So I saw the documentary “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead”, and the sequel “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead 2”. Long story short it convinced me that I should go out and buy a juicer. After a few searches, I was faced with a dilemma, too many juicers, with too many prices points and features to choose from. After some research I ended up buying the Omega 8006 which retail’s at $300 (USD) dollars. I was lucky and happened to have a 20% off coupon from Bed, Bath, and Beyond, so I paid only $240 for it. I have had it for about 4 weeks now and it has become a permanent fixture in my kitchen. I have also lost around 10 pounds. Most of it is I am sure “water weight” but still, I have made progress. Additionally, I have not been juice fasting in a way that one would call perfect. Morale of the story? You don’t have to do it perfectly, you just have to not give up.

There are 2 general categories of Juicers – Centrifugal vs Masticating

Advantages and Distadvantages of Masticating

• real quiet, won’t wake anybody up
• more nutrients
• more pulp, smoother pulp, no small bits and pieces
• can’t juice certain types of food
• can’t make bullet proof coffee – the butter gets stuck at the tip of the Auger
• smaller, but more expensive
• make nut juices
• crush wheat grass
• slow use
• have to cut up veggies smaller so they fit down the tube
• grind coffee
• left-over pulp is very dry

Advantages and Distadvantages of Centrifugal

• loud, really loud
• more oxidation of juice resulting in less nutrients
• fast
• a little more clean up
• bigger machine, takes up more counter space
• can juice an entire apple at a time
• fast use

What I have used it for so far:

Bought a bunch of veggies from the market, spent about 15-30 minutes on many mornings juicing the following:

• celery – have to cut it up into small pieces about 1 to 4 inches long, otherwise the auger gets clogged
• apples
• beets – real good result, just peel them and cut them real small
• radish, turnips
• lettuce – a little hard to wash and cut into small pieces to throw in there
• cabbage – not that hard
• I ground coffee once and this was the only time I clogged

What I Do Differently

I use unrefined Salt.

I am sure you have heard the conventional wisdom that salt is bad for you, salt is this, salt is that, salt causes high blood pressure…etc  But there is a big difference between salt, sea salt, and unrefined salt. I read a book and saw a documentary about unrefined salt. Well, it was more of a doctor taking a selfie video than a corporate funded documentary.  Long story short he convinced me that salt is bad, but not unrefined salt, which is more of a collection of nutrients and minerals versus your regular table salt which is just pure NaCl.

So while I am juicing, I put a couple of rocks of Pink Himalayan Sea Salt, or Black Hawaiian Salt, and now I feel full after drinking not an entire juice, but just a little. It has to be the salt, which enhances nutrient absorption, and as a result the flavor. As for fear about unrefined salt not containing iodine, I have been eating more Kelp, and as for the fear of salt leading to high blood pressure, I’ll get back to you the next time I go to the doctor.

If you are still scared of eating more salt, think of this, do you remember what they said about cholesterol being the cause of heart attacks? How milk does a body good, margarine is better than butter? Low fat diets are good for you? Ha… I now take everything I read/hear with a grain of salt. No, a grain of unrefined salt.

– Visit Dr. Brownstein’s page here to read more about the health benefits of salt
– http://www.drbrownstein.com/Salt-Your-Way-to-Health-p/salt.htm