My daughter, Aleyah, is a sucker for advertising. Just down the road from our house is a billboard broadcasting McDonald’s summer smoothies. She picked out the mango pineapple one as her possible favorite flavor, so I promised that I’d recreate it for her. This was an opportunity for me to explain that “made with real fruit” doesn’t qualify the smoothie as a healthy choice, but rather it implies that there are added ingredients to this summertime drink. Here are the ingredients in McDonald’s Mango Pineapple Smoothie:

Water, clarified demineralized pineapple juice concentrate, mango puree concentrate, pineapple juice concentrate, orange juice concentrate, pineapple puree, passion fruit juice, apple juice concentrate, natural (botanical source) and artificial flavors, contains less than 1% of the following: peach puree, cellulose powder, peach juice concentrate, pear juice concentrate, xanthan gum, pectin, citric acid, colored with fruit and vegetable juice and turmeric extract, ascorbic acid (preservative)

I researched clarified demineralized pineapple juice concentrate to see exactly what that is, but came up with very little. Considering that it begins with “demineralized” (which I assume means that minerals have been stripped away), and that I can only find limited information, I prefer to stay away from it. And since their base is juice concentrate rather than the fruit itself, it takes away the benefits of the fiber and other nutrients found in the whole fruit. Hence the reasons for a DIY smoothie for my family..

Mango Pineapple Smoothie

• 1 medium mango

• 1 cup pineapple

• 1 frozen banana

• 1-2 cups milk (I use Pacific 7 Grain Non-Dairy Beverage)

• a dash of cinnamon

• a few teaspoons ground flax seeds

Place all ingredients into a blender and mix until smooth. Use the smaller amount of milk for a thick smoothie or add more milk for a thinner drink. Makes about 2 smoothies. I add brown rice protein to mine to keep me full longer.