You like to drink juice, but is that what you are really buying? And if it is, how much juice are you actually getting? If you know your juice-label lingo, you can be sure to buy the real deal and avoid added sugars and artificial ingredients. Here are the basics… with some help from Consumer Reports:
- “100% juice” or “100% pure” - This is the gold standard and means you’re getting pure juice. BUT many 100-percent juice products are a blend, often with apple or grape juices as the main ingredients and not very much of the featured flavor, e.g. blueberry juice.
- “Cocktail,” “drink,” “beverage” – These words are red flags and mean the beverages have less than 100 percent juice and can sometimes have as little as five percent. The rest may be water, flavorings, and added sweeteners.
- “From concentrate” - This is juice that has been concentrated, then re-watered to return it to its original form.
- “Light” – These are basically regular juices diluted with water and artificially sweetened.
Personally, I’m not a big fan of juice. I prefer to eat the whole fruit. But this label lingo is definitely helpful – just remember to always read the ingredient list on the back of the product.
Ah! That’s for the definition on “from concentrate”. I’m a 100% kinda woman, but still drink water more than other beverage.
After not drinking soda for many months, I had a sip of Pepsi the other day. Pure nastiness! It was nothing like how it used to take to me. It didn’t even taste like it should be ingested.
Yum Yucky – Interesting how our taste for things changes, isn’t it?