Last night I went to the premier of Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead 2 (FSND2), the much-anticipated sequel in juicing and reboot circles to Joe Cross’ 2010 documentary of the same name, directed by Kurt Engfehr. Unlike the first movie, where Joe Cross and then Phil Staples were the primary focus and juicing is the primary theme, this film moves beyond juicing to focus mostly on the challenges with staying on track, managing day-to-day life, and making changes last long term.
Like FSND, the movie’s message unfolds through numerous vignettes of regular people telling their stories, but also includes expert perspective from Dean Ornish, MD (Author of numerous books including Eat More, Weigh Less and Founder, Preventive Medicine Research Institute), Brain Wansick, Phd (Author, Mindless Eating and Slim by Design, and Director, Cornell Food & Brand Lab), amongst others. Plus, there are a few updates, with people from the first movie, including Terry, the very amusing gun shop owner who balked at Joe in FSND and then embraced changing his eating habits after seeing himself, and of course, Phil Staples who has had a tougher time but is pushing on (read more of his story here). Each represents what happens in real life – sometimes the route is smooth sailing but more often there are bumps in the road. All-in-all each person opens up to share their health recovery journey so that more people viewing can learn, be inspired, and hopefully understand that if it goes a little off track, don’t give up but reach out, connect, find support and get going again.
By the end of the movie, Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead 2 should satisfy the FSND cult following but also goes beyond the original story and what messages other health related documentaries are presenting lately. The challenges and successes shared by Joe, Phil, Terry and all the personal clips come together to deliver another inspiring movie where the audience can see that it is not all doom and gloom, but almost always needs to include support and community. If you missed the one night nationwide event last night you will be able to see FSND2 when it is released worldwide on DVD on November 18th. Juice On! Be GLAD!
Disclosure: During my trip to Camp Reboot 2013, I took a giant step forward in my own journey and decided to ‘stop hiding’ by volunteering to sit in front of the cameras for a testimonial with Jamin Mendelsohn, Producer. It was an act of moving past shame and embracing where I was even though I was not ‘finished’ with my own weight loss project. A year later, at Camp Reboot 2014, Joe broke the news to me that I am in FSND2! Yikes, I didn’t expect that and was clearly nervous! It’s the briefest 30 seconds of footage but there I am – definitely out of hiding. The fact that there was something I said that they felt was important to the story is a wonderful thing and even without that honor I would still be writing this review of FSND2 just the way it is.
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