by Stacey Terry
As I’ve discovered, drinking green smoothies through the holidays IS possible. But the best intentions and the best blenders in the world don’t mean much without nutritious food! Thus…
TRAVEL CHOICE #3:
I know which fruits and greens I’ll have access to once I’m at my destination and what I may need to bring and/or buy. My goal: make choices that are simple, yummy, and that require minimal effort.
Just as most people have blenders kickin’ around somewhere, many people have bananas and romaine lettuce. Now if bananas and romaine are nutritional improvements for you, then I’d say hooray - you’re good to go for a few days! If not, you may want to see what’s close by for grocery stores and have an idea of how to drive to them. 
Thankfully my parents now stock up more on the things they’ve seen me use in smoothies (though… I have yet to see her come home with seaweed of any kind). Still, I do tend to have less variety when I travel. My smoothies are often bananas and spinach or bananas and mixed greens. Yes, variety is better, but if finding kale is difficult or if my mother, in her sincere efforts to be helpful, is going to stress out about “having something already” for me and looking in the store for persimm-a-somethings, then I will choose to be simple for a few days. The “it’s still better than a cheeseburger” mantra gets me through any worries.
I’ve even frozen some of my smoothies if I know there are going to be days where I just can’t get to the blender to make a fresh one. Is it perfect? No sirreee-bob. But, and say it with me, “it’s still better than a cheeseburger.”
Chances are, if you keep your smoothies simple, your non-green friends and family may actually be willing to give one of your smoothies a taste test. Once they see for themselves how yummy they are, you may have opened the door a crack for them to make their own health improvements.
That’s all we’re trying to do really… Make improvements… Enjoy a better quality of life and health. It does take a little planning and creativity, but it’s possible… and you can even make it fun! (You OPTION 2 people know who you are!) Every time I’m out of my home environment, and I hear those magic “What is THAT?” words, I grin… because now I have an opportunity to share what I’ve learned.
And as you enjoy and get ready for your holidays, I hope you’ve found some useful thinking and tools over the last few days. A very Merry Christmas to you and to The Green Smoothie Queen! I look forward to catching up with you in The Emerald Lounge in the New Year!
OPTION 1 - Call ahead to your destination and ask if your family or friends wouldn’t mind bringing an old blender up from the basement or making sure they can find the lid (I’ve learned the hard way that a blender lid can be the start of a great day or the initiative you needed to wash your kitchen cupboards, walls, canisters, light fixtures - you get the idea). If they don’t have one, then pack yours into the car.
There’s no doubt about it, figuring out the blender situation is the “ay, there’s the rub” when it comes to being on the road. But people do make this work. In fact, I know there are even “tailgater” blenders out there that plug into your car’s cigarette lighter socket. But uh, it probably goes without saying, please blend and drive responsibly.
