Īccording to Cross, he felt groggy and unstable the first three to five days. But he kept changing the fruits and vegetables used in the juice to ensure he consumed different plants and vegetables. Cross used a special juice that he prepared called the Mean Green Juice – a mixture of kale, apples, lemon, cucumber, celery and ginger.

He used an 80/20 rule, according to which he used 80 percent vegetables and 20 percent fruit in the juice that he made to avoid getting too much sugar into his system. Cross survived on nothing but juices for 60 days during his juice fast. He travelled in a truck with a cameraman, a sound guy, a juicer and a generator. For his juice fast, he decided to travel across America while talking to people about their attitudes toward food. Under the supervision of his doctor and a team that monitored his blood work regularly, he started the juice fast in May 2005. In 2005 when he was 39, the doctors told him that with his health, he would die early and he decided to consume only juice for 60 days. He wanted to get off medication as he believed that the medication or doctors were not able to offer a cure for his condition. According to Cross, he believed that his eating habits had caused his illness and he wanted to change his lifestyle. Cross was a smoker and consumed alcohol regularly. His daily diet mainly consisted of processed foods. and unsuccessfully tried various diets in fits and starts. He spent his 30s trying traditional and non-traditional medicine to solve his illness. In 2005, Cross weighed 140 kilograms (310 pounds) and suffered from an autoimmune condition, chronic urticaria, for which he had been taking medications such as the steroid prednisone for years.

Joe cross weight loss journal