Having spent the last 20 odd years partying like a rock star, I have a new-found mission to completely reform my previously very bad health habits. I quit smoking three years ago and have also stopped drinking alcohol in the last few months. (If you see me with a drink now, it is an alcohol-free amber beer from O’Douls, which I highly recommend.) Thus, I was very excited to be invited to a six-course tasting dinner featuring a menu prepared with the awesome Living Well Health Master.
For those of you, who have never seen the TV informercials about this incredible machine, the Health Master is a combination blender/juicer, developed and endorsed by Montel Williams, that utilizes the whole vegetable, instead of wasting the nutrient rich skins and pulps, like a juicer. Instead it emulsifies and liquifies foods while retaining all the vital nutrients. It makes every type of recipe from soups to breads to ice cream to baby food; the possibilities are simply endless! And best of all, there is no dicing, slicing, or chopping. The whole vegetable and fruit goes straight into the machine!
Dinner was incredible and including a yummy soup duo of avocado and one beet, a salad, a sorbet, a triplet of entrees, and a combo of desserts — all utilizing the Health Master. I have never been more satisfyingly full from a meal. The manufacturers have promised to send all the guests Health Masters of our own, so I look forward to changing my diet. I am an excellent chef and an animal lover and, the only reason I still eat so much meat, is that I don’t know how to make veggie food as yummy as traditional fare. So as a foodie, it is is my dream come true to be able to start experimenting with veggie and raw foods that are actually tasty!
Before dinner Montel and I chatted about the Health Master and the health benefits of a fruit and vegetable rich diet.
TGATP: How did you get involved with the Health Master?
MW: I was diagnosed with MS. I have pain in my feet, I have pain in my shins, I have pain in my side, I have pain in my face and my legs – that all stems from MS. Within four weeks of using the Health Master, I stopped taking my opiate based medications completely. Because what fruits and vegetables do, and this is what people need to understand – Grandmama said it, so we don’t believe what Grandmama said? Then let’s look at the truth. Every study that has ever been done on fruits and vegetables shows that is that they are anti-inflammatory. It is Nature’s way to keep down inflammation. What is the greatest nemesis I have with MS? It’s inflammation. So the more I can reduce it the better. When I say I do this on steroids, before I came over, I’ve already had today 46oz of a green fruit drink. I’ve had the equivalent of 6 pieces of fruit and 1 bag of baby spinach and kale, and Swiss chard. I will pick and choose what’s here and tonight I’ll probably have a fish or something with my wife. Then I will drink another 32oz of a green fruit smoothie to go to bed.
TGATP: Can you say a few words about the benefits of a fruit and vegetable regimen for treating diabetes?
MW: Yeah, it is the same thing with diabetes. We need to stop with the stupidity and tell people the truth. Eat your fruits and vegetables. My sister, who doesn’t even mind me talking about this, her name is Marjorie Hyde. Marjorie is – I shouldn’t give out her age, but she is older than me, we’ll say that – she was borderline Type 2 diabetic six months ago. She has been on this regimen and the doctors said “Forget it. Diabetes is not happening now. She is not going to break to the other side.” She lost 62 pounds. This will work because again fruits and vegetables fruits and vegetable. Get yourself off those processed foods and start eating a regimen of fruits and vegetables; it helps to clean the colon that takes the strain off the pancreas, which helps to lower inflammation.
TGATP: Obesity and diabetes is especially a problem in communities of color and yet many of us are adverse to healthy diets and vegetables.
MW: Because you know what, it’s really, I’m sorry we have great cooking shows on now. And I almost want to say how dare our chefs not present options that are healthy for us. Forget about whatever the reasons were in the past, if African-Americans would just increase their fruits and vegetables by 10%, we could start lowering the risk of half the maladies we have in our community. So I am on a mission. This blender was made at my request. These guys had been working on something like this for a while, but weren’t getting ready to distribute it. I went to this company and said “I heard what ‘bout what you got. Can we pull this together?” And we have the Health Master because rather than folks having to go out and spent $500 on the other brand, this comes in at under 200 bucks.
TGATP: Some final words for my readers on healthy living?
MW: My last three books – Climbing Higher, Body Change, and Living Well – all chronicle my journey with MS and what I do to mitigate my worst symptoms. And a lot of it has to do with the diet that is rich with fruits and vegetables, an exercise routine, and I pay attention to my emotional health and my spiritual health by working on my own sense of spirituality. And that is something that I promote over and over. It’s something to me that is the key to us living well. If you can’t get those three things together, you can forget about all the rest, nothing is going to come to fruition.
For more information on Montel’s Living Well program, go to: http://www.montelwilliams.com/
To order a Health Master of your very own: http://www.myhealthmaster.com/
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