NOT SO SMOOTH SNACKS
Dean L. Jones, C.P.M.
There was a time when I believed drinking an Orange Julius original beverage was everything a body could use as the perfect thirst quencher. The high spike in blood sugar never crossed my mind because I always had a raw egg added to it. Well today, a 20-ounce Orange Julius drink
has 38 grams of sugar, which is the equivalent of 6+ teaspoons. One of their updated versions with Raspberry is loaded with 54 grams of sugar, or 13+ teaspoons.
These sugar gram counts are not all from processed sugar as much of it is derived from the fruit ingredients. But the retailers rarely and most times never use fresh fruit. The fruit comes from a concentrate and it is weighed down with fructose. A few more that really go over the top with high calories and fructose from sugar include Starbuck’s 16-ounce Mocha Frappuccino with whipped cream that has 47 grams of sugar, or just shy of 12 teaspoons. Jamba Juice offers a 16-ounce Sunrise Banana Berry with 58 grams, or 12+ teaspoons.
A person can exercise all they want and never be able to get rid of that belly fat if they are pouring these kind of drinks down their system. The main thing is that when indulging and sipping on ‘smoothies’ a person has to be fully aware that it comes with fattening consequences. Having a smoothie can easily seem more appropriate to drink in lieu of having candy and/or soda, but the sugar and calorie count is more extreme. Jamba Juice has a 24-ounce smoothie called Peanut Butter Moo’d with 115 grams of sugar, or 28+ teaspoons. For peanut butter lovers, this one smoothie will pack on pounds quick and in a hurry because it is so tasty.
One would expect that the ‘Naked’ brand with their popular line of products would be okay to regularly consume, but they have a 15.2-ounce Protein Zone Banana Chocolate smoothie containing 70 grams that equates to 17+ teaspoons. The Naked Juice Company operates
as a wholly owned subsidiary of PepsiCo.
It probably goes without saying that Baskin-Robbins has something with high levels of sugar. However, just for conversation, take their Strawberry Banana Fruit Blast smoothie that contains a whopping 160 grams that is 40 teaspoons of sweet trouble. It bears mentioning that this particular smoothie also contains controversial food additive like red #40, yellow #5 and #6.
The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends women have no more than 100 calories, or about 6 teaspoons of sugar per day. For men, it is 150 calories, or about 9 teaspoons per day. These recommendations do not separate the type of sugars, such as singling out processed or high-fructose corn syrup, just sugar. Consequently, in view of watching the ever-expanding waistline, being sugar alert is necessary.
Mr. Jones, is a marketing strategist with the Southland Partnership Corporation (a public benefit organization), sharing his view on mismanagement practices of packaged foods & beverages.