These are some of our favorite wellness tools. We do believe in simplification and you don’t need a bunch of gadgets, supplements, or “hacks” to be well. But a few tools are very useful in making life easier and healthier!
Instant Pot – No kitchen is complete without an electronic stainless steel pressure cooker. Instant Pot isn’t the only one out there, so feel free to research before you buy. However, it is a very affordable and reliable product. We have had ours for over 5 years and it’s still kicking butt. It does everything a slow cooker does, in a fraction of the time. We set it up before bed to make oatmeal in the morning, hot and ready to go for breakfast. It cooks tough roasts and stew meats in an hour instead of eight hours. And when we roast a whole chicken I toss the carcass in the Instant Pot with some white carrots, celery, bay leaves and a chunk of reishi mushroom and let it run for 4 hours. It has an automatic “keep warm” setting when it’s done cooking, so I can let the broth cook overnight and strain it in the morning. It makes beans and grains more digestible, and I’ve even seen people cook bread in it. It’s so easy to throw in some meat and veggies with a little broth and head out for the day, just to return to a fresh, hot stew, soup, or even a brisket for making tacos. Instant Pot also makes a bunch of attachments, like a lid you can use to roast a whole chicken. It’s incredibly more efficient than using an oven, slow cooker, or stove top. You’ll wonder how you ever lived without one!
E-Stim Machine – This is an electric muscle stimulator (EMS) or transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulator (TENS). It uses a gentle electrical current to stimulate the nerves to help reduce pain or build muscle. This is incredibly useful for anyone. Someone could use it to help recover from injuries, or if arthritis inhibits exercise, because it allows you to exercise muscles without having to aggravate injuries. Even for those who have no injuries, we can use them while we are stuck working or otherwise inactive. I do an hour on my abs everyday and trust me, you can feel it afterward. Whether you just want to get in shape, or you have an elderly parent that needs some help, this is an incredibly useful machine.
Red Light – There are many devices on the market that provide red light therapy. These devices help improve cellular respiration, which is the production of ATP in the mitochondria. That’s a lot of big words, but it basically means that it can help your body make more energy to do all of the things it needs to do, better. Including healing injuries. Typically you want a device that has both visible red and near-infrared light. Visible red is between 620 and 750nm. Near-infrared is between 750-1100nm. Most devices will have a combination of 660nm and 850nm. If you’re really interested in this therapy to help with pain relief, healing chronic illness, fatigue, etc, it’s worthwhile to invest in a higher quality product from a company like Redlightman, EMR-Tek, or Gembared. If you plan on buying a cheap one off Amazon, read this guide first.
Good Knives – If you’re not a pro in the kitchen, you might not have a good set of knives. This is probably one of the biggest impediments to healthy eating that I can imagine. Without good knives, everything takes longer and is more difficult to prepare. And that means having different types of knives for different tasks. They’re worth the investment. I personally love my CutCo knives that I’ve had since high school. I sent them back once to be resharpened about 6 years ago, and they have a forever guarantee so they will fix anything that happens to them for free. And made in the USA! There are many other great brands, and if you can’t afford $700 for a set, just start with a high quality chef knife for about $150. If your knife skills are under par, I highly recommend reading guides, watching some videos or taking a cooking class. You’ll save countless hours and dramatically improve the quality of your home cooked meals, making you far more likely to cook!
Sonos – We personally use Sonos wifi speakers, but Alexa and Google work, too. Any wifi enabled speakers that you can operate from your phone or by voice so you can listen to guided meditations in your bedroom without your phone. Or maybe if you need some white noise or yoga nidra to sleep. Or you may want to listen to some abundance activation sleep music while you sleep. It’s well established that we can directly affect our subconsciousmind during sleep, and what we do immediately before falling asleep and when we wake up also plays a huge part. So, take advantage of this time to reprogram your brain!
Of course there’s many other things we can all use around the house to help make our lives happier and healthier. This is just a short list to start supporting your new lifestyle. Look for more guides on things like cookware, simplifying your home, creating a space that invites you to meditate, and more!