Cheers to the Warriors: GHS Cardinal Fit Club Collaborates with Green & Tonic

GHS health teacher Kathy Steiner pours samples of The Warrior in the student center on Wednesday. Credit: Leslie Yager

“This is how much sugar is in one glass of orange juice?” asked Alec Miller, a member of the Cardinal Fit Club who was helping at a smoothie sampling event at Greenwich High School on Wednesday.

During lunch shifts, the samples of smoothies were a magnet for the crowds in the student center, meeting almost universally with approval. The sampling opportunity was a collaboration of the Cardinal Fit Club and Green & Tonic, a health food restaurant, smoothie and juice bar launched by a local couple Cai and Jeff Pandolfino.

Alec Miller and Christian Izzi, members of the Cardinal Fit club. March 23, 2016 Credit: Leslie Yager

In addition to sampling “The Warrior,” a drink made from made from coconut water, kale, spinach and banana, a visual demonstration drove home the amount of processed sugar added to several popular drinks.

Empty containers of Coke, orange juice, Starbucks flavored latté and Vitamin Water were each filled with the amount of processed sugar they contain.

Intermittently there were gasps from the crowd as they registered the message.

“There is a common misconception that bottles of Vitamin Water contain no sugar. They have quite a bit of added sugar,” Miller said. “A flavored Starbuck’s latté has a high concentrated amount of sugar too. Same with orange juice, which people consume every morning and aren’t even aware of it.”

The Warrior was as popular as it was green. “It’s delicious,” was the refrain repeated over and over again. “It has no added sugar,” Miller told students as they lined up to try a sample.

The Cardinal Fit Club meets in room 719 at 2:30pm on Mondays.

Green & Tonic has locations at 85 Railroad Ave in Greenwich and Cos Cob at 7 Strickland Road.