BY DONNA WESTFALL

LET’S TALK ABOUT HERO’S AND GOOD HEALTH.

Jack LaLanne was one of my hero’s.  He and my mother shared the same birthdate (September 26th, along with Donna Douglas who played Elly May Clampett on the Beverly Hillbillies, another friend of the family).  If you read about his life, you’ll learn that as a kid he was a big sugar eater and claimed it made him violent.  As a teenager he listened to Paul Bragg speak (another health and wellness guru that died in 1976), and that changed his life.  Jack became a health food nut and exercise guru.  I remember running into Jack and his wife, Elaine, the last time in a restaurant in Moro Bay many years ago.  I happened to be on a trip with my mother.  What I remember about him is that he was always friendly and down to earth.  Did you know he started the first gym in 1936?  He also designed many of the exercise machines and his TV program still holds the record for longest running TV show, over 3 decades.  He even has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

My Jack LaLanne power juicer died on New Years Day.  That’s what made me think about Jack.  I had that juicer for at least a decade, maybe more.   Who remembers? Much of the time it sat in the cupboard unused, but one night I was watching documentaries and lo and behold, there’s this fellow from Australia showing how he lost weight and gained his health back by going on a 60 day juice fast.  So, I plugged my juicer in and nothing, nada, zip, zilch.  KAPUT!

Fortunately I found and purchased this sleek, black, new Jack LaLanne Power Juicer at BiMart.  I got out the carrots, the apples, snipped some parsley and a stock of celery.  Then I pushed the ON button and guess what?  NOTHING.  No power.  Zero, zip, nada!  What’s going on? 3 electrical outlets later and still no power.

I yelled out for my husband, “DOUG!”

“WHAT?” he yells back.

“IT’S NOT WORKING!  My new juicer is not working!”

He fixed it. Doug can fix virtually anything.

Nothing at all wrong with the power.

This new model has a plastic pulp catcher that has to be inserted into the back of the machine before the machine will work.  Works like a charm. Quiet. Efficient.  Juice was delish.  The pulp will go into my garden to feed the worms.

Whew! Crisis averted, problem solved.

Now that it’s flu season once again and friends are calling in sick and sicker, think about Jack LaLanne.  He ate 10 vegetables every day.  He exercised every day.  He lived to be 96 years old.  An amazing man that influenced thousands and thousands of people.  One of my hero’s.