‘Rebooting’ your life

Since the screenings of “Supersize Me” in 2004, there have been a few independently-made documentary-style movies that have focused on how living on modern unhealthy diets is slowly killing millions of people around the world. My colleague and contemporary Butch Maniego, who passed away late last year, was a victim of the perils of modern food. In the late 1990’s, Butch became a diabetic due to his poor eating habits. A few years later, his kidneys failed and he had to resort to dialysis to stay alive. In the weeks before his death, he also developed severe back problems and was unable to walk. His suffering severely limited his life before ending it.

Australian commodities trader Joe Cross was on his way there, too. In his early 20’s, he hit it big trading stocks, and put up his own company. His sudden wealth afforded him yachts, cars and an overabundant lifestyle. Gradually, he ballooned to 310 pounds, and his immune system started malfunctioning. The result was an autoimmune condition which caused painful skin eruptions triggered even by a simple handshake. He was always tired, forced to ingest steroids, and felt he would not live much longer. Two years ago, approaching 40, he decided to make a drastic change in his lifestyle.

The result is the film “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead”, which chronicles his voluntary 60-day juice fast. He even hooked up his Breville juicer to a power source in his car, since he would be on the road much of the time. To make matters more challenging, Cross decided to take on this huge task in the US, in the face of the capital of food hedonism. After consulting physicians and nutritionists, he would spend half the time in New York, and the rest on the road. He would talk to (mostly) overweight people, and get a feel for their awareness of where their health was heading, as well, and if they would join him in trying to live a healthier life.

During what he called his “reboot,” Cross consumed about three liters of fruit and vegetable juices a day, exclusively. He also videotaped his conversations with a cross-section of Americans, many of whom knew they would eventually eat themselves to death, but with very few of them admitting any hope they would someday make the change. After 60 days, Cross lost 61 pounds, regained tremendous energy levels, looked younger, and found a renewed sense of purpose. Cross was in the Philippines on a tour sponsored by Breville for five days for speaking engagements and three screenings of his film.

“For millions of years, people had been eating only plant food,” said Cross at the last screening of his film and a juicing demonstration at the Shangri-La Mall cinema Friday. “We started eating animal food only fairly recently. Fastfood was created only in about the last 70 years. Today, only about five percent of our diet is plant food.”

During a reboot, an individual commits to consuming only fruit and vegetable juices (roughly 70 to 80 percent vegetable) for a period of time, like three days, five days, 15 days or 30 days, under the supervision or with the clearance of a doctor, of course. Your goal is to break the cycle of unhealthy fastfood living and enhance the quality of your diet by maximizing your intake of fruits and vegetables.

“Inside all these fruits and vegetables is locked all this wonderful sun energy,” Cross explained. “We are competing with bacteria, insects and other species for all this nutrition. Once it’s converted into juice, it’s more easily absorbed, and you get all the soluble fiber, as well. You’ll feel the difference right away.”

Also in the film was Joe’s encounter with Phil Staples, a 429-pound truck driver, whom he offered to help. Upon his return to Australia, Cross received an urgent call from Staples, pleading for succor. In a remarkable story, Staples goes on his own juice fast, extends it, and eventually loses over 200 pounds. Along the way, his overweight but resistant older brother Barry “Bear” Staples has a heart attack, prompting him to do a reboot, as well. Barry’s hospitalization and treatment cost the family over $47,000. Shopping for fruits and vegetables for his juice fast, roughly two percent of that. 

The results of the dramatic changes in lifestyle were obvious. Loss of excess weight, disappearance of belly flab, glowing skin, clearer thought processes, freedom from medication, better demeanor, and more physical activity. Most people who go on a juice fast eventually incorporate it into a healthier lifestyle and resume consuming solid foods and even meat again. But the impact cannot be denied. After a few days of detoxification and sometime lethargy, the benefits become pronounced. 

Cross is on a tour of other Asian countries, getting more and more people to get the message of juicing. He has become much more physically fit, and maintains the new lifestyle. There are myriad other benefits to doing a reboot. The point is to change what isn’t working so one can realize how much more you can literally squeeze out of life.