Friday, January 20, 2012

Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead

No, that title is not a personal testimony.

It's the title of a documentary film about this guy from Australia:

Joe Cross

I don't know if you have ever heard the term 'reboot' in relation to your health & your diet.  It was a new one on me until about a week ago.  One of my friends on instagram posted a pic of all this beautiful looking fruits & veggies & said that it was all for her 'reboot'.  When I inquired what she meant she referred me to this documentary film.

Basically the story goes like this:  Mr. Cross is overweight, has high blood pressure & an autoimmune disease of the skin that is driving him nuts.  He takes scads of prescription drugs, doesn't feel good, & is mired in bad eating habits.  He decides something has to change & under the direction of a doctor he undergoes 60 days of 'rebooting'.  During the reboot all he has to eat is fruit & vegetable juice.  Other than that all he has to drink is water.  After the sixty days was up he had lost a considerable amount of weight (if I recall correctly it was in the neighborhood of 100 pounds), his health problems were resolved and his autoimmune disease was in remission as well.  He no longer needed the prescription drugs & of course, his energy level was higher & he felt better.  During his reboot he traveled all around the United States & Australia talking with people about health & diet.  A couple of other people reboot along with him & share their experiences.  I found it very interesting that whoever he talked to that was overweight took full responsibility for their weight problems - not one of them blamed their extra pounds on the stress of their job or lack of time to exercise, etc.  No excuses were offered.  I thought that it was really interesting that there wasn't any blame shifting going on!

I find this rebooting notion to be very interesting.  So many of us struggle with weight issues & wanting to reset our eating habits.  I wonder if taking time from regular eating by doing a reboot of fruit & vegetable juicing could be the extra boost some of us need to tame our sweet tooth or retrain our taste buds - you know, truly change our habits.  I don't think there is any way I would participate in a sixty day reboot.  But I find myself pondering a week to 10 days kind of deal.  It makes sense to me that it would be a good vacation for my digestive system as well.  I've done a little bit of looking around at the cost of a juicer...it seems that it would require about $150.  That's a little (or let's be honest, way) out of budget right now, but it might be something to save for.

What do you think?  Do you think it's a wacky idea?  Do you think it's interesting?  Would you ever consider a juice fast?  Have you already done one?

I'm dying to know what you think!  This film is on Netflix if it strikes you as interesting enough to watch.

5 comments:

Carrie said...

I think that rebooting is an interesting idea--I definitely wouldn't want to try 60 days, but maybe a week? Not sure if I could even go that long! If you try it, let us know how it goes. :) Maybe you could check Craigslist for juicers.

I have read about some types of cancer being healed or significantly helped by juice/all raw diets. It's really interesting and kinda scary how much the food we eat can affect us . . .

BTW, thanks for letting me know about the 30 Day Shred. I don't think I'm quite brave enough to try it at this point, but I'm keeping it in mind. :)

Unknown said...

A good friend of mine JUST YESTERDAY was raving about this movie and the health benefits of juicing and eating more fruits/veggies! I'd love to give it a whirl but my fear would be the lack of protein in an all fruit/veggie juice diet. I do like the idea of getting more fruits/veggies into our diet though and we're finally making some changes in that direction. And cutting out sugar as much as we can. Let us know if you start juicing! I agree, we can't afford one right now but it would be a great gift to ask for or a goal to save up for!

Rebecca said...

I have had several people in my life do the juicing diet. One, to battle breast cancer, would juice 5# if carrots per day. I used to juice on a regular basis as a supplement. I had a Champion juicer. Enjoyed carrots when they weren't bitter. I didn't like the daily cleaning of all the juicer parts. I liked the taste of apples, but the apples were too much for my system. I do think it is a good way to add more vegetables. Not sure about eliminating all the fiber? Fiber has its own benefits. Hmmmmm, all this rambling to say a lot of nothing.

Unknown said...

We watched this documentary and liked it. I don't agree 100% with everything in it, although, I do think our systems can use a 'reboot' occasionally. And shoot, anytime something (like juicing) inspires or encourages someone to change their life to live in a healthier way, I can't argue there!

Mary Ann said...

Carrie, I have heard about using juicing as a cancer treatment, too. And I agree - our food has such an affect on us & I tend to underplay that a lot. It's a habit I need to change!
Alicia, isn't it funny how these ideas trend around? I agree; I would be concerned about the lack of protein & I would definitely talk to my doctor before I did it. My birthday is in August; I'm thinking a juicer could be an excellent item to put my birthday money on (& a great time of the year for fresh, local produce!).
Rebecca, I totally understand what you were trying to say. I read other comments about being sure your juicer was easily cleanable. Also, I wonder a little about fiber, too. That would be another doctor question.
Julia, thanks so much for stopping by my blog - I have a ton of fun over at yours :-) I agree with you - just about anything that encourages us to adopt healthier habits is worth it!