Eat ice cream. It’s good for you.

What could be better — or worse — than ice cream? It’s cold. It’s sweet. It’s creamy. And it’s deadly. Or so I thought, until running across a new nutritional rating system that actually says honest-to-god, nothing-held-back ice cream is better for you than all the concoctions designed to take the edge off this essential summer experience.

Ice cream better than non-fat sorbet? Better than low-fat frozen yogurt? Better than popsicles? Rejoice. The answer just may be yes. If you subscribe to the wisdom in a new food rating system that takes a broader view of the value of the foods we eat.

The Nuval system looks at more than just whether a food is low-fat. Or whether it’s low-sugar. Or whether it has no “trans fats.” Instead, it provides a score of between 1 (less valuable nutritionally speaking) and 100 (most valuable) based on the food’s overall contribution to the nutrition we need.

How does Breyer’s Extra Creamy Vanilla Ice Cream rate a 45 while the Haagen Dazs Fat-Free Strawberry Sorbet rate a 1? While it’s not exactly a health food, at least the Breyer’s has the benefits of milk: calcium, vitamins and even some fiber. Sorbet, on the other hand, is little more than sugar water.

So, before the snow flies (which won’t be long now), I dedicate myself to an occasional indulgence in REAL ice cream. Like last night’s pure, frozen, sweetened cream kicked around by my kids in our little two-pint “Ice Cream Ball“ last night.

Or the Butter Pecan I had at The Pearl a couple Saturdays ago.

I won’t just order frozen vegetables when the Schwan’s guy comes next Thursday.

And maybe, very soon, we’ll all be reading labels for the “Nuval” score.