It’s amazing how many variations of a smoothie are available
in the market today. At one point, the
only way to get one was to simply add fruit in a blender and mix until it was…
you guessed it… smooth. Now, there are
much simpler options than ever to get your hands on a nutritious all-fruit beverage. Many
franchises, practically on every city block, now offer smoothie-like products
to their customers. But what exactly is
in the smoothies you’re drinking? If
you really looked into what you’re getting, you might be surprised. On the
menu, it simply says "Mango- Banana Smoothie.”
However, if you look a little closer at the pre-packaged fruit smoothie
mix ingredients, you’re likely to find loads of artificial sweeteners,
additives, and probably more than a little apple or pear juice in the mix as
well. Now these things may not seem dangerous or be necessarily unhealthy, but
they’re definitely not what you wanted. What you were looking for was a pure
fruit-based product made from an all natural fruit smoothie mix that contains
no added sugar, no artificial additives, and no preservatives.
What You See Is What
You Get
Most countries require food manufacturers to list their
ingredients on the label. The list should be short, and you should be able to
pronounce or at least recognize all the ingredients on it. Sometimes health drink manufacturers will add
all-natural supplements in the fruit smoothie mix to augment the benefits
you’ll already be getting through the fruit itself, and these are often totally
fine, but the list of those additives should still be very short. Also,
countries that require
ingredient labels almost always require that those ingredients be listed in
order of the most prominent to the least. If the number one ingredient isn’t
the fruit that’s pictured on the label, you should rethink your purchase.,
because this means there is a good chance that your "Mango Smoothie” doesn’t
contain mostly mango.
By paying attention
to the labels and lists on your next fruit smoothie mix purchase, you can have
peace of mind that you’re getting exactly what you’re looking – and paying –
for, and that you’re making the healthy drink choice you wanted.