Soooooo...Innocent Smoothies? Good for them or equivalent of Fruit Shoots?

[Teuch]

Bearing in mind I have limited access to fresh fruit and have only ever managed to make disgusting smoothies myself...

DS loves the innocent drinks, but I wonder how innocent they really are...

as far as I can tell they are pretty good...hoping I am not going to be proved wrong now!

There's no sweeteners, no sugar (fruit sugar, granted), and as far as I remember it's made from things I could buy in the supaermarket. So to me, they're OK. And taste nice unlike them Shoots.

Good for them it's just fruit, after all but will still affect teeth, so best drunk through a straw.

DS1 love these too - i'm also hoping not to be told they're not so good!

Very expensive though!

Very good aren't they? Just lots of fruit. Nothing else.

According to packaging there is nothing but fruit and fruit juice(not from concentrate but fresh) so should I think be good for them.My mum uses them when my niece won't eat as they make up for the food that she would miss at least a little.
Haven't tried them but apparently are nice and on side of packing states exactly what's in them down to say half a banana etc.

Wellll... I don't know about innocent ones in particular, but there are some interesting things about smoothies here

so straw better for teeth then? I somehow thought the opposite and DS wants a straw with everything...

Sorry

From that guardian article
_
Nor do dietitians have much time for the rise of the smoothie, sales of which have increased by 523% in the past five years. They are expensive, says Sanders, "and bloody holier than thou". With whole fruit, the cell structure is still intact, and you swallow pieces. They take longer to digest and the sugar in them is released slowly, rather than the rapid spike in blood glucose produced by drinking juice, or a smoothie. "If you liquidise it into goo it's just like drinking ordinary Coke. Or worse, actually," he says. "It's still a sugary drink.

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They are an excellent product and truly a lovely company (I know someone who works for them) Yes, its all just fruit but the advice about drinking through a straw is good in my opinion unless they are great abour rinsing afterwards.

Not so important with the yoghurt/dairy based smoothies that innocent do though as the sucrose doesn't cling to the teeth in the same way.

and yes I agree its just like the effect coke has on the body - all that sugar !

Delicious though, and you can always water them down

they are not at all good from balancing blood sugar levels so will still cause a raPID spike and a rapid dip

I think it's ridiculous to compare them to coke - since coke isn't a great source of vitamins A,C & E as far as I am aware

Any sweet drink will do that, though. Generally if you are having one better to have it with a meal containing protein and unrefined carbs so that overall your blood sugar levels don't spike so much.

I am very dubious about being worse than Coke. Has he read the ingredients on a Coke bottle lately?

Yes, I can see how giving children liquidised fruit is as bad as giving them:

carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, caramel colour, phosphoric acid and caffeine in a drink which contains 39g of sugar per 12 oz

Must chuck out all fruit smoothies and buy Coke on excellent advice of the Guardian. In fact I'll pop out and get Diet Coke, otherwise they'll miss their daily dose of Aspartame and Potassium Benzoate!

I make my own Smoothies, buy blueberries and ie strawberries, mango etc, chop it all up and put into individual placcy bags and pop in the freezer. I use fresh bananas and yoghurt and apple juice and just chuck a bags worth of frozen fruit in and wizz it up, so much nicer than the Innocent Smoothies.
Are we not taking things to the extreme by worrying about drinking through straws??? If you stick to natural stuff and make your kids clean their teeth properly, I really don't see the harm.

i think the point is that just like actual potatoes are better for you than mashed potatoes so is actual fruit better than smoothies

and for adults or children who need to watch how much they take in smoothies have an enormous number of calories/high in carbohydrate

so it's very easy to drink a lot of fuel which may be surplus to requirements

they don't have the same effect of satiation as the actual fruit

Sorry - I probably quoted them rather out of context (didn't want to breach too much copyright)

They say it is worse because you may not realise how sugary they are, whereas with coke you would realise.

tescos do theur own in the cartons like the innocent ones as well. they are £1 cheaper which ok, isnt a massive amount but it is over a few cartons! i like their apple and blackcurrent one.

I realise they are sugary (but do not consider sugar a noxious toxin - in moderation)but consider they still have merit.

FGS, when liquidised fruit becomes an 'evil we must not feed our children', you know all this health-freak malarkey has gone too far.

Much better to eat the fruit, real fruit and drink tap water.

I think they definitely have merit - but can see why they are saying that about coke in the immediate effect on the body (sugar spike) and on the teeth - enamel can't differentiate between coke and orange juice. Childrens should still rinse afterwards.

The longer term effect on the body is of course the nutrients in the smoothie which aren't found in coke.

Oh no, slayerette regular coke contains aspartame too (almost all non-diet fizzy drinks contain aspartame, for some reason except Dr Pepper, IIRC). So your children needn't miss out on all that aspartame-y goodness.

We make our own smoothies too... half the time DH forgets to put the lid on the blender and we end up with a nice fruity kitchen (although I suppose DS derives calorie-free entertainment from the experience) and even when he doesn't ours don't taste as good as the Innocent ones, to be honest (top tip, though: slice a banana, freeze the slices, whizz together with milk and you get a milkshake that is very nice and that you would swear had ice cream in it).

I don't think anyone's worrying about drinking through a straw. Just if you do it's better for your teeth than if you don't.