Last month, this happened on social media. I was flabbergasted, yet amused that my husband would post a snippet of our text conversation and then publicly call me a nerd! It’s all good, though. It’s a true statement! But I figured I’d write a blog post and give the whole thing some context. It actually ended up being a very cool, successful experiment.
One day, my husband texted me a picture of a bottle of Naked Green Machine, a juice smoothie sold in stores. He was lamenting that it is so expensive because it is one of his favorite drinks. Knowing my penchant for recreating natural teas, foods, and drinks sold commercially, and for taking recipes and making them healthier, a few minutes later he texted, “You should figure this out.” Boom, right there, the challenge was born and I was on a mission.
I replied, “I could do it!” I was already mentally compiling a list of things I needed from the store. Then he reminded me, “As long as a bottle costs less than $3.29.” Yes, I was determined. I even added, “I bet I could make it taste good, and a lot better for you too.
Each of those bottles is technically 2 servings and since most people drink the whole bottle, that’s something like 56g of sugar, which is more than a can of Coke.” (Naked Green Machine comes in different sizes, and I was basing this statement off of the picture that my husband sent to me.) Jordan shot back a text that expressed his thoughts about the sugar only coming from the fruit inside. He didn’t think that any sugar was added. That was in sharp contrast to Coke, which is all sugar from corn syrup.
That is when I inspected more closely the photo of the nutritional label on the bottle. Right there is where the nerd in me took over completely. I couldn’t have stopped it if I tried. Here was my last rant that was partially captured in that social media post:
“Yes, but the sugar is mostly from juice (the back of that bottle shows what’s really in there and the order in which it’s listed shows the amounts in decreasing order), not the actual fruit and they don’t specify what juice so you have no idea if it’s sourced from juice with added sugars.”
Newer bottles of Naked Green Machine are clearly marked, “No Sugar Added” on the front. However, the first ingredient listed on the back of the bottle is apple juice, then mango puree. The third ingredient is pineapple juice. There was still a way to step this up a notch.
I continued, “Also, in juice processing, the juice is often stored in processing plant tanks for a very long time. The flavor that is lost in the process is added back in (“natural flavors”) – hardly the nutrient profile that you receive from fresh fruit.” Here is an article that explains this in more detail: Click here.
“The sugar in fresh fruit is embedded in fiber, which the body needs to slowly process the sugar. Consuming juice loads a huge bolt of sugar to the liver all at once and when the liver has to process fructose this way, some of it gets turned into fat.” In case you are interested, here is an article that discusses the benefits of, and fiber in, whole fruit: Click here.
Yes, I really did write all of that in a text message (without the article references, of course). Needless to say, in trying to recreate this drink, the base liquid that I used was not juice, but water. I then added fresh fruit and vegetables. My final ingredient list is the following (not in any particular order):
Apples
Banana
Mango
Pineapple
Kiwi
Spirulina
Broccoli
Wheat Grass
Parsley
Ginger root
Garlic
Spinach
Kale
Swiss Chard
Dates – I threw a few of these in at the end to give the smoothie a slightly sweeter flavor.
There are some differences between my ingredient list and the original. I omitted chlorella, barley grass, and blue green algae. I also added swiss chard, kale, and dates. I made a blenderful of the smoothie and had enough for about 8 servings. Many of the ingredients were things I have on hand anyway, so I certainly did not need to spend a lot at the grocery store. In fact, the only ingredients that I needed to purchase were a kiwi and parsley.
A quick rundown of the numbers in my head (how much each ingredient costs vs. how many times I could make the recipe with that amount, vs. how many servings each batch made) made this a much more economical option than the Naked brand for sure. I had to play around with the amounts of the individual ingredients in order to get the right flavor. In the end it was a huge success! And how do I know this? Because my kids drank a cup and immediately begged for more! And my husband… Well let’s just say that it was a tense moment where I felt like I was on an episode of Chopped.
I was eagerly awaiting his response after his initial first sip. I was even sweating. I wanted so badly to prove that I could do it – that I could recreate something that he really liked, and make it better and more cost effective. He tasted it and raised his eyebrows. He said he thought it was really good. I believe he even used the word delicious. But the clincher really came the next morning, when he woke up and had a sip of the leftover drink that I had put into pint sized mason jars in the refrigerator.
He took a swig and then said, “Babe, YOU NAILED IT!” Now that was music to my ears.
This was a lot easier to make than I thought. Trust me when I tell you, you can do it too!
