Jacqueline Alnes

As other reviewers have noted, this needed to be two separate books: one, a mainstream nonfiction book examining how "clean eating" and its history have been around since 1910 with that specific wording, and around even longer when slightly different wording is used. The second book would be that of an athlete's journey to getting doctors to stop gaslighting her and explain what's going on, and her navigating the disability and the identity shift that comes with that.

Her condition is never diagnosed. It's simply referred to as a neurological condition that's episodic.
She doesn't do the fruit diet for longer than a day, but tries to several times. Instead, she just talks about it. And talks, and talks, and I thought she was simply building up interest to her experience with it and no, she is not.
The author also repeatedly describes in detail a sexual assault against her when she was having an episode. I can't explain why, but something about how this book was -written- made me shout, THE AUTHOR REALLY NEEDED TO WARN FOR THIS. She did not, and keeps describing it every fifteen pages or something. Like pulling a string on a talking doll. I'm sorry she went through that, but seriously, I understood the first time you mentioned it. I absolutely hate to say it, but, shut up. It's awful, and you repeatedly draw attention to it for no real reason. ONCE WAS ENOUGH.

This book's structure is awful. Pages will be dedicated to the former athlete's experiences with running and how much joy it brings her, then she explains about Freelee and Durianrider. Uh, okay. Then she talks about the late 1800s and early 1900s for several pages. Did--did she squash a term paper into her disability memoir? Because that's what this felt like at times. What's her relationship to her disability? Does she interact with other people who have neurological disorders? Did fruit-heavy fad diets do anything to worsen her symptoms? No, not really. -Those- were questions that I was hoping this book would be about, and those were not addressed enough for me to notice. Freelee and Durianrider sure were. And people who preached fad diets. Them too. Lots of pages were dedicated to them. The author interviewed several people who lived by these principles, which I found interesting, but again, -how- they were included in the book was poor structure.
It became grating and I wondered if the book would never end. I was surprised when it did.

I wish the author all the best in managing her condition and I hope she has a wonderful support system. I hope she thrives. I just don't like her writing.… (plus d'informations)