Green Juice, Coffee, and Travel

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I keep teasing my partner Chris that I’m going to start a website called coffee and green juice.com. I even have a song that I sing with a Jamaican accent when I happily dance around the kitchen with my juice in one hand and coffee in the other. 

Here is my thought process on this whole yin-yang balance thing: Green juice is highly alkalizing for the body and makes me feel super happy, joyful and high. Coffee is highly acidic for the body but also makes me feel super happy, warm, and comforted, and I get lots of stuff done. Both seem good to me.

The problem with coffee is that if I drink too much, I can become irritable and get more of a buzz than is required for optimal functioning. I can also reduce my mineral content in my body by introducing acid into it. However, when I drink both green juice and coffee in the same day (and this is a common occurrence), I feel great. I feel balanced, I sleep well, I have fun, and I enjoy my mornings.

I am currently at my parents’ house near the beach in Southern California, drinking green juice out of a to-go coffee cup. After driving to the beach this morning and enjoying a large coffee with soy milk while watching the waves and the runners,

I ran a few quick flights of beach stairs, did a nice little jaunt along the strand, then went back to my parents’ house and made about a quart of green juice. When I visit, I like using my mom’s Vitamix blender and one of my Amazing Nut Milk Bags, which I brought with me in my suitcase.  

The bonus is that my parents, who are experiencing some serious joint pain, were able to partake and even enjoyed the juice. I’m hoping that introducing a little alkaline love into their bodies will help to alleviate some of their acidity and joint pain.

I love being able to have access to green juice wherever I travel. I love being able to share it with others, too. Using the blender and Nut Milk Bag method, I can literally make juice anywhere, including gas stations (one time, while on a road trip, we pulled up in the back of an Arco station, plugged our blender into an outdoor outlet and made a fresh smoothie).

A tail gate makes a great cutting surface, and I always keep a knife and flexible cutting board in my outer cooler pocket, so there are no excuses for not juicing while traveling!

The reason I am telling you about my coffee and green juice (balance) is that 1. I want you to know that I am not a 100% raw vegan–not 100% “perfect”–nor do I ever intend to be again; 2. it is the holiday season which seems to invite over-indulgence; and 3. over the years, I keep getting a message that balance is required for a happy, healthy life (call it a love note from God).

In day-to-day socializing, I meet a lot of people who seem to be down on themselves for not doing it right. I am not commenting about the people who are already eating what is perfect for them, and are “perfectly” happy to keep doing so without any self-doubt or health challenges.

Much love and power to those people. I do, however, think 100% perfect eaters are very rare indeed. What I see more is this: The perfect eater might last a year or even 5 years, and then they indulge in something not “perfect.” After that, they can get in a self-hate or self-abuse pattern. These are the people that I am writing this to and for. I have experienced all of this.

The perfect eating, the fasting, the over-indulging, the self-loathing, and balance! This is why I am talking about creating what I call “instant balance” by drinking both green juice and coffee in the same morning (or whatever the balance is for you). If we are going to enjoy something that is not on the list, why not enjoy something that is on the list at the same time?!

Here is what I notice among a lot of health food enthusiasts: we get a little self-righteous. Perhaps even becoming judgmental of ourselves and others when something other than the “perfect” food is consumed. The funny thing is that everyone has a different idea about what the perfect food is.

For some, it’s raw, vegan fruits and vegetables. Some raw vegans don’t eat fruit, and still others believe that veganism is unhealthy and that raw foods are too cooling to the liver or spleen, so they have a completely different philosophy about the perfect food.

Even funnier is that, after 14 years of eating a high raw, vegan diet and being around others who do the same, I have come to the opinion that people who eat a balanced diet (not too much of one certain thing, and not overeating) are actually the most mentally healthy.

The term for eating only what one thinks is the perfect food has been coined orthorexia. It has a funny definition which says people are actually hurting themselves by only eating what they think is right.

This may or may not be true, but my friends and I used to joke about the term orthorexia when it was first coined in 1997, calling ourselves “orthorexic” and really poo-pooing the idea of it.

I have since then, however, seen how eating disorders come in many forms, and being obsessed with only putting the perfect food in one’s body can be a form of self-abuse. It certainly can be abusive to those around you if you are judging them for their choices or for not agreeing with you.

So my invitation to you this holiday season, and really all year ’round, is to relax!  Enjoy yourself wherever you are in your process, and that means any variation on the scale of 100% perfect to 5% perfect. It’s all perfect!

There are no mistakes, and a lot can be learned from “messing up” or thinking we messed up when in actuality we didn’t! Enjoy yourself, and keep the balance by making lots of juice or taking green powders or eating big green salads every day. Whatever feels good for the long term.

And that is what we are talking about. Long-term physical and mental health. Not just a quick fix fast or a quick fix coffee. Both yin and yang are required for balance. You can interpret this anyway you like. I just want you to know that I love you just the way you are!

How to make green juice with a Vitamix and Nut Milk Bag:

Please use organic ingredients when possible!

1 head of celery cut into 1 inch chunks

2 large cucumbers, cut into chunks

5 or more leaves of kale, ripped or chopped

1 cup purified water

  1. Place all the ingredients in your blender and blend only until the veggies become blended. DO NOT over blend as this can destroy vital enzymes and make the juice less nutritious. About 10-15 seconds is plenty of time to get the veggies into small pulp for straining.
  2. Then, place the Nut Milk Bag in a wide mouthed pitcher or 4 cup measuring cup. Open up the bag and pour the blended mixture into it. Then close the bag with the drawstring and begin to squeeze out all the liquid into the measuring cup. Add a little squeeze of lemon if desired.

Enjoy your juice throughout the day.

How to drink coffee:

1. Make sure it’s organic or very high quality.

2. Add high quality nut milk when possible.

3. Don’t use white sugar to sweeten it; use stevia!

4. Love yourself after you drink it! Follow up with a nice green juice or green salad.

Article by Elaina Love, Faculty Member here at the BodyMind InstituteElaina Love’s Raw Chef CertificationElaina’s Website: https://elainalove.com/Elaina’s Live Classes: http://purejoyplanet.com/