Within the last few years, juice cleanses have increasingly become more popular. People are willing to spend hundreds of dollars at a time to lose weight or feel healthier on this new fad diet. This trend has allowed for juice companies to form and make millions off people’s insecurities.

Personally, I have done a few juice cleanses using the popular Naked juices. These drinks can be found at most supermarkets like Shaws and Market Basket. Recently, while drinking one of these juices, I glanced down at the ingredients list. Most of the items were natural fruits and vegetables so I thought, instead of spending money on these simple juices, why don’t I just make them myself?
I decided to perform an experiment. I’d have my friends taste the famous Naked juices and compare them to my own smoothies that I would make according to the ingredients on the Naked juice bottles. I recruited 4 of my friends to participate; two of which had never had Naked juices before and two who were very familiar with the brand. This way, I would receive biased and unbiased opinions.
I decided to make three of the brand’s most popular smoothies: Mighty Mango, Berry Blast, and Blue Machine. I recreated all of these drinks and brought them to school for my subjects to test them. Carly Coughlin, a self proclaimed smoothie enthusiast, said that, “The texture of the homemade smoothies was a lot better. You can tell that there’s actually fruit in it.” The other participants seemed to agree with Carly. Olivia Profenno, another participant, added, “The Naked juice is too smooth…it’s kinda creepy.” I then asked my participants which juice felt “healthier.” They all agreed that my homemade smoothie felt and tasted more natural. Jonah Fouser, the third participant, stated, “The Naked juice tastes really processed…I don’t like it.” Andrea Hawwa, the fourth participant, told me that she makes smoothies at her house all the time so she knows what they’re supposed to taste like. When asked about her opinion on the Naked juice, she stated, “It tastes unnatural…you can tell that there were things other than fruit that were added.”

All in all, because of my experiment, it has been proven that you don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars to do a juice cleanse. You don’t have to buy expensive, processed juices when you can make your own at home. At home juices are healthier and will help you achieve better results. Happy juicing!