Determining whether certain foods are healthy can be tricky. Most foods can be part of a healthy diet if eaten in the right amounts, even sweets! Natural products generally offer more nutrients than soft drinks, but is that enough? Let’s explore if Naked Juice is healthy or not.
To understand better, we need to look at the types of drinks they offer. The Half-Naked line features blended drinks with “50% less sugar than leading brands.” For example, the Half-Naked Lively Green smoothie has 26 grams of sugar, while the Naked Green Machine has 53 grams, and the Protein Greens smoothie has 50 grams.
Naked’s Machine range includes fruit juice smoothies with added healthy ingredients like ginger, kale, and spirulina. These smoothies range from 230 to 320 calories per bottle. The Fruit & Veggie line offers basic smoothies like Strawberry Banana, with calories ranging from 170 to 290 per bottle.
Naked’s Protein blends, with flavors like Blueberry Banana and Peach Mango, contain 18-30 grams of protein and 330-390 calories per bottle, making them a good post-workout snack. Their Cold Pressed drinks have less sugar, with the Cold Pressed Bright Greens containing 23.5 grams of sugar.
Naked is transparent about the nutritional content of their drinks, providing information on their website and packaging. They clearly state that they don’t offer low-calorie drinks. The high sugar and calorie content is due to the large amount of fruits and vegetables packed into each bottle.
Even simple smoothies like Orange Mango contain the juice of multiple fruits. For example, the Blue Machine juice includes apples, a banana, blueberries, and blackberries. While consuming a variety of fruits and vegetables is important, the best source is whole fruits and vegetables. It’s recommended that only one of your daily servings comes from juice.
Naked drinks have no added sugar; the high sugar content comes from natural fruit sugars. While they don’t contain refined sugar, 53 grams in one drink is still a lot. Some people might find the “no added sugars” label misleading, thinking it means the drinks aren’t sugary. It simply means the sugar is naturally occurring.
Natural sugars in fruits and vegetables, like glucose and fructose, aren’t harmful in moderation. However, excess sugar not used for energy is stored as fat. High fructose intake can increase the risk of metabolic syndrome, high cholesterol, diabetes, and fatty liver.
Juices can affect blood sugar levels more than whole fruits. The Glycemic Index (GI) measures how much a food raises blood sugar. For example, apples have a GI of 38, while apple cider is 41. To avoid hunger and consuming more calories, choose drinks with protein and fiber.
Comparing Naked to competitors, Suja Juice offers cold-pressed juices, wellness shots, and kombucha, while Naked’s cold-pressed juices are just a part of their range. Suja’s Green Supreme has 180 calories and 36 grams of sugar, similar to Naked’s cold-pressed green juice.
Bolthouse Farms offers juices, salad dressings, and iced coffee. Their Blue Goodness juice has 290 calories and 54 grams of sugar, similar to Naked’s Blue Machine. It’s important to note the sugar and calorie content in fruit and vegetable juices, whether from Naked or other brands.
A 16-ounce Pepsi has 56 grams of sugar, while Naked drinks can have up to 53 grams per 15.2-ounce bottle. The Half-Naked and Cold Pressed drinks have less sugar. If choosing between Pepsi and a fruit smoothie, the smoothie is healthier due to its nutrients, unlike Pepsi, which lacks vitamins and minerals.
