Head to Green Vida Co. for cold-pressed juices, avocado toasts, smoothie bowls and more!
Jackie & Wilson Rueda
Owners
What inspired you/your family to value a diet of wholesome food?
When our son with autism was not making any progress developmentally, despite taking him to all the therapies available, I knew I needed to do something else. He was four years old and non-verbal at the time. I had read about diet changes helping kids on the spectrum and decided we had nothing to lose. Two weeks after Santi began an organic, dairy-free and gluten-free diet, he said his first words. It was as if his development started up again and he was able to learn. The diet also helped his immune system—he used to get sick frequently. It was life changing. He taught us that a diet of wholesome food is the foundation to good health and well-being.
Explain the importance of local, non-genetically modified, minimally processed foods.
Non-GMO and minimally processed foods are real food that our bodies run on and how we create optimal health. It’s important to know that we are consuming food without chemicals, pesticides and preservatives, which is why we make all of our dressings, to ensure they are made with non-GMO ingredients. Buying local means we are buying fresh and it keeps money in our community and in our farmers’ pockets. It is important for us to use local ingredients in our foods whenever possible. We know that behind a local product there is a person or family like ours, with a story and love for what they do.
Tell us about some of Green Vida Co.’s menu staples. How often does the menu change?
We offer something for all dietary preferences. Vegans, vegetarians, the gluten-intolerant and meat eaters can all enjoy food at Green Vida. Our sandwiches, wraps and salads are made with organic and local ingredients. We have a variety of toasts, including our popular Avocado Toast, Mediterranean Toast and Grilled Peach Toast. We make smoothies and smoothie bowls that are uniquely our own. We use superfood ingredients like blue spirulina and turmeric and tropical fruits like passion and lulo fruit. We are always adding unique and healthful items to our menu in monthly specials.
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What are some all-time customer favorites?
Customers love our Green Vida Smoothie (organic kale, pineapple, avocado, mint, lemon, water), Monkey Muscle Smoothie (banana, cocoa, organic plant-based protein, local peanut butter, almond milk), Green Life Salad (organic mixed greens, uncured prosciutto, mango, strawberry, pecans, goat cheese and house-made raw honey balsamic vinaigrette) and Avocado Toast. A favorite and special smoothie bowl is the Number 10 Bowl, made with mango, banana and passion fruit, topped with fresh mango, blueberry and strawberry, purposefully arranged to create the colors of the Colombian flag—our native country.
Tell us about the cold-pressed juices you offer.
We are currently the only cold-pressed juice bar in the Lehigh Valley. Cold-press is a two-step process—fruits and vegetables are chopped and fall into a cloth filter bag, then squeezed in a real press. During the squeezing process, the fruit is not grinding against a screen like other juicing methods—it is completely stationary. It is a gentle, natural process.
Nutrients like vitamins and minerals, soluble fiber, living enzymes and phytonutrients are all contained in the juice. Other juicers extract juice by forcing the plants against a sharp screen and the friction creates heat. It is important that consumers know the difference. We also do not use any form of pasteurization or HPP (high pressure pasteurization). Our juices are all cold-pressed, organic and raw, leaving nutrients intact.
Why should a person consider a juice cleanse?
Cleansing is about getting clean and hitting a reset button on your body. During a cleanse, you are giving your digestive system a break and flooding your body with large amounts of nutrients that get absorbed immediately because there is no fiber to digest. You will be boosting immunity and giving your detoxification system a lift. A juice cleanse isn’t solely used for weight loss and is not about deprivation. A cleanse is a simple way to come back to balance in body, mind and spirit. It will help you come back to center by unplugging from ordinary eating and drinking habits while resting your system. We offer one- and three-day juice cleanses that can be purchased online.
What’s something unique that customers may be surprised to learn that you offer?
Being from Colombia, it was important for us to find great Colombian coffee that we could offer at Green Vida—and boy did we find it. Devoción coffee (devocionusa.com) is sourced from small farms in Colombia, dry-milled within days of picking and arrives by air a few days later to their roaster in Brooklyn. They then roast and overnight to us. They are the only company in the world that roasts true farm-fresh coffee as fast as 10 days after leaving origin. We are literally getting farm-to-cup coffee! The taste is incomparable and you won’t find it anywhere else. Roasting provides only half of coffee’s flavor. Most coffee beans sit in warehouses for months waiting to be bought. Yes, your coffee may be freshly roasted, but how old were the beans?
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Tell us a little bit about how your business had to adjust during COVID-19.
We are incredibly grateful to our customers for their support during the pandemic. Not only did they support us with words of encouragement and by purchasing gift cards, but they also helped us get hundreds of organic pay-it-forward juices to first responders in the Lehigh Valley. While we were closed, we were juicing organic immune-boosting juices and Immunity Shots for health care workers, police officers, fire fighters and EMTs. Each week we delivered juices to our front liners. It was incredible to see how community and businesses came together to help others. We were so fortunate to be able to do our part in our own loving way. Now that we are open, we continue to offer pay-it-forward juices to our front liners.
1800 Sullivan Trl. Suite 330, Easton | 610.438.4112 | greenvidacompany.com
