Last Friday I attended the unveiling of the new Jamba Kids Meals at the NASDAQ headquarters in Times Square. Now that I'm an aunt to (almost) 7 kids, I jumped at the opportunity to find out more about this healhty kids' food, thinking that trips to Jamba Juice could be a fun destination for me and my neices and nephews!
The event included a panel with a marketing executive from Jamba; Elizabeth Ward, the dietician who helped develop the meals; and Olympic champion swimmer Summer Sanders. All three panelists are moms of 2-3 young children and they discussed the challenges of getting their kids to eat healthy foods while rushing between activities, work, school, etc. That's where Jamba comes in. With a marketing exec who's a busy mom on the go, she found there was a need to satisfy not just her needs, but her kids, too. With that in mind, she and the Jamba Juice team developed the idea of a kids' meal consisting of a small smoothie (100% juice/fruit/veggies!), a small bite of soft pretzel or pizza and of course a prize.
Elizabeth, the nutrition expert, tweaked the regular size smoothies to a kid friendly portion and came up with four kid approved flavors. The fruit and vegetable only mini-drinks come with a serving of whole grains (a choice of pizza or pretzel) so there's a complete meal for the kids while the mom (or aunt!) can get her Apples N Greens recovery smoothie.
It was also really interesting to hear Summer Sanders speak (and to meet her!). She used to go to Jamba after every swim practice while she was at Stanford. I didn't even know they were around that long - we didn't have them on the East Coast until fairly recently. Summer talked about how she's trying to give her kids the skills to live a healthy lifestyle. They already run races and, yes, they are on a swim team! Meanwhile, she is still very fit and is running the Boston Marathon this spring. It was great to connect and hear about how she stays in shape not only after a long athletic career but after having two kids. I quickly reported everything back to my sisters on babywatch!
Has anyone tried the kids meals with their kids yet? Let us know what you think!
--Laurel