Medical doctors often agree on very little when it comes to diet, likely because nutrition is such a vast and complex subject. That is not to say I know more than doctors, I don’t. There are many physicians and scientists who understand nutrition deeply. But even among experts, the information often does not line up. What I do have is my own experience: sixteen years in retail health food, observing consumer patterns, experimenting with my own diet, and asking countless questions of medical professionals. I share what I know freely, not to be praised or seen as a guru, but because teaching what you’ve learned, while staying open and humble, is part of growth. I’ve changed many of my own radical positions over time by listening, studying, and learning nuance.
The sciences of the body are still developing, with many competing theories and evolving evidence. Confusion often comes when someone with authority uses complex jargon or half-digested data to sound definitive. Ask them to show the actual study, and often there is none. We’d all be better served if people simply said, “This is my opinion,” and then tried to build honestly on what they know. That includes me. My wheelhouse is not laboratory research, it is real-world observation, business data, and lived practice. Along the way I’ve had the privilege of learning from mentors, including Dr. Jeffrey Mechanick, who wrote the preface to my book The goodsugar Diet and has guided me when my ideas veered too far into the abstract.
Of course, there are things that are no longer worth debating. They are solid, established science. But there are always exceptions, the person who eats junk food every day and still lives a long life. Exceptions exist, but they are not the rule. That is why nutrition guidelines should be shaped by many perspectives. Imagine if medical boards included not only researchers and clinicians but also raw vegans and other lifestyle practitioners who could bring lived experience into the discussion. That kind of balance would open doors rather than close them.
Here is my point: over the past decade, I have sold thousands upon thousands of juice cleanses without a single complication. That record alone is worth examining. If researchers wanted to form a hypothesis or a study, this real-world data could be a legitimate place to begin. The reason juice cleanses work is simple: they remove dietary mistakes. As my teacher Fred Bisci taught me, every mistake you leave out of your diet creates an immediate improvement in your chemistry. Juice is not magic; it is concentrated nutrition and hydration. Even with much of the fiber removed, enough remains to feed friendly bacteria and to slow blood sugar spikes.
This is a layman’s conversation, not a peer-reviewed paper. The point is to speak clearly, not to bury the truth in jargon. People who promote juice often sell it, yes, but people who dismiss juice usually do not practice it and instead rely on whatever their training emphasized. My challenge is simple: if someone like Dr. XXXX (Redacted) did a serious juice cleanse, it would forever change the way he speaks about it. He might still interpret the chemistry his own way, but at least he would be speaking from lived experience rather than theory alone.
This gap between theory and practice is not limited to nutrition. If you asked doctors across the country whether they personally take every drug they prescribe, many would say absolutely not. They know the risks and hesitate to be the first in line. And yet, they prescribe anyway. If doctors are willing to gamble with pharmaceuticals, perhaps they can take a small gamble with produce.
Imagine a doctor boldly saying, “Eat more cucumbers.” Who cares if it is not backed by a randomized trial? At the very least, you’ll get water, nutrients, and the satisfaction of being nourished. Hallelujah.