Enter Joe Cross

Or re-enter, actually.

In October 2011, right before I went out to Hawaii for my dream week with my main man, I watched Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, a documentary on juicing by a man named Joe Cross. Contrary to my preconceived notions about "documentaries," this one was actually a very entertaining movie, along with being very informative and inspiring.

Joe Cross, an Australian man who was on quite a bit of medication for various things, who was fat and sick and--well, nearly dead, decided to try out a 60 day juice fast. During his first 30 days he stuck around New York City, talking to people all over the place about health and nutrition, sharing samples of his juice, etc. During his last 30 days he took a road trip across the entire United States, meeting people and talking to them about health. During his 60 day juice fast, he lost 80 pounds and dramatically reduced the amount of meds he had to take. On day 61, he began a new journey on a plant based, or micronutrient, diet. (In other words, vegan). He stayed 100% plant based until he was completely off all of his medication, and then went to allowing himself 2 meals a week that did not have to be vegan. And he has lived that way ever since.

During his road trip, he met a guy named Phil who had the same rare disease he had. One day, back in Australia, Joe got a call from Phil, who had decided to accept the challenge of a juice fast, along with Joe's offer of help and support. So Joe flew back to the U.S. and helped Phil get himself started. Originally Phil planned on 10 days, but he ended up also sticking with it for 60. During that time he got his whole community trying out juicing. Not necessarily juice fasting, but adding juice to their daily diets. During his 60 days, Phil lost 91 pounds, and also continued plant based afterward, and ridding himself of all medications.

Joe also inspired a woman named Siong to try juice fasting. She set out to do 10 days, but went 17. Afterward she continued to juice every day as part of her regular diet. After her 17 day juice fast, she never again experienced the debilitating migraines that had plagued her life for years.