The Fruit Cure: The Story of Extreme Wellness Turned Sour

Written by Jacqueline Alnes

Narrated by Jacqueline Alnes

"The Fruit Cure is an eye-opening, at turns heartbreaking, and long overdue reckoning of wellness culture—the scammy cures, miracle diets, and broken systems that operate like an elaborate MLM scheme, ensnaring people in an endless pursuit of promised cures. Part memoir, part cultural critique, Alnes takes us on a relatable journey through the world of fruitarianism and introduces us to a cast of complicated characters behind the raw food lifestyle. It’s a fantastic look at wellness and diet culture and the influencer economy, all done with nuance, humor, and empathy." - Christine Yu, author of Up To Speed

    In The Fruit Cure, Jacqueline Alnes takes readers on an unforgettable deep dive into the world of fruitarianism, populated by eccentric internet personalities and people in pain, ultimately placing her own powerful narrative within the wider problematic history of fruit-based, raw food lifestyles. 

    For readers plagued by mysterious symptoms, inundated by messages from media about how to attain “the perfect body,” or caught in the grips of a fast-paced culture of capitalism, The Fruit Cure offers a powerful critique of the failures of our healthcare system, and an inquiry into the dark world of wellness culture schemes, scams, and diets masquerading as hope.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Melville House
• Release date: Jan 23, 2024
• ISBN: 9781685891480

Jacqueline Alnes

Jacqueline Alnes is a writer, runner, and assistant professor of creative writing. Her work has been published in the New York Times, Guernica, Jezebel, Longreads, Ploughshares, Tin House, Electric Literature, The Boston Globe, and elsewhere. In 2017, her essay ‘I Remember, I Re-re-remember’ was selected as runner-up in the Black Warrior Review Nonfiction Contest by Hanif Abdurraqib, who described Alnes’s writing as ‘a complex narrative about the fragility of the body, and the ways in which it can fail us, or dare us to remain triumphant in spite of its failing.’ She served as nonfiction editor of The Portland Review, holds a PhD in creative writing from Oklahoma State University, and an MFA in nonfiction from Portland State University. Find her at: www.jacquelinealnes.com