You’ve eliminated soda. You’re all about juice, not drink. You even drink water as much as you can. But when you hit the store, your taste buds want something sweet and light, and since you’re on the healthy tip, you want something nutritious. A kaleidoscope of colors catch your eye…VitaminWater . You pick one up and read the short blurb about how its special ingredients will boost your body in some way. Your eyes skip over the nutrition facts label…it’s called VitaminWater after all, and it promises benefits, so it must be good for you, right?

Well, not exactly. You gotta give it up to the marketing strategies of the drink company, as most of these beverages promise something that you’re in need of. Tired? Drink Revive. Need help concentrating? Try Focus. Even rapper 50 Cent has his own grape-flavored formula, boasting that it gives 50% of some recommended daily vitamins. While that may be true, just because something has vitamins doesn’t automatically make it the best choice for your body. What company is behind all of this marketing? Coca-Cola, yes, VitaminWater is owned and distributed by Coca-Cola. Red flag! While Coca-Cola owns Minute Maid, a popular brand that is made of 100% juice, it’s almost safe to say that the Coca-Cola company doesn’t have their consumer’s health as a priority.

If it promises benefits, it must be good for you, right?

The labels contain phrases like “Drink better water,” “Hydrate responsibly,” and even “The inside is natural,” but I can already taste the fallacies with those statements. Nothing is better than fresh clean water, and that’s the most responsible hydrating you can do for yourself. There is no way that VitaminWater can be better than water because it contains just as much sugar as a can of soda, and it’s the same type of processed sugar, too. True, VitaminWater contains more liquid than a can, but chances are, either way you’re going to finish all of either size. Reading the label may be tricky because the facts show that one bottle is 2.5 servings. If you just skim over to look at the sugar content, you’re not taking the whole bottle into consideration unless you do your math. And about the “natural” ingredients? There is nothing natural about a flavored fruit water containing almost no juice.

So what is the real vitamin water? Walk in to your favorite Mexican joint and you’ll see it sitting gloriously in huge jugs, in a kaleidoscope of colors just like VitaminWater, except these colors are natural, from real fruits, and processed fresh daily. Yes, aguas frescas, meaning fresh water, is exactly what its name says. While these drinks don’t come with witty remarks and nutrition labels, you don’t need those to want to buy it. Depending on the flavor, the drinks can also contain a good amount of natural sugar, but most of the sugars come from the fruits. The best part is that the vitamins don’t have to be processed into the drink for it to be healthy because the fruits used already contain vitamins. There is nothing better than fresh!

You can easily make your own aguas frescas at home, and the summertime is the best time to enjoy it because there are so many refreshing and nutritious fruits that you use.

Try these yummy flavors:

• Strawberry
• Watermelon
• Cucumber
• Cantaloupe
• Honeydew
• Mango
• Pineapple

All it takes is a little patience and time and you can have your own batch of aguas frescas faster than it takes to drive back and forth to the store.

1. Choose your fruit and chop into small pieces. De-seed if necessary.
2. Blend chopped fruit and then strain the puree into a pitcher. If you like your drinks with pulp (which contains more fiber for the digestive system), skip the straining!
3. Add water. You can determine how much water you want, more for a lighter drink, less for more flavor.
4. Chances are, your drink is already sweet, but if you need more sweetness, try adding a little bit of honey, 100% maple syrup, or agave nectar, which are all great alternatives to sugar. If you don’t have those, a spoonful of sugar should do the trick.
5. For more flavor, try to mix different fruits together, or add lemon, lime, or even mint.

If you don’t have the time or energy to make a giant jug or even a small pitcher of your own aguas frescas, then try a simpler version. I’ve seen infused water at fancier restaurants and bars, and the preparation is quite simple. Slice or muddle fruit and let it soak in cold water. I particularly enjoy sliced cucumbers, or muddled strawberries and mint. The longer you let it sit, the more flavor you’ll get. The result is a simple water with a kick, and, a little vitamin power for your body. No need for gimmicky labels, you get what you get, flavored water with vitamins.

And for those of you taking the Soda Free Summer challenge, VitaminWater is now a no-no.

Take our M.I.S.S. Healthy Bites Challenge and have a Soda-Free Summer!

Greetings M.I.S.S. Readers,

This week, I pose a challenge to you, a challenge that requires dedication, determination, and endurance. Upon accepting this challenge, you’ll be bombarded with constant messages, trying to trick you into failure. If you shall complete this challenge, you’ll have the ability to overcome more obstacles as they come your way.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to have a soda free summer.

No soda!?!? In the summer!?!? Yes, this is the toughest time to abstain from it, but remember, this is a challenge. And if you can make it through all summer without a sip, you can probably go all year! Already living soda free? Then take it to the next level and encourage your loved ones to do the same. After all, soda is no longer just a beverage used to quench thirst; it’s a lifestyle.

Soda has flooded the mainstream, making it difficult to go anywhere without having an option to get a drink. So much money is pumped into advertising for soda, watching the latest movie or enjoying your favorite sports outing almost always has the famous logos. When it comes to soda ads, the perfect marketing formula has been to use pop culture to sell pop. From Michael Jackson’s Pepsi commercial, which almost left him burned and bald, to Sprite commercials laced with lyrics from some of hip hop’s most recognized, the combination of music, pop culture, and sugary soda seemed to all come together like Voltron (yes, Voltron was also used for marketing purposes!). One of the latest celebs to campaign for soda is Dr. Dre for….Dr. Pepper. Apparently, since his name dons the doctor title, you can trust him to prescribe a soda. While you might listen to his music, don’t listen to his advice, because slowing down to sip a soda could also slow you down.

Check out these facts from the Soda Free Summer website:
• Drinking just one 20-once bottle of soda each day for a year can result in gaining 25 extra pounds.
• Soda is the #1 source of sugar in the American diet.
• Over 30 percent of all calories from added sugars consumed daily are from sweetened beverages.
• Americans spend $56 billion annually on purchasing sugary soft drinks.
• U.S. teens consume twice as much soda as milk.

Don’t cheat and chug on the diet kinds, because those count too! If you’re trying to substitute, go for healthier alternatives, like juice (not drink!) or good old-fashioned ice-cold water. For those that drink heavier beverages, alcoholic drinks that contain soda can be switched for drinks that contain juice. Get your healthy on while at the bar!

If you’re down for the pledge, let us know and leave a comment. Have a soda free summer and good luck!

P.S.  Stay tuned for more ideas on how keep hydrated this summer…and tickle your taste buds!

You can get with this, or you can get with that…

If the hot summer sun is beating you down, don’t reach for the purple stuff.  A nice tall glass of ice cold water will always be the best choice for refreshment, but if you want something on the sweet side, chug juice- not drink.  Confused?  Yes, juice is a drink, but is drink a juice?  Check the nutrition label on the side to make sure you’re hydrating yourself with 100% juice, and nothing less.

When I was a young girl, some of my favorite juices came in boxes, pouches, squeeze bottles, gallon jugs, or even the mix-with-water kind.  You know what I’m talkin’ about.  The drinks were so bright that they turned your tongue the same color and the sweetness tasted like your favorite candy- in liquid from.  The packaging even adorned the juicy fruits that the beverages were flavored from, or cartoon characters that hopped out at you as you cruised the grocery store aisles.

But as refreshing as the drinks were, they definitely were not nourishing.  Even comedian Dave Chappelle knows the deal with “juice” drinks when he said in his act, “Ain’t no vitamins in that sh*t!” That was true; juice drinks usually contained sugar (or high fructose corn syrup), water, color, and artificial flavors, or as Mr. Chappelle said, “Sugar, water, and of course, purple.” As more became aware of how those drinks had no nutritional benefits, companies got smart and started adding vitamins, minerals, and actual juice to their formulas to have better appeal with consumers. Now, juice drinks boast “natural” flavors and even claim to have the daily recommended value of vitamins.

Don’t let those marketing gimmicks fool you. Although a drink may contain vitamins, it doesn’t mean it’s good for your body. The sugars are enough to offset the benefits of the added vitamins. And if your drink comes in an unnatural color, like electric blue, you know already it has colors in it that are in no way real juice. The only ways you’ll be able to tell if your juice is actual juice is by looking at the label, like mentioned earlier, or by making your own. If infomercials persuaded you into getting that fancy juice machine, then hopefully you’ve been squeezing some healthy juices into your day. There are so many different concoctions that can be made with an electric juicer, you can’t get tired of the yummy nutritional drinks that can be mixed up. There’s nothing like a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice, or even better, orange-carrot-banana-mango juice!

Some of us aren’t so lucky to have an electric juicer, so buying 100% juice is the next best thing. When you drink 100% juice, you get all of the vitamins that the fruit contains in a refreshing beverage sweetened by natural sugars. Orange juice and apple juice contain loads of vitamin C, while cranberry juice (not cranberry juice cocktail) will provide great antioxidants for your body. Juices are even getting exotic because some tropical fruits, like açaí and mangosteen, are infiltrating the market, blessing us with health benefits that we’re not used to. Give those drinks a taste!

So the next time you need to quench your thirst, make sure it’s juice, not drink!