St. Pat’s Day is Saturday so we’re talking all things green! There’s a steady flow of new green food and drink on shelves, which seems like a good thing – after all, it’s an easy way to get our veggies, right? But ingredients can vary widely, and there’s no way to know by color alone if a green drink is actually as good as it seems.
And since some green drinks can pack in the equivalent of more than 15 spoonfuls of sugar, it pays to know what you’re really getting. In today’s Love it, Like it, Hate it, we’re getting the Skinny with Molly on the best and worst bets when it comes to store-bought green drinks!
LOVE IT!
Daily Greens PURITY + Daily Greens RENEW
- Per 16-ounce bottle: 60 calories, 12 grams sugar
- Cucumber, celery, kale, broccoli, parsley, lemon, basil (RENEW has watermelon; still low sugar)
- 80 calories, 8 grams sugar
- Kombucha + kale juice, cucumber juice, collard greens juice
Vital Proteins Collagen Beauty Greens
- Blend of collagen + hyaluronic acid + raw greens
- Marine collagen, Organic wheat grass, coconut water powder, alfalfa leaf, kale, barley grass, spinach
LIKE IT!
Per 12-ounce bottle: 210 calories, 32 grams sugar
Apple juice, pinaeapple juice, banana puree, mango puree, kiwi puree, kale juice, spinach juice, chia seed, flaxseed, powdered barley grass, spirulina, chlorella and alfalfa grass
Forager Greens Pressed Vegetable Chips
- Per ounce (10 chips): 150 calories, 8 grams fat, 100 mg sodium, 17 grams carb, 2 grams fiber, 1 gram sugar
- Rehydrated pressed vegetables (cucumber, celery, kale, spinach, romaine, collards, fennel, parsley, basil), brown rice, oil blend, ancient grains blend (millet, quinoa and amaranth flour), white rice….
- Per half-cup serving: 60 calories, 13 grams carbs, 3 grams fiber, 5 grams sugar, 5 grams protein
- Ingredients include milk, cream, eggs, erythritol, prebiotic fiber, milk protein concentrate, organic cane sugar, glycerin, stevia.
HATE IT!
Naked GREEN MACHINE 100% Juice Smoothie
- Per 16-ounce bottle: 270 calories, 53 grams sugar
- Apple juice, mango puree, pineapple juice, banana puree, kiwi puree, spirulina, alfalfa, broccoli, spinach, barley grass, wheat grass, parsley, ginger, kale, odorless garlic.
Bolthouse Farms Green Goodness
- Per 16-ounce serving: 260 calories, 52 grams sugar
- Pineapple juice, apple juice, mango puree, banana puree, kiwi puree top the ingredient list, followed by spirulina, green tea, spinach, broccoli, barley grass, wheat grass
Sparkling ICE
- 0 calories, 0 sugar
- Artificially sweetened with sucralose. Artificially colored with Yellow 5 & Blue 1.
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Want more from Molly? Click here to sign up for Nutrition Bites, her weekly e-newsletter with links to her Get the Skinny TV segments here on WGNO, and her weekly column in NOLA.com|The Times-Picayune! And you can follow Molly on Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram: @MollyKimballRD