Thursday, March 22, 2012

Say What?: JambaJuice


Sorry for my absence, midterms have been looming ever overwhelmingly. This weeks post is all about another brand of drink that a couple of my dance friends were talking about in class and saying it was healthy. I was interested since in HS I worked at a smootheria (Keva Juice for all your Bountiful people) and I remember the calorie numbers being ridiculously high for one smoothie.

 
 Did you know that Jamba Juice has its own SECRET menu like In&Out? Except everyone knows about In&Out's and isn't it posted on their website? Anyways, highly suggest the above flavor. It was just like a Starburst® Candy and was SOOO good!

And of course the numbers were pretty comparable. From Jamba Juice themselves, the popular....

Aloha Pineapple          550 Calories
Peach Pleasure            490 Calories
Razzmatazz                 520 Calories
Strawberry Surf Rider 580 Calories

all for a power size smoothie. Granted that's the largest size, but taking into consideration the facts of exercise condition, dieting, and BMR can have a rather large impact individually. 

For example if you are a low energy, stagnant person who is dieting (watching calories), and you are at a healthy weight but still want to maintain your weight you only need about 1800 calories a day. If you have one of these popular smoothies at average 535 calories between the smoothies I listed then that is about a third (29%) of your daily caloric intake. However if you are someone who is overweight by twenty or so pounds and you want to lose weight but are sedentary you should only be intaking 1400 calories or so (this is no exercise remember), this then makes up almost 40% of your calories for the day. 

Looking at another aspect of these smoothies their sugar content is through the roof. The American Heart Association has listed that the recommended daily intake of ADDED sugar "for women, 5 teaspoons (20 grams) of sugar per day, for adult men, it’s 9 teaspoons (36 grams) daily" (source) Compared to the 123 grams, 96 grams, 100 grams, and 126 grams listed its no wonder these smoothies taste great! They are PACKED PACKED PACKED with sugar. One smoothie on average for a women contains 550% of your daily suggested sugar intake. Holy sugar! As I told many friends when they asked my about when I worked at Keva Juice, of one smoothie more than half the ingredients were concentrated juice (sugar), and sherbet or ice cream (sugar).

If it has a creamy taste, it probably has ice cream in it, if it is tart and tangy probably sherbet. If its sweet enough to make you feel like you need a big drink of water after its probably packed with sugar!

So what are the most healthy choices then? Out of the ALL Fruit smoothies that boast of being better for you than their Classic smoothies, only two have 0% added sugar. Five Fruit Frenzy, and Mega Mango. And of those two only one has low sodium content and high vitamin percentages, Mega Mango.

This is just another example of how companies who boast of being 'healthy' don't always fit that criteria completely in everything they sell. Just because they say they have fruit in them doesn't even come close to meaning they are good for you. And as always this is where personal choice comes into effect. Essentially if you go to Jamba and want healthy, look to the ALL Fruit smoothies as they will be better for you, and go small in your portion size.

Be smart, do your homework, and be aware that quickest and cheapest (especially as a college student) are more often the farthest from healthy.

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