Every Tuesday, KidGlue presents “Healthy Pick/Makes Me Sick” where Sarah Matheny takes a popular restaurant’s menu and uncovers the most healthy and least healthy items on the menu. This week: Jamba Juice.
Just when you thought it was safe to order a smoothie, here I come to burst your bubble. Jamba Juices are popping up all over the place, giving Starbucks a serious run for their money as far as overexposure goes. But it takes some careful ordering to make sure you are ending up with a fruit and nutrition filled drink, rather than a Baskin Robbins cookie dough milkshake in sheep’s clothing.
Makes Me Sick:
Chocolate Moo’d Power Smoothie
The 30 oz. size of this drink has 900 calories and 166 grams of sugar! That’s equivalent to the amount of sugar in 4 Cokes!!! I don’t even want to imagine trying to peel my kids off the walls after that amount of sucrose is busting through their veins.
Healthy Pick:
Strawberry Whirl All Fruit Smoothie
All that’s in this drink is strawberries, bananas, ice and apple juice. A small Strawberry Whirl is only 200 calories, and though it has 42 grams of sugar, it’s the sugar that is naturally occurring in the fruit and not the kind that makes your kids act like they just had a triple shot of espresso. This option is also dairy free, so you aren’t going to be putting the cows in a bad “moo’d.”
Comments
Sarah @ See Sarah Eat
October 20th, 2009 - 10:11:22 AM
I saw my first Jamba Juice on a recent trip to Chicago and I passed it up because none of the selections sounded very healthy to me. Thanks for the idea, I'm a dairy-free girl so it's good to know I can get something healthy there that fits my requirements :)
Emily
October 20th, 2009 - 2:14:45 PM
Sarah we should petition they bring hemp smoothies onto the menu! :-D I'm sad I used to get Jamba Juice in high school because I thought they were healthy! Knowledge is power!