The Fruit Cure

January 15, 2024
Essayist Alnes highlights in her sharp debut memoir how failures in America’s healthcare system open doors for predatory wellness movements. As a freshman on her college’s Divsion I track team, Alnes was stricken one day after practice with a sudden dizziness that soon became chronic. Despite worsening symptoms, including regular blackouts, Alnes’s peers, coach, and medical doctors dismissed her condition. Within a year, she had difficulty speaking and needed the assistance of a wheelchair. Spiraling through fear, self-loathing, and bouts of self-harm, Alnes discovered YouTube influencers Leanne “Freelee” Ratcliffe and Harley “Durianrider” Johnstone, who championed an all-fruit raw diet as a cure-all. Despite the diet’s austerity, Alnes bought in: “Their tales of triumph looked close enough to my own desire that I felt a sense of release. Someone out there knew how I was feeling.” Her relief soon gave way to disillusionment, however, as she saw the influencer couple pushing unhealthy weight standards, ignoring fact-based research, and promoting a view of the people around her as either “broken” or “perfect.” (Leanne and Harley broke up in 2016, lobbing accusations of physical abuse at one another.) Eventually, Alnes learned to accept her disabilities, and here she makes the case for “often-disruptive healing” over “quick fixes.” Her journey from desperation to self-acceptance is moving and well rendered. In the crowded medical memoir field, this stands out. Agent: Kate Johnson, Wolf Literary.