Lemon Drinks
First off, I feel so dumb taking pictures of products, but I can’t find the images online of one of the products so I figured I’d just take one nice snapshot so you can see what I’m talking about. I’ve been really into lemon stuff for some reason over the past year. Even lemon beverages! I’m really happy to have found both of these products for different reasons. I’ll start with the one I’ll be most likely to buy again:
True Lemon is basically just lemon flavor, no sugar. The ingredients are: citric acid, lactose, lemon juice, lemon oil, maltrodextrin, and ascorbic acid (vitamin C). One packet has zero calories and 25% Vitamin C. I like it because when I run out of lemons at home and I really want lemon in my water, this does the trick. It’s a little stronger so you may not want to empty the whole packet in to your tall glass of water. Or…you can do what I do and just chug the first few drinks and then refill for a normal lemon-water flavor. I think the best part of this is if you are afraid of getting feces in your water. You know… haven’t you seen all the media stories scaring us into lemon (and ice for that matter) in our water at restaurants, airplanes and wherever. Even with all the scientific data about poop in our water, I still brave the lemons at restaurants. Anyway, if you’re afraid of it, this is a nice option to get rid of city water flavor at restaurants or just zest up your water. Just throw some packets in your purse or pocket and you’re good.
Nature’s Splash is a lemonade drink mix meant to be mixed with 16 oz of water. The ingredients are: evaporated cane juice, citric acid, malic acid, maltodextrin, less than 2% lemon juice solids, natural flavor, rebiana (Truvia), salt, soy lecithin and magnesium oxide. Basically, it’s supposed to be better for you than a regular sugar-full glass of lemonade. One packet has 50 calories and 12 grams of sugar. The flavor is actually pretty darn good! It’s not freshly made lemonade, but it’s a great alternative if you’re trying to not spike your blood sugar. The lemon flavor is nice and mild and not too sugary. This makes me happy because Truvia brand sweetener is made of stevia (and if you’ve read my post on supertasters), then you’ll know that stevia is typically too bitter for me but I want to like it because so far it seems like the best, most natural, no-cal sweetner for you. That’s probably why they added evaporated cane juice, to reduce the bitterness of the stevia. However, maybe the lemon flavor alone does the trick.
If you check out the True Lemon website, they’ve also got a lemonade type drink also made with truvia. However, it only has 5 calories per serving (not sure of how many ounces that is) and is only made with Truvia for a sweetener…intriguing. It may be bitter or it may be a great alternative to high-sugar lemonades.
You can also try a free sample! Gotta love that…click here. If you live in the Omaha area and want to purchase either of these items, I bought the True Lemon at No Name Nutrition and the Nature’s Splash at Whole Foods. No Name Nutrition is a great place to go if you want any natural remedies. These people do their research constantly and really love what they do and you can tell the difference.
Let’s hope Truvia and the other stevia-derived sweeteners don’t end up messing with our bodies after being processed…the study should come out about 10 years from now after we’ve all ingested a few tons of it each. Here’s a great article on the safety of Truvia and stevia.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
I just tasted the Nature’s Splash Rasberry Blackberry and it’s delicious! You’ve convinced me to try the lemonade too. Great refreshing summer drinks with low calories and good taste!
Thank you for the comment, I will definitely have to go try the rasberry blackberry flavor! Lately I’ve been throwing a packet in my water bottle on the go when I’m not in the mood for water and it’s perfect. I’ll just add another flavor and see how it goes:)
Do not feel dumb taking pictures of products, the picture you have is great, in focus and clear. I have been searching for a product like this for a long time, and your site has helped a lot. I get tired of drinking plain water but want to stay away from sodas and fruit juice, so thank you.
Another similar product is Flavrz Drink Mix. It comes in three great flavors: Lemon/Lime, Tropical and Cherry/Berry. Its sweetened with agave, fruit juice and sugar and is only 35 calories a serving. The flavor is amazing.
First, research agave. Dr. Mercola warns that agave syrup is actually WORSE than HFCS-more highly processed, addictive, contains large amounts of toxic steroid derivatives called saponins, etc. http://www.drmercola.com
I found Nature’s Splash mango pineapple at the 99 cents only store. Should have purchased more because it’s gone now. I called the company (Kraft) and no store has it where I live but I found it on Amazon. The box says 25 calories but there are 7 packets and 14 servings per container. So I guess one packet is 2 servings - “pour into 16.9 fl oz bottle.” Pretty sneaky not to just say 50 calories per packet. I think I’ll order the True Lemon. If it’s not sweet enough I can add liquid lemon Stevia or Xylitol which is “best sweetener for your teeth.” Bought a jar of Jarrow’s at the healthfood store to add to yogurt that I drain. Don’t notice any aftertaste or bitterness.
Thanks Stacy,
I have researched agave lots and it seems as though Madhava was the only brand that disputed their methods of production saying that all brands are different and theirs was superior blah blah blah. Though I cannot tell you if this is true (I can’t find the article I read awhile back of course!) - I figured I can still have some agave when honey is too strong for what I’m making, but I never eat too much of it anyway and tend to break up the type of sugars I’m using in my recipes. Lately I’ve been all about brown sugar, but I’m pregnant so I guess I may be more sensitive. On the bright side, stevia is the best form (or so the lastest research says) of sweetner but I always think it’s bitter and nasty, even the NuNaturals that everyone swears by. I had their liquid form before and hated it, but broke down and bought packets and they seem a bit more promising, I may be able to tolerate that a little more…
I know, isn’t that nice how they have two servings per packet but advertise half. My mom is the type of person that never notices how many servings and always gets fooled!
I was very happy with Celestial Seasonings’ Berry Zingers To Go but the FDA told them to stop making it because it contained Stevia, although Nature’s Splash has Truvia-Stevia. I was drinking it with lots of water all day so I got some other water flavorings but didn’t notice they had (FDA approved) aspartame. So now I have high blood pressure (one of aspartame’s 91 health problems). I really don’t like just water and the Zingers were all natural 0 calories. I have ordered the lemon wedges, lemonade and raspberry lemonade from Pure Lemon. Have you tried Zylitol? supposed to be good for teeth. I don’t know about baking. I just got a box of non-gluten brownie mix from the healthfood store and I added Salba (supposed to be the perfect super food). If you grind it in a coffer grinder I put a whole cup in the mix and could not taste it. BTY Thanks for the tip on True Lemon.
Stacy,
Really? They stopped making that due to FDA? I guess you can’t buy stevia in a food section- only stevia by-products like truvia (which I really don’t know if that will also end up on the bad list eventually) - Xylitol is super-sweet, so I haven’t gotten used to it either. Erithyritol (it’s late, probably spelling this wrong at the moment!) is better tasting than xylitol in my opinion. Love Salba too- wish I bought mine pre-ground since I cannot ever seem to clean it out of my coffeegrinder.