Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead Review – Health Documentary

Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead Review

Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead hit the home run when it comes to motivational and inspirational health. The film follows the lives of what ends up being two men and their journeys to a life without disease or medications. Although lacking emotional connection for many, the story is enlightening and eternally motivating as the viewer sees first hand that truly anyone can achieve optimum health by using the right methods. This Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead review is somewhat of a spoiler, so keep that in mind before reading on. It may be beneficial to watch it first, form your own opinions, and then read this review and comment with your own opinions and insights. This is definitely a film you will want to show your friends and family, especially if you are already an advocate of juicing and they just won’t listen to you! It can be ordered through Netflix, or you could support the maker by buying it from his website at https://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/.

Joe Cross, the creator and star of the film, set out on a journey to change his life. Starting out at 309 pounds and suffering from a rare illness known as chronic urticaria (chronic hives), Cross made a decision which could not be swayed. For the next 60 days, he would consume nothing but water and fruit and vegetable juice which would be made through his juicer. After the 60 days come to an end, Cross will only eat vegetables, fruits, nuts, and beans for 6-8 months in order to continue on the path of healthy eating. This Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead diet may sound intimidating, but with the proper motivation, anyone can do it.

Before Cross set out on this journey, he went to many different doctors to try and find a solution for his chronic urticaria. Even with a tons of assessments such as hair analysis, skin biopsies, and various reaction tests, the doctors could not help. It wasn’t long before he turned to a variety of different alternative doctors ranging from an acupuncturist, a Chinese herbalist, and then to a witch doctor.

What’s next? A full sprint at the incredible rejuvenating powers of juicing.

As one might expect, the first few days are the hardest. Food is not the only thing that the mind misses. The social aspect behind food – not being able to eat with friends and family, and being the “odd one out” – that’s a big part of the mental and physical sacrifices. As with any change in life, it takes time to cope, re-adjust, and accept. And with each change comes a little sacrifice.

As the film progresses, he increasingly feels better. Most notably, other than the weight loss, Cross experiences a new surge of untapped energy. In his eyes, the sacrifices are miniscule compared to the gold that lies at the end of his quest.

Throughout the film, Cross interviews pedestrians to shed light on the public’s opinions on juice fasting and eating healthy. The majority of people questioned either feel neutral toward fasting, but don’t do it, or are not in favor of it. Like one might expect, not eating is not considered “normal” by any means, and in most cases was viewed as very unhealthy.

Through hearing the opinions of each person, it seems that the average person is not happy with himself or his current lifestyle. Many of the people Cross interviewed were overweight, and weren’t planning to change that fact anytime soon. Each one blamed not their doctor, nor their friends or the advertisers on TV – they blamed themselves. The overwhelming response to why each person didn’t eat healthy was lack of willpower. This lack of willpower would ultimately lead to almost all interviewees predicting life to last no longer than their 50’s.

By day 49, Cross was seeing some serious improvements. He lost 67 pounds, his HDL cholesterol fell to 135 from 204, his LDL cholesterol fell to 86 from 132, and he was down to 3.5mg from 15mg of his Prednisone. It was only 12 days later that Cross would end his fasting journey and be able to eat some real food again. On day 61, he lost a total of 82 pounds. Two months later, he completely dropped the medication.

If it weren’t for Cross coming into contact with an overweight truck driver named Phil, who has the same rare condition, the story would have ended here. But to further make known the incredible possibilities of juicing, Cross continued the film with the camera re-directed at Phil.

Continuing the film with a new focus was one of the best things that could have happened to this documentary. The addition made the story not twice as compelling, but 10 times as compelling, with inspirational and motivational aspects going through the roof. After viewing these incredible transformations, I wonder if anyone can help but go into the kitchen and at least make one glass of fresh juice.

If you want to experience incredible health benefits or lose weight, do not skip over the powers of juicing.  

Reminder Note: The Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead diet consists of nothing but fruit and vegetable juice for 60 days. For 6-8 months after the fast, Cross ate only vegetables, fruits, nuts, and beans to ensure the continuation of a healthy lifestyle. You can pick up almost any juicing book to get tons of different juicing recipes. No one, of course, needs to juice for a straight 60 days to see tremendous health benefits. If you are interesting in juice fasting, start with a week, then 10 days, then 20 days, etc. It may seem difficult at first, but you can do it.