How many carbs are in a banana split? Not something I ever imagined looking up, frankly. But I now know more about the split than I thought possible. Did you know an early version was served with the peel on? You'll be amazed to learn that didn't last long.
I'm learning all this because one of my son's favorite books is Curious George and the Ice Cream Shop. George does all sorts of crazy things, of course, including piling up a ton of ice cream in one bowl and making a big banana split. My kids have never seen a banana split and this has absolutely captured their imagination. Every time we read the book, Benny asks me when he can have one.
Oh, never, I want to say. We do a pretty good job of managing Benny's diabetes, but I don't need the tsuris of dealing with the fat, carbs and plain old sugar in a big gloppy sundae. But he's been asking me for almost two years now, and I think this this weekend we are finally going to do it. I don't want to turn this into forbidden fruit (hah, hah).
So I don't want to brag, but I know a little bit more about ice cream than your average bear. My very first job was scooping ice cream at Baskin Robbins. Oh yeah, that was me in the pink and brown uniform at the Jefferson Valley Mall in 1986. I hated when people ordered banana splits. It held up the line, it was messy and I can't stand bananas.
But to most people, banana splits are fun. Louis Prima sang about them (if you didn't recognize the name of this post, please take a second to click on that or just scroll down and listen to that great song.) A whole bunch of kids got freaked out by them in the late 60s. (and yes, I will call out that I caught Keith Larson singing the Banana Splits theme song recently. I think your childhood TV choices say a lot about you. H.R. Pufnstuff fans, I'm looking at you).
I can't imagine that Benny will really eat a banana split. We've ordered ice cream sundaes for him before. He usually eats the cherry and the whipped cream and takes a nibble of ice cream. But just in case, I have to be prepared and that means learning about the nutritional content. Benny gets insulin based on the carbs he eats.
So let's do the math - a banana has about 25-30 carbs. 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream, whipped cream and a cherry has 35 carbs – no hot fudge. What else goes into a banana split? I'm reading on line that a Friendly's Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Friend-Z has 96 carbs. Oh my lord.. I just found the Friendly's nutrition page. A Royal Banana Split has 880 calories and 132 carbs. Benny usually eats about 30 carbs in one meal. I'm not sure he's ever had 132 carbs in one day!
Well, hopefully he won't eat the whole thing and we'll do it at lunch time so we'll have the afternoon to work it out. The next question is, how much will power am I going to have? I get a little carried away when it comes to hot fudge, myself. Dispenser man, if you please, serve us up a mess of calories. Banana split for my baby.. and a glass of plain water for me!