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...

so is drinking through a straw really better for teeth than out of a glass/tumbler???

children need to get calories from food tho as they have small stomachs so to get the best combo of calories and fibre and nutrition food is better..most of the time for most children (and adults)

smoothies are very concentrated in energy

Tesco smoothies used to contain added sugar (no idea if they still do). I tried one once and had an immediate "ack... sweeeeeeeet!!!" response (why add sugar to fruit juice? why?).

It's still shed loads of sugar. OK it's full of fruit but once you process the fruit you lose some of the nutrients. Eat fruit, drink water...even better eat vegetables and drink water.

I don't think they are the devils brew but neither are they all that fantastic.

bigbadwulf - you're joking aren't you? Compare the two lists of ingredients below!

Water, Strawberry juice, Flavouring, Citric acid, Acidity Regulator (Trisodium citrate E331), Preservatives (Potasssium sorbate E202, Dimethyldicarbonate E242, Sodium Benzoate E211), Vitamins (C, Niacin, Pantothenic acid, B6, D, B12), Sweeteners (Aspartame, Acesulfame K) Stabiliser (Xanthan gum), Colour (Anthocyanins E163)

or

43 crushed blueberries, 11 crushed blackberries, 2 pressed apples, 1/2 crushed banana, a dash of freshly squeezed orange juice

Why is that all people worry about is sugar? What about the toxic chemical crap?

WHY ARE guardian articles so long?

too much natural sugar, just as bad. eroded much of my enamel as a child for eating too much fruit. its all marketing.

The other thing that the Guardian article said is that actually fruit isn't that full of nutrients. You'll get some vitamin C, but not much else. Some fibre, if you eat it raw, but not in a smoothie.

I'm still not entirely certain if I believe that...

Rice cakes are also hich carb sugar rush/dip, can they be up for the next slating?

I like innocent smoothies, I give them to DD to drink in the car on the way home from school when she needs a sugar rush.

We also pitched to be their PR agency so learnt lots about their history/structure - sadly we didn't win, cool client!

it depends what the rest of your diet is like but yes rice cakes are also salty as well

with smoothies i think it is the believing they are very good for you taht is the mistake

me and the boys drink them all the time - and i make my own, they are nowhere near coke - they are still fruit!

just wanted to say dd's pead advised me to give her smoothies as she can't eat fruit(she has cp and has terrible trouble chewing fruit except for cooked fruit) and sha has one inocent smoothie a day and has had far less colds since having them.

so if you say that you have a limited amount of food and drink to take in each day then you are wasting a chunk on a smoothie that could be better spent on wholefoods and water

or if you are still having a proper intake of food and drink and having s,oothies as extra you will put on weight..at least many people will

and they are acidic too

I give my children smoothies every day with their lunches. They are fantastic. For ds1 who at best eats 5 grapes fruitwise and at worst (and only eats peas and baked beans as veg) they are a lifesaver, as it is another portion of fruit. And I don't need a lecture on 'just giving him the fruit', he is 6.7, and determined, and I have tried everything, so am now just waiting for him to grow out of it .

I have a juicer somewhere in the kitchen which I have hardly ever used, but will try making some 'innocent' smoothies using their recipes.

Smoothies [fruit only ones], and the fruit you just listed bigbadwulf, are in no way 'calorific'! It would be very hard to put on weight from eating limitless amount of blueberries, apples and bananas. It might give you the runs though. Dieticians make me very sometimes. Comparing smoothies to Coke is absolutely ridiculous. And for a child who doesn't like eating fruit, drinking a fruit smoothie is an ok next best thing.

Smoothies [fruit only ones], and the fruit you just listed bigbadwulf, are in no way 'calorific'! It would be very hard to put on weight from eating limitless amount of blueberries, apples and bananas. It might give you the runs though. Dieticians make me very sometimes. Comparing smoothies to Coke is absolutely ridiculous. And for a child who doesn't like eating fruit, drinking a fruit smoothie is an ok next best thing.

But children particularly NEED calories. Calories are not the enemy. Believe it or not we actually NEED calories to live. Just we need the right number, and I'd rather my child had something nutritious with a higher proportion of the day's calories than something full of chemicals.

I give my children home made ice cream, and that REALLY is calorific - am making a batch at the minute, and it contains 1/2 pint milk, 4 egg yolks, 1/2 pint whipped cream, 75g sugar. But as a treat it is delicious and nutritious - the eggs are from the garden, the milk is organic, and there are no preservatives/E numbers etc. I'd much rather they ate less good stuff than lots of crap!

I don't think a child drinking say one fruit smoothie per day / every other day, who eats no other processed food and has limited sugar in other meals is going to be nutritionally disadvantaged, prone to weight gain etc

It's all about context (and the rest of their diet)

I also think they are useful for fruit averse children.

Actually, mine don't like smoothies....

yes of course tortoishell i though bigbadwulf was talking about herself.

Well I am delighted if my DS (aged 8 and with Asperger's) drinks an Innocent smoothie. It will be the only friut he has in a day (his diet is resticted as a result of the AS and even further restricted because he has just been dx as coeliac.) So I think they are great-calories and all!

bigbadwulf is technically correct... a blueberry & blackberry Innocent smoothie has 54kcal per 100ml while a blackcurrant Fruit Shoot has 48kcal per 100ml.

This means that a kids' pouch of Innocent smoothie (180ml) has 97.2 kcal while a bottle of Fruit Shoot (200ml) has 96.0 kcal. That extra 1.2kcal makes all the difference, clearly.

Mind you, the Fruit Shoot contains more sugar per 100ml than the Innocent smoothie so will have a worse effect on blood sugar.

well obviously it is about context

so you have all sorts of things to account for