Ashton Kutcher suffers health scare prepping for ‘Jobs’ (the movie)
Ashton looks like the spitting image of Steve Jobs.
That was the headline in the news for the past few weeks. It wasn’t a big story and most people probably missed it.
I only found it because I noticed a big jump in traffic to my October 2011 blog about Jobs’ untimely death from pancreatic cancer (see link below). For a few days there, it went from twenty visits a day to about three hundred—that’s when I knew some story had broken.
So what’s the story with Ashton? Turns out he took his Steve Jobs character part very seriously—even tried being “fruitarian” for awhile—then said that it caused him to have pancreatic issues himself. From a 1-26-13 USA Today article (see link below):
Ashton Kutcher might have gotten a little too close to Steve Jobs. Kutcher says that he started a fruit-only diet to prepare to play the Apple co-founder for the biopic Jobs, which premiered Friday night at the Sundance Film Festival.
The diet, which the film claims Jobs adhered to, ended up sending Kutcher to the hospital with pancreas problems. “First of all, the fruitarian diet can lead to like severe issues,” Kutcher said after the film’s screening. “I went to the hospital like two days before we started shooting the movie. I was like doubled over in pain. “My pancreas levels were completely out of whack,” Kutcher added. “It was really terrifying … considering everything.”Jobs died of pancreatic cancer on Oct. 5, 2011.
So what does that mean? Absolutely nothing; it’s just another example of the constant barrage of confusion about health and diet from our news media. Naturally, the take away for the average movie buff out there is that weirdo vegetarian diets are a bad idea.
Some people who read the story will want to find out more on the topic—many of them have found my site. But millions of people probably consulted Wikipedia to learn more about why Steve Jobs died at the young age of 56. Here’s what they found at Wikipedia:
In October 2003, Jobs was diagnosed with cancer,[194] and in mid-2004, he announced to his employees that he had a cancerous tumor in his pancreas.[195] The prognosis for pancreatic cancer is usually very poor;[196] Jobs stated that he had a rare, far less aggressive type known as islet cell neuroendocrine tumor.[195]Despite his diagnosis, Jobs resisted his doctors’ recommendations for mainstream medical intervention for nine months,[155] instead consuming a special alternative medicine diet in an attempt to thwart the disease. According to Harvard researcher Ramzi Amri, his choice of alternative treatment “led to an unnecessarily early death.”[194] According to Jobs’s biographer, Walter Isaacson, “for nine months he refused to undergo surgery for his pancreatic cancer – a decision he later regretted as his health declined.”[197]“Instead, he tried a vegan diet, acupuncture, herbal remedies and other treatments he found online, and even consulted a psychic. He also was influenced by a doctor who ran a clinic that advised juice fasts, bowel cleansings and other unproven approaches, before finally having surgery in July 2004.”[198] He eventually underwent a pancreaticoduodenectomy (or “Whipple procedure”) in July 2004, that appeared to successfully remove the tumor.[199][200][201] Jobs apparently did not receive chemotherapy or radiation therapy.[195][202] During Jobs’s absence, Tim Cook, head of worldwide sales and operations at Apple, ran the company.[195]
Consecutive daily blogs
The Bottom Line. It’s almost impossible to get the real truth about diet and health from the news media—which is where most people get their information. Oh, they also get it from their family, friends, physicians and teachers—all of whom get most of their diet/health info from the media. This mass confusion will continue to be a problem until a few prominent leaders start aggressively promoting the truth.
In my article below, you’ll also find a link to an excellent presentation by Dr. John McDougall on the Steve Jobs topic. My conclusion is that we’ll never know for sure why Steve died. That’s because we’ll never know very much about how healthfully he ate for most of his life.
I would love to have seen Steve take our 4Leaf Survey—answering truthfully to describe how he ate (on average) since he reportedly turned vegetarian (for the first time) in his teens. Then, I would have a much better idea. Take our free 4Leaf Survey
- Source article in USA Today. Ashton Kutcher suffers health scare prepping for ‘Jobs’
- My October 2011 blog. Steve Jobs. Vegan? Early death from pancreatic cancer?
- My “big picture” page about cancer. Cancer in general (All kinds)
- My 1-28-13 blog about leadership. The “Perfect Storm” for fixing healthcare—NOW!
- My recent blog about public perception of vegans. Animal rights & veganism. What comes to mind for most folks?
Handy 4-piece take-charge-of-your-health kit—from Amazon.com
- The movie that’s changing the lives of millions: Forks Over Knives DVD
- Healthy Eating, Healthy World, The “big picture” about food (our book)
- An essential scientific resource: The China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell
- Dr. McDougall’s new book, The Starch Solution, with lots of great recipes.
Want to find out how healthy your family is eating? Take our free 4Leaf Diagnostic Survey. It takes less than five minutes and you can score it yourself. After taking the survey, please give me your feedback as it will be helpful in the development of our future 4Leaf app for smartphones. Send feedback to jmorrishicks@me.com
International. We’re now reaching people in over 100 countries. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter or get daily blog notices by “following” us in the top of the right-hand column. For occasional updates, join our periodic mailing list.
To order more of my favorite books—visit our online BookStore now
J. Morris Hicks, working daily to promote health, hope and harmony on planet Earth.
For help in your own quest to take charge of your health, you might find some useful information at our 4Leaf page or some great recipes at Lisa’s 4Leaf Kitchen.
Got a question? Let me hear from you at jmorrishicks@me.com. Or give me a call on my cell at 917-399-9700.
SHARE and rate this post below.
Blogging daily at hpjmh.com…from the seaside village of Stonington, Connecticut – Be well and have a great day.
—J. Morris Hicks, board member, T. Colin Campbell Foundation
J. Morris Hicks, engineer. writer. big picture guy. 
A fruit only diet causing pancreatic problems? What is the medical explanation for that? I think that most people get pancreatitis because of too much fat in their diet. Is it the fructose that is to blame or is it just a red herring? On the topic of diet, grass fed beef is being touted in certain environmental circles as a wholly healthful food and even a solution to climate warming. I am trying to get some unbiased expert opinion on that. I have googled grass fed beef and looked at the index of Campbell’s beef but found nothing Another really worthwhile issue to explore is the feasibility of feeding companion animals and in particular cats on a meat free (vegan actually) diet. There is a lot of controversy on the subject but a few animal shelters/sanctuaries claim to have been doing that for a long time with no negative health impacts. Just sharing a few thoughts. I like the way you are following the issues; people need that Regards Amelia
Former Montana cattleman Howard Lyman would surely tell you that grass-fed beef is not the answer for a variety of reasons. The main reason is the grazing strips the land of erosion control, and the cattle damage streams and lakes. I suggest reading Mad Cowboy by Mr. Lyman.
PS: Lyman was sued with Oprah Winfrey when at the end of Lyman’s appearance on Oprah’s show, she said she was never eating another hamburger.