Key Takeaway

While Jamba Juice offers a variety of options, not all are created equal; selecting items made from whole foods is key to a nutritious choice.

When choosing smoothies and juices, prioritizing those made with fresh fruits and vegetables over fruit juice blends can help reduce your sugar and calorie intake.

Jamba’s bowls can be high in sugar, carbs, and calories, so customizing your order with smaller portions and adding fiber-rich ingredients can boost their nutritional value.

Jamba, formerly known as Jamba Juice, is a chain restaurant renowned for its signature smoothies and juices.

In addition to protein shakes, fruit smoothies, and fresh juices, the company offers a variety of breakfast sandwiches, baked goods, and smoothie bowls. Yet, despite its widespread popularity, you may wonder whether Jamba is good for you.

This article explores some of Jamba’s healthy options and describes what to look for the next time you order.

While not all dishes at Jamba are healthy, several nutritious options are available. It’s important to know which factors to consider.

Here are tips for choosing healthier options:

  • Choose whole foods: For a more nutritious snack, choose items made from whole foods, such as fruits, vegetables, yogurt, nuts, and seeds so that you can also get fiber
  • Check the nutritional content: Opt for items high in protein and fiber, low in sugar or sugar-free, and with a moderate calorie count.
  • Select items without add-ins: Try choosing things without added sugar, fat, or carbohydrates.
  • Try to avoid less healthy options: Ingredients like sherbet, juice concentrates, and artificial colors and flavors may make an otherwise healthy drink less so.

Some menu items are customizable, making it easier to find healthier choices. For example, you can skip honey and brown sugar in smoothie bowls and add nut butter or seeds as an alternative.

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Many of Jamba’s smoothies and juices contain fruit juice blends, which are made from fruits like oranges, apples, pineapples, strawberries, and bananas.

Although these fruits are healthy, fruit juices are a concentrated source of sugar and calories. Additionally, unlike smoothies, juices don’t have any pulp, so they don’t contain any of the beneficial fiber found in fruits or vegetables.

Therefore, it’s best to opt for smoothies made from fresh fruits and veggies — and skip products that contain juice blends, as this can increase the sugar and calorie content of items.

Some of the healthier juices and smoothies on Jamba’s menu include:

  • Mango A Go Go: mangoes, pineapples, non-fat Greek yogurt, and organic agave
  • Greens n’ Ginger: lemonade, kale, ginger, peaches, and mangoes
  • Protein Berry Workout: soy milk, strawberries, bananas, and whey protein
  • PB + Banana Protein: whey, bananas, peanut butter, pea protein, and honey
  • Purely Carrot: fresh carrot juice
  • Great Greens: freshly juiced lemon, cucumber, and apples with fresh spinach
  • Veggie Vitality: freshly juiced apple, freshly juiced carrot, and fresh spinach

You can also customize most of Jamba’s juices and smoothies to remove added sugars or juice blends and add healthy ingredients like frozen fruits, veggies, nut butters, and Greek yogurt.

Jamba offers a variety of smoothies and oatmeal bowls, most of which contain ingredients such as fruit, yogurt, granola, or coconut.

Some of the bowls on its menu are:

  • Acai Primo: strawberries, blueberries, bananas, acai blend, granola, and honey
  • Chunky Strawberry: strawberries, bananas, Greek yogurt, peanut butter, and granola
  • Dragon Fruit Delight: mangoes, pitaya (dragon fruit), strawberries, blueberries, granola, honey, and shredded coconut
  • Vanilla Blue Sky: coconut vanilla milk, banana, pineapple, strawberries, blueberries, blue spirulina, granola, and coconut chips
  • Berry Brown Sugar Oatmeal: steel cut oats, soy milk concentrate, blueberries, bananas, strawberries, shredded coconut, brown sugar crumbles, honey, and granola

While these bowls generally contain nutrient-dense ingredients, most are also high in sugar, carbs, and calories. For example, the Chunky Strawberry bowl packs 600 calories, 95 grams of carbs, and 46 grams of sugar.

Although this might be an appropriate amount of calories for a meal for some people, this is typically too many calories for a snack. Plus, the carb load of this meal may be too high for many people to consume in one sitting.

Try to look for bowls that aren’t so sugar-heavy. For instance, a plain oatmeal bowl only contains 170 calories, 31 grams of carbs, and 5 grams of sugar. This would make a good choice for a snack or light meal paired with another source of protein, such as a hard-boiled egg.

Reducing your portion sizes, removing high sugar toppings like honey, granola, and brown sugar, and opting for fiber-rich extras like kale or pumpkin seeds will improve the nutritional value of your bowl.

The Jamba menu offers a variety of bites, including baked goods, wraps, and sandwiches.

It’s best to select items that are high in protein and fiber, which can help keep you feeling fuller for longer.

Certain baked goods sold by Jamba Juice, such as waffles and pretzels, aren’t as nutritious as other choices, so it’s best to limit these foods in your diet or pair them with more nutritious foods that contain protein, healthy fats, and fiber.

Jamba is a popular chain restaurant known for its juices, smoothies, bowls, and bites.

Although some items are less healthy than others, their nutritious options include high fiber smoothies, low sugar bowls, and high protein bites.

When ordering from Jamba, look for items made from whole foods and select products that are high in protein and fiber, as well as low in added sugar, whenever possible.