Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead (2010) Movie Script
What I wanna buy is some celery.
Ah, you got the tomatoes?
Yeah, I got the tomatoes.
How many do you want?
They're two for a dollar.
Ah good, two for a dollar
I'll take four tomatoes.
Gonna try to take one onion.
One onion, you get two for a dollar.
Alright, I'll take two.
- How much is all that?
- Four dollars.
Four dollars.
That's not very expensive, is it?
No, not really.
- You can have that, that's fine.
- Alright, thanks.
Alright guys, thank you very much.
- Y'all come back now.
- I will now.
Happy Thanksgiving.
You all have a good time.
Alright mate, see ya!
I thought it'd be nice to find
somewhere off the freeway,
amongst nature,
a beautiful spot
here in Arkansas and...
juice up my Thanksgiving lunch,
which has no turkey in it
by the way.
I think in a funny way
I'm thankful that I got sick
because if I didn't get sick,
that was my body telling me
to slow down and get well.
Who knows,
if I hadn't had got sick,
I might not have ever
slowed down and I might have already
had a heart attack and died, so...
We'll never know.
I'm thankful for that.
Quay.
My name's Joe Cross,
and I'm an Australian,
in case you couldn't work
that out from the accent.
I've just arrived
in the United States.
I'm not gonna eat
any of your food.
I've come here
to fast for 60 days.
All I'm gonna do is drink juice,
green juice.
Why am I doing this?
Well, let me show you.
Take a good hard look at my gut.
How many pizzas, burgers, fries,
and cokes do you reckon I inhaled
to create that masterpiece?
I'm certainly no picture of health.
I look like
I've swallowed a sheep.
Not only am I overweight,
I'm also sick.
For the past nine years,
I've been taking pills,
night and day,
just to get by.
But as of today,
I'm saying enough is enough.
I know what you're thinking...
"Can't you just eat the fruit
and vegetables? Why juice?"
Well, have a look at just
how many vegetables
it takes to make one juice.
I don't care how hungry I am,
I don't think I could eat this
four times a day.
So, by juicing,
I'm super-charging
my nutrient intake.
That's a lot, isn't it?
I've tried this before
but never for this long.
In the past, I've always
gone back to my old ways.
This time, once I'm done,
I'm determined to adopt
a healthy lifestyle.
But first,
I have to get through
the next 60 days.
So, I have a plan.
For the next 30, I'm gonna hang in
and around New York,
and after that, I'm gonna drive
across the country.
What I'm doing is
a documentary on health.
- About what?
- Health.
- Health?
- You know, what we eat.
I'm actually going across America,
on a tour around the States.
I've got a thing called
Chronic Urticaria,
which is like a chronic rash.
- You got a what?
- An illness, like a disease.
I put myself there
by having a lot of junk food,
eating a lot of crap,
not eating vegetables,
not eating fruits.
I believe
what we put into our body
is very important as
to how healthy we're gonna be.
I'm on a juice fast.
You ever heard of fasting?
Fasuma..
Water...
and vegetable juice.
and about six to eight months
of eating just vegetables,
fruits, nuts and beans.
That's crazy.
- I don't think I'd survive.
- I reckon you would.
- That is unbelievable.
- I know, tell me about it.
You wanna know what else
is unbelievable?
Is just how many doctors I went to
when I first got sick.
In fact, I went to six of them.
I had skin biopsies and tests to see
if I reacted to certain things.
I took a bunch of different pills.
I even spent 14 days in hospital.
When none of that worked,
I started exploring
alternative paths:
Massage...
Acupuncture...
Chinese herbalists...
Mud baths...
Cell and hair analysis...
Even witchdoctors
The list was endless.
And then I thought, hang on!
When I scraped my knee as a kid,
I didn't have to do anything
as long as I got out of the way,
it just got better.
If the body can heal itself
on the outside,
why can't it heal itself
on the inside?
So what have I been doing wrong?
Well for starters,
I had my priorities out of whack.
I'd been focusing on my wealth,
rather than my health.
And look where that got me!
And this is only the beginning.
Now I'm on a mission
to cure myself,
which means...
no more pills.
Well, it's the morning
of Day One.
Time to visit Dr. Joel Fuhrman,
a leading expert in nutrition.
You don't have a common condition,
but it's related to
an autoimmune phenomenon.
I've seen patients
with this condition do pretty well
and even get rid of it.
Alright Joe, step on the scale.
The moment of truth.
- Check it out.
- Here we go.
Dr. Fuhrman agreed
to supervise my fast,
as long as I got a blood test
every ten days.
Permanent results only come from
permanent changes in
lifestyle and diet style.
You don't get permanently well
unless you permanently change
the way you live.
Let's see
what your waist is.
The tape's long enough?
The fasting period itself
can be used as
a time where you're gonna
retrain your taste buds.
So if it's something that
really helps motivate you
to stay with healthy eating
thereafter,
then its done its job.
Hello?
G'day Mum,
- Hi Joe,
- it's the morning of Day Two.
Oh dean only Day Two,
I've been very concerned
about you doing this.
It's just beyond me that
anybody can do this for 60 days.
The first few days
are the toughest.
Not eating, it's kind of like
you're cutting yourself
off from society.
When you're not eating food,
it just doesn't seem normal.
I couldn't even watch TV
because of all the commercials.
You don't want to be
around people,
and you don't want to be
around food.
I was happiest in bed.
I didn't wanna get out of bed.
I just wanted to lie there
and feel sorry for myself.
Day Three was today.
I had a pretty bad night
last night.
I felt very, very,
very much alone,
last night in the sense that...
it's like you've got this mammoth
task ahead of you and
without food,
you're really starting to hurt,
and you're feeling it.
You wanna go to sleep
and wake up in two months
and it's all done.
As the saying goes,
"You do the crime,
you do the time,"
and there's no question,
I've done the crime.
I mean, you know,
I really have...
I really have...
not been kind to my body.
You know it's...
it's a tough thing,
the emotional attachment to food,
its bloody tough.
These are the pills
I have to take.
This is a 5 mg tablet
of prednisone.
That's 15 mgs there.
Before I started on the fast,
that's how many
I was having a day.
Looking at these...
at these...
bottles here,
it doesn't look good.
If you're a fit, healthy,
young person, you shouldn't be
traveling around with
prescription drugs
and doing that, I mean it's...
You wouldn't have thought,
I would never have thought
that it'd be me,
that I would...
have to do this.
I was in California in 1999
and I played golf and I thought
maybe I touched some poison ivy,
and that night I went to bed.
I went to wake up the next morning
and it was up
my forearms and Shins
and very itchy and scratching.
It's like hives.
It's chronic hives.
It spread all over my body,
torso, and geez,
I was lit up
like a Christmas tree.
This is how
my autoimmune disease works:
When you get bit by a mosquito,
receptors under your skin
send a signal to your brain.
HQ, we got an invader
in Sector 3.
Scramble the histamines.
Roger that.
Histamines are being deployed.
Histamine makes the blood vessels
around the bite swell,
making it more difficult
for the poisons
in the mosquitoes' saliva
to spread through the body.
As a side effect,
the whole area is
swollen, red and itchy,
but with my disease,
the receptors
send the wrong messages.
A handshake is like getting bit by a thousand mosquitoes.
Mayday! Mayday!
All hell's
breakin' loose down here!
All histamines,
report to battle stations!
And this can happen at anytime
to any part of my body.
Just the smell,
just the smell is sensational.
Normally I'd eat two of those,
not two slices,
two whole pizzas.
I better get out of here.
So I've been coming to the US.
off and on for the last 35 years.
I even lived here
when I was a kid.
It's like a second home to me.
I reckon Americans
are super friendly.
Maybe that's because
I'm not from around here.
I also love American food,
and if I'm gonna really change
the way I live my life,
I'm the sort of bloke that likes
to tackle my demons head on.
So, I couldn't think of
a better place to be food free,
than here in the US.,
the home of the hamburger.
- Have you ever heard of fasting?
- Yeah.
Have you ever fasted?
Only when I ain't got
no money to eat, man!
It's the only time I fast.
I think I sent off for it,
it's ten bucks or something,
"How to Lose 12 pounds
in Four Days."
It consisted of...
First day you eat nothing
but nine franks.
You drink all the liquid,
or diet soda, but nine hot dogs.
- You have nine hot dogs.
- First day.
- I would never be able to do that.
- I would never fast.
- Why not?
- I don't have enough self-control.
And you?
I don't like not eating.
It doesn't seem healthy to me.
Second day, you have a fruit,
apple or a pear,
but you have to have nine apples.
I went four years one time
eatin' only on Monday,
Wednesday and Friday.
Third day, you had eggs.
Like a boiled egg. You could have
ten, nine boiled eggs.
I don't fast, I eat.
I eat fast,
but you know, I don't fast.
You eat fast.
The fourth day, you could have
a mixture of all three of those.
OK.
And that was the Four Day Diet.
- Did you lose any weight?
- I lost about 12 pounds.
I have no interest in it.
Every time I hear that
they're sick at the end,
they're grumpy.
They hate their kids,
they hate their husbands,
you know, they're pissed off.
Then they reach some high,
then they lose eight pounds,
then they gain it all back
in three weeks.
Yeah, right.
- Are y'all from Australia?
- I am from Australia.
- Yeah, I can tell...
- Why? You been there?
You got the Russell Crowe
thing happening.
- Have I? The accent?
- Yeah, the accent.
Yeah, I'm not as good
of an actor as him.
I hear you.
Right from the beginning
he loved his food.
He'd have a bottle,
but when it was finished,
he'd drink it so quickly,
then he would just throw it
the other side of the room.
And demand another one.
He was known for somebody
who loved Coca-Cola.
Like his father.
Love it!
When I got out of high school,
I was in good shape.
I skipped college,
went straight to work.
I got a job with a brokerage firm
and wound up on the trading floor
of the Sydney Futures Exchange.
After five years, I went
into business for myself.
And at age 23,
I was making a truckload of money
day-trading futures and shares.
Lots of cash meant fast cars,
big boats,
big nights out,
and in my case,
food, lots of food.
And boy,
didn't I give it a nudge.
In the years I've known him,
his weight fluctuated,
big time!
Went up and down
like a bride's nighty.
Cold, depression,
headache, hangover,
varicose vein,
menstrual, stress,
I would like you to make me
your favorite juice.
- My favorite juice?
- Yeah!
The cleansing cocktail?
The cleansing cocktail,
that sounds good.
- Carrot, apple, beet and ginger.
- Sounds good.
Step right over here,
hes gonna fix it for you.
- Beautiful. Thank you very much.
- Thank you, no problem.
So juice fasting, you're
still eating something,
you're drinking
nutrients.
Particularly a lot of
micronutrients
that are coming from
fruits and vegetables.
And because it's a liquid,
it's more rapidly absorbed.
So it's a quick, easy way
of giving your body
a very potent source
of healthy nutrients.
Now try to think about
the way we normally consider
juice in our country,
which is in a bottle,
in a grocery store.
Whether it says it has
sugar added to it or not,
it has been so processed
that it's not at all like
the fruit and vegetable juice
coming out of a juicer
that you're making at home.
How about a small apple juice please?
Thank you.
Like it doesn't seem logical
not to eat food.
I mean where did three meals
a day come from?
I mean who decided
we eat three meals a day?
Why isn't it six or seven?
Or...
two?
I don't understand that.
Spinach and beans.
It's gonna be...
a big part of my future.
I actually love spinach.
When you're eating three meals
a day and you're 41,
that sort of equates to
Now we go on holidays,
we sleep at night,
we give our car a service,
but we don't think about
giving our bodies a rest.
Part of being on this journey is
I've resigned myself
that I'm not gonna eat so...
Once you do that,
surprising how easy it is,
like...
Theres nothing gonna
break me here.
I'm not gonna have a panic attack
and run out and buy a donut.
Alright. OK.
All the energy I need
to digest,
to get through my day,
here it is here, look.
It's sitting here.
So,
I've gotta think about it that,
you know, the falafels that
I had say two months ago.
They're still sittin' there,
and, I gotta think mentally that
I'm actually having them now.
So the idea of fasting
is not unique.
In fact, fasting is part of
who we are as a human being.
You see, for millions of years
we basically lived by the philosophy
of hunter-gatherer.
But to survive when there wasn't
anything to hunt or gather,
we became like human refrigerators,
capable of storing food
and carrying it with us
for lean times.
So early man had a
tremendous amount of activity
just to survive.
In our current modern world,
we don't necessarily
have to expend much energy
and the reality is that
many people don't.
We have very sedentary jobs.
We're not chasing animals.
We're not running away
from animals.
We are riding to work,
sitting at our desk,
and sitting in front of the TV.
Yet we're consuming
far, far more calories,
particularly from processed,
refined foods,
convenience foods.
Actually 61% of the American diet
today is processed foods.
We're talking about oils,
sugar, flour, predominantly.
And the processing, which usually
involves cooking and heating,
also damages the food.
In other words, processed foods
don't even have probably 1/10
the original nutrients that were
in the food in the native state.
Day 31 today.
Half way.
Time for a change of scenery.
Actually this really ain't
too bad.
- Not bad is it?
- No, no.
So what do you think?
I'll have one with you.
That's OK.
What do you think?
No, you don't like it?
It tastes like grass.
Tastes like grass? Really?
If it tastes like grass, I think
a lot of people will drink it.
No, no, no!
What do you think?
Not bad at all.
What if I told you,
that I've only been juicing,
in other words, I've been drinking
this only for 39 days;
what would you say to that?
I'd say you're crazy as hell.
And is there any secret you'd like
to tell young people about
what's the secret to living
along and happy life?
Yeah, just be good and
kind and be obliged to everyone.
That's the answer?
What about eating the right food?
Certainly has a lot to do with it.
If you don't wanna be constipated,
eat the right food.
Ain't that the truth!
The closer a food is
to its natural state
the healthier it is.
So, it's like, why are fruits
and vegetables good for me?
Micronutrients are essentially
your vitamins and minerals.
Where do we get
these micronutrients?
They are predominantly found
in plant foods.
All plant foods are
beneficial and essential
for human health.
Everything from building muscle
to immune function,
preventing a cold,
staying healthy.
I found out that food
can be divided into two camps:
Micronutrient and macronutrient.
Micronutrient foods are vegetables,
fruits,
nuts,
seeds and beans.
Macronutrient food
is everything else.
So what sort of food
do you eat?
I eat almost anything.
Pizza, chicken, pork chops,
potatoes...
You have KFC on one corner...
You guys are looking for
a hot dog stand?
Yeah.
And then on that side of the street,
there's a Burger King.
Do you like Burger King?
A lot.
It's five past,
ten past eleven in the morning.
Why are we looking for
a hot dog stand?
Is this our breakfast,
or is this our snack between?
This is snack between
breakfast and lunch.
I'm a meat and potatoes guy.
My portions...
I don't eat the best, you know...
If I do have vegetables or fruits,
it's in moderation.
I eat no fruit and
I eat no vegetables.
- What was in there?
- Pepsi.
- What else do you eat?
- Mexican.
That's all? Only Mexican and Pepsi.
Nothing else?
I drink Coke.
Do you eat a lot of
fruit and vegetables?
No.
If I told you that
eating fruits and vegetables
really would keep you healthy...
Would that change
your outlook on them?
Probably not.
- OK and why's that?
- 'Cause I'm 16.
And your diet? How's that?
I eat a lot.
- What do you eat?
- Pie, cake, hamburgers.
And how many pounds are you now?
About 370, 380...
- That's pretty big.
- I know.
Doesn't a doctor say
you gotta watch what you eat?
But you don't bother with that,
you just eat anyway.
I can't,
I don't have any willpower.
I'm weak.
Whose fault do you reckon
it is that you're 330 lbs?
Me, I don't blame
nobody else but me
'cause nobody controls what I eat.
Nobody tells me what to eat.
It's my fault.
Them folks didn't put no gun on me
to make me eat their food.
In terms of that poor diet,
whose fault was that?
Me, me, me.
It's my fault for it, but look,
- I'm hooked on it.
- Yeah.
Once you start eating
all this fast food stuff,
you begin to like it, man.
I'm just being honest,
you begin to like it.
You'd much rather go get your
quick combo, now wouldn't you?
Is your life been mostly
vegetables and fruits
or have you also eaten fast food?
KFC, McDonald's,
Wendy's,
- Chuck E. Cheese
- Chuck E. Cheese
Now how's
your health overall?
Do you feel healthy?
No, I feel like
I need to lose some weight.
How much weight
do you want to lose?
- About at least 50 pounds.
- Ok.
How did you put
that 50 pounds on?
By doing what?
Just sittin' around eatin'.
I love doing that.
- Do you watch TV when you eat?
- Yes.
When you watch TV do you
feel like eating food as well?
Yeah.
You get to a point where you
really wanna eat what they
cooking, and when you
eat it, eat it, eat it,
like you're bingin' on eatin'.
For most Americans,
they desire
more calories
than they require
and they gain weight.
But they're forced to overeat,
it makes them into a food addict
and they don't feel well
if they don't constantly
put food in their mouth.
When you fill up your stomach
with unprocessed plant foods,
it takes up a lot of volume.
It satiates you,
your body gets full of nutrients
and it stops you from
craving excess calories.
The modern world
is eating both too much
processed foods
and too many animal products.
We're suffering 'cause
we're not eating
enough natural produce.
Your typical American plate
is half meat,
a quarter overcooked vegetable
or some kind of a white potato.
And the other quarter is gonna be
another white,
refined carbohydrate.
Morning.
Cowboy Caf.
What are you eating there, mate?
I'm having a chicken fried with
mashed potatoes...
Chicken fried what?
Chicken fried steak,
Right on, and mashed potatoes.
Mashed potatoes,
corn and Texas toast.
What are you eating?
Liver and onions.
Sid, you've gone with
the chicken salad, have ya?
That looks good actually.
- It's not too bad.
- And you eat salad a lot?
A fair amount.
How do you feel overall,
generally with your health?
I feel fine,
but I've had heart surgery so...
And did that change the way
you ate back then?
No. Not at all.
And why is that?
It really doesn't change
the way I eat today.
Really?
I'm here for a few good years.
I'm gonna eat what I want,
and if I die at 55, great...
If I live to be 65, great.
If you ate foods that were
fruits and vegetables
and nuts and beans,
that sort of stuff,
and you made that
and say two meals a week,
you can have a meat, a burger,
a pizza, whatever,
just two meals,
you could do that,
and that would significantly
prolong your life.
Would I do it? Probably not.
Alright, that's good,
that's honest...
- I'm just...
- No, I appreciate it.
And what about you, Ken?
What do you think about it?
It bothers me because
I know for a fact
that it affects
my life expectancy
and my health.
But it's just hard to...
be...
so controlling of it.
- So let me ask you a question.
- Sure.
- Say this works.
- Yeah.
Say it adds...
five years to your life,
maybe ten.
What are you gonna do with it?
- Have you got kids?
- Six.
OK, I kind of think that
seeing your children grow up
and being able to pass on
your knowledge,
just be around for them,
and there as a support.
Well I actually have
Type-2 diabetes.
What was your reaction
when you were told?
If there was any kind of denial,
it wasn't so much that
I had diabetes.
The denial has been that
I have to do something about it.
That's what I denied.
I actually haven't
had food for six weeks,
but I feel better as a person,
and you know,
in terms of satisfied,
then if I'd just eaten
that meal right now.
Well, you seem energetic.
Oh, yeah, I feel great.
You've done the juices for 40...
worse for the wear, I guess.
You wanna see
a photo of me at the beginning?
Sure.
There's a good one of me.
- Actually that looks a lot like me.
- Yeah, there you go.
I don't know
if you've seen me lately
in the buff, but...
that's about what I look like.
Can you see that it's me?
Yeah, you sure don't look
as happy, I'll tell you that.
Here's what I believe.
I'm not a doctor,
but I reckon that
you can get your body
back into shape so
that you can cure yourself.
And you'll be able to
hang around and annoy
Sid a bit longer in life too.
I know I'd feel a lot better
if I weighed that amount.
Sid, nice to meet ya.
It's amazing that,
just sitting in the car now
like with my jeans
tight, you know, and
not having to undo the button,
to sit down, I mean,
it's just little things.
I can even feel
the pelvis hipbone, like here.
It's like, I haven't felt that
for 10 years.
It's like a whole
new reintroduction.
I've got to reintroduce myself
to my body.
That's the kind of momentum that
kicks you on,
and makes you feel...
Makes you fell good about
what you're doing.
What do you think you need to do
to live longer in life?
Probably change my diet.
- Oh you think so?
- Yeah, I know so.
So when do you think
you need to change your diet?
I don't know.
One day I'll wake up and
it's like time to diet.
Right now, the doctor said,
if I don't lose my weight,
I'll probably have
a heart attack and die.
Right, when did he say, by when?
About in five years.
That's why I'm trying
to stay alive
'cause I got grandkids
Do you mind me asking
how old you are?
I'm 42.
How old are you,
if you don't mind me asking.
I am 39.
What do you think
your life expectancy is,
if you continue going down
the way you're going?
What do you give yourself?
I give myself 55 maybe.
I'm guessing like 50, 55.
I'd say about the early 40s.
Early 40s?
So, how does that make you feel?
Makes me feel bad,
because
I know I need to eat right.
I know I need to.
I don't know but
I hope God got ribs in heaven.
Right now, how old do
I want to live to? Let's see.
Probably about 90.
- 90?
- Yeah
So what do you think
you gotta do to live till 90?
Try not to get killed.
How you doing, mate?
You know about fasting?
Do I look like
I know a lot about fasting?
No but you look like you know
a lot about eating though?
I know a lot about eating, but
I don't know a lot about fasting.
Do you keep a gun
under there, just in case?
Absolutely.
Can I have a look? Is it alright
to come in and look.
Well, it's loaded
and the hammer's back.
Oh yeah, gotcha, gotcha.
So, if I wanted to carry a
concealed weapon on me now,
what gun would
you recommend I buy?
If I'm not real good on guns.
Geez, you recommend that?
That looks like a girl's gun.
That looks like a girl's gun!
Is that real?
If you're not good on 'em,
you won't do much damage
with that, will ya?
That's not real is it?
Yeah, thats a real .22.
So if I break into your house
tonight and steal the TV set...
You won't be filming tomorrow.
What do you think
is the biggest threat
to national security in
the United States of America?
Borders.
- Border control, you reckon?
- Border control.
What if there was
something that was
right now in this country that
was killing 70 million people?
There's things in this country
killing 70 million people.
Cigarettes probably.
- Yeah?
- We both quit smoking.
OK, so what about fast food?
Yeah...
we're fast food people.
What sort of
fast food do you like?
Well, since we retired,
I don't think we've cooked
dinner at home more than
two or three times in a...
a month.
So you would cook dinner
at home twice a month?
Maybe.
The rest of the time we eat out.
How many pounds
are you now, total?
About 320.
But you know,
my brother's a doctor.
I've watched him struggle
with being a vegetarian
his whole life and now
he's dying of that cancer.
And I think it's a choice
people make.
I decided, that if I'm going,
I'm going happy.
I'm a happy, you know,
I'm a happy fat guy.
I think I'll play Santa Claus
in the upcoming auction
that we're having.
My philosophy, if it's
your time, the good Lord's
gonna take you,
whether you're fat,
thin or whatever.
Yeah, right.
I've been following
Dr. Fuhrman's orders
and getting regular blood tests.
Time to check in and
get the results of the last one.
Your cholesterol dropped
from 204 to 135,
your LDL cholesterol
went from 132 to 86.
Theyre all
good numbers?
Yeah, very good numbers.
Electrolytes were all good?
Yeah, everything was
perfectly normal.
Everything was
absolutely perfect.
The point here is
we have an unprecedented
opportunity in human history,
to be healthier and live longer
than ever before.
We simply don't have to be
demented when we get older.
We don't have to have
a heart attack.
We don't have to get strokes
and we can dramatically
reduce the risk of cancer.
The one thing I'm finding
remarkable about people is
they say,
Oh, I couldn't do that,
without even giving it a try.
I just don't understand that.
Hey, if you want to do
a 10-day juice fast, and
you only get to Day 7,
well good on ya for trying!
Not, oh, you're a failure.
Good on you for trying.
If you do give it a go,
be warned.
Your mates will probably think
you're crazy.
I spoke to him, he was struggling
a couple weeks ago.
He was...
thinking about breaking then.
just drinking juice.
Extreme? Yes.
Extreme? Yes.
But let's not forget
I've had a debilitating disease
for the last nine years
where I've had to take prednisone,
a powerful steroid with
a bunch of side effects.
I'm 41, I'm fat and I'm sick.
You don't need to be Einstein
to figure out what's next.
Even though
I met a bunch of people
who felt they were heading
in the same direction I was,
I also met lots of people
who thought they weren't.
How would a more conventional
Siong from Iowa
volunteered to find out.
Unlike me, she was married,
and she had to cook dinner
for her family.
When I met her in New York,
she explained to me that
she suffered from migraines,
and she was interested
to see if this could help.
I don't know
which way goes which.
I think this thing is so fun!
I get migraine headaches
if I smell certain things,
or if I eat certain things.
And I mean literally a migraine
headache that can make me sick,
can't see, can't hear,
throwing up, the whole bit.
Down the hatch, guys.
Oh God, that's nasty!
Shes a bit of a coffee drinker,
So...
She'll know
where she is right now.
She'll be having
the withdrawals and...
that'll be tough.
Hi Joe.
Hey Siong, how are ya?
Rm fine, now are you doing?
I'm going very well,
thank you very much.
And how are you feeling?
Today I'm very tired,
I feel like I'm in a fog,
I just...
I'm OK.
Trust me, its gonna get better.
You want fried potatoes
or baked potatoes?
I don't care. Fried's good.
Now when this starts
smelling good,
I may have to leave the room.
It's growing on me.
Well I got something funny
to tell you.
The first day
I drank this juice,
within about 30 minutes
I was in the bathroom.
And...
I mean I was totally cleaned out,
so I thought.
Well then,
when I had the first glass
again yesterday,
I was in the bathroom again
for quite a period of time.
And I was like,
whoa, where did all this
come from 7
Oh my gosh.
I'm starving,
or so I think I am.
Who said this was gonna be fun?
My daughter.
She lied to me.
She was sadly mistaken,
something like that, anyway...
I've meditated,
I've stretched,
I've chanted, I've prayed,
and I still wanna slap somebody.
Nancy's been my friend
for 20 years
or longer it seems like.
Nancy is a very
health conscious person.
She works out, she eats right.
So she's gonna be my champion.
- You wanna go down that way?
- Sure.
You know what?
We can even eat this,
this is so good.
I'm starving.
Hamburger Helper, oh yeah.
Oh, coffee!
Move, girl!
You can't have any
of that either.
That smells good!
The coffees been
the hardest part...
We could have one bean...
of trying to give up.
You wanna smell it?
Come here.
And every time I pass Starbucks,
or every time
I passed the Coffee Pot,
it's like,
I'd start to reach for it.
Oh, there's donuts and clairs!
Get out of there!
Were leaving.
Mornings are the best.
Evenings...
Last night when
the crew went out
to dinner and
they all went to Mexican,
it's one of my favorites.
They got no respect for me,
of course.
Going out and having Mexican,
Im at home with a kale juice.
He'd say,
"Things are going well, Mum",
and he'd say
it's difficult sometimes
when the crew are in
the restaurants eating
and he'd be sitting in the car
and I'd feel for him.
And then I'd get off the phone and
then I'd go to eat something
and I'd find that
very difficult because...
I'd think, oh my God,
he's sitting in that car,
having some juice
and I'm just about to get
into a beautiful meal.
Got my juice.
One thing I'm just
totally stunned by
is just how much energy I have
by just drinking juice.
Now I know
I can't do this forever,
so I'm hoping that this fast
will be enough
to reboot my system.
And believe it or not,
I'm actually looking forward to
eating more fruits and vegetables.
How are ya mate, my name's Joe.
Phil Staples.
How much driving
do you have to do?
How many miles a year
would you do?
Anywhere close to 150,000.
Im actually just doing my own little research,
trying to get myself well.
I've got a medical condition,
I'm trying to cure.
I'm this big because of
steroids and driving.
For what, what's the issue?
It's called Urticarius Vasculitis
Yeah Urticaria.
That's what I've got.
Your immune system's overactive?
- Yeah, yeah.
- Same here.
That's extraordinary, mate,
cause you're about the only,
first people in the world
that I've ever met,
that's got the same thing
that I've got.
What's the worst thing about it,
for you? What do you find?
The swelling, the blisters,
and the pain.
Is it hard to find good food
on the road?
Oh yeah.
It's mostly either fried,
and these places, like pizza,
hamburgers, pre-made hamburgers.
Fasting, I've found,
fasting works for me,
so maybe it'll work for you.
And I'm betting my life on it.
And now I really am
betting my life, that,
this is the way to go.
I'm willing to bet my life, too.
Let's walk over here
and we'll go and get a juice
I've got my battery hooked up,
and I've got my juicer.
Alright.
And out it comes over here
on the other side.
Come on. You can have a go.
You gotta push it down, right?
- That's not too hard, is it?
- That ain't too hard.
You've probably got power
in the truck, have ya?
Oh yeah, I could power that
in my truck.
Now this stuff
will save your life.
- Smells good.
- It does, doesn't it?
Wow, that's pretty good.
Not bad, is it?
It's better than the juice
you've been buying in the bottle.
- Cheers. Good health.
- Yeah.
I would suggest that
you eat micronutrient food
for two months, then
you can do your first fast.
If you want,
I'll give you my details,
you can call me,
I'll talk you through it,
help you through it.
And if you're not down
to 210, 220 lbs,
I'll eat my hat.
It's unbelievable, I can spend
eight years
with this illness, where I've met
maybe one or two,
but not exactly the same.
And I'm in a bloody truck stop
in Winslow, Arizona,
and I run into someone.
Similar age to me, too.
He's had it four years.
Unbelievable.
Unbelievable.
I'll tell you what,
the smell in here
is about to drive me insane.
Of all the foods
I think that there is that
you can put in front of somebody,
hot bread
that's fresh baked,
that smells so wonderful,
is probably the hardest thing
to turn down.
It was for me, because
I was about ready to give up.
Do you need anything else
right now?
And...
the ribs,
I'm not a meat eater,
but let me tell ya,
those barbecued ribs
were really, really lookin' good.
They smelled good.
This ain't good compared to that.
This is a big challenge.
This is...
a challenge that I did not
expect to be so tough.
I did not realize how weak I am
where food is concerned.
G'day, Siong, how are ya?
I'm fine, Joe,
how are you doing?
I'm feeling
pretty good.
You're looking great.
Oh, thank you. We're in...
You look pretty good too,
by the way.
I wanna hear all about it.
How are you feeling?
Give me the run down.
I'm feeling really good.
Energy levels mostly up.
Less fatigue then even
when I'm not fasting.
I'm not having any headaches
whatsoever,
so it's really been
- ...a wonderful experience.
- That's great.
I can even tell on the webcam
that your face
is looking a lot clearer
and cleaner and ...
I think things are just kind of...
clearing up all over,
from head to toe.
She just seemed like everything
was out of control for her,
and since she's been
on this fast, why,
things are starting to
take shape in her life,
where she has some control
over her weight
and her attitude and her sleep.
These types of things.
She was totally...
totally in despair really,
to tell you the truth about
her body and her sleep and
her physical...
her spiritual life was good,
but her physical life
was deteriorating.
So that's good news for me,
and her.
I feel so much different now
from when I started.
Being healthy, no headaches,
that's the best part.
It's incredible.
I'm not going for skinny,
I'm just going for healthy.
No regrets, none whatsoever.
I'd do it again, in fact,
I probably will.
So here I am,
on the morning of Day 61.
I thought what better way
to break my fast
than 2,000 feet above the earth
on a beautiful morning.
Up in that balloon,
I renewed my commitment
to eat nothing but
micronutrient food
until I was free
of my medication.
And then the real test.
Would I be able to achieve
and maintain
a life with balance?
Here goes.
I actually bit my mouth.
I'm out of practice.
So the great news is,
I'm back in Australia.
Eight weeks since
I've been in that balloon.
And guess what?
No medication.
That's right,
I've been one whole week
on absolutely no prednisone.
It's the best feeling ever.
It's just sensational.
The changes I've made
are not only helping my body,
they're also making a
big difference to my mind.
I invest my own money
in growing businesses,
both in the US.
and here in Australia.
So we found the right guy,
we're confident that
he's the right guy for us?
Hello, mis is
Shane Hudson speaking...
it's Joe, how are ya, mate?
So what have we got here?
So this is one of the
dresses from
the Collection Spring/Summer.
What I know hes never looked
so good before,
and actually I find
that in board
meetings now,
he thinks so clearly.
Its actually
quite interesting.
And I wonder if it's because
the food, the intake, the...
it's cleaner,
so therefore his thought
processes are cleaner.
Theres definitely a difference.
So there I am,
back in Australia,
working on the new Joe,
the healthier Joe,
the happier Joe.
I was on top of the world,
and then...
You've reached the U.S. cell
phone of Joe Cross.
Unfortunately
Pm in Australia right now,
please leave a message,
and I will get back to you.
Thanks for calling.
I just got a
really disturbing phone call,
and, it was Phil Staples,
that truck driver I met in...
Winslow, Arizona
that has the same
awful disease condition
that I have.
I offered him help and
I've gotta do that.
I've gotta get over there and
see what I can do.
The last few years,
I've been takin' so many pills,
it's just amazing.
I'm so tired of it.
It's just not right, I mean,
no energy to even walk.
Always in pain
because of the weight
on my knees and my legs.
My back,
I don't feel like walking
and I know I should.
So we just got into Sioux Falls,
not far from Sheldon.
Here to see Phil.
After we talked on the phone,
he decided to try
a 'IO-day juice fast.
You know I really think
Phil can do the 10 days.
He seems very committed.
I spoke to him
on the phone a couple of times.
Hes at the beginning
of his journey.
You gotta admire
the bloke though,
he's taking some time off work.
That's not easy.
You know,
he hasn't got a lot of,
a lot of means,
financially that is.
He's putting his health first.
How are ya, mate?
Good to see ya!
How you doing?
I'm here...
ready to go.
You look a lot better then
the last time I seen you.
Ya reckon?
You see a difference?
I see a big difference,
now I want to get there.
Oh mate, you'll get here,
and listen mate,
in true Australian form,
I bought you a present.
Thanks.
Now this is a...
See, this is Australian,
these are our colors, green and
gold are our sporting colors
for our country.
So you've got Australia there,
our flag,
What do you see
on the front there?
A kangaroo.
Eh?
Yeah, here you go, mate.
This is the beginning.
Have a look at the size on it.
Alright, now what are you
normally into?
- This is a six.
- So what's this gonna be?
- A challenge.
- The target.
That's right.
This is life or death for you
right now in my view.
- I mean this really is.
- Yeah, this is.
Yeah, you didn't know me
when I was sick but,
I'm looking in a mirror here.
This is how I was.
I wasn't as big as you,
but I was on my way.
Isn't it scary
when your parents
or your relatives or your
loved ones start talking to you,
and they're asking you
whether you want to be buried
or cremated because
you're big enough that
it's going to be tough
to bury you.
It's going to be expensive
to bury you,
so they ask about cremation.
For healthy people, doing a
But when you're on
prescription medication,
you need to be supervised
by a doctor.
We brought Phil in
for a full check-up,
just to make sure there was
nothing else seriously wrong.
What will you be able
to tell from that?
If his heart is structurally
sound, if hes had any
disease or problems
from being overweight.
So far, everything
was looking good.
More tests to go,
blood to be taken,
and then to the Dexa Machine
to measure Phil's fat
and muscle content.
Sorry but the weight limit
on the table is 350 so...
you won't fit.
The table won't move
properly the way it should.
I'll be too heavy for it.
It depresses me when
somebody calls me "big guy".
I want to be known as...
Phil again.
Instead of walking up
behind somebody
and scaring the tar out of 'em
because they see
this rather large,
angry-looking man,
who's not really angry.
I'm just in pain.
Go ahead and stand up straight.
OK, six foot, one inch.
Weight is 4296.
What do you do for exercise,
anything right now?
Walk from the truck
to the truck stop.
OK.
Cause all this is just too much
to carry for me right now.
- It hurts to walk very far.
' Yep, WP-
How about your feet and ankles?
Have you had
a lot of problems with swelling?
Oh yeah.
It's mostly worse
on the left foot.
OK.
You're at more risk of
getting skin breakdown
where you'll get ulcers and stuff
that can get infected
just like diabetes so...
You are 429 pounds,
which gives you
a body mass index,
and that's your weight
versus your height,
and ideally we like that
less than 25.
You're at 58,
which is in the extreme obesity,
or morbid obesity.
You know, you're almost off the
scales for, a few more pounds
and I wouldn't have been able
to measure you
on this type of scale.
And what's the prognosis if
Phil does nothing about
anything and just keeps going
the way he's going?
What do you think he has
the unpleasant things
to look forward to?
If he doesn't lose weight
and keeps going,
he'll get diabetes,
your blood pressure
will continue to rise,
which will require
numerous medications
to keep it under control.
With your family history and
your high blood pressure,
you will be at risk
of having a heart attack.
If you have a heart attack and
your heart dilates from
the heart attack
and from your blood pressure,
you will eventually
not be able to breathe
and go into heart failure.
If the sleep apnea that you
probably have from the weight
continues,
you're at risk of heart failure,
which means then you're on pills
to get rid of the extra fluid.
You limit your ability to
walk any further, and
you're at risk of sudden death
because of your weight.
You could just
not wake up one morning.
Scary.
Phil got the all clear
from the doc
to start a 10-day juice fast.
So, it was off
to the supermarket
to buy
some fruit and vegetables.
You'll never guess
who we bumped into
in the car park.
So this is your brother?
This is my brother Barry, "Bean"
Barry, " Bea r."
So mate,
what do you think about his...
current situation,
where he's at now?
He needs help.
But I think, if this works
it'd be good for him.
- Has he always been like this?
- No.
- He used to be a scrawny kid.
- What do you think happened?
That's hard to say
'cause I let myself go too.
I used to be 200 pounds.
And now I'm up around 300.
But that's my own fault.
I don't exercise like I should,
I don't eat right.
That's a lot of Phil's problem.
He doesn't exercise or eat right.
I just hope this works,
'cause he needs it.
Were gonna
get him some groceries.
Alright, I just got mine,
my ice cream melting.
See you mate.
- See ya later bro.
- All the best.
Given that Phil had never done
anything like this before,
we thought it'd be good to
get him away from all temptation.
Dr. Badberg suggested
Phil should do some exercise,
starting off with
some light walking and swimming.
So, we found a great place
by the lake.
From my point of view,
you know, ten days
is a huge achievement and
it'd be a huge win,
and you're gonna feel,
you know, terrific
at the end of that.
I have no doubt
you're gonna feel terrific.
What would be a good breakfast
for juice in the morning?
To start with?
Well, I used to start
with fruit,
and then just go
into vegetables,
with a touch of fruit sometimes
the rest of the day.
It looks good.
That looks good, doesn't it?
Looks good to me.
Good luck, mate.
Ooh, that's good.
- You like it?
- I like that.
How much do you feel
like walking?
I could do five minutes out
and five minutes back.
OK, a ten-minute walk.
That's a good start.
Alright, let's go.
He was depressed.
He was on the border of,
I think, suicide.
He was trying to
kill himself with food.
When Joe got a hold of him,
it struck
a responsive chord in him,
and I think it's great.
Now you know you can get me
on the phone.
Yes.
Give me a call, you know,
it's gonna be tough but
I know you can do it.
I've got it now, I think.
There ain't nobody to blame
in this but me.
I stand up
and I can't see my toes.
I'm not happy with it.
I can't clean myself
well around it.
When I go to the restroom,
you know, that's quite...
I would almost
say a circus act.
I guess you could say,
takes creative thinking to get
to clean the areas down there.
I didn't really start
putting on weight
until after the Air Force
and came home
and I started to eat
because I wasn't happy,
and I chose that.
And it's been that way ever since,
slowly isolating myself.
I started getting into
truck driving again.
My excuse was I was following
in Dad's footsteps.
'Cause Dad was a truck driver.
But, you know,
staying in the truck and
staying out a longtime
and isolating and eating
nothing but greasy foods,
that's when it all started.
It didn't get real bad until
after the second divorce.
That's when I really started
putting the weight on.
'Cause I thought
I was a real failure.
So I just started eating til
I couldn't eat no more.
Because of my health and
what's been going on with me,
I've been a horrible father.
I don't want any of my kids
to see me like this. I don't.
Not even my youngest boy,
he's eight years old.
Hes at the age when he
really needs to see his father.
I'm hiding because of this,
I haven't even
given him a chance.
When I start
getting down to where
I start feeling
better about myself,
and being able to do things
with my youngest son,
throw a football or
baseball in the park.
Walking with him to see
the games and stuff like that.
Even just walking around town
and talking with him
about his day and what he
has going on in his young life.
I want to be around there
for that,
for one thing, you know.
Being what I call
a cheeseburger away
from a heart attack
is not a good thing.
Thats what also gets me upset.
I'm afraid to do
anything with him.
He's the one I'm working for.
They all, my oldest children,
all want to see me,
skinny and handsome again.
They've seen pictures,
they'd like to see that again.
What I'd like to do is lose
a decent amount of weight.
Even 20 to 30 pounds
would make me happy.
I was a championship swimmer
when I was eight and under,
I was winning trophies
and medals on the swim team.
If I wouldn't have quit,
I probably would've gone
to the Olympics.
I've broken a lot of goals.
But for my health
and for my life,
this is a goal
I'm going to keep and stick with
and work on.
Healthy, healthy, healthy.
This is my main goal.
Phil's eating habits
were typical
of the average American diet.
As a percentage of calories,
roughly 60% of what we eat
is processed and refined foods...
and just 5% are
fruits and vegetables,
the foods which provide most
of our micronutrients
Without those micronutrients,
our cells are weakened
and susceptible to a whole
gang of diseases.
But Phil has turned that around.
He's taken
his fruit and veg intake
from 5% up to the maximum 100%.
Fruits and vegetables are
the delivery system
that brings the sun's energy
to our cells,
giving them
the micronutrients they need.
The micronutrients not only
nourish the cells,
they also clean
and remove the waste.
And help them resist
all those diseases.
And that's why
what you eat is so important.
But I'll leave the details
to the experts.
I have this poster,
this study was done
with Barbara Sarter, a PhD
at the University of
Southern California,
and with Dr. Colin Campbell
at Cornell University,
on people undergoing weight loss
who were diabetic,
or high blood pressure,
or heart disease.
And actually in this study
where they follow
what we call
a vegetable-based diet,
the pyramid has
vegetables at the base,
fruits and beans, whole grains,
nuts and seeds,
and then animal products
are in a smaller amount.
We're talking about
twice weekly or
less generally speaking,
and not eating processed foods,
that this healthy diet resulted
in the most weight loss
of any study
ever recorded
in medical history.
The average person lost 53 pounds,
and they kept it off. The people
didn't gain the weight back.
Now I wouldn't mind if,
it wouldn't be so terrible
if people were well-educated
and well-inform ed,
they didn't have to die,
and they could make the choice
to commit suicide with food.
But the unfortunate thing is
most Americans
are not properly informed.
It's just like they can say,
you gonna smoke cigarettes?
You wanna smoke,
go ahead and do it.
You're gonna have a heart attack,
you're gonna get cancer.
You can't escape from the
biological laws
of cause and effect.
What happens to you is gonna be
the same thing that happens
to every other American.
And you're gonna have
a healthcare crisis,
and you're gonna run to doctors
looking for medications to control those symptoms,
our headaches,
our fatigue,
our allergies,
our auto-immune conditions,
our digestive disturbances.
We're gonna be
medical-crippled society
because were eating a diet style
that couldn't be better designed
by the best nutritional scientist
in the world,
to create the epidemic of disease
that we have in America.
And of course obesity, diabetes,
and all these diseases
of nutritional ignorance.
When you're on a juice fast,
there's always something.
Something that
makes you wanna break.
Some obstacle,
something thats there that
makes it oh so tough.
For Phil,
it was a barbecue
on the Fourth of July.
What I normally do is I'd
normally stuff my face, brother.
Potato salad, hot dogs,
ham burgers, steaks,
soda pop, milk.
And now I gotta watch that...
and drink
this.
Nice to meet you, Phil,
I'm Joanie.
- Joanie, and I'm Ray.
- Nice to meet you.
So what did you make here Phil?
It's fruits and vegetables.
It's good.
It's not bad, I could do it.
- You drink that big glass?
- This is my meal, every meal.
Do you feel full when
you're done with that?
Yeah, I do actually.
You've been on it five days?
I've been on it five days
and I've already lost 15, no,
And I drink water.
But you also inspire me.
It's not just for people my size,
it's for everybody.
I'm gonna go for it.
I like this stuff.
It was fun,
I was excited.
My first conversion,
so it was really wonderful.
I'm just
a simple 42-year-old
truck driver from Iowa.
You know.
I'm not
the head of NASA,
the head of a corporation,
you know,
and I'm not
the village idiot either,
thank God for that.
Were taught to eat in
the bible, in the New Testament.
Jesus fasted for 40 days.
John the Baptist fasted.
The Apostles fasted with Jesus.
And its not just
Christians that fast.
Most religious people,
including Muslims, Jews,
Hindus and Buddhists,
they all fast.
I reckon they're onto something.
How are you mate?
I'm doing good mate,
I'm down 30 pounds.
What day are we on Phil?
That'll be Day 9,
Day 10, I'm losing track.
What's been the toughest thing
about the last ten days?
July Fourth weekend!
It all got to my food addiction,
the hamburgers, the hot dogs,
the old me.
I was talking to a guy
by his grill,
and I'm not gonna lie to you,
the thought
flashed through my head
while I was talking to him to
reach behind him,
pick up a hot dog
straight off the grill
and eat it.
That thought actually
raced through my mind.
What stopped you from doing it?
Common sense.
I'm doing this to make
my life healthier.
I'd like to go 30 days for now.
I want to make sure that you feel
that going on
is of your own volition,
that you don't feel like
you have to do it for anyone else.
Are you sure you want to
do it for yourself?
I wanna do it for myself.
I've already figured it out.
In the ten days
that we've done this,
I've dropped two bowling balls.
Nothing would make me happier
than you beating me my friend.
Ill tell you what.
It's probably not
the easiest thing to do but
it's well worth it.
I mean just by looking at him,
you know it's worth it.
My mom has tried so many
different things,
every diet pill that's
on the Walmart shelf,
or wherever she
finds it, on TV whatever.
I mean she's spent
thousands of dollars and
this is one thing
she hasn't tried
and if it works
this well for him,
I mean why wouldn't it
work for everyone else?
And it's all natural,
thats probably the best thing,
I think this would be perfect.
If I could just get her
to try it now.
Damn I hate that ball.
Hello?
Well hello.
Wow, look at you!
Your valves all look good.
Your hearts squeezing better
than it was last time.
So it appears that whatever
you're doing is working.
Hello.
- Hello.
- How we doing?
I feel good.
Evidently by the tests,
I'm doing good.
You are doing well.
You went from 429
to 368.
So that's a 60 pound weight loss
in a month. That's excellent.
Your blood pressure went down
from 160 over 84
which would be high blood
pressure, down to 136 over 70,
which is a perfectly normal
blood pressure.
Cool.
And your triglycerides,
which is your fats in your body
were at 216.
Today your total triglycerides
are down to 161,
which is almost
in the normal range.
My medication,
do you think eventually if
I keep continue this,
I'm sure wed need tests,
but maybe that you could
take it off
or lower it, if I need it.
We would probably be able to
lower it,
if not get rid of it completely
- as things improve.
- OK.
How is your Urticaria doing?
I haven't had an outbreak
in over a week now.
Usually I have something,
a small spot here and there.
OK.
I want to continue this fast.
You think it'd be alright
if I'd continued?
Yes.
Everything looks
very good on you.
There's no signs that it is
causing you any adverse effects.
If anything,
you're much healthier
than you were a month ago.
Cool.
Well isn't that
just unbelievable!
It's wonderful
lam very happy and excited
I mean it's nothing
short of a miracle.
That's pretty much right...
All these little victories are
making me happy.
Oh man, congratulations Phil,
well done mate,
- I brought some juice.
- You brought some juice?
Would you like to try some of
my juice that I've been drinking?
Sure.
Mostly green vegetables
as you can tell.
That's why we call it
Mean Green."
I'll give you
a little shot there.
Cheers.
Who would have
thought Phil that one day,
a truck driver from
Iowa such as yourself
would be bringing
medicine to a hospital!
It's a little ironic, isn't it?
Phil's not the only one
with good news.
Six months
after I finished my fast,
I'm 90 pounds lighter.
- No pain in the chest?
- No.
Good.
that affect us now
are caused by our life choices.
How we exercise, if we smoke,
what we eat,
that's saturated fats,
carbohydrates, salt and alcohol.
Now...
Can you have some of that?
Sure.
Most people have too much of it.
Who would've thought
I'd get excited about
a broccoli salad?
He certainly
changed his lifestyle.
He didn't just change what
went in his mouth,
he became more active,
he stopped drinking alcohol.
He doesn't drink tea and coffee,
and he doesn't buy
manufactured, processed foods.
What he's done
will go a long way to prevent
him from getting heart disease,
cancer,
mental illness,
diabetes,
and a range of other
medical conditions because
he's committed himself
to a healthier lifestyle.
And he did it at 40.
Look at you!
I've shed some, haven't I?
To be fair to Joe, he's probably
been an inspiration to us.
- Yeah, I'd say that's true.
- I'd hate to admit that.
- Yeah, don't tell him.
- No, please don't tell him,
Do not tell him.
We don't need to
feed that machine.
We definitely think
we should do it.
He got me to try and do it,
and I did it for three days.
And I rang him and I said mate,
I had headaches, I was cross,
I couldn't sleep,
I couldn't concentrate at work,
I said "I don't know
how you do it,
but I can't do this any more,
"I need a meat pie."
Are you ready for this?
Well hang on to your pineapples!
Because Phil fasted for
another 30 days.
That's right,
a total of 60 days
on nothing but fresh fruit
and vegetable juice.
As the weeks passed,
he had more and more energy
and his face began to glow and
in this community he has
inspired so many people.
He felt so good,
he wanted to spread the word.
So...
he started
a community juice fast.
Kale.
Here's how it worked.
The store got a hold
of 10 juice machines,
which they would lend out to
those willing to give it a go.
What did they have to do?
Six days, on nothing but juice,
as long as they consulted
their family doctor.
- I think it's good.
- I like it too.
The response was off the charts.
And people were already
signing up for the next one.
Well, the first day
I wondered why I did it,
'cuz you know I wanted to eat,
and the third night,
I got home from a 14-hour day,
where I usually would have
went to bed,
I went outside and I worked
for an hour and a half,
come in and I got on
the computer for an hour,
then I watched TV for
an hour and finally went to bed
at 10:30 and had
to get up at 4:00, so...
I know I had a lot more energy.
At Day 4, I felt amazing.
I sleep really well.
I lost eight pounds.
I'm down 15 pounds.
Got on the scale this morning
and I've lost 22 lbs,
so I'm tickled.
Today I just weighed myself
and I'm down 91 lbs, which is
six bowling balls,
ladies and gentlemen.
So that is what I used to carry
all over my body.
Good morning,
how are you doing today?
- I'm doing wonderful.
- Good.
How about the decrease
in the methotrexate?
That's going wonderful.
I was wondering if I could get it dropped some more sometime.
You can probably drop some,
some more,
you've been five weeks
without flares?
Without any flares.
Not even so much as pain
or an itch.
Once we get you off
the methotrexate,
then we can get you off
the hydroxychloroquine.
OK.
Eventually we'll have you
off of all of them.
When are you going to go
back to work and do all?
I intend to, hopefully,
I'm not going back
to driving trucks.
That darn near killed me.
I've got a few
applications up at the lake
for, you know, active jobs.
You know,
physically moving around.
So what's your family think?
They're all proud of me,
they're all happy.
My brother's a little jealous
'cause I'm catching up to him.
He's going up
and I'm coming down.
You know what I like,
I like Spam.
I know I shouldn't like Spam,
but I do.
It's nothing but ham with...
I eat Spam.
I love Spam too.
I used to have it in the truck.
Oh yeah.
I mean probably on the weekends
I could juice a little.
And I planned on doing some
walking and
a little exercise
here and there.
With me, it's the...
social, job, family limitations.
Yeah.
You know, if I did it, then...
Well, you know,
I'd be tempted by what
they have over here.
Then I'd probably fall
off the wagon.
You don't have to do it
as long as I have.
I mean you can do it
so that you can detox
and rebalance your body
like for a week.
It'd take longer than a week
to detox this truck.
I get that question a lot.
Do I have to do it
as long as you?
No.
You can do it for ten days,
I'd recommend at least a week
because, you know,
the first few days
you're gonna feel kind of leh,
you're gonna feel kind of
nauseous 'cause you're detoxing.
And then after a while,
you get energetic
and everything, and then,
you give it awhile.
Yeah, that's my problem,
trying to put
That would make a mess.
And it should be a
very good proving point
to a lot of people that
you can make
very radical lifestyle changes
without having to have surgery
or medicine or a quick fix.
This is gonna be longer lasting
cause you've completely changed
how you eat and
everything about the way
you live your life.
When I go off this,
I already got my mind made up,
I'm gonna just eat soup
and salad for a while.
I have no desire to eat any of
that fast food right now.
It's gone.
This is something
I've always wanted to do,
is to help people,
in some way or another,
knowing that
I helped Eugene out,
it made my life so much better.
- Hi, come on in.
- Hey Bear.
- Hi, come on in.
- Hey Bear.
Come on in the kitchen,
I'm gonna go sit down,
if you don't mind.
What happened?
I went up to Sioux Falls
and I had my knee scoped,
and it was right about two hours
after we got home,
and I had this pain
right across my chest,
I was hurtin'.
I thought it was gas...
And then it just kind of
creeped up into my jaw.
Its like I had lockjaw.
Oh, it just hurt so bad.
And then I got light-headed,
short of breath,
hot sweats just came through.
I was leaning on
my dresser going,
"Oh whatever this is,
make it stop,
"this is not right."
I told Claudia,
You better take me to the
hospital, somethings wrong.
And they hauled me up
to the hospital,
laid me on the table,
stripped me, wired me up,
they said I was having
a heart attack.
Scared the tar out of me.
Scared the tar
out of me too, bro.
I don't wanna lose
my big brother, you know.
What kind of medication
did they put you on?
What do you have in there?
Got a little bit of everything.
Some aspirin.
OK.
A blood thinner.
Metformin, that's for
my Type 2 diabetes
That's Mavic for my heart.
Lipitor, I think that's
that cholesterol pill,
I'm not sure.
A couple other..
The heart attack kind of
opened my eyes.
The way I was living was
not right.
And I'd like to get off
these pills.
Yeah.
Cause a lot of pills,
that's not right.
I'll end up growing a third eye
or something.
All right,
what are we startin' with?
It's usually
best to start with the kale
because the rest
of the vegetables wash it in
and mix it up.
Then just shove it down.
I got it, go ahead.
- Like that?
- Yep.
I think we can live
with this for a while.
Not full bore.
No, I'm not asking you to go
full bore because
in your condition right now,
it's not recommended.
I mean use it as
a supplement to your diet.
Something like,
you wake up in the morning and
you grab a glass of juice,
Mean Green, and
you can go on about your day.
I've always looked up
to my brother
He knows this is serious,
he knows this has helped me,
so he's starting to listen now,
he's starting to realize that
he can't be real selfish.
Hes gotta think of Claudia
and Vanessa and his son, Barry,
and the rest of us.
Little brother leads the way
kind of a thing.
Hello Dennis!
How are ya mate?
God, you look different.
- Oh thanks mate.
- You look great.
- How ya been, alright?
- Great, terrific.
- Doing good?
- Yea, very good.
- You're a new person
- I'm trying mate.
You look great!
Trying.
Hey the girls
will come on you, hear me?
Doing my best mate.
When I started this journey,
I thought it was
all about the juice fast.
But as I now know,
that was only the beginning.
For the most part,
it's been about maintaining
a balanced lifestyle.
One thing I know for sure:
if I go back to my old ways,
I'll end up back where
I started in no time.
So, the choice is mine.
I'm under 300!
Yeah!
Before all this, yeah, I was
probably like the rest of
the American people out here
who had bad eating habits,
but I'm taking
full responsibility for my life.
It was my life,
I almost ruined it,
now I need to repair it.
That Phil at 430 pounds was real dark and just didnt care.
Well he's died.
That Phil has gone.
Now I'm feeling much better,
I'm getting clearer.
I'm starting to realize a
lot of things, and you know,
working my way through them.
The food is in itself too,
is also making me feel better.
I'm feeling so much better then
I did at the end of June.
So were down here
on Manly Beach.
I used to come here
as a little kid,
my dad and my brother,
park the car up here,
roll out down,
straight into the surf.
Get bashed by a few waves.
It's terrific!
And afterwards,
wed head up to an
ice cream shop just up here,
and I'd have a double chocolate
ice cream cone,
and all was good in the world.
Boy, those were the days.
We fast-forward 35 years,
and I've been on a journey.
An expanding one,
and right now,
a contracting one.
I'm very proud.
He did an excellent job.
He's lost the weight,
I hope he continues...
Ready, set, go!
Once the weight started coming
off and he started to see
that he was doing this,
his demeanor changed,
his attitude changed,
and the lower he got,
I think the better he felt.
You're getting better.
As far as me doing it?
No.
I heard you spent the weekend
at grandpa's place?
- I bring my BB gun.
- Cool.
I feel great since the fast.
I don't have
the migraines any more,
so that is a big, huge plus.
Even if I'm not fasting,
I still have to have the juicing
because of the nutrients in it.
It's just a normal part of my
everyday life now.
I feel like
I'm 21 years old again.
Show you how to do
this Wii thing.
Show me this Wii Fit.
See if you can keep up
with the old fat guy.
Swivel, swivel.
Keep swiveling.
Put some action into it.
Come on.
I'm working on it.
Wanna see ski jump?
Ski jump's cool.
Dad loves playing golf,
and finally after eight years,
Joe and Dad are back on the
golf course playing together
and I think thats fantastic.
Ah yes!
- Good shot!
- Right in the middle.
- Beauty mate.
- Good shot, eh?
- Thanks, Dad.
- Good on ya mate.
Skoal and L'Chaim,
all that stuff.
To your health.
He's got me to see the...
the changes in him
can help change me.
So we're going
to try to change me.
That was a pretty good batch.
Better than this morning.
I wonder what I did different.
I dunno.
I peeled the lemon.
That's what it was.
I'm proud
that he's gotten this far
and hopefully
he'll be proud of me.
I've gone from someone who knew,
to someone who would do.
And, that's just helped my journey,
my journey along,
and I'm hoping that
I'm gonna stick around here
a bit longer.
And as for my journey, well,
it ain't over yet.
Got a long way to go,
I hope.
Captioning: LVT-New York
Ah, you got the tomatoes?
Yeah, I got the tomatoes.
How many do you want?
They're two for a dollar.
Ah good, two for a dollar
I'll take four tomatoes.
Gonna try to take one onion.
One onion, you get two for a dollar.
Alright, I'll take two.
- How much is all that?
- Four dollars.
Four dollars.
That's not very expensive, is it?
No, not really.
- You can have that, that's fine.
- Alright, thanks.
Alright guys, thank you very much.
- Y'all come back now.
- I will now.
Happy Thanksgiving.
You all have a good time.
Alright mate, see ya!
I thought it'd be nice to find
somewhere off the freeway,
amongst nature,
a beautiful spot
here in Arkansas and...
juice up my Thanksgiving lunch,
which has no turkey in it
by the way.
I think in a funny way
I'm thankful that I got sick
because if I didn't get sick,
that was my body telling me
to slow down and get well.
Who knows,
if I hadn't had got sick,
I might not have ever
slowed down and I might have already
had a heart attack and died, so...
We'll never know.
I'm thankful for that.
Quay.
My name's Joe Cross,
and I'm an Australian,
in case you couldn't work
that out from the accent.
I've just arrived
in the United States.
I'm not gonna eat
any of your food.
I've come here
to fast for 60 days.
All I'm gonna do is drink juice,
green juice.
Why am I doing this?
Well, let me show you.
Take a good hard look at my gut.
How many pizzas, burgers, fries,
and cokes do you reckon I inhaled
to create that masterpiece?
I'm certainly no picture of health.
I look like
I've swallowed a sheep.
Not only am I overweight,
I'm also sick.
For the past nine years,
I've been taking pills,
night and day,
just to get by.
But as of today,
I'm saying enough is enough.
I know what you're thinking...
"Can't you just eat the fruit
and vegetables? Why juice?"
Well, have a look at just
how many vegetables
it takes to make one juice.
I don't care how hungry I am,
I don't think I could eat this
four times a day.
So, by juicing,
I'm super-charging
my nutrient intake.
That's a lot, isn't it?
I've tried this before
but never for this long.
In the past, I've always
gone back to my old ways.
This time, once I'm done,
I'm determined to adopt
a healthy lifestyle.
But first,
I have to get through
the next 60 days.
So, I have a plan.
For the next 30, I'm gonna hang in
and around New York,
and after that, I'm gonna drive
across the country.
What I'm doing is
a documentary on health.
- About what?
- Health.
- Health?
- You know, what we eat.
I'm actually going across America,
on a tour around the States.
I've got a thing called
Chronic Urticaria,
which is like a chronic rash.
- You got a what?
- An illness, like a disease.
I put myself there
by having a lot of junk food,
eating a lot of crap,
not eating vegetables,
not eating fruits.
I believe
what we put into our body
is very important as
to how healthy we're gonna be.
I'm on a juice fast.
You ever heard of fasting?
Fasuma..
Water...
and vegetable juice.
and about six to eight months
of eating just vegetables,
fruits, nuts and beans.
That's crazy.
- I don't think I'd survive.
- I reckon you would.
- That is unbelievable.
- I know, tell me about it.
You wanna know what else
is unbelievable?
Is just how many doctors I went to
when I first got sick.
In fact, I went to six of them.
I had skin biopsies and tests to see
if I reacted to certain things.
I took a bunch of different pills.
I even spent 14 days in hospital.
When none of that worked,
I started exploring
alternative paths:
Massage...
Acupuncture...
Chinese herbalists...
Mud baths...
Cell and hair analysis...
Even witchdoctors
The list was endless.
And then I thought, hang on!
When I scraped my knee as a kid,
I didn't have to do anything
as long as I got out of the way,
it just got better.
If the body can heal itself
on the outside,
why can't it heal itself
on the inside?
So what have I been doing wrong?
Well for starters,
I had my priorities out of whack.
I'd been focusing on my wealth,
rather than my health.
And look where that got me!
And this is only the beginning.
Now I'm on a mission
to cure myself,
which means...
no more pills.
Well, it's the morning
of Day One.
Time to visit Dr. Joel Fuhrman,
a leading expert in nutrition.
You don't have a common condition,
but it's related to
an autoimmune phenomenon.
I've seen patients
with this condition do pretty well
and even get rid of it.
Alright Joe, step on the scale.
The moment of truth.
- Check it out.
- Here we go.
Dr. Fuhrman agreed
to supervise my fast,
as long as I got a blood test
every ten days.
Permanent results only come from
permanent changes in
lifestyle and diet style.
You don't get permanently well
unless you permanently change
the way you live.
Let's see
what your waist is.
The tape's long enough?
The fasting period itself
can be used as
a time where you're gonna
retrain your taste buds.
So if it's something that
really helps motivate you
to stay with healthy eating
thereafter,
then its done its job.
Hello?
G'day Mum,
- Hi Joe,
- it's the morning of Day Two.
Oh dean only Day Two,
I've been very concerned
about you doing this.
It's just beyond me that
anybody can do this for 60 days.
The first few days
are the toughest.
Not eating, it's kind of like
you're cutting yourself
off from society.
When you're not eating food,
it just doesn't seem normal.
I couldn't even watch TV
because of all the commercials.
You don't want to be
around people,
and you don't want to be
around food.
I was happiest in bed.
I didn't wanna get out of bed.
I just wanted to lie there
and feel sorry for myself.
Day Three was today.
I had a pretty bad night
last night.
I felt very, very,
very much alone,
last night in the sense that...
it's like you've got this mammoth
task ahead of you and
without food,
you're really starting to hurt,
and you're feeling it.
You wanna go to sleep
and wake up in two months
and it's all done.
As the saying goes,
"You do the crime,
you do the time,"
and there's no question,
I've done the crime.
I mean, you know,
I really have...
I really have...
not been kind to my body.
You know it's...
it's a tough thing,
the emotional attachment to food,
its bloody tough.
These are the pills
I have to take.
This is a 5 mg tablet
of prednisone.
That's 15 mgs there.
Before I started on the fast,
that's how many
I was having a day.
Looking at these...
at these...
bottles here,
it doesn't look good.
If you're a fit, healthy,
young person, you shouldn't be
traveling around with
prescription drugs
and doing that, I mean it's...
You wouldn't have thought,
I would never have thought
that it'd be me,
that I would...
have to do this.
I was in California in 1999
and I played golf and I thought
maybe I touched some poison ivy,
and that night I went to bed.
I went to wake up the next morning
and it was up
my forearms and Shins
and very itchy and scratching.
It's like hives.
It's chronic hives.
It spread all over my body,
torso, and geez,
I was lit up
like a Christmas tree.
This is how
my autoimmune disease works:
When you get bit by a mosquito,
receptors under your skin
send a signal to your brain.
HQ, we got an invader
in Sector 3.
Scramble the histamines.
Roger that.
Histamines are being deployed.
Histamine makes the blood vessels
around the bite swell,
making it more difficult
for the poisons
in the mosquitoes' saliva
to spread through the body.
As a side effect,
the whole area is
swollen, red and itchy,
but with my disease,
the receptors
send the wrong messages.
A handshake is like getting bit by a thousand mosquitoes.
Mayday! Mayday!
All hell's
breakin' loose down here!
All histamines,
report to battle stations!
And this can happen at anytime
to any part of my body.
Just the smell,
just the smell is sensational.
Normally I'd eat two of those,
not two slices,
two whole pizzas.
I better get out of here.
So I've been coming to the US.
off and on for the last 35 years.
I even lived here
when I was a kid.
It's like a second home to me.
I reckon Americans
are super friendly.
Maybe that's because
I'm not from around here.
I also love American food,
and if I'm gonna really change
the way I live my life,
I'm the sort of bloke that likes
to tackle my demons head on.
So, I couldn't think of
a better place to be food free,
than here in the US.,
the home of the hamburger.
- Have you ever heard of fasting?
- Yeah.
Have you ever fasted?
Only when I ain't got
no money to eat, man!
It's the only time I fast.
I think I sent off for it,
it's ten bucks or something,
"How to Lose 12 pounds
in Four Days."
It consisted of...
First day you eat nothing
but nine franks.
You drink all the liquid,
or diet soda, but nine hot dogs.
- You have nine hot dogs.
- First day.
- I would never be able to do that.
- I would never fast.
- Why not?
- I don't have enough self-control.
And you?
I don't like not eating.
It doesn't seem healthy to me.
Second day, you have a fruit,
apple or a pear,
but you have to have nine apples.
I went four years one time
eatin' only on Monday,
Wednesday and Friday.
Third day, you had eggs.
Like a boiled egg. You could have
ten, nine boiled eggs.
I don't fast, I eat.
I eat fast,
but you know, I don't fast.
You eat fast.
The fourth day, you could have
a mixture of all three of those.
OK.
And that was the Four Day Diet.
- Did you lose any weight?
- I lost about 12 pounds.
I have no interest in it.
Every time I hear that
they're sick at the end,
they're grumpy.
They hate their kids,
they hate their husbands,
you know, they're pissed off.
Then they reach some high,
then they lose eight pounds,
then they gain it all back
in three weeks.
Yeah, right.
- Are y'all from Australia?
- I am from Australia.
- Yeah, I can tell...
- Why? You been there?
You got the Russell Crowe
thing happening.
- Have I? The accent?
- Yeah, the accent.
Yeah, I'm not as good
of an actor as him.
I hear you.
Right from the beginning
he loved his food.
He'd have a bottle,
but when it was finished,
he'd drink it so quickly,
then he would just throw it
the other side of the room.
And demand another one.
He was known for somebody
who loved Coca-Cola.
Like his father.
Love it!
When I got out of high school,
I was in good shape.
I skipped college,
went straight to work.
I got a job with a brokerage firm
and wound up on the trading floor
of the Sydney Futures Exchange.
After five years, I went
into business for myself.
And at age 23,
I was making a truckload of money
day-trading futures and shares.
Lots of cash meant fast cars,
big boats,
big nights out,
and in my case,
food, lots of food.
And boy,
didn't I give it a nudge.
In the years I've known him,
his weight fluctuated,
big time!
Went up and down
like a bride's nighty.
Cold, depression,
headache, hangover,
varicose vein,
menstrual, stress,
I would like you to make me
your favorite juice.
- My favorite juice?
- Yeah!
The cleansing cocktail?
The cleansing cocktail,
that sounds good.
- Carrot, apple, beet and ginger.
- Sounds good.
Step right over here,
hes gonna fix it for you.
- Beautiful. Thank you very much.
- Thank you, no problem.
So juice fasting, you're
still eating something,
you're drinking
nutrients.
Particularly a lot of
micronutrients
that are coming from
fruits and vegetables.
And because it's a liquid,
it's more rapidly absorbed.
So it's a quick, easy way
of giving your body
a very potent source
of healthy nutrients.
Now try to think about
the way we normally consider
juice in our country,
which is in a bottle,
in a grocery store.
Whether it says it has
sugar added to it or not,
it has been so processed
that it's not at all like
the fruit and vegetable juice
coming out of a juicer
that you're making at home.
How about a small apple juice please?
Thank you.
Like it doesn't seem logical
not to eat food.
I mean where did three meals
a day come from?
I mean who decided
we eat three meals a day?
Why isn't it six or seven?
Or...
two?
I don't understand that.
Spinach and beans.
It's gonna be...
a big part of my future.
I actually love spinach.
When you're eating three meals
a day and you're 41,
that sort of equates to
Now we go on holidays,
we sleep at night,
we give our car a service,
but we don't think about
giving our bodies a rest.
Part of being on this journey is
I've resigned myself
that I'm not gonna eat so...
Once you do that,
surprising how easy it is,
like...
Theres nothing gonna
break me here.
I'm not gonna have a panic attack
and run out and buy a donut.
Alright. OK.
All the energy I need
to digest,
to get through my day,
here it is here, look.
It's sitting here.
So,
I've gotta think about it that,
you know, the falafels that
I had say two months ago.
They're still sittin' there,
and, I gotta think mentally that
I'm actually having them now.
So the idea of fasting
is not unique.
In fact, fasting is part of
who we are as a human being.
You see, for millions of years
we basically lived by the philosophy
of hunter-gatherer.
But to survive when there wasn't
anything to hunt or gather,
we became like human refrigerators,
capable of storing food
and carrying it with us
for lean times.
So early man had a
tremendous amount of activity
just to survive.
In our current modern world,
we don't necessarily
have to expend much energy
and the reality is that
many people don't.
We have very sedentary jobs.
We're not chasing animals.
We're not running away
from animals.
We are riding to work,
sitting at our desk,
and sitting in front of the TV.
Yet we're consuming
far, far more calories,
particularly from processed,
refined foods,
convenience foods.
Actually 61% of the American diet
today is processed foods.
We're talking about oils,
sugar, flour, predominantly.
And the processing, which usually
involves cooking and heating,
also damages the food.
In other words, processed foods
don't even have probably 1/10
the original nutrients that were
in the food in the native state.
Day 31 today.
Half way.
Time for a change of scenery.
Actually this really ain't
too bad.
- Not bad is it?
- No, no.
So what do you think?
I'll have one with you.
That's OK.
What do you think?
No, you don't like it?
It tastes like grass.
Tastes like grass? Really?
If it tastes like grass, I think
a lot of people will drink it.
No, no, no!
What do you think?
Not bad at all.
What if I told you,
that I've only been juicing,
in other words, I've been drinking
this only for 39 days;
what would you say to that?
I'd say you're crazy as hell.
And is there any secret you'd like
to tell young people about
what's the secret to living
along and happy life?
Yeah, just be good and
kind and be obliged to everyone.
That's the answer?
What about eating the right food?
Certainly has a lot to do with it.
If you don't wanna be constipated,
eat the right food.
Ain't that the truth!
The closer a food is
to its natural state
the healthier it is.
So, it's like, why are fruits
and vegetables good for me?
Micronutrients are essentially
your vitamins and minerals.
Where do we get
these micronutrients?
They are predominantly found
in plant foods.
All plant foods are
beneficial and essential
for human health.
Everything from building muscle
to immune function,
preventing a cold,
staying healthy.
I found out that food
can be divided into two camps:
Micronutrient and macronutrient.
Micronutrient foods are vegetables,
fruits,
nuts,
seeds and beans.
Macronutrient food
is everything else.
So what sort of food
do you eat?
I eat almost anything.
Pizza, chicken, pork chops,
potatoes...
You have KFC on one corner...
You guys are looking for
a hot dog stand?
Yeah.
And then on that side of the street,
there's a Burger King.
Do you like Burger King?
A lot.
It's five past,
ten past eleven in the morning.
Why are we looking for
a hot dog stand?
Is this our breakfast,
or is this our snack between?
This is snack between
breakfast and lunch.
I'm a meat and potatoes guy.
My portions...
I don't eat the best, you know...
If I do have vegetables or fruits,
it's in moderation.
I eat no fruit and
I eat no vegetables.
- What was in there?
- Pepsi.
- What else do you eat?
- Mexican.
That's all? Only Mexican and Pepsi.
Nothing else?
I drink Coke.
Do you eat a lot of
fruit and vegetables?
No.
If I told you that
eating fruits and vegetables
really would keep you healthy...
Would that change
your outlook on them?
Probably not.
- OK and why's that?
- 'Cause I'm 16.
And your diet? How's that?
I eat a lot.
- What do you eat?
- Pie, cake, hamburgers.
And how many pounds are you now?
About 370, 380...
- That's pretty big.
- I know.
Doesn't a doctor say
you gotta watch what you eat?
But you don't bother with that,
you just eat anyway.
I can't,
I don't have any willpower.
I'm weak.
Whose fault do you reckon
it is that you're 330 lbs?
Me, I don't blame
nobody else but me
'cause nobody controls what I eat.
Nobody tells me what to eat.
It's my fault.
Them folks didn't put no gun on me
to make me eat their food.
In terms of that poor diet,
whose fault was that?
Me, me, me.
It's my fault for it, but look,
- I'm hooked on it.
- Yeah.
Once you start eating
all this fast food stuff,
you begin to like it, man.
I'm just being honest,
you begin to like it.
You'd much rather go get your
quick combo, now wouldn't you?
Is your life been mostly
vegetables and fruits
or have you also eaten fast food?
KFC, McDonald's,
Wendy's,
- Chuck E. Cheese
- Chuck E. Cheese
Now how's
your health overall?
Do you feel healthy?
No, I feel like
I need to lose some weight.
How much weight
do you want to lose?
- About at least 50 pounds.
- Ok.
How did you put
that 50 pounds on?
By doing what?
Just sittin' around eatin'.
I love doing that.
- Do you watch TV when you eat?
- Yes.
When you watch TV do you
feel like eating food as well?
Yeah.
You get to a point where you
really wanna eat what they
cooking, and when you
eat it, eat it, eat it,
like you're bingin' on eatin'.
For most Americans,
they desire
more calories
than they require
and they gain weight.
But they're forced to overeat,
it makes them into a food addict
and they don't feel well
if they don't constantly
put food in their mouth.
When you fill up your stomach
with unprocessed plant foods,
it takes up a lot of volume.
It satiates you,
your body gets full of nutrients
and it stops you from
craving excess calories.
The modern world
is eating both too much
processed foods
and too many animal products.
We're suffering 'cause
we're not eating
enough natural produce.
Your typical American plate
is half meat,
a quarter overcooked vegetable
or some kind of a white potato.
And the other quarter is gonna be
another white,
refined carbohydrate.
Morning.
Cowboy Caf.
What are you eating there, mate?
I'm having a chicken fried with
mashed potatoes...
Chicken fried what?
Chicken fried steak,
Right on, and mashed potatoes.
Mashed potatoes,
corn and Texas toast.
What are you eating?
Liver and onions.
Sid, you've gone with
the chicken salad, have ya?
That looks good actually.
- It's not too bad.
- And you eat salad a lot?
A fair amount.
How do you feel overall,
generally with your health?
I feel fine,
but I've had heart surgery so...
And did that change the way
you ate back then?
No. Not at all.
And why is that?
It really doesn't change
the way I eat today.
Really?
I'm here for a few good years.
I'm gonna eat what I want,
and if I die at 55, great...
If I live to be 65, great.
If you ate foods that were
fruits and vegetables
and nuts and beans,
that sort of stuff,
and you made that
and say two meals a week,
you can have a meat, a burger,
a pizza, whatever,
just two meals,
you could do that,
and that would significantly
prolong your life.
Would I do it? Probably not.
Alright, that's good,
that's honest...
- I'm just...
- No, I appreciate it.
And what about you, Ken?
What do you think about it?
It bothers me because
I know for a fact
that it affects
my life expectancy
and my health.
But it's just hard to...
be...
so controlling of it.
- So let me ask you a question.
- Sure.
- Say this works.
- Yeah.
Say it adds...
five years to your life,
maybe ten.
What are you gonna do with it?
- Have you got kids?
- Six.
OK, I kind of think that
seeing your children grow up
and being able to pass on
your knowledge,
just be around for them,
and there as a support.
Well I actually have
Type-2 diabetes.
What was your reaction
when you were told?
If there was any kind of denial,
it wasn't so much that
I had diabetes.
The denial has been that
I have to do something about it.
That's what I denied.
I actually haven't
had food for six weeks,
but I feel better as a person,
and you know,
in terms of satisfied,
then if I'd just eaten
that meal right now.
Well, you seem energetic.
Oh, yeah, I feel great.
You've done the juices for 40...
worse for the wear, I guess.
You wanna see
a photo of me at the beginning?
Sure.
There's a good one of me.
- Actually that looks a lot like me.
- Yeah, there you go.
I don't know
if you've seen me lately
in the buff, but...
that's about what I look like.
Can you see that it's me?
Yeah, you sure don't look
as happy, I'll tell you that.
Here's what I believe.
I'm not a doctor,
but I reckon that
you can get your body
back into shape so
that you can cure yourself.
And you'll be able to
hang around and annoy
Sid a bit longer in life too.
I know I'd feel a lot better
if I weighed that amount.
Sid, nice to meet ya.
It's amazing that,
just sitting in the car now
like with my jeans
tight, you know, and
not having to undo the button,
to sit down, I mean,
it's just little things.
I can even feel
the pelvis hipbone, like here.
It's like, I haven't felt that
for 10 years.
It's like a whole
new reintroduction.
I've got to reintroduce myself
to my body.
That's the kind of momentum that
kicks you on,
and makes you feel...
Makes you fell good about
what you're doing.
What do you think you need to do
to live longer in life?
Probably change my diet.
- Oh you think so?
- Yeah, I know so.
So when do you think
you need to change your diet?
I don't know.
One day I'll wake up and
it's like time to diet.
Right now, the doctor said,
if I don't lose my weight,
I'll probably have
a heart attack and die.
Right, when did he say, by when?
About in five years.
That's why I'm trying
to stay alive
'cause I got grandkids
Do you mind me asking
how old you are?
I'm 42.
How old are you,
if you don't mind me asking.
I am 39.
What do you think
your life expectancy is,
if you continue going down
the way you're going?
What do you give yourself?
I give myself 55 maybe.
I'm guessing like 50, 55.
I'd say about the early 40s.
Early 40s?
So, how does that make you feel?
Makes me feel bad,
because
I know I need to eat right.
I know I need to.
I don't know but
I hope God got ribs in heaven.
Right now, how old do
I want to live to? Let's see.
Probably about 90.
- 90?
- Yeah
So what do you think
you gotta do to live till 90?
Try not to get killed.
How you doing, mate?
You know about fasting?
Do I look like
I know a lot about fasting?
No but you look like you know
a lot about eating though?
I know a lot about eating, but
I don't know a lot about fasting.
Do you keep a gun
under there, just in case?
Absolutely.
Can I have a look? Is it alright
to come in and look.
Well, it's loaded
and the hammer's back.
Oh yeah, gotcha, gotcha.
So, if I wanted to carry a
concealed weapon on me now,
what gun would
you recommend I buy?
If I'm not real good on guns.
Geez, you recommend that?
That looks like a girl's gun.
That looks like a girl's gun!
Is that real?
If you're not good on 'em,
you won't do much damage
with that, will ya?
That's not real is it?
Yeah, thats a real .22.
So if I break into your house
tonight and steal the TV set...
You won't be filming tomorrow.
What do you think
is the biggest threat
to national security in
the United States of America?
Borders.
- Border control, you reckon?
- Border control.
What if there was
something that was
right now in this country that
was killing 70 million people?
There's things in this country
killing 70 million people.
Cigarettes probably.
- Yeah?
- We both quit smoking.
OK, so what about fast food?
Yeah...
we're fast food people.
What sort of
fast food do you like?
Well, since we retired,
I don't think we've cooked
dinner at home more than
two or three times in a...
a month.
So you would cook dinner
at home twice a month?
Maybe.
The rest of the time we eat out.
How many pounds
are you now, total?
About 320.
But you know,
my brother's a doctor.
I've watched him struggle
with being a vegetarian
his whole life and now
he's dying of that cancer.
And I think it's a choice
people make.
I decided, that if I'm going,
I'm going happy.
I'm a happy, you know,
I'm a happy fat guy.
I think I'll play Santa Claus
in the upcoming auction
that we're having.
My philosophy, if it's
your time, the good Lord's
gonna take you,
whether you're fat,
thin or whatever.
Yeah, right.
I've been following
Dr. Fuhrman's orders
and getting regular blood tests.
Time to check in and
get the results of the last one.
Your cholesterol dropped
from 204 to 135,
your LDL cholesterol
went from 132 to 86.
Theyre all
good numbers?
Yeah, very good numbers.
Electrolytes were all good?
Yeah, everything was
perfectly normal.
Everything was
absolutely perfect.
The point here is
we have an unprecedented
opportunity in human history,
to be healthier and live longer
than ever before.
We simply don't have to be
demented when we get older.
We don't have to have
a heart attack.
We don't have to get strokes
and we can dramatically
reduce the risk of cancer.
The one thing I'm finding
remarkable about people is
they say,
Oh, I couldn't do that,
without even giving it a try.
I just don't understand that.
Hey, if you want to do
a 10-day juice fast, and
you only get to Day 7,
well good on ya for trying!
Not, oh, you're a failure.
Good on you for trying.
If you do give it a go,
be warned.
Your mates will probably think
you're crazy.
I spoke to him, he was struggling
a couple weeks ago.
He was...
thinking about breaking then.
just drinking juice.
Extreme? Yes.
Extreme? Yes.
But let's not forget
I've had a debilitating disease
for the last nine years
where I've had to take prednisone,
a powerful steroid with
a bunch of side effects.
I'm 41, I'm fat and I'm sick.
You don't need to be Einstein
to figure out what's next.
Even though
I met a bunch of people
who felt they were heading
in the same direction I was,
I also met lots of people
who thought they weren't.
How would a more conventional
Siong from Iowa
volunteered to find out.
Unlike me, she was married,
and she had to cook dinner
for her family.
When I met her in New York,
she explained to me that
she suffered from migraines,
and she was interested
to see if this could help.
I don't know
which way goes which.
I think this thing is so fun!
I get migraine headaches
if I smell certain things,
or if I eat certain things.
And I mean literally a migraine
headache that can make me sick,
can't see, can't hear,
throwing up, the whole bit.
Down the hatch, guys.
Oh God, that's nasty!
Shes a bit of a coffee drinker,
So...
She'll know
where she is right now.
She'll be having
the withdrawals and...
that'll be tough.
Hi Joe.
Hey Siong, how are ya?
Rm fine, now are you doing?
I'm going very well,
thank you very much.
And how are you feeling?
Today I'm very tired,
I feel like I'm in a fog,
I just...
I'm OK.
Trust me, its gonna get better.
You want fried potatoes
or baked potatoes?
I don't care. Fried's good.
Now when this starts
smelling good,
I may have to leave the room.
It's growing on me.
Well I got something funny
to tell you.
The first day
I drank this juice,
within about 30 minutes
I was in the bathroom.
And...
I mean I was totally cleaned out,
so I thought.
Well then,
when I had the first glass
again yesterday,
I was in the bathroom again
for quite a period of time.
And I was like,
whoa, where did all this
come from 7
Oh my gosh.
I'm starving,
or so I think I am.
Who said this was gonna be fun?
My daughter.
She lied to me.
She was sadly mistaken,
something like that, anyway...
I've meditated,
I've stretched,
I've chanted, I've prayed,
and I still wanna slap somebody.
Nancy's been my friend
for 20 years
or longer it seems like.
Nancy is a very
health conscious person.
She works out, she eats right.
So she's gonna be my champion.
- You wanna go down that way?
- Sure.
You know what?
We can even eat this,
this is so good.
I'm starving.
Hamburger Helper, oh yeah.
Oh, coffee!
Move, girl!
You can't have any
of that either.
That smells good!
The coffees been
the hardest part...
We could have one bean...
of trying to give up.
You wanna smell it?
Come here.
And every time I pass Starbucks,
or every time
I passed the Coffee Pot,
it's like,
I'd start to reach for it.
Oh, there's donuts and clairs!
Get out of there!
Were leaving.
Mornings are the best.
Evenings...
Last night when
the crew went out
to dinner and
they all went to Mexican,
it's one of my favorites.
They got no respect for me,
of course.
Going out and having Mexican,
Im at home with a kale juice.
He'd say,
"Things are going well, Mum",
and he'd say
it's difficult sometimes
when the crew are in
the restaurants eating
and he'd be sitting in the car
and I'd feel for him.
And then I'd get off the phone and
then I'd go to eat something
and I'd find that
very difficult because...
I'd think, oh my God,
he's sitting in that car,
having some juice
and I'm just about to get
into a beautiful meal.
Got my juice.
One thing I'm just
totally stunned by
is just how much energy I have
by just drinking juice.
Now I know
I can't do this forever,
so I'm hoping that this fast
will be enough
to reboot my system.
And believe it or not,
I'm actually looking forward to
eating more fruits and vegetables.
How are ya mate, my name's Joe.
Phil Staples.
How much driving
do you have to do?
How many miles a year
would you do?
Anywhere close to 150,000.
Im actually just doing my own little research,
trying to get myself well.
I've got a medical condition,
I'm trying to cure.
I'm this big because of
steroids and driving.
For what, what's the issue?
It's called Urticarius Vasculitis
Yeah Urticaria.
That's what I've got.
Your immune system's overactive?
- Yeah, yeah.
- Same here.
That's extraordinary, mate,
cause you're about the only,
first people in the world
that I've ever met,
that's got the same thing
that I've got.
What's the worst thing about it,
for you? What do you find?
The swelling, the blisters,
and the pain.
Is it hard to find good food
on the road?
Oh yeah.
It's mostly either fried,
and these places, like pizza,
hamburgers, pre-made hamburgers.
Fasting, I've found,
fasting works for me,
so maybe it'll work for you.
And I'm betting my life on it.
And now I really am
betting my life, that,
this is the way to go.
I'm willing to bet my life, too.
Let's walk over here
and we'll go and get a juice
I've got my battery hooked up,
and I've got my juicer.
Alright.
And out it comes over here
on the other side.
Come on. You can have a go.
You gotta push it down, right?
- That's not too hard, is it?
- That ain't too hard.
You've probably got power
in the truck, have ya?
Oh yeah, I could power that
in my truck.
Now this stuff
will save your life.
- Smells good.
- It does, doesn't it?
Wow, that's pretty good.
Not bad, is it?
It's better than the juice
you've been buying in the bottle.
- Cheers. Good health.
- Yeah.
I would suggest that
you eat micronutrient food
for two months, then
you can do your first fast.
If you want,
I'll give you my details,
you can call me,
I'll talk you through it,
help you through it.
And if you're not down
to 210, 220 lbs,
I'll eat my hat.
It's unbelievable, I can spend
eight years
with this illness, where I've met
maybe one or two,
but not exactly the same.
And I'm in a bloody truck stop
in Winslow, Arizona,
and I run into someone.
Similar age to me, too.
He's had it four years.
Unbelievable.
Unbelievable.
I'll tell you what,
the smell in here
is about to drive me insane.
Of all the foods
I think that there is that
you can put in front of somebody,
hot bread
that's fresh baked,
that smells so wonderful,
is probably the hardest thing
to turn down.
It was for me, because
I was about ready to give up.
Do you need anything else
right now?
And...
the ribs,
I'm not a meat eater,
but let me tell ya,
those barbecued ribs
were really, really lookin' good.
They smelled good.
This ain't good compared to that.
This is a big challenge.
This is...
a challenge that I did not
expect to be so tough.
I did not realize how weak I am
where food is concerned.
G'day, Siong, how are ya?
I'm fine, Joe,
how are you doing?
I'm feeling
pretty good.
You're looking great.
Oh, thank you. We're in...
You look pretty good too,
by the way.
I wanna hear all about it.
How are you feeling?
Give me the run down.
I'm feeling really good.
Energy levels mostly up.
Less fatigue then even
when I'm not fasting.
I'm not having any headaches
whatsoever,
so it's really been
- ...a wonderful experience.
- That's great.
I can even tell on the webcam
that your face
is looking a lot clearer
and cleaner and ...
I think things are just kind of...
clearing up all over,
from head to toe.
She just seemed like everything
was out of control for her,
and since she's been
on this fast, why,
things are starting to
take shape in her life,
where she has some control
over her weight
and her attitude and her sleep.
These types of things.
She was totally...
totally in despair really,
to tell you the truth about
her body and her sleep and
her physical...
her spiritual life was good,
but her physical life
was deteriorating.
So that's good news for me,
and her.
I feel so much different now
from when I started.
Being healthy, no headaches,
that's the best part.
It's incredible.
I'm not going for skinny,
I'm just going for healthy.
No regrets, none whatsoever.
I'd do it again, in fact,
I probably will.
So here I am,
on the morning of Day 61.
I thought what better way
to break my fast
than 2,000 feet above the earth
on a beautiful morning.
Up in that balloon,
I renewed my commitment
to eat nothing but
micronutrient food
until I was free
of my medication.
And then the real test.
Would I be able to achieve
and maintain
a life with balance?
Here goes.
I actually bit my mouth.
I'm out of practice.
So the great news is,
I'm back in Australia.
Eight weeks since
I've been in that balloon.
And guess what?
No medication.
That's right,
I've been one whole week
on absolutely no prednisone.
It's the best feeling ever.
It's just sensational.
The changes I've made
are not only helping my body,
they're also making a
big difference to my mind.
I invest my own money
in growing businesses,
both in the US.
and here in Australia.
So we found the right guy,
we're confident that
he's the right guy for us?
Hello, mis is
Shane Hudson speaking...
it's Joe, how are ya, mate?
So what have we got here?
So this is one of the
dresses from
the Collection Spring/Summer.
What I know hes never looked
so good before,
and actually I find
that in board
meetings now,
he thinks so clearly.
Its actually
quite interesting.
And I wonder if it's because
the food, the intake, the...
it's cleaner,
so therefore his thought
processes are cleaner.
Theres definitely a difference.
So there I am,
back in Australia,
working on the new Joe,
the healthier Joe,
the happier Joe.
I was on top of the world,
and then...
You've reached the U.S. cell
phone of Joe Cross.
Unfortunately
Pm in Australia right now,
please leave a message,
and I will get back to you.
Thanks for calling.
I just got a
really disturbing phone call,
and, it was Phil Staples,
that truck driver I met in...
Winslow, Arizona
that has the same
awful disease condition
that I have.
I offered him help and
I've gotta do that.
I've gotta get over there and
see what I can do.
The last few years,
I've been takin' so many pills,
it's just amazing.
I'm so tired of it.
It's just not right, I mean,
no energy to even walk.
Always in pain
because of the weight
on my knees and my legs.
My back,
I don't feel like walking
and I know I should.
So we just got into Sioux Falls,
not far from Sheldon.
Here to see Phil.
After we talked on the phone,
he decided to try
a 'IO-day juice fast.
You know I really think
Phil can do the 10 days.
He seems very committed.
I spoke to him
on the phone a couple of times.
Hes at the beginning
of his journey.
You gotta admire
the bloke though,
he's taking some time off work.
That's not easy.
You know,
he hasn't got a lot of,
a lot of means,
financially that is.
He's putting his health first.
How are ya, mate?
Good to see ya!
How you doing?
I'm here...
ready to go.
You look a lot better then
the last time I seen you.
Ya reckon?
You see a difference?
I see a big difference,
now I want to get there.
Oh mate, you'll get here,
and listen mate,
in true Australian form,
I bought you a present.
Thanks.
Now this is a...
See, this is Australian,
these are our colors, green and
gold are our sporting colors
for our country.
So you've got Australia there,
our flag,
What do you see
on the front there?
A kangaroo.
Eh?
Yeah, here you go, mate.
This is the beginning.
Have a look at the size on it.
Alright, now what are you
normally into?
- This is a six.
- So what's this gonna be?
- A challenge.
- The target.
That's right.
This is life or death for you
right now in my view.
- I mean this really is.
- Yeah, this is.
Yeah, you didn't know me
when I was sick but,
I'm looking in a mirror here.
This is how I was.
I wasn't as big as you,
but I was on my way.
Isn't it scary
when your parents
or your relatives or your
loved ones start talking to you,
and they're asking you
whether you want to be buried
or cremated because
you're big enough that
it's going to be tough
to bury you.
It's going to be expensive
to bury you,
so they ask about cremation.
For healthy people, doing a
But when you're on
prescription medication,
you need to be supervised
by a doctor.
We brought Phil in
for a full check-up,
just to make sure there was
nothing else seriously wrong.
What will you be able
to tell from that?
If his heart is structurally
sound, if hes had any
disease or problems
from being overweight.
So far, everything
was looking good.
More tests to go,
blood to be taken,
and then to the Dexa Machine
to measure Phil's fat
and muscle content.
Sorry but the weight limit
on the table is 350 so...
you won't fit.
The table won't move
properly the way it should.
I'll be too heavy for it.
It depresses me when
somebody calls me "big guy".
I want to be known as...
Phil again.
Instead of walking up
behind somebody
and scaring the tar out of 'em
because they see
this rather large,
angry-looking man,
who's not really angry.
I'm just in pain.
Go ahead and stand up straight.
OK, six foot, one inch.
Weight is 4296.
What do you do for exercise,
anything right now?
Walk from the truck
to the truck stop.
OK.
Cause all this is just too much
to carry for me right now.
- It hurts to walk very far.
' Yep, WP-
How about your feet and ankles?
Have you had
a lot of problems with swelling?
Oh yeah.
It's mostly worse
on the left foot.
OK.
You're at more risk of
getting skin breakdown
where you'll get ulcers and stuff
that can get infected
just like diabetes so...
You are 429 pounds,
which gives you
a body mass index,
and that's your weight
versus your height,
and ideally we like that
less than 25.
You're at 58,
which is in the extreme obesity,
or morbid obesity.
You know, you're almost off the
scales for, a few more pounds
and I wouldn't have been able
to measure you
on this type of scale.
And what's the prognosis if
Phil does nothing about
anything and just keeps going
the way he's going?
What do you think he has
the unpleasant things
to look forward to?
If he doesn't lose weight
and keeps going,
he'll get diabetes,
your blood pressure
will continue to rise,
which will require
numerous medications
to keep it under control.
With your family history and
your high blood pressure,
you will be at risk
of having a heart attack.
If you have a heart attack and
your heart dilates from
the heart attack
and from your blood pressure,
you will eventually
not be able to breathe
and go into heart failure.
If the sleep apnea that you
probably have from the weight
continues,
you're at risk of heart failure,
which means then you're on pills
to get rid of the extra fluid.
You limit your ability to
walk any further, and
you're at risk of sudden death
because of your weight.
You could just
not wake up one morning.
Scary.
Phil got the all clear
from the doc
to start a 10-day juice fast.
So, it was off
to the supermarket
to buy
some fruit and vegetables.
You'll never guess
who we bumped into
in the car park.
So this is your brother?
This is my brother Barry, "Bean"
Barry, " Bea r."
So mate,
what do you think about his...
current situation,
where he's at now?
He needs help.
But I think, if this works
it'd be good for him.
- Has he always been like this?
- No.
- He used to be a scrawny kid.
- What do you think happened?
That's hard to say
'cause I let myself go too.
I used to be 200 pounds.
And now I'm up around 300.
But that's my own fault.
I don't exercise like I should,
I don't eat right.
That's a lot of Phil's problem.
He doesn't exercise or eat right.
I just hope this works,
'cause he needs it.
Were gonna
get him some groceries.
Alright, I just got mine,
my ice cream melting.
See you mate.
- See ya later bro.
- All the best.
Given that Phil had never done
anything like this before,
we thought it'd be good to
get him away from all temptation.
Dr. Badberg suggested
Phil should do some exercise,
starting off with
some light walking and swimming.
So, we found a great place
by the lake.
From my point of view,
you know, ten days
is a huge achievement and
it'd be a huge win,
and you're gonna feel,
you know, terrific
at the end of that.
I have no doubt
you're gonna feel terrific.
What would be a good breakfast
for juice in the morning?
To start with?
Well, I used to start
with fruit,
and then just go
into vegetables,
with a touch of fruit sometimes
the rest of the day.
It looks good.
That looks good, doesn't it?
Looks good to me.
Good luck, mate.
Ooh, that's good.
- You like it?
- I like that.
How much do you feel
like walking?
I could do five minutes out
and five minutes back.
OK, a ten-minute walk.
That's a good start.
Alright, let's go.
He was depressed.
He was on the border of,
I think, suicide.
He was trying to
kill himself with food.
When Joe got a hold of him,
it struck
a responsive chord in him,
and I think it's great.
Now you know you can get me
on the phone.
Yes.
Give me a call, you know,
it's gonna be tough but
I know you can do it.
I've got it now, I think.
There ain't nobody to blame
in this but me.
I stand up
and I can't see my toes.
I'm not happy with it.
I can't clean myself
well around it.
When I go to the restroom,
you know, that's quite...
I would almost
say a circus act.
I guess you could say,
takes creative thinking to get
to clean the areas down there.
I didn't really start
putting on weight
until after the Air Force
and came home
and I started to eat
because I wasn't happy,
and I chose that.
And it's been that way ever since,
slowly isolating myself.
I started getting into
truck driving again.
My excuse was I was following
in Dad's footsteps.
'Cause Dad was a truck driver.
But, you know,
staying in the truck and
staying out a longtime
and isolating and eating
nothing but greasy foods,
that's when it all started.
It didn't get real bad until
after the second divorce.
That's when I really started
putting the weight on.
'Cause I thought
I was a real failure.
So I just started eating til
I couldn't eat no more.
Because of my health and
what's been going on with me,
I've been a horrible father.
I don't want any of my kids
to see me like this. I don't.
Not even my youngest boy,
he's eight years old.
Hes at the age when he
really needs to see his father.
I'm hiding because of this,
I haven't even
given him a chance.
When I start
getting down to where
I start feeling
better about myself,
and being able to do things
with my youngest son,
throw a football or
baseball in the park.
Walking with him to see
the games and stuff like that.
Even just walking around town
and talking with him
about his day and what he
has going on in his young life.
I want to be around there
for that,
for one thing, you know.
Being what I call
a cheeseburger away
from a heart attack
is not a good thing.
Thats what also gets me upset.
I'm afraid to do
anything with him.
He's the one I'm working for.
They all, my oldest children,
all want to see me,
skinny and handsome again.
They've seen pictures,
they'd like to see that again.
What I'd like to do is lose
a decent amount of weight.
Even 20 to 30 pounds
would make me happy.
I was a championship swimmer
when I was eight and under,
I was winning trophies
and medals on the swim team.
If I wouldn't have quit,
I probably would've gone
to the Olympics.
I've broken a lot of goals.
But for my health
and for my life,
this is a goal
I'm going to keep and stick with
and work on.
Healthy, healthy, healthy.
This is my main goal.
Phil's eating habits
were typical
of the average American diet.
As a percentage of calories,
roughly 60% of what we eat
is processed and refined foods...
and just 5% are
fruits and vegetables,
the foods which provide most
of our micronutrients
Without those micronutrients,
our cells are weakened
and susceptible to a whole
gang of diseases.
But Phil has turned that around.
He's taken
his fruit and veg intake
from 5% up to the maximum 100%.
Fruits and vegetables are
the delivery system
that brings the sun's energy
to our cells,
giving them
the micronutrients they need.
The micronutrients not only
nourish the cells,
they also clean
and remove the waste.
And help them resist
all those diseases.
And that's why
what you eat is so important.
But I'll leave the details
to the experts.
I have this poster,
this study was done
with Barbara Sarter, a PhD
at the University of
Southern California,
and with Dr. Colin Campbell
at Cornell University,
on people undergoing weight loss
who were diabetic,
or high blood pressure,
or heart disease.
And actually in this study
where they follow
what we call
a vegetable-based diet,
the pyramid has
vegetables at the base,
fruits and beans, whole grains,
nuts and seeds,
and then animal products
are in a smaller amount.
We're talking about
twice weekly or
less generally speaking,
and not eating processed foods,
that this healthy diet resulted
in the most weight loss
of any study
ever recorded
in medical history.
The average person lost 53 pounds,
and they kept it off. The people
didn't gain the weight back.
Now I wouldn't mind if,
it wouldn't be so terrible
if people were well-educated
and well-inform ed,
they didn't have to die,
and they could make the choice
to commit suicide with food.
But the unfortunate thing is
most Americans
are not properly informed.
It's just like they can say,
you gonna smoke cigarettes?
You wanna smoke,
go ahead and do it.
You're gonna have a heart attack,
you're gonna get cancer.
You can't escape from the
biological laws
of cause and effect.
What happens to you is gonna be
the same thing that happens
to every other American.
And you're gonna have
a healthcare crisis,
and you're gonna run to doctors
looking for medications to control those symptoms,
our headaches,
our fatigue,
our allergies,
our auto-immune conditions,
our digestive disturbances.
We're gonna be
medical-crippled society
because were eating a diet style
that couldn't be better designed
by the best nutritional scientist
in the world,
to create the epidemic of disease
that we have in America.
And of course obesity, diabetes,
and all these diseases
of nutritional ignorance.
When you're on a juice fast,
there's always something.
Something that
makes you wanna break.
Some obstacle,
something thats there that
makes it oh so tough.
For Phil,
it was a barbecue
on the Fourth of July.
What I normally do is I'd
normally stuff my face, brother.
Potato salad, hot dogs,
ham burgers, steaks,
soda pop, milk.
And now I gotta watch that...
and drink
this.
Nice to meet you, Phil,
I'm Joanie.
- Joanie, and I'm Ray.
- Nice to meet you.
So what did you make here Phil?
It's fruits and vegetables.
It's good.
It's not bad, I could do it.
- You drink that big glass?
- This is my meal, every meal.
Do you feel full when
you're done with that?
Yeah, I do actually.
You've been on it five days?
I've been on it five days
and I've already lost 15, no,
And I drink water.
But you also inspire me.
It's not just for people my size,
it's for everybody.
I'm gonna go for it.
I like this stuff.
It was fun,
I was excited.
My first conversion,
so it was really wonderful.
I'm just
a simple 42-year-old
truck driver from Iowa.
You know.
I'm not
the head of NASA,
the head of a corporation,
you know,
and I'm not
the village idiot either,
thank God for that.
Were taught to eat in
the bible, in the New Testament.
Jesus fasted for 40 days.
John the Baptist fasted.
The Apostles fasted with Jesus.
And its not just
Christians that fast.
Most religious people,
including Muslims, Jews,
Hindus and Buddhists,
they all fast.
I reckon they're onto something.
How are you mate?
I'm doing good mate,
I'm down 30 pounds.
What day are we on Phil?
That'll be Day 9,
Day 10, I'm losing track.
What's been the toughest thing
about the last ten days?
July Fourth weekend!
It all got to my food addiction,
the hamburgers, the hot dogs,
the old me.
I was talking to a guy
by his grill,
and I'm not gonna lie to you,
the thought
flashed through my head
while I was talking to him to
reach behind him,
pick up a hot dog
straight off the grill
and eat it.
That thought actually
raced through my mind.
What stopped you from doing it?
Common sense.
I'm doing this to make
my life healthier.
I'd like to go 30 days for now.
I want to make sure that you feel
that going on
is of your own volition,
that you don't feel like
you have to do it for anyone else.
Are you sure you want to
do it for yourself?
I wanna do it for myself.
I've already figured it out.
In the ten days
that we've done this,
I've dropped two bowling balls.
Nothing would make me happier
than you beating me my friend.
Ill tell you what.
It's probably not
the easiest thing to do but
it's well worth it.
I mean just by looking at him,
you know it's worth it.
My mom has tried so many
different things,
every diet pill that's
on the Walmart shelf,
or wherever she
finds it, on TV whatever.
I mean she's spent
thousands of dollars and
this is one thing
she hasn't tried
and if it works
this well for him,
I mean why wouldn't it
work for everyone else?
And it's all natural,
thats probably the best thing,
I think this would be perfect.
If I could just get her
to try it now.
Damn I hate that ball.
Hello?
Well hello.
Wow, look at you!
Your valves all look good.
Your hearts squeezing better
than it was last time.
So it appears that whatever
you're doing is working.
Hello.
- Hello.
- How we doing?
I feel good.
Evidently by the tests,
I'm doing good.
You are doing well.
You went from 429
to 368.
So that's a 60 pound weight loss
in a month. That's excellent.
Your blood pressure went down
from 160 over 84
which would be high blood
pressure, down to 136 over 70,
which is a perfectly normal
blood pressure.
Cool.
And your triglycerides,
which is your fats in your body
were at 216.
Today your total triglycerides
are down to 161,
which is almost
in the normal range.
My medication,
do you think eventually if
I keep continue this,
I'm sure wed need tests,
but maybe that you could
take it off
or lower it, if I need it.
We would probably be able to
lower it,
if not get rid of it completely
- as things improve.
- OK.
How is your Urticaria doing?
I haven't had an outbreak
in over a week now.
Usually I have something,
a small spot here and there.
OK.
I want to continue this fast.
You think it'd be alright
if I'd continued?
Yes.
Everything looks
very good on you.
There's no signs that it is
causing you any adverse effects.
If anything,
you're much healthier
than you were a month ago.
Cool.
Well isn't that
just unbelievable!
It's wonderful
lam very happy and excited
I mean it's nothing
short of a miracle.
That's pretty much right...
All these little victories are
making me happy.
Oh man, congratulations Phil,
well done mate,
- I brought some juice.
- You brought some juice?
Would you like to try some of
my juice that I've been drinking?
Sure.
Mostly green vegetables
as you can tell.
That's why we call it
Mean Green."
I'll give you
a little shot there.
Cheers.
Who would have
thought Phil that one day,
a truck driver from
Iowa such as yourself
would be bringing
medicine to a hospital!
It's a little ironic, isn't it?
Phil's not the only one
with good news.
Six months
after I finished my fast,
I'm 90 pounds lighter.
- No pain in the chest?
- No.
Good.
that affect us now
are caused by our life choices.
How we exercise, if we smoke,
what we eat,
that's saturated fats,
carbohydrates, salt and alcohol.
Now...
Can you have some of that?
Sure.
Most people have too much of it.
Who would've thought
I'd get excited about
a broccoli salad?
He certainly
changed his lifestyle.
He didn't just change what
went in his mouth,
he became more active,
he stopped drinking alcohol.
He doesn't drink tea and coffee,
and he doesn't buy
manufactured, processed foods.
What he's done
will go a long way to prevent
him from getting heart disease,
cancer,
mental illness,
diabetes,
and a range of other
medical conditions because
he's committed himself
to a healthier lifestyle.
And he did it at 40.
Look at you!
I've shed some, haven't I?
To be fair to Joe, he's probably
been an inspiration to us.
- Yeah, I'd say that's true.
- I'd hate to admit that.
- Yeah, don't tell him.
- No, please don't tell him,
Do not tell him.
We don't need to
feed that machine.
We definitely think
we should do it.
He got me to try and do it,
and I did it for three days.
And I rang him and I said mate,
I had headaches, I was cross,
I couldn't sleep,
I couldn't concentrate at work,
I said "I don't know
how you do it,
but I can't do this any more,
"I need a meat pie."
Are you ready for this?
Well hang on to your pineapples!
Because Phil fasted for
another 30 days.
That's right,
a total of 60 days
on nothing but fresh fruit
and vegetable juice.
As the weeks passed,
he had more and more energy
and his face began to glow and
in this community he has
inspired so many people.
He felt so good,
he wanted to spread the word.
So...
he started
a community juice fast.
Kale.
Here's how it worked.
The store got a hold
of 10 juice machines,
which they would lend out to
those willing to give it a go.
What did they have to do?
Six days, on nothing but juice,
as long as they consulted
their family doctor.
- I think it's good.
- I like it too.
The response was off the charts.
And people were already
signing up for the next one.
Well, the first day
I wondered why I did it,
'cuz you know I wanted to eat,
and the third night,
I got home from a 14-hour day,
where I usually would have
went to bed,
I went outside and I worked
for an hour and a half,
come in and I got on
the computer for an hour,
then I watched TV for
an hour and finally went to bed
at 10:30 and had
to get up at 4:00, so...
I know I had a lot more energy.
At Day 4, I felt amazing.
I sleep really well.
I lost eight pounds.
I'm down 15 pounds.
Got on the scale this morning
and I've lost 22 lbs,
so I'm tickled.
Today I just weighed myself
and I'm down 91 lbs, which is
six bowling balls,
ladies and gentlemen.
So that is what I used to carry
all over my body.
Good morning,
how are you doing today?
- I'm doing wonderful.
- Good.
How about the decrease
in the methotrexate?
That's going wonderful.
I was wondering if I could get it dropped some more sometime.
You can probably drop some,
some more,
you've been five weeks
without flares?
Without any flares.
Not even so much as pain
or an itch.
Once we get you off
the methotrexate,
then we can get you off
the hydroxychloroquine.
OK.
Eventually we'll have you
off of all of them.
When are you going to go
back to work and do all?
I intend to, hopefully,
I'm not going back
to driving trucks.
That darn near killed me.
I've got a few
applications up at the lake
for, you know, active jobs.
You know,
physically moving around.
So what's your family think?
They're all proud of me,
they're all happy.
My brother's a little jealous
'cause I'm catching up to him.
He's going up
and I'm coming down.
You know what I like,
I like Spam.
I know I shouldn't like Spam,
but I do.
It's nothing but ham with...
I eat Spam.
I love Spam too.
I used to have it in the truck.
Oh yeah.
I mean probably on the weekends
I could juice a little.
And I planned on doing some
walking and
a little exercise
here and there.
With me, it's the...
social, job, family limitations.
Yeah.
You know, if I did it, then...
Well, you know,
I'd be tempted by what
they have over here.
Then I'd probably fall
off the wagon.
You don't have to do it
as long as I have.
I mean you can do it
so that you can detox
and rebalance your body
like for a week.
It'd take longer than a week
to detox this truck.
I get that question a lot.
Do I have to do it
as long as you?
No.
You can do it for ten days,
I'd recommend at least a week
because, you know,
the first few days
you're gonna feel kind of leh,
you're gonna feel kind of
nauseous 'cause you're detoxing.
And then after a while,
you get energetic
and everything, and then,
you give it awhile.
Yeah, that's my problem,
trying to put
That would make a mess.
And it should be a
very good proving point
to a lot of people that
you can make
very radical lifestyle changes
without having to have surgery
or medicine or a quick fix.
This is gonna be longer lasting
cause you've completely changed
how you eat and
everything about the way
you live your life.
When I go off this,
I already got my mind made up,
I'm gonna just eat soup
and salad for a while.
I have no desire to eat any of
that fast food right now.
It's gone.
This is something
I've always wanted to do,
is to help people,
in some way or another,
knowing that
I helped Eugene out,
it made my life so much better.
- Hi, come on in.
- Hey Bear.
- Hi, come on in.
- Hey Bear.
Come on in the kitchen,
I'm gonna go sit down,
if you don't mind.
What happened?
I went up to Sioux Falls
and I had my knee scoped,
and it was right about two hours
after we got home,
and I had this pain
right across my chest,
I was hurtin'.
I thought it was gas...
And then it just kind of
creeped up into my jaw.
Its like I had lockjaw.
Oh, it just hurt so bad.
And then I got light-headed,
short of breath,
hot sweats just came through.
I was leaning on
my dresser going,
"Oh whatever this is,
make it stop,
"this is not right."
I told Claudia,
You better take me to the
hospital, somethings wrong.
And they hauled me up
to the hospital,
laid me on the table,
stripped me, wired me up,
they said I was having
a heart attack.
Scared the tar out of me.
Scared the tar
out of me too, bro.
I don't wanna lose
my big brother, you know.
What kind of medication
did they put you on?
What do you have in there?
Got a little bit of everything.
Some aspirin.
OK.
A blood thinner.
Metformin, that's for
my Type 2 diabetes
That's Mavic for my heart.
Lipitor, I think that's
that cholesterol pill,
I'm not sure.
A couple other..
The heart attack kind of
opened my eyes.
The way I was living was
not right.
And I'd like to get off
these pills.
Yeah.
Cause a lot of pills,
that's not right.
I'll end up growing a third eye
or something.
All right,
what are we startin' with?
It's usually
best to start with the kale
because the rest
of the vegetables wash it in
and mix it up.
Then just shove it down.
I got it, go ahead.
- Like that?
- Yep.
I think we can live
with this for a while.
Not full bore.
No, I'm not asking you to go
full bore because
in your condition right now,
it's not recommended.
I mean use it as
a supplement to your diet.
Something like,
you wake up in the morning and
you grab a glass of juice,
Mean Green, and
you can go on about your day.
I've always looked up
to my brother
He knows this is serious,
he knows this has helped me,
so he's starting to listen now,
he's starting to realize that
he can't be real selfish.
Hes gotta think of Claudia
and Vanessa and his son, Barry,
and the rest of us.
Little brother leads the way
kind of a thing.
Hello Dennis!
How are ya mate?
God, you look different.
- Oh thanks mate.
- You look great.
- How ya been, alright?
- Great, terrific.
- Doing good?
- Yea, very good.
- You're a new person
- I'm trying mate.
You look great!
Trying.
Hey the girls
will come on you, hear me?
Doing my best mate.
When I started this journey,
I thought it was
all about the juice fast.
But as I now know,
that was only the beginning.
For the most part,
it's been about maintaining
a balanced lifestyle.
One thing I know for sure:
if I go back to my old ways,
I'll end up back where
I started in no time.
So, the choice is mine.
I'm under 300!
Yeah!
Before all this, yeah, I was
probably like the rest of
the American people out here
who had bad eating habits,
but I'm taking
full responsibility for my life.
It was my life,
I almost ruined it,
now I need to repair it.
That Phil at 430 pounds was real dark and just didnt care.
Well he's died.
That Phil has gone.
Now I'm feeling much better,
I'm getting clearer.
I'm starting to realize a
lot of things, and you know,
working my way through them.
The food is in itself too,
is also making me feel better.
I'm feeling so much better then
I did at the end of June.
So were down here
on Manly Beach.
I used to come here
as a little kid,
my dad and my brother,
park the car up here,
roll out down,
straight into the surf.
Get bashed by a few waves.
It's terrific!
And afterwards,
wed head up to an
ice cream shop just up here,
and I'd have a double chocolate
ice cream cone,
and all was good in the world.
Boy, those were the days.
We fast-forward 35 years,
and I've been on a journey.
An expanding one,
and right now,
a contracting one.
I'm very proud.
He did an excellent job.
He's lost the weight,
I hope he continues...
Ready, set, go!
Once the weight started coming
off and he started to see
that he was doing this,
his demeanor changed,
his attitude changed,
and the lower he got,
I think the better he felt.
You're getting better.
As far as me doing it?
No.
I heard you spent the weekend
at grandpa's place?
- I bring my BB gun.
- Cool.
I feel great since the fast.
I don't have
the migraines any more,
so that is a big, huge plus.
Even if I'm not fasting,
I still have to have the juicing
because of the nutrients in it.
It's just a normal part of my
everyday life now.
I feel like
I'm 21 years old again.
Show you how to do
this Wii thing.
Show me this Wii Fit.
See if you can keep up
with the old fat guy.
Swivel, swivel.
Keep swiveling.
Put some action into it.
Come on.
I'm working on it.
Wanna see ski jump?
Ski jump's cool.
Dad loves playing golf,
and finally after eight years,
Joe and Dad are back on the
golf course playing together
and I think thats fantastic.
Ah yes!
- Good shot!
- Right in the middle.
- Beauty mate.
- Good shot, eh?
- Thanks, Dad.
- Good on ya mate.
Skoal and L'Chaim,
all that stuff.
To your health.
He's got me to see the...
the changes in him
can help change me.
So we're going
to try to change me.
That was a pretty good batch.
Better than this morning.
I wonder what I did different.
I dunno.
I peeled the lemon.
That's what it was.
I'm proud
that he's gotten this far
and hopefully
he'll be proud of me.
I've gone from someone who knew,
to someone who would do.
And, that's just helped my journey,
my journey along,
and I'm hoping that
I'm gonna stick around here
a bit longer.
And as for my journey, well,
it ain't over yet.
Got a long way to go,
I hope.
Captioning: LVT-New York