photo credit: TheCulinaryGeek via photopin cc
I love cranberry juice. I love what it does for my health – the antioxidants, the vitamin c! But as I am walking through my grocery aisle, I notice how confusing it is to purchase. Do I get the cocktail? (And what is cocktail anyways?) Do I purchase 100% or a mix of fruits? Does it really matter?
Usually I try to eat all my foods as close to the original source as possible. I also try to avoid as much added sugar as possible. Cranberries are naturally not sweet. In fact, they are very tart! I understand why people keep gravitating towards the cocktails and mixed fruit drinks. It is just easier to drink when you have the sweet apple and grape juices covering up that lip-puckering tartness.
I worked with MomSpark to learn more about the health benefits of cranberry juice – I received a compensation in return for this post. This post was made possible by Mom Spark Media. Thoughts are my own. I hope you learn something too!
Basically, when choosing cranberry juice, the healthiest ones will be 100% juice and at least 27% cranberry juice. In fact, BeBerryAware.com states that one 8 oz glass of cranberry juice as stated above has the same health benefits as 1.5 cups of fresh berries.
Did you catch that? Cause I had to read it twice – but yes, one cup of cranberry juice is as healthy for you as 1.5 cups of berries! And even better? Berries have cardiovascular and anti-carsinogenic properties! Drink up!
Here is a very helpful infographic for you too! Really helps explain it all 🙂
Tell me – do YOU like cranberry juice?
I received a compensation in return for this post. This post was made possible by Mom Spark Media. Thoughts are my own.
I really loathe it. I got a six pack of small bottles when I started feeling like I had urinary issues. Surprise, surprise, the uti test was negative, but the culture came back weird, and being pregnant, they can’t just ‘dose me’ to see if that helps. TMI? Lol. but when it flares, drinking the cranberry juice seems to help a bit. Getting it REALLY cold does help. and if you want to use it to ward off urinary issues, it has to be straight, not a cocktail.
blech.
I didn’t realize it was packed with vitamin C though, bonus!
I hope that when I go to the doctor they can figure out what is wrong officially. it’s no fun being pregnant and feeling like #1 you always need to be and #2 that it hurts so much to stop you in your tracks even when you don’t have to go.
Oh Jill, I hope you find out!! That sounds MISERABLE! I know that the cranberry juice is amazing for urinary tract health….but yes, not so much fun to drink by itself. One idea is to put it in a smoothie with bananas or maybe even mixing it with just enough pure 100% juice from apples and get that tartness knocked off a bit 🙂
I am not a huge fan of cranberry juice, but I think I’ll deal with it everyday now since you’ve taught me that one cup of cranberry juice is equal to 1 1/2 cups of berries!
It definitely has it’s advantages. I was actually looking for 100% cranberry juice and couldn’t find it anywhere. So I got 100% juice that had some cranberry and capsules.