If you've never seen this movie, I highly recommend it. By clicking on the above link, it will take you to the official website which directs you to various places to watch this movie for free. If you are unable to watch it and want a quick synopsis, this is taken from the website:
100 pounds overweight, loaded up on steroids and suffering from a debilitating autoimmune disease, Joe Cross is at the end of his rope and the end of his hope. In the mirror he saw a 310lb man whose gut was bigger than a beach ball and a path laid out before him that wouldn't end well— with one foot already in the grave, the other wasn't far behind. FAT, SICK & NEARLY DEAD is an inspiring film that chronicles Joe's personal mission to regain his health.
With doctors and conventional medicines unable to help long- term, Joe turns to the only option left, the body's ability to heal itself. He trades in the junk food and hits the road with juicer and generator in tow, vowing only to drink fresh fruit and vegetable juice for the next 60 days. Across 3,000 miles Joe has one goal in mind: To get off his pills and achieve a balanced lifestyle.
While talking to more than 500 Americans about food, health and longevity, it's at a truck stop in Arizona where Joe meets a truck driver who suffers from the same rare condition. Phil Staples is morbidly obese weighing in at 429 lbs; a cheeseburger away from a heart-attack. As Joe is recovering his health, Phil begins his own epic journey to get well....
What spoke to me the most was the fact that this man was a normal guy. He wasn't some crazy health nut. He loved his food just like me so I could relate.
Do I need to lose weight? Absolutely. Am I doing this to lose weight? I am. But there is no way I would have even considered doing something as crazy as not eating any food for 40 days JUST to lose weight. Without boring you to tears, I also have some medical conditions that would either greatly improve or completely disappear with a cleanse like this. And let me be clear, I am under no disillusion that once I am done with this fast, I can go right back to my current lifestyle. Absolutely not. Not to mention, I don't want to go 40 days without eating food to not make this a lifestyle change. I want to completely change my life. I am sick of being sick and fat.
In the movie, there is a man who breaks my heart. He is a father of six and had recently undergone open heart surgery so you just assume that this father will see the benefits of changing your lifestyle but instead, he breaks your heart. He basically says that he only has a few years left of his life and the way he sees it, he would rather die at 55 eating what he wanted than live to be 65.
Ouch.
I had just turned 28 when my dad (only 59 years ole) died of a heart attack due to not eating well and not taking care of his body. My dad was just really getting to know his twin grandsons who had just turned 3. They were just starting to become little guys and he was gone. Taken from me far too soon. He has missed out on so much in the last 2.5 years that it makes me heart ache at times. He never got to meet our newest son. He missed the twins' first day of school. I can't count the number of times I've felt I've desperately needed my dad in the last 2.5 years and I don't have him.
And then I look in the mirror, I see the size of my clothes, or I step on the scale and I think to myself, "you fool. You hypocritical fool."
I am extremely overweight. The only thing I have on my side is the fact that I am fairly young. If I am being completely honest with myself, if I continue going the way I'm going, I fully expect to be dead by 60...and that would mean I'm currently in the middle of my life. That terrifies me. I hae so much more to do. I not only want to be there to see my sons get married, I want to dance at their children's wedding, much like my grandmother did at mine and I know if that is going to happen, I need to get serious and change my life.
The plan? On February 13, 2013 I will start my 40 days of juicing. I'm picking this date because its the start of lent and I am going to use this to completely change my life and at the same time, gaining a closer relationship with God.
I want to break my addiction to unhealthy foods. I want to feel good from the outside in. I want to get off of the pharmaceutical drugs I'm on. I want to have a healthy BMI. I want to live a healthy life.
I can't help but go back and think of the father at the diner with his younger son. Maybe he was laughing and making fun of the situation to hide behind his pain? I'm not sure. What I do know is the pain of losing your father at a relatively young age and while I know that simply eating healthy is no guarantee that you will live as long as you'd like, I want to do what I can to show my children how to live healthy and as their parent I feel it's my responsibility to be around for them as long as I can.
