I See The Potential

Tried out the new McDonald’s smoothie the other night and fell in love with it.  I’d spent a couple of hours moving furniture and a variety of boxes in the heat and was feeling pretty whipped. I was looking for a quick cold, sweet drink to kind of recharge my battery and figured I’d worked hard enough to earn at least a small treat.  I asked Staci if she knew anyone around who made a good smoothie.  She told me that McDonald’s had some new smoothies that were good and not too expensive.

(I know this is sounding like a commercial but I swear it’s actually what happened)

That was enough for me.

Now, honestly a smoothie simply sounded great but of course a Dairy Queen Blizzard,  Wendy’s Frosty or McDonald’s Shake sounded good too.  I was thinking the smoothie route though because I was looking for something with less milk and hopefully a little bit healthier.

I tried it and LOVED it.  It tasted great, was only a couple of bucks and felt like a healthier choice.  I actually liked it so much that I’ve gotten to more in the last couple of days and that’s when I started to worry.  I’d tried it, fallen in love with it and was drinking them down without looking up the nutritional information and since I loved them so much I was sure that like so many tasty treats ….. it probably wasn’t going to be a healthy choice.

Unfortunately, this thought hit me as I was drinking one and it kind of ruined the last couple of sips.

So today I figured I’d bite the bullet and check it out, hoping that the verdict wouldn’t mean I’d drained my last smoothie.

The verdict?

Actually, it wasn’t too bad.

The sugars were high (lots of fruit in there really boosts those sugar numbers) and the calories were more than a normal drink BUT no HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) and a lot of the other artificials that make most snacks, foods and drinks taste great but aren’t too healthy for us or our kids.

So I figured I’d take it the next step and do an ounce to ounce comparison to see how it really stacks up.

#  Per Ounce             Calories           Carbs         Sugar
Wild Berry                        17.5                     4                  3.7
Strawberry Banana       17.5                  4.1                 3.7
Coke                                    10                      2.8                 2.8
Sprite                                  10                     2.7                 2.7
OJ                                         11.9                  2.4                 2.4
Milk                                     12.5                  1.5                 1.5
Powerade                          7.1                    1.9                 1.5
Sweet Tea                          7.5                   1.9                 1.9
Apple Juice                     14.7                 3.4                 3.2

Kiddie Cone                     45                       8                      6

So what’s it all mean?

• They’re delicious and not to expensive.
• They’re a big higher sugar and calorie wise than a soda pop or juice but they’ve got more natural ingredients and more of that sugar comes from fruit
• They’ve got fewer of the bad things (HFCS and preservatives, etc.)
• Ounce for ounce they’re still better than the dessert items

So I’ll still drink them them but likely wouldn’t add it on top of a meal.  However,  as a quick occasional snack or meal replacement in a pinch they work pretty good and they’re definitely a better (and by better I mean healthier) alternative to the shake or ice cream that I was debating at the end of a long hot summer day.

So all in all I still give it two thumbs up but I’ll probably wait a couple of days before my next one.

Anybody else tried these?  What did you think?

(Note / Disclaimer : No, McDonald’s didn’t pay me for this post though if they’d like to send me a coupon for a free smoothie … I wouldn’t argue with them.)