Lemonade conjures up refreshing thoughts of an icy glass, condensation dripping down your arm with each sip -- just what you need after about two minutes outside in the summer.

However, as we have talked about before, we all need to cut back on sugary drinks -- but lemonade would be impossible to drink without sugar or at least a sweetener. So off to the powdered drink mix aisle I went to investigate new products and happily I discovered two unique and improved products.

• Crystal Light Pure:
  It is different than Crystal Light because it has sugar AND stevia* as sweeteners instead of artificial sweeteners. The claim is nothing artificial and is 15 calories for 8 ounces or 30 for 16 ounces.
• True Lemon: Also combines sugar with stevia to sweeten but has a bit more lemon flavor and is fortified with vitamin C as well. There are 5 calories per 16 ounces.

The great thing about both of these products is that they use turmeric for color instead of artificial coloring. All in all, this fits the bill for that tall glass of lemonade that I just have to have during the dog days of summer!

[*Stevia is a natural herbal sweetener with no calories or carbohydrates. Stevia leaf has been used for hundreds of years. Stevia extract was given GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) status from the FDA. The sweetener is marketed as a natural sweetener; however, there is no official FDA definition of natural.]

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