Susan Cabana
After the sudden death of her husband, Chris, in 2004, Susan Cabana found herself emotionally shattered and unable to cope.
“I was in a place of huge sadness for a long time,” says Cabana, who now owns Nourish Your Soul, a juice, smoothie and natural foods store with a new location in Southie. “I decided to move forward, and I needed to live my life because Chris would want me to do so … I started juicing, and started feeling like I was back to being on a better path.”
But just when Susan was able to get back on her feet, the economy reared its ugly head, and her employer of 18 years laid her off.
“I had already been through something so significant,” she says. “I wasn’t going to let that impact me or take me backwards.”
That’s when she turned her passion for health and wellness into a thriving business plan. She attained her yoga teacher certification and studied holistic health. And in 2010, she opened Nourish Your Soul’s West Medford store. A second location, inside The Club by George Foreman III, just opened its doors this year.
Walk through the doors of Nourish’s Southie location, and you’ll find endless boxes of fresh fruit and vegetables waiting to be shot through a towering, industrial-strength juicer that looks ready to launch cannonballs rather than kale juice. Customers can stop by to pick up anything from a mid-morning juice to a full cleanse.
One of Cabana’s latest and most popular creations is the “Green Goddess” juice, which she estimates contains about 5 to 6 pounds of fresh vegetables in each 16 oz. bottle, including a head of kale, a third of a pineapple, an orange, a lemon and a cucumber. Cabana herself drinks 32 ounces of juice every morning for breakfast.
But the journey from farm to storefront has sparked controversy recently, as some large companies that sell in high-end grocery stores look to save money and cut corners by selling heated or pasteurized juice, which depletes the raw nutrient supply.
Cabana says Nourish isn’t heated, and it doesn’t contain added sugars. There’s also no water added, another common practice. “It’s just all raw unpasteurized juice,” she says.
Taking baby sips
The controversial practice of cleansing, where one consumes strictly juice for days, has many detractors who claim it does more damage than good to the body. Cabana says she advocates a few cleanses per year, but agrees it’s not healthy to only drink juice.
“Incorporate it more into your daily routine,” she says. “If you’re fighting a cold, or fighting an inflamed body in some sort of way, there are ways to use the juices to offset something that’s going on in your body. Or just drink the green juice on a daily basis.”
Nourish Your Soul
15 Channel St.
888-99-JUICE
www.nourishyoursoul.com
