100% Fruit: A Guide to Buying Better Jam, Juice, and Popsicles

With so much mass produced food lining the shelves of our supermarkets today, it is often unclear what our food is actually made from. Sneaky advertising and packaging makes it even harder to decipher our food contents and make healthy choices for our families. Products made of 100% fruits can be a great treat if you are trying to lose weight, but don’t be fooled; you can’t judge a popsicle by its package.

Luckily for us, the FDA (the US Food and Drug Administration), regulates how our food is labeled with specific guidelines for manufacturers. Learning how to recognize the difference between juices made from 100% fruit juice and those that are only made from 50% fruit juice can make a world of difference in the amount of sugars you and your family consume. Choosing the right products are half the battle in implementing a low fat, heart healthy diet for lowering Cholesterol or weight loss.
Juice—manufacturers can be pretty sneaky when it comes to the labeling of juices and soft drinks. Next time you are in the supermarket notice that some drinks will be call juice, soft drinks, drinks etc. This is because for a drink to be labeled as juice it has to contain a certain amount of actual fruit juice. The easiest way to be sure that you are buying 100% fruit juice is to check the ingredients. 100% apple juice should contain only apple juice and water. If it has sugar as a first ingredient, it is not real 100% apple juice.

Jams—jellies, jams, marmalade, etc, they may all seem the same, but they are actually made through different preservation processes that require the use of sugars and honey among other not so healthy ingredients. If you want to buy the most pure jam that is made from just 100% fruit, look for jam that has “no sugar added” on the label. But once again, the only way to be sure about what’s in your food is to check the ingredients. Sugar should not be first on the list.

Popsicles—Most popsicles may be fruit flavored, but may actually contain no fruit at all. Popsicles made from real fruit will usually pronounce this in big letters on the packaging. If it doesn’t claim to be made from real fruit, you can bet it does not even contain any fruit at all. So read your ingredients, and make your choice accordingly!