if you go in for extras such as chocolate sauce, chocolate chips, biscuits and other indulgences offered by ice cream deserts. Some have up to 1200 calories per bowl and contain more saturated fat than is recommended for a whole day.

An average sized cone has only 140 calories but if you make it a Cadbury's flake 99, it goes up to 240 calories. A Magnum classic has 275 where a Cornetto has 200. A Mars ice cream bar has 249. So it's not ideal for your slimming programme. Nor is it particularly nutritious but if you do give in to temptation, try some of the diet or calorie light versions that have recently come on the market.