There is no Paleo ice cream. Ice cream or some weird variant of it just shouldn't be part of your diet on a regular basis. On the rare occasions when you want to treat yourself, don't look for some Paleo-friendly ice cream--just go out and get the best damn ice cream you can. Ice cream is crap. Delicious crap, but crap nonetheless. Don't try and hide the fact you are eating a bowl (or cone) of frozen sugar. Indulge. Find the best ice cream maker in your city. Enjoy every last spoonful. And then don't think about ice cream again for like 6 months.

I keep a bag of ripe, peeled bananas in my freezer- toss em in the food processor with a little coconut, berries, etc (or just plain bananas with nothing else) and process till smooth- comes out a very nice soft-serve-esque consistency, and uber-easy!

The Haagen-Dazs "All Natural" Coffee ice cream in my freezer has Cream, Skim Milk, Sugar, Eggs, Coffee in it.

We recently tried Luna & Larry's Coconut Bliss Ice Cream and I am telling you...WOW!

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Okay, so this may get me in trouble here on this forum, but I might as well admit it: I AM SOMEWHAT OF AN ICE CREAM FANATIC. Here are my recommendations:

If you do well with Dairy, the awesome and ethical Straus Creamery (of California) recently started supplying ice cream to my local coop, YAY! The ingredient list is organic, short, and old-fashioned: just cream, milk, egg yolk, sugar, vanilla, and salt (plus cocoa in the Dutch Chocolate version (not necessarily in that order.) I REEEAAALLY appreciate that they don't add guar gum or carageenan to thicken it and SKIMP on the cream, the way other "organic" brands" do, such as Julie's and Alden's. Straus Vanilla and Dutch Chocolate are the best store-bought ice cream I've ever had. THOUGH: it's really the CREAM I am after--I could do with alot less sugar. In that respect, of course, homemade ice cream is BEST, so you can add as little sugar as you want. ANOTHER thing that satisfies my ice cream urge is HOMEMADE CUSTARD...I don't make it very sweet, so it's actually pretty dern healthy. Cream, butter and egg yolks with just a sprinkling of sugar! Yummmm!!!

I've changed my stance on this...if you have to buy just one get this....

http://www.turtlemountain.com/products/product.php?p=purely_decadent_cm_cherry_amaretto

Soy Free Dairy Free Gluten Free

11g of sugar per serving

so if you eat the whole thing(which most people do)...you're looking at 44g of sugar....

Put it this way....the WHOLE thing is better for you than 3 oreo cookies...

Ice Dream was invented by a paleo dieter. You have to make it yourself though, which really limits consumption glares at ice cream maker I bought last year and used once...

I am a newbie so forgive me if I am wrong. I recently tried Purely Decadent Coconut Milk ice cream. It is dairy free, soy free, gluten free and deliciuos. I have found it in either gluten free sections of stores or "natural food" sections

When I get a craving I settle for Straus creamery Whole milk with real Maple Yogurt. Not a bad substitute and has acceptable ingredients

Would you be open to making your own? You can use cream, milk if you drink it, egg yolks, flavoring, and sweeten it with stevia, xylitol (a sugar alcohol), or rice syrup (not technically paleo, but fructose free). I make a delicious cherry almond ice cream sweetened with stevia. Sometimes I sneak some dark chocolate in too :).

I'm actually a big fan of the coconut milk ice creams and coconut sorbet. Many of the coconut milk ice creams are sweetened with agave (fructose warning!) and many of the sorbets have too much sugar! But if you're looking for a paleo-friendly option (and willing to fructose it up!) then I'd suggest going coo-coo for coconut.

Two favourites are: Sharon's Coconut Sorbet and Purely Decadent non-dairy frozen dessert made with coconut milk - Mint Chip.

All that said, they stall weight loss and are a rare and limited treat for me.

A great dessert is heavy cream, whipped with no sugar added, with berries. No sugar besides a little from the berries (which is probably ok since it's matched with fiber and antioxidants), and it is just as satisfying as ice cream, but without the sugar.

There is a brand called Arctic Zero that is worth mentioning. 150 calories per pint and they have some notable flavors. For example, the Vanilla Maple ingredients are listed as:

Purified water, Whey protein concentrate, organic cane sugar, chicory root, guar gum, xantham gum, natural flavors, sea salt, monk fruit concentrate

http://www.myarcticzero.com/nutritionfacts.php

Love how this question has one thousand views and counting!

I usually eat Haagen Dazs, or make my own.

NICE, @Gingernaut! Ohio, represent! Jeni's is the best. Outside of Jeni's... I have to say homemade. Sorry! There are lovely small batch offerings where I live but I always end up feeling gross after a small cup so my own won out. I shifted my focus from traditional and the last couple of months have made Paleo specific treats. I like that I can make completely unsweetened except for what I add in that is naturally sweet, whatever I want for the liquid, pastured eggs for a custard base or go Philly style. Hell.. I could add supplements if I wanted to. Sleepy time ice cream with ZMA anyone? :) I would recommend to the world to grab an ice cream maker and start playing. It's fun, you can make whatever you want, and you're putting in exactly what you would want to get out of it. The perfect product for you.

Once every other week or so, I'll whip some cream up with pure cocoa (no sugar or anything) and add in some really rips bananas. Then I'll stick it in the freezer for about an hour, and then go to town! Honestly, few things are better than banana/chocolate combination.

Granted, I eat absolutely no sugar, maple syrup, stevia or honey--the only sugars I ingest are from the whole fruits in my diet (I don't juice fruits)--so my "Ice cream" is pretty sweet in my palate.

If you go without sugar for a good while (a month or two, maybe?) I'm pretty sure your palate will adjust itself. I find the bit of cream and cinnamon I put into my coffee to be plenty sweet enough!

I would say the Ben and Jerry's flavors that don't have gluten in them.

Haagen Dasz Five might qualify, depending on how you feel about the skim milk. I don't know of any 'big' ice cream maker that uses milk that hasn't had the fat artificially stripped out of it first. Your best bet is probably smaller independent/local producers. For something closer to "orthodox paleo", coconut ice cream is dairy-free, but good luck finding one without guar gum/other weird thickeners (equally sarcastic side rant: Why the hell mess up goat yogurt by adding pectin? Thanks, commercial producers).

At least decent ice cream, whether milk or coconut based, is relatively easy to make at home. (And if you go to that amount of effort, you're more likely to save it for truly special occasions instead of picking up a quick pint whenever it's convenient.)

A recipe for healthy icecream from the Jaminet's Perfect Health Diet website-- http://perfecthealthdiet.com/?p=2408

I bought a fairly cheap Cuisinart ice cream maker on Amazon so I could make this at home. For fructose free sweetening I use one or more of the following: rice syrup, Now brand dextrose, stevia,and erythritol.

Well, since my kids are paleo as well, I have to do a few things to keep them sane =) We like the So Delicious Coconut milk ice cream, NO SUGAR ADDED on the label. Only one gram of sugar, sweetened with Stevia and Erythritol. ALL ORGANIC< wayyyyy better choice than Ben and Jerry's people!

Since you're asking about storebought boxed icecream,I'd personally go for Ben&Jerry's Chocolate Macadamia. Yeah it contains sugar...but also whole milk,eggs,cacao,macadamia nuts and it even listed coconut oil. That was the first time I ever saw coconut oil listed on a processed food,instead of the usual vegetable oil. And it's (supposed to be) from organic produce&fairtrade.

Frozen bananas work quite well for me.

I wonder about the amount of fat in Coldstone? They do have 30 grams of sugar in their small chocolate ice cream, but also 20 grams of fat. If we are going to get ice cream (for my daughter once in a while), I should go for the high fat options, right??

http://www.coldstonecreamery.com/assets/pdf/nutrition/nutrition_info_icecream.pdf

For store bought, I usually go with So Delicious coconut (their gf cookie dough is AMAZING!) or a sorbet. But I would consider both of those as part of my 20%, I just can't do gluten or dairy at all. For a simple homemade "ice cream" I mixed a can of coconut milk with a little bit (like a teaspoon) of honey and lots of cinnamon and stuck it in the freezer for a couple hours. I thought it turned out pretty well.

Turkey Hill all natural Vanilla.Milk,cream,sugar,vanilla.Very creamy,almost like frozen Cool Whip, and sugar is even the third ingredient.Good for you?No.If the rest of your diet is healthy,and you keep things in balance,it probably won't kill you. I did try some of the new Ben and Jerry's flavor Late Night Snack last night.(chocolate covered potato chips clusters in vanilla ice cream with caramel).Chocolate chips mixed with sour cream and onion potato chips was my depression food for a long time.:P.Ben and Jerry's uses WAY too many plastic ingredients though,especially corn syrups.

Thumbs up on the points...ice cream is not paleo and coconut options. I agree, coconut 'ice cream' is a very nice treat on occassion.

This can also be enjoyed if you are following strict dietary guidelines due to diagnosed or health concerns such as autoimmune. This would be true for coconut yogurt as well. Always check ingredients, even if you have the last time you bought it. They do change on occassion and they don't necessarily advertise the change especially if they add ingredients that are not favorable.

Thanks for the info on Ice Dream. Going to check it out ;-)

Before going Primal, I used to have Breyer's all Natural Vanilla ice cream (Milk, Cream, Sugar, Natural Tara Gum, Natural Vanilla Flavor.) At least majority of the ingredients are pronounceable and not long.

Anyway, I agree with the answer that if you want to be truly Paleo/Primal, try not seeking any Paleo/Primal approved ice cream because there's NO such thing. If you want to indulge, then just get the best one and move on.

There is some really good Gelato at my local grocery store that is gluten free, soy free, only uses fructose, and is amazingly low on sugar and sweetner.

It comes in little round clear containers with black lids. Its amazingly good.

If you have to have ice cream but want to make "getting it" a bit more difficult, I like to use the ice cream ball. I bought it on Amazon and it makes me do a bit of work before I can actually have any. Plus you have control over the ingredients.

http://www.amazon.com/Play-Freeze-Cream-Maker-Ball/dp/B000S5XYI2

If you allow dairy in your diet, Jeni's Ice Cream is an absolute MUST if you want to indulge in guilty pleasures. Hands down the best ice cream I've ever had - that ice cream is one of things I miss the most about living in Columbus, Ohio. Thankfully, not only do they deliver via UPS, but they also have retail partners. The salty caramel is my favorite. I used to work as a cook in a lounge owned by Cup o' Joe. We shared our building with the aforementioned coffee shop, and they ordered Jeni's in bulk to serve to customers - they always put a little of the caramel off to the side for me ;)

Poke around and see if it's carried in a store near you. If not, you can order online - http://www.jenisicecreams.com/pages/Retail-Partners.html

As far as how Paleo it is, the website states that their milk and cream from grass-fed cows. Beyond that, I couldn't tell. But hey, it's ice cream. It's not supposed to be healthy and I doubt it ever will be. If you're going to for once-in-a-blue-moon indulgence, you may as well do it in style.