When I was faced with my own recovery from hepatitis and addiction and studying all the different health options out there, it seemed that after the movies and shows like James Bond, Bat Man, Inspector Gadget, Mission Impossible and the Man from Uncle, just to name a few; the American consumer was also faced with a wide range of new devices that they could not live without, or so we were told.
To accomplish my incredible recovery from hepatitis, cirrhosis and addiction I used some kitchen aids and a few machines to help with all the juice and food preparations. Like everything else some of the machines were good; like my blender and some of the machines were not. Trust me I tried a lot of machines. But then I got reminiscing about when I was a kid watching the Saturday morning cartoon shows. I remember a couple of episodes of the cartoon series called Inspector Gadget. This was in the mid-1960s and the spy thrillers dominated the books, movies and TV with all the secret gizmos that were all the rage. Of course later in the 70s and 80s there was McGiver, who figured out the best use of what he had. Needless to say, many times there was a gadget involved. I intuitively knew that there was a big divide of utility of simply having one more luxury item for convenience or real practicality with increased capability to further the effectiveness of my new therapy.
When I was faced with my own recovery from hepatitis and addiction and studying all the different health options out there, it seemed that after the movies and shows like James Bond, Bat Man, Inspector Gadget, Mission Impossible and the Man from Uncle, just to name a few; the American consumer was also faced with a wide range of new devices that they could not live without, or so we were told. Enter the boardwalk pitch men with their TV infomercials, like the “set it and forget oven” and who could ever forget the “ginsu knife” where he cuts a steel nail and then right after makes beautiful slices out of a tomato. Having a gadget for every need was now in the mainstream consumer’s mind. It was now all a part of the American Dream. The amount of machines, juicers, grinders, cooking utensils, air and water purifiers etc., etc. was never in short supply. I died laughing at least a dozen times when I would see the pitch men on TV wanting to sell me a boiler for $480, YES, for just one pan! "Call now and we will throw in this soup ladle for FREE!” Yes, I admit that maybe some people used and liked the boiler, because they did sell some, but to me it was just a pan, that was not worth $480. I stick with the Revere Ware that my parents used and for $380 I had a whole set of all sizes and those simple utensils to cook with worked just fine.
With the plethora of choices in juicers, mixers and other machines for just about any use you can imagine, there were some on the market that made a lot of sense. I really did not understand which the best ones were until I tried many of them first hand. I wore many of them out from continuous use, so I started to understand which ones were durable and which ones were not. During my recovery period I juiced fruits and vegetables, ground or rolled seeds and grains, made brews of fermented vinegar sauces, etc. As I said in my speeches to medical doctors about my liver rejuvenation program:
"My body became a test site for every imaginable product, protocol and remedy under the sun that might remotely help, I wanted good liver health no matter how extraordinary the cure. I worked hard to find what was most effective at lowering liver enzyme levels and hepatitis viral load, this was my gauge, I was on my own, I had to find my own path to heal. If lowered my hepatitis viral load and lowered my liver enzyme levels, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was raising my immunity response and getting well."
Over the years I ended up with many different machines some were not necessary when more innovative devices came out later. After this elimination process of either being too cheap and wearing out or too expensive and too much trouble, I narrowed my collection down to less than a half a dozen or so that I regularly use in my preparation arsenal to achieve recovery.
The main gadgets I use are a small electric coffee bean grinder, a grain roller, a vita mix / blender and a Green Power, Champion or Jack LeLanne Fusion Juicer. A few of these technical wonders can accomplish several tasks. Instead of writing a book on each one of them here, I have decided to give a brief right now covering my coffee bean grinder. Since I quit drinking coffee I had to put my little grinder to good use.
My little coffee bean grinder is small. I use it mostly to grind up raw nuts and seeds. The one I have will grind enough beans to brew 2 to 5 cups of coffee. Well I don’t use it for coffee beans anymore, but I do use it to grind just about everything else. So the fact that it’s small makes it very handy. I even take it with me on trips. Mostly, I got my grinder going for flax and chia seeds and nuts and then mixed the powder with apple cider vinegar and water. I never cook it but I may add this mix to my rolled grain breakfast. Delicious and healthy.
As you know Juice Fast Friday’s were very important to me. There are so many fruit and vegetable juicers and I have owned. The Norwalk certainly makes the best juice, but it has too high a price tag (thousands) and it takes more time to extract the juice and clean the juicer. There are some bargain priced juicers. I saw a little one that was on an infomercial for $99. Obviously, that is a juicer that might wear out quicker with continued use but it maybe one to get starting with. The centrifugal juicers are quick to make juice and many are inexpensive, less than $100. The two juicers I prefer are the Champion Juicer and the Green Power juicer.
The Champion is versatile because it has many different attachments. It can make juice or it can be a food processor to grind different vegetables to make sauces. It has a robust motor and an attaching component that can grind grain as well. This is great because the Champion is strong enough for grinding corn. You can buy these different accessories separate or altogether.
The Green Power Juicer is by far my favorite for juice extracting while being fast and easy to clean up. Jack LaLanne’s Fusion juicer makes the quickest juice but it may not last more than a year if you use it everyday. For only $69 from Walmart the shorter life due to a few plastic parts is an acceptable trade off. The whole point for me is how to get the quickest and freshest juice on Fridays with a machine that will not wear out and is easy to clean, so the Green Power Juicer is definitely it. Just like with all my gadgets I want them to last, have an ease of use and not clutter my kitchen.
