Naked Juice Smoothies - Strawberry Banana - C

Price
I gasped when the clerk looked at me with a straight face and said " $3.29 please " Yikes. That seemed a little steep for a bottle of juice. I read the little heading on the bottle " A pound of fruit in every bottle " and thought well that makes a huge difference. Why Naked? you ask. Meaning au natural or as Websters defines it " not accompanied or supplemented by anything else "

Taste
So I forked over my cash and scampered off expecting to be wowed by flavor of a juice with such a hefty price tag. I was in for a letdown. Don't get me wrong here, it doesn't taste bad. It tastes rather pleasant, a little bland (which I assume is because there is no sugar added) and just the slightest bit gritty. It is the right consistency for a smoothie, a bit thicker than ordinary juice. The banana is definitely the dominant taste here, although hints of strawberry are there. I did give the bottle a vigorous shake before drinking. I was just not blown away by the flavor like I expected to be.

So how much fruit is a pound of fruit exactly? The bottle breaks it down as :

21 Strawberries

2 Apples

1 Banana (a mighty powerful tasting banana)

A hint (minuscule amount) of orange

Serving Size 8 oz.
Servings per bottle almost 2

Other Nutrition Information ( from the label):
I was surprised at how many calories are in real fruit, considering that no sugar was added. This juice smoothie has 120 Calories almost a meal.

20 MG Sodium
400 MG Potassium
29 G Carbohydrates
23 G Sugars
1 G Protein

Vitamin A 0%
Calcium 2%
Vitamin C 200%

Truly Naked - Maybe not

On the Label right next door to the column that shows the fruit content, it also lists The Boost Inside:

228 MG of Vitamin C
95 MG of Acerola Cherry
95 MG Citrus Bioflavenoids
95 MG Rose Hips

So certain vitamins, although they may be considered natural ingredients, were added.

Conclusion
Given the taste and the price I don't think I personally will be drinking much of this brand of juice smoothie. The one thing I can say is that it was pretty filling, so if you were inclined to use it as a meal replacement then it is probably a healthier alternative to slim-fast and other meal replacement drinks. I would just be careful with the high levels of potassium this juice contains.

I do like that it's a juice drink. If the options were this or soda well, this would be the obvious choice. I also think that although a pound of fruit sounds like a lot, most people could manage to eat the fruit ingredients in a day. I don't see any reason you shouldn't drink it other than maybe affordability and of course the potassium factor it does seem like a healthier alternative to sports drinks or energy drinks which can be harmful to your health. So I'm going to say go ahead and give it a try - if your budget allows.