Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead Review

I am trying to brainwash myself into healthy eating by watching a lot of videos, reading books, and listening to audio. My Texas Sister recommended Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead to me so I had to watch it or risk having her bring it up every time we talk and being frustrated that I hadn't seen it.

I liked the cartoons. I liked Dr Joel Fuhrman. I liked the ideas. I was annoyed by Joe Cross. I could hardly stand to watch when he did his "man on the street" bits. Mostly he was just making people feel bad about their health and eating habits. You cannot affect change by making people feel bad. And when nearly everyone he spoke to said, "It's my own fault..." I literally shouted, "No, it's not!" To just let that slip by and ignore the fact that our society, our culture promotes the kind of diet that makes you obese, that you get 100 times more messages to eat unhealthily than healthily, to ignore the scheming of the food conglomerates (who all employ behavioral scientists and psychologists to undermine your efforts, by the way) is irresponsible. To change how you eat, let alone radically change how you eat, is a sisyphean task. You pretty much have to restructure your life, become immune to criticism, learn how to tune out media, and fundamentally change how you think. And there is little to no support for that. So allowing people to blame themselves, and not telling them these truths and how to overcome them, is not empowering them. It is exploitation.

That being said, I kept wondering why the Netflix description said "two men whose bodies have been trashed by steroids, obesity and illness..." when I only saw Joe Cross. Then they played Phil Staples' phone message and I choked up. How brave he was to reach out; how desperate he must have been. From that moment, about halfway through the film, I was hooked.

Personally, I don't think I would do a long term juice fast because I am afraid I will go back to unhealthy eating after. If I can eat mostly micronutrient dense food and become accustomed to it, then maybe I will try it for a week or so. I should say I did juice fast for 11 days once and I did go back to eating unhealthily immediately after. So that experience colors my perception. I really want to create a foundation and routine and have that in place before doing any fasting. I do believe fasting is beneficial and healing. And I am trying to consume vegetable juices regularly.

To sum up, I'm glad I watched this movie, I'm glad Joe Cross made it, and it is inspiring. I hope people who watch it seek out more information about Dr Joel Fuhrman and others who promote healthy plant-based diets.