Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead | |
---|---|
Directed by | Joe Cross Kurt Engfehr |
Written by | Joe Cross Robert Mac |
Produced by | Stacey Offman |
Starring | Joe Cross Joel Fuhrman Phil Staples |
Cinematography | Rick López Max Polley Jamie Rosenberg |
Edited by | Alison Amron Christopher Seward |
Music by | M. E. Manning |
Distributed by | Gravitas Ventures |
Release dates |
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Running time | 97 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead is a 2010 American documentary film which follows the 60-day journey of Australian Joe Cross across the United States as he follows a juice fast to regain his health under the care of Joel Fuhrman, Nutrition Research Foundation's Director of Research. [1]
The feature-length film follows Cross, who was depressed, weighed 310 lbs, suffered from a serious autoimmune disease, and was on steroids at the start of the film, as he embarks on a juice fast. [2] Cross and Robert Mac, co-creators of the film, both serve on the Nutrition Research Foundation's Advisory Board. [3] [4] Following his fast and the adoption of a plant-based diet, Cross states in a press release that he lost 100 pounds and discontinued all medications. [5] [6] [7] During his road-trip Cross meets Phil Staples, a morbidly obese truck driver from Sheldon, Iowa, in a truck stop in Arizona and inspires him to try juice fasting. [8] [9] [10] A sequel to the first film, Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead 2, was released in 2014. [11] [12] [13]
Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead won the Turning Point Award and shared the Audience Choice Award – Documentary Film at the 2010 Sonoma International Film Festival. [14]
The film has received mixed reviews with review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes giving it a rating of 69% "fresh" [15] and Metacritic having an average score of 45 out of 100, based on 5 reviews. [16] The Hollywood Reporter called it an "infomercial passing itself off a documentary". [17] The New York Times stated that the film is "no great shakes as a movie, but as an ad for Mr. Cross's wellness program its now-healthy heart is in the right place". [18] Journalist Avery Yale Kamila reviewed the film in 2011, reporting Cross planned to continue avoiding junk food and "eating a diet centered around whole food." She reported Cross had created an online community called Reboot Your Life. [19]
Joel Fuhrman is an American celebrity doctor who advocates a plant-based diet termed the "nutritarian" diet which emphasizes nutrient-dense foods. His practice is based on his nutrition-based approach to obesity and chronic disease, as well as promoting his products and books. He has written books promoting his dietary approaches including the bestsellers Eat to Live, Super Immunity, The Eat to Live Cookbook, The End of Dieting (2016) and The End of Heart Disease (2016). He sells a related line of nutrition-related products.
The Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF), co-founded in 1999 by Sally Fallon (Morell) and nutritionist Mary G. Enig, is a U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to "restoring nutrient-dense foods to the American diet through education, research and activism".
Neal D. Barnard is an American animal rights activist, physician and founding president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM). Barnard has authored books advocating a whole food plant-based dietary eating pattern. His views on reversing diabetes with a low-fat vegan diet have been criticized by diabetologists as misleading as Type 1 diabetes can not be reversed.
Thomas Colin Campbell is an American biochemist who specializes in the effect of nutrition on long-term health. He is the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University.
Juice fasting, also known as juice cleansing, is a fad diet in which a person consumes only fruit and vegetable juices while abstaining from solid food consumption. It is used for detoxification, an alternative medicine treatment, and is often part of detox diets. The diet can typically last from one to seven days and involve a number of fruits and vegetables and even spices that are not among the juices typically sold or consumed in the average Western diet. The diet is sometimes promoted with implausible and unsubstantiated claims about its health benefits.
Michael Herschel Greger is an American physician, author, and speaker on public health issues best known for his advocacy of a whole-food, plant-based diet, and his opposition to animal-derived food products.
Michael A. Klaper is an American physician, vegan health educator, conference and event speaker, and an author of articles and books of vegan medical advice. Graduating from medical school in 1972, Klaper became a vegan ten years later and subsequently became active in the area, publishing three books advocating veganism and serving as a founding director of the Institute of Nutrition Education and Research.
Vegan nutrition refers to the nutritional and human health aspects of vegan diets. A well-planned vegan diet is suitable to meet all recommendations for nutrients in every stage of human life. Vegan diets tend to be higher in dietary fiber, magnesium, folic acid, vitamin C, vitamin E, and phytochemicals; and lower in calories, saturated fat, iron, cholesterol, long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D, calcium, zinc, and vitamin B12.
Forks Over Knives is a 2011 American documentary film which argues that avoiding animal products and ultra-processed foods, and instead eating a whole-food, plant-based diet, may serve as a form of chronic illness intervention.
Matthew Kenney is an American celebrity chef, entrepreneur, author, and educator specializing in plant-based cuisine. He is the author of 12 cookbooks, founder of dozens of vegan restaurants, and founder of the companies Matthew Kenney Cuisine and Matthew Kenney Culinary, a plant-based diet education business.
Joe Cross is an Australian entrepreneur, author, filmmaker, and plant-based diet advocate who promotes juicing. He is most known for his documentary Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead in which he tells the story of his 60-day juice fast. He is the founder and CEO of Reboot with Joe, a health and lifestyle brand.
Naked Food is a quarterly magazine focusing on whole-food plant-based nutrition. It features health information, nutrition and food related news, recipes, interviews, events, and product, book, and film reviews.
The Kids Menu is a 2016 American documentary film that discusses the growing problem of childhood obesity. It is produced by Australian filmmaker Joe Cross, who co-created Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, and directed by Kurt Engfehr.
What the Health is a 2017 American documentary film that advocates for a plant-based diet. It critiques the health effects of meat, dairy product and egg consumption, and questions the practices of leading health and pharmaceutical organizations. Some have also criticised the film, arguing that there are scientific inaccuracies.
Veganuary is an annual challenge run by a UK nonprofit organisation that promotes and educates about the vegan lifestyle by encouraging people to follow a vegan diet for the month of January. Since the event began in 2014, participation has increased each year. 400,000 people signed up to the 2020 campaign. The campaign estimated this represented the carbon dioxide equivalent of 450,000 flights and the lives of more than a million animals. Veganuary can also refer to the event itself.
The Game Changers is a 2018 American documentary film about athletes who follow plant-based diets.
Eating You Alive is a 2018 health documentary film about why Americans are suffering from chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, autoimmune disease, among other diseases, and whether the outcome can be changed.
Susan Marie Levin was an American registered dietitian, advocate of plant-based nutrition and veganism activist. She was one of the authors of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics position on vegetarian diets in 2016.
Nisha Vora is an American Vegan/Plant-based cookbook author and blogger.