Update: Tonight’s reading and book signing of the Fruit Cure has been rescheduled to next Tuesday, Feb. 20 at 6 p.m. in WCU’s Autograph Library.

Four years ago, West Chester University Assistant Creative Writing Professor Jacqueline Alnes began a journey that would end with a book commemorating one of the toughest chapters of her life. As a Division I cross-country runner, Jacqueline’s life was driven by self-discipline and an ability to push her body to extremes. That is until a mysterious neurological illness, that seemed to get worse the more she pushed, sidelined her athletic career, and upended all she knew about her about her body. As Western medicine was slow to deliver answers, Jacqueline began to look for ways to assert her own control. 

The Fruit Cure, published last fall by Melville House, explores the world of fruitarianism, a diet that consists primarily of, well, fruit, and the allure of extreme diets like these. The book alternates between memoir and cautionary sociological tale. 

“It took me a long, long, long time [to really get better],” said Jaqueline, “because I reached for these cures that weren’t cures but they gave me a sense of control. For a long time, I didn’t want to believe that I was sick. I wanted to believe I could overcome anything.” 

“Healing is really messy.” she said. 

The book tracks the fruitarian diet from late nineteenth-century England to mid-twentieth-century Australia to the YouTubers of today.  

“Honestly for me, that was the most fun,” Jacqueline said about the research. “I am interested in Instagram diets and by going back we learn it’s the same thing that’s been happening forever. Nothing is new. Then it was just pamphlets and giving speeches.”

For centuries, diets like these have fed on the vulnerability of their followers (often young women). Their champions often leverage feelings of desperation, embarrassment (fat shaming is popular among proponents), control, and isolation to make a quick dollar. 

In her book, Jacqueline hopes to dispel at least some of these pseudo-health claims. A banana a day for 30 days, as it turns out, does not necessarily keep the doctor away, nor does it bring you happiness. Importantly, no matter how bizarre the situation, we are not alone. 

“I was never alone in any of it. If you talk about these things and log the grief you feel, it can make this feel better for you,” said Jacqueline, who now has her condition, if not completely solved, under control. 

“I have it controlled now, but healing didn’t come from a diagnosis,” she said. “I had to heal a lot of different things. [I wanted to explore] the idea of an illness narrative that doesn’t end with, I’m better everything is great.”

Apparently, she is not the only one who feels this way. The book has already generated a lot of buzz with reviews in the Washington Post, Outside Magazine, New Scientist, and the Wall Street Journal.

Find this topic intriguing and relatable? Jacqueline will be holding a reading and book signing on Tuesday at WCU’s Phillips Autograph Library. There will be bananas – and for balance, Dia Doce cupcakes.    

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Originally published on Feb. 9, 2024

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