The general nutrition information this
young woman acted upon as her road map to eliminating epilepsy and
restoring neurological health is readily usable by all persons for overcoming
any illness or for purposes of medical prevention. PERMANENT  RECOVER Y FROM  ADDICTIONS  TO STREET  DRUGS AND
ALCOHOL
As they grew up, fourteen-year -old Rob (pseudonym) and his siblings
engaged in a variety of antisocial activities. As a result, all three children
became either alcohol-addicted or street-drug-addicted and led relatively
unproductive lives. For example, Rob dropped out of high school early in
his junior year due to his freque nt double abuses of alcoholic beverages and
marijuana. His mother , whose defeat of breast cancer you will learn about
in chapter 14, says that her son never really was a “healthy” child. To illustrate his physical weaknesses, Rob’ s mother describes his
situation at the age of five when he was suffering from a rare bone disorder
called Legg-Calve-Perthes disease. The illness manifests itself as a kind of
perforation of the rounded head  of the femur , or thigh bone, which rotates
against the hip. When the woma n first took her son for consultation with a
physician, the M.D. dismissed  the child’ s symptoms as “worries of an
overly concerned mother .” But she insisted on an X-ray examin ation of the
boy’s legs and hips, which confirmed the disease. Embarrassed that he had missed the diagnosis, this physician advised her
to take Rob for experimental treatment then ongoing at the University of
California. But the mother refus ed to allow her child to be used as a human
guinea pig. Rob did, however , need to wear a full leg cast from below the
knee to his groin for months. During the course of such treatment, hismother describes how she learned about nutritional therapy , massage
therapy , and reflexology “accidentally .” She read about them while
shopping in a health foods store. These and other holistic-type alternative
methods of healing were subseq uently utilized to treat Rob’ s Legg-Calve-
Perthes disease. Medical care alternatives including dietary modifications,
and not usual “orthodox” medicine, enabled the small boy to discard his
long leg cast and recover naturally and permanently . So, remembering their effective ness for his leg and hip, Rob elected to
use the diet and detoxification techniques of medical alternativ es to clean
up his body when he and his new wife considered having a baby . As it
happens, he had married a girl who also used street drugs and alcohol to
excess. The couple had watched while Rob’ s mother went through the
Gerson Therapy  program for curing her breast cancer , and the son was
much admiring of his mother ’s personal healing efforts. He, but not his
wife, therefore became an enrollee in the Tijuana, Mexico, hospital facility
which then employed the Gerson Therapy . In a matter of just a few weeks, Rob was completely free of his
dependency on both alcohol and marijuana, with no withdrawal problems of
any kind. He returned home “cleaned up” and told his wife that he was now
ready to become a father . His wife, however , was not ready . While he now
ate a strictly vegetarian diet and followed a highly regulated lifestyle, she
did not. She seemed intolerant of a daily routine that allowed for no
recreational drugs, no drinking, and no “fun.” Therefore, one memorable
weekend, she left him during his absence, taking every household effect
with her—all of their jointly held assets. Unable to cope with this psych ological and financial trauma,  Rob fell
back into his old ways. During the summer of 1995, Rob went through a
dramatic weight  loss dropping 45 pounds, from 185 to 140. He literally lay
on the floor of his now empty apartment, unable to move because of his
total weakness. In a moment of lucidity , this thirty-two-year -old addict realized that he
was dying from self-inflicted wretchedness. His signs and symptoms of
disease were variable and bizar re too. Rob had been suffering  from what
was later diagnosed as acute and chronic mercurialism (mercury poisoning),
for his fingers swelled at night to twice their normal size and turned blue;
he vomi ted repeatedly , and simultaneously , he had severe abdominal pains. Added to these discomforts were bloody diarrhea, inability to produceurine, mouth ulcerations, loose  teeth, loss of appetite, and ringing in his
ears. It turns out that the addict’ s mercurialism came from  the dental
amalgam fillings (comprising 50 percent mercury) that occupie d cavities in
twelve of his teeth. The amalgams’ mercury content was leach ing into his
body and brain. It was then that Rob finally gathered himself together and managed to
muster enough energy to make his way to his mother ’s home in the San
Diego area. That’ s when she recognized that her son was on the verge of
death, confirmed by a physician at the University of California. And she put
him on the Gerson Therapy at once. In just six weeks, Rob regained 20
pounds of muscle without exercising, freed himself of cravings, went
through no agonizing symptoms of drug and alcohol withd rawal, and
developed excellent muscle tone by strictly resuming his vegetarian diet. The young man’ s signs and symptoms of mercury poisoning disappeared
along with his obvious addictions. Of course, added to his Gerson Therapy , Rob sought out the services of a
dentist who practices mercury-free, holistically , and biologically . The
dentist removed Rob’ s amalga ms, substituting dental comp osite filling
materials. Rob is now functioning normally and has become a keen
exponent of the Gerson Therapy . At 6 feet, 2 inches, he is back to his
normal weight of 185 pounds and at the last report on March 30, 1999, is
active and successful in his profession. RECOVER Y AFTER  STROKE AND  HEAR T ATTACK
At age eighty-seven, in December 1993, Rob’ s grandfather (on his
mother ’s side) suffered a heart attack (myocardial infarction) at home. His
grandfather ’s wife quicky called for an ambulance, but while he was
waiting to be treated in the hospital emer gency room he had a stroke that
paralyzed him along the entire right side of his body . He could not move
and lost the power to speak (aphasia) or to chew . Myocar dial infar ction  (MI) is death of a segment of heart muscle, which
follows interruption of its blood supply and is usually confined to the
heart’ s left ventricle. The patient experiences a “heart attack,” sudden
severe chest pain, which may spread to the arms and throat. The main
danger is that of ventricular fibrillation (overly fast beating of the heart),which accounts for most of the MI fatalities. Associated complications are
heart failure, heart rupture, pulmonary embolism, phlebothrombosis,
pericarditis, shock, mitral incompetence, and perforation of the septum
between the ventricles. Stroke, former ly known as apoplexy , is a sudden attack of weakne ss
affecting one side of the body , the consequence of an interruption of the
flow of blood to the brain. The primary disease is in the heart or blood
vessels; the effect on the brain is secondary . The stroke varies in severity
from a passing weakness or tingling in a limb to a profoun d paralysis,
coma, and death. Rob’ s grandfather was hospitalized for the treatment of myocardial
infarction and stroke near his Sacramento, California, home. During his
confinement in intensive care for three weeks, he was administ ered lots of
drugs. He was helpless to do anything for himself and, upon his dischar ge
from the hospita l, his wife was advised by the cardiovascular experts to put
the sick old man into a nursing  home. But Rob’ s mother woul dn’t let that
happen to her father whom she loved so much. Although she was shocked by her dad’s appearance as he slumped in his
wheelchair , paralyzed, incontinent, speechless, head drooping to one side,
and drooling, Rob’ s mother worked with him day and night. After learning
of the Gerson Therapy , she put her father on the program, feeding him fresh
vegetables and only a few juice s at first, while he still took the prescribed
drugs. Slowly but steadily she increased the intensity of her father ’s dietary
treatment. With love, she prepared his vegetables, fresh raw organic juices,
and Hippocrates soup and served them according to Dr. Gerson’ s
recommendations. Slowly she decreased the many drugs he was taking. In less than three weeks, her father was up and out of the wheel chair and
walking around the yard. In three months, he was walking in a park across
the street from his home. In August 1994, at age eighty-eight (eight months
after the heart attack and its associated stroke), he walked into the
Woodland office of the Califo rnia Department of Motor Vehicles and
applied for (and received) a driver’s license. He lived to age ninety-three,
when the compl ications of an accidental fall sent him to a hospital, where
he died. GENERAL  INFORMA TION ABOUT THE  GERSON  DIETARY PROGRAMDr. Gerson was a great admirer of the teachings of the Swiss physician
and chemist Paracelsus (1493–1541), and he quoted the Paracelsus
Arcanum, which  emphasized: Diet must be the basis of all medical therapy ,
yet diet should not be a treatment in itself  Consequently , although the
Gerson dietary program is the foundation for a total healing effect, other
adjuvant aspects of treatment are incorporated too, such as coffee enemas,
castor oil packs, ozone therapy , clay poultices, hydrotherapy , hyperthermia
tub baths, live cell therapy , rectal ozone insuf flation, dietary
supplementation with specific nutrients, and other items. In providing his nutritional eating program, Dr. Gerson was rather
considerate of modern social mores, taste temptations, family feasts,
holidays, personal living habits, cultural requirements, and the economic
pressures that a sick or even a well person would have to face. Consequently , he divided the Gerson preventive  dietary program into two
portions: one-qu arter of all the food to be eaten could be to one’s choice;
the three -quarters remaining must be taken for the purpose of protecting the
functions of the highly essentia l organs—the liver, the kidneys, the brain,
the heart, and so on. Dr. Gerson did suggest that, in order to prevent disease, one should eat a
good diet three-quarters of which is vegetarian, nutritious, and cell-building
foods, while the other quarter could be “at choice.” The authors  believe that
Dr. Gerson’ s liberalism with food percentages should be tempered at
present. More than forty years later, because of modern usage of overly
processed foods , doctor -prescribed and over-the-counter pharmaceutical
products, toxic pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and food-processing
chemicals, plus additions of much greater amounts of carcinogenic,
atherogenic, allergenic, mitogenic, and other synthetics, it is our opinion
that Dr . Gerson’ s original food suggestions are too liberal. Because he never anticipated how much industry and commerce would
come to poison the people and reduce the food value of what’ s eaten, Dr.
Gerson’ s humanitarian food proportions are no longer valid. We urge
instead that a person newly recovered from illness, as well as any normal
and healthy individual who wishes to remain that way, would be wiser to
use 90 percent “defensive,” highly nutritious foods, and possibly allow a
mere 10 percent of their meals “at choice.”
The fundamenta ls of Dr. Gers on’s general dietary outline offered to
patients, he said, were “written to prevent sickness, not to cure it.” Toachieve a complete cure, he added, a great deal more effort was required. As we’v e stated, Dr. Gerson included such procedures as medicinelike
nutritional supplementation and liver detoxification, two mandatory
programs that we will discuss at length in later chapters. His claim was,
“It’s safer to use foods in the most natural form, combined and mixed by
nature and raised, if possible, by an or ganic gardening process, thus obeying
the laws of nature.”1
This chapter offers Dr. Gerson’ s philosophy of eating correctly . It lays
down the general guideposts for spotting what’ s good and bad about the
foods to be selec ted. However , the actual foods to be eaten at each meal on
the Gerson menu plan don’ t make their appearance until the next chapter . THE SCIENCE BEHIND  DR. GERSON’S  ANTI-DEGENERA TIVE-DISEASE  DIET
The anti-degenerative-disease diet developed during the 1930s by Max
Gerson, M.D., was first of ficially recorded as a proven treatment program at
the University of Munich. It was afforded extraordinary laboratory support
through fundin g from both the Bavarian and the Pruss ian federal
government.2
Dr. Gerson focused then on the experimental use of foods of dietary
purity (unprocessed and totally  natural). He added the adjunctive use of
medications to remove tissue edema occurring in a variety of pathologies
such as tubercul osis, arthritis, cardiovascular disease, and cance r. Edema is
characterized by salt and water alterations in the tissues that were
eventually defin ed and named in 1977 as tissue damage syndr ome3—
decreased cell potassium (K+), increased cell sodium (Na+), and increased
cell water (cellular swelling).4
Nutritional treatment to provide cells with a high K+, low Na+
environment improves edema and leads to enhanced tissue resistance and
immunities, which together bring about better healing outcomes for sick
people such as tubercular patients.5 This rationale of tissue damaged
syndrome may be traced through all of Dr. Gerson’ s subseque nt efforts in
the management of degenerative diseases, particularly for those patients
beset by cancer .6
Dr. Gerson’ s anti-degenerative-d isease dietary program is individualized
to meet the need s of every patien t, but it does have uniform components. Aswe mentioned in chapters 1, 2, and 6, for most patients it is restricted in salt,
fat, and protein. It furnishes large quantities of multiple nutrients, enzymes,
phytochemicals, and other nourishing ingredients which act like
nutraceuticals. At the same time, each day’s thirteen hourly feedings of 8
ounces of raw vegetable and fruit juices offer the diet’s participant an
ultimate boostin g of his or her immune system. Nothing else known to the
mind of man could be healthier or more stimulating of medical preventive
homeostasis than the Gerson Therapy . Before the disruption of supplies that began in late 1985, raw veal liver
was additionally offered as part of the Gerson dietary program. That
practice of juicing and feeding calf’s liver had to be discontinued in 1987
because of repeated instances of bacterial contamination by the pathological
organism Campylobacter fetus s. fetus. Comparisons of patients from
different time frames show that those sick people receiving uncontaminated
calf’s liver juice had experienced better survival outcomes overall.7
Served in three generous daily  meals, Dr. Gerson’ s diet inclu des food
consumption from 2,600 calories up to 3,200 calories per day. This is no
small amount of food; it requires the ingestion of approximately 17 to 20
pounds of vegetables and fruits  per day. The plant food comes from all of
the required raw, organic materi al needed for the thirteen 8-ounce glasses of
juices besides the solid foods of the three meals. Still, although  massive in
amount, there is some caloric restriction because of the naturalness and
purity of quality of the foods. The Gerson menu plan is patterned after the antitumor effect of calorie
restriction first demonstrated in Germany in 19098 and again in the United
States in 1914.9 Although this natural way of eating—which we
reemphasize as being mostly vegetables and fruits—was tailored mainly to
correct the pathology of malignancies, it’s a form of orthomolecular
medicine that works toward improving the physical, mental, and emotional
health states of any person undergoing a worsening of well-being. It also
restores body weight to normal,  causing weight loss in the obese as well as
weight gain in underweight patients. Orthomolecular medicine,  as defined by the now deceased two-time
Nobel laureate Linus Pauling, Ph.D., in his foreword for the book Putting It
All Together: The New Orthomolecular Nutrition,  coauthored by Abram
Hoffer, M.D., Ph.D., and Morton Walker , D.PM., is a relatively new term in
medicine. It means that a therapeutic approach is designed to provide anoptimum molec ular environmen t for body functions. The orthomolecular
method offers particular reference to the best concentrations of substances
normally presen t in the human physiology , whether formed within the body
(endogenously) or ingested from outside the body (exogenously). Orthomolecular medicine is the use of completely natural remedies
(vitamins, minerals, herbs, enzymes, nutraceuticals, etc.) without any
application of synthetic or other pharmaceutical agents. Orthomolecular
medicine, in fact, is the healthiest way to achieve a therapeutic effect for
healing diseases of all types. It is totally different from the toximolecular
medicine of currently popular allopathic drug treatment taught in most
medical schools.10
WHAT’S DIFFERENT  ABOUT  THE GERSON  DIET
Sometimes peop le wonder whether the Gerson diet is different from or
similar to other nutritional treatment approaches. In some regard s, it may be
similar , but the Gerson diet is not the same as any other treatment. The
macrobiotic approach, for example, recommends cooked foods almost
exclusively and is high in sodium—just the opposite to Dr. Gerson’ s
therapeutic basis of diet. Another dietary approach recommends large
quantities of nuts and seeds. Still another stresses the importance of pH
balance in foods. The Ann Wigmore diet prefers raw foods to the exclusion
of any other edible form and recommends eating many nuts and sprouts. These many diets have their supporters, and all have successfully treated
some patients. There are numerous schools of thought about how diet
affects health and the several different paths to wholeness. We acknowledge
that the approach you take to your own healing must be your own decision,
but we encoura ge you to choo se one approach and stick with it, adding
aspects from other techniques of treatment only when they are known to be
compatible. The Gerson Thera py usually is not effective if its dietary
guidelines are mixed with those  from other treatments. While the Gerson
diet is similar to, and has served as the foundation for, many other
nutritional healing programs, its guidelines activate specific biochemical
processes that promote healing in a unique way . The foods and juices consumed on the Gerson diet constitute its primary
prescription for healing,  comparable to a drug in allopathic treatment.Significant deviation from the diet can be as serious for a Gerson patient as
missing an insulin shot can be for a diabetic, or as missing a chemotherapy
or radia tion appointment can be for a cancer patient under going an
allopathic treatment. All you need to know for optimum results from the Gerson Therapy is in
this book. We have observed that the best results are achieved by following
these guidelines to the letter . Of course, we recognize that some times it will
be impossible to meet all of the guidelines, whether for logistica l, financial,
or other reasons, and many of those who must “cut corners” will still
achieve fair to good healing with the Gerson method. Rare, mild deviation
from the therapy does not seem to af fect outcomes significantly . You will not fail to heal simply  because you miss one glass of juice a
couple of times a month. You will not fail if you must make use of
commercial produce occasionally instead of organic. If organic produce is
unavailable, commercial vegetables may be juiced after you have washed
them thoroughly to remove the coatings of pesticides, herbicides, and other
standard poisons used by agribusiness. Nevertheless, commercial produce is
still deficient in nutrients. You will reduce your chances of success if you
cut too many corners. How many? There is no good answer to that question,
because every patient, every diagnosis, responds differently to the Gerson
Therapy . On the other hand, many patie nts have followed the guidelines in Dr.
Max Gerson’ s original book A Cancer Therapy: Results of Fifty Cases
without medical assistance and have healed themselves. Still,  the Gerson
Therapy must not be considered a “paint by numbers” approach  to healing. Some ingenuity on the part of the person endeavoring to heal is sometimes
required. ADJUNCTS T O THE  DIETARY PROGRAM  DEVELOPED IN  MUNICH
The patient’ s metabolism is accelerated by the addition of iodine to his
intake.11 Dr. Gerson discovered that natural thyroid hormone derived from
animal sources plus the use of Lugol’ s iodine solution along with mild
exercise, all used together , improved the healing person’ s metabolism
markedly .12 Niacin, potassium salts (acetate, gluconate, and
monophosphate), and crude liver extract with injectable vitamin B12 weregiven to support  accelerated cellular energy production. These vitamin and
mineral nutrien ts are still being utilized as supplements to the Gerson
dietary program even today . In his University of Munich experiments of the 1930s, Dr. Gerson found
that temporary protein restriction aided edema absorption and favored
improvement in his patients’ overall health.13 In his anti-degenerative-
disease diet, especially as it involved cancer , a desirable protein repletion
with nonfat, enzyme-predigested dairy products often occurs after at least
six weeks. Therefore, enzyme-modified defatted milk such as yogurt or
unsalted nonfat cottage cheese is allowed as part of the dietary therapy . Shorter periods of protein restriction are recommended for children and
elderly patients. The Munich investigations turned up the therapeutic usefulness of a
variety of additional procedures  which are currently employed for Gerson
Therapy participants. For instan ce, here are some adjuncts to the Gerson
degenerative disease diet which will be discussed at length in later chapters:
• Castor oil, a cathartic with no known adverse clinical side effects,
should be administered to some one sick with acute or chronic  damage,
especially cancer patients, every  other day for many weeks (see chapter
11). • Enemas of boiled coffee are taken by the patient as needed, as
frequently as every four hours throughout the day, for their ability to
alleviate pain, detoxify , and improve nutritional condition (see chapter
12). Occasional nighttime enemas are suggested in special cases. Coffee enemas work exceedingly well to overcome the inflammatory
aches and pains of arthritis, cancer, and other painful body degenerations. Dr. Peter Lechner observed statistically significant cancer pain relief from
coffee enemas in a prospective matched control trial that he conducted at
the Municipal Hospital of Graz, Austria.14 Pain relief for all types of
malignancies is theorized to occur from a dialysis across the gut wall
through coffee enemas, for tumor tissue breakdown products such as the
polyamines, toxic bound nitrogen, and ammonia.15
Also observed is that those cancer patients taking coffee enemas and
other aspects of the Gerson Therapy are able to better tolerate  aggressive
treatments with cytotoxic agents currently recommended by many
conventionally practicing and unenlightened oncologists.16References for Chapter Seven
1
Gerson, M. A Cancer Therapy: Results of Fifty Cases and The Cure of
Advanced Cancer by Diet Therapy , 6th edition. Bonita, Calif.: The
Gerson Institute, 1999, 22. 2
Ward, PS. History of the Gerson Therapy . Washington, D.C.: Office of
Technology Assessment, 1988. 3
Cope, F.W. “Pathology of structured water and associated cations in cells
(the tissue damage syndrome) and its medical treatment.” Physiological
Chemistry and Physics. 9(6):547–553, 1977. 4
Evans, W.E.D. The Chemistry of Death. Springfield, Ill.: Charles C.
Thomas, 1963, pp. 23-25. 5
Gerson, M. Diet Therapy for Lung Tuberculosis. Leipzig, Germany:
Franz Deuticke, 1934. 6
Op. cit.,  Gerson, M., pp. 164, 166, 184, 197. 7
Op. cit.,  Evans, WE.D., p. 31. 8
Moreschi, C. “The connection between nutrition and tumor promotion.”
Z. Immunitätsforsch. 2:651, 1909. 9
Rous, P “The influence of diet on transplanted and spontaneous mouse
tumors.” Journal of Experimental Medicine. 20:433, 1914. 10
Hoffer, A.; Walker , M. Putting It All Together: The New Orthomolecular
Nutrition. New Canaan, Conn.: Keats Publishing, 1978 and 1997, pp. Iv,
v.
11
Silverstone, H.; Tannenbaum, A. “Influence of thyroid hormone on the
formation of induced skin tumors in mice.” Cancer Resear ch. 9:684-688,
1949.12
Wesch, M.A. ; Conen, L.A.; Wesch, C.W “Inhibition of growth of human
breast carcinoma xenografts by ener gy expenditure via voluntary exercise
in athym ic mice fed a high-fat diet.” Nutrition in Cancer . 23:309-317,
1995. 13
Gerson, M. “Fluid rich potas sium diet as treatment for cardiorenal
insuf ficiency .” Munich med. W ochenschr . 82:571-574, 1935. 14
Lechner , P; Hildenbrand, G. “A reply to Saul Green’ s critique of the
rationale for cancer treatment with coffee enemas and diet: cafestol
derived from beverage coffee increases bile production in rats; and coffee
enemas and diet ameliorate human cancer pain in stages I and II.”
Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients. 130:526-529, 1994. 15
Gerson, M. “The cure of advanced cancer by diet therapy: a summary of
30 years of clinical experimentation” (posthumous publication). Physiology of Chemistry and Physics. 10(4):449–464, 1978. 16
Lechner , P; Kronber ger, I. “Erfahrungen mit dem Einsatz der Diat-
Therapie in der Chirur gischen Onkologie.” Aktuel Ernährungsmedizin. 2(15):72–78, 1990. OceanofPDF .comChapter Eight
FOODS ON THE GERSON DIET PLAN
After co-founding the Gerson Institute of Bonita, California, Charlotte
Gerson has carried forward the specifics of what to eat and not to eat as part
of the illness-fig hting menu plan. Her father set down over half a century
ago how to permanently overcome chronic degenerative diseases by use of
dietary procedures. According to those original instructions, described in
1958 by Dr. Gerson in his book A Cancer Therapy , a sick person using the
Gerson Therapy should include those eating guidelines now presented
below . FOODS  THAT MAY BE CONSUMED  IN QUANTITY
• All kinds of fruits are acceptable, mostly fresh and some prepared in
different ways; freshly prepared vegetable juices; fruit salads; cold fruit
soups; mashed bananas, raw grated apples, applesauce, and some other
fruits. • The recommen ded fruits are apples, grapes, cherries, mangoes, peaches,
oranges, apricot s, grapefruit, bananas, tangerines, pears, plums, melons,
papayas, persimmons, and so on, none of which should come from cans
or frozen packages. Pears and plums are more easily digestible when
stewed. All fruit may also be stewed. Dried fruit may be eaten if
unsulfured, such as apricots, peaches, raisins, prunes, or mixed fruit, all
of which should be washed, soaked, and stewed. All berries, nuts,
pineapple, avocados, and cucumbers are forbidden. • All vegetables freshly prepared, some stewed in their own juices and
others either raw or finely grated, such as organically grown carrots,
cauliflower or celery; vegetable salads, soups, and so on. No frozen
vegetables are allowed.• Potatoes are best when baked; the contents may be mashed with yogurt
or soup; they should never be fried but may be boiled in their jackets. • Salads  of green leaves may be mixed with tomatoes, fruits, vegetables,
and other or ganically grown plant edibles. • Unsalted bread may contain whole rye but only a small percentage of
whole wheat flour . The grain should be or ganically grown. • Buckwheat cakes and potato pancakes are optional, as are brown sugar
(organic dried cane juice, i.e., Sucanat), honey , maple sugar , and 100
percent pure maple syrup. (Use no fats or baking soda when baking.) • Oatmeal should be used freely . • Milk products such as churne d buttermilk, nonfat unflavored yogurt,
and nonfat unsalted pot (cottage) cheese are allowed. After two years on
a strict Gerson Therapy progr am, cream and ice cream can be used
sparingly or restricted to holiday s. (Dr. Gerson flat-out states: “Ice cream
is ‘poison’ for children.”)
• After the ill individual has recovered, allowing two years or more in
some cases, the remaining 10 percent of the dietary regime (rem embering
from chapter 7 that Dr. Gerson’ s original food proportions have been
modified to conform to the more unnatural methods used in growing and
processing foods during modern times), which allows for personal
choice, may consist of meat, fish, eggs, nuts, candies, cakes, or whatever
one likes best. • Nicotine should be avoided under any circumstances. • Liquors, wine, and beer should be reduced to a minimum in favor of
fresh fruit juices. • Coffee and tea should be cut to a minimum with the excepti on of the
following teas: peppermint, chamomile, linden flower , orange flower , and
a few others. • Salt, bicarbonate of soda, smoked fish, and sausage must be avoided
completely (see chapter 10 for a more complete explanation about salt). • Sharp condim ents such as pepper and ginger must be eliminated. But
fresh garden herbs are recommended for regular consumption, including
onions, garlic, parsley leaves, chives, horseradish, and celery . • All vegetables  may be consum ed, stewed in their own juices  to avoid
the loss of mine rals easily dissolved in water during cooking. Especially
recommended for their mineral content are carrots, peas, tomatoes,
broccoli, Swiss chard, spinach, string beans, brussels sprouts, artichokes,beets cooked with apples, cauliflower with tomatoes, red cabbage with
apples, and raisins. Everything must be prepared without salt. • Any cooking equipment made of aluminum is absolutely forbidden, as
are microwave ovens, pressure cookers, and steam cookers. • While followi ng the Gerson eating plan for the first year and a half,
don’t eat any eggs, fish, meat, butter , cheese, and milk. Altogether , because of the extensive juicing of vegetables, a follower of
the Gers on eatin g plan takes in between 17 and 20 pounds of plant foods
each day. You’ll understand how and why this is done after reading our
explanation of the juicing concept in chapter 9. FOODS  PROHIBITED ON THE  GERSON  MENU PLAN
All foods eaten as part of the Gerson diet must be prepared without  the
use of the following categories of prohibited foods:1
Salt and Sodium
Salt and sodium  in all forms, including table salt, sea salt, celery salt,
vegetable salt, Bragg Liquid Aminos
 , tamari, soy sauce, “lite salt,”
baking soda, sodium-based baking powders, and anything  with “sodium” in
its name, as well as salt substitu tes, are forbidden. Skin contact with Epsom
salts should be avoided. Comb inations of herbs, often sold under names
such as “instead of salt” or “salt-free seasoning,” may be used in small
quantities, if they contain permitted herbs without added salt or salt
substitutes. Oils and Fats
Oils and fats, plus any foods that contain them, are prohibi ted. This
prohibition inclu des corn oils, olive oils, canola oils, and all other vegetable
oils except flaxseed oil as specif ically prescribed; also forbidden are butter ,
cheese, cream, and other dairy fats; all animal fats; all margarines or oil-
based spreads; coconuts and avocados; all hydrogenated or partially
hydrogenated oils; Olean, Olest ra, and other “fat substitutes”; nut butters;and any other source of dietary fats, except as naturally occurring in
allowed foods. Proteins and High-Pr otein Foods
Proteins and high-protein foods are not allowed. These disallowed foods
include all meats, seafoods, and other animal proteins; nuts and seeds; soy
or other  legume-based food products; all protein powders or supplements,
including barley- or algae-based powders, unless specifically used when
prescribed for protein supplementation. In addition to the above three categories, there are certain other foods that
must be “off-limits” until the ill individual is completely healed, and in
some cases, even after full recovery. The “off-limits” foods include almost
all packaged, prepared (“convenience”) foods such as those frozen, canned,
bottled, or boxed. They must be forsaken for health reasons. Restaurant
food will almost always be unacceptable, because it is rarely organic and
almost always is cooked with added salt, fats, or other additives
inappropriate to the Gerson eating plan. Because the Gerson approach to healing looks at everything that goes
into, or on, the body as facto rs in the therapeutic process, the Gerson
Therapy may appear more restrictive than other “natural” or “holistic”
approaches. By means of such attention to detail, the Gerson Therapy
accomplishes healing even in some extremely advanced cases of pathology ,
or in diseases that otherwise ar e consider ed incurable. Sometimes it’s tempting to deny the seriousness of one’s own condition. A few sick people go through a thinking process that says, “Well, my
malignancy isn’t very advanced; it’s only stage II cancer and not the worst
kind, so I don’t need to follow the diet as closely as someone near death.”
We believe this is a foolish form of thinking. Similarly , some Gerson
Therapy patients  are the recipie nts of well-meaning but uninformed advice
from friends, relatives, and even medical practitioners who know little
about the complex biochemical interactions occurring in a body combining
the Gers on diet, medications, and detoxification. We advise that it’s unwise
to arbitrarily modify the true Gerson dietary therapy for the sake of personal
convenience or to please someb ody else’s ego. Ask any person wanting togive you advice: “How many cancer patients have you heale d with this
advice?”
We strongly recommend that you refrain from adding to or changing the
proven dietary guidelines witho ut the advice of a certified Gerson Therapy
practitioner . (Contact the Gerson Institute to be directed to a certified
Gerson Therapy practitioner near your location.) Making even minor
modifications of the Gerson Therapy protocol is poor practice. Why? Because the treatment procedure has shown itself repeatedly to successfully
achieve remission or cure of cancer and nearly every other chronic
degenerative disease. Quite simply, used exactly as presented, the Gerson
dietary program has shown itself to work! THREE  FOOD CATEGORIES : DESIRABLE , OCCASIONALL Y ALLOWED , AND
PROHIBITED
Desirable Organically Gr own Foods
Sick or well, as a means of reversing pathology or to prevent its
occurring, the food categorie s listed below are excellent sources of
nourishment and may be consumed without limitations. The truly desirable
foods are:
• All fruits and vegetables plus potatoes, except as listed under prohibited
foods
• Fresh fruit and vegetable juices, as shown in chapter 9
• Raw fruit and vegetable salads (see below in this chapter)
• Special Hippocrates soup (see below for its preparation)
• Oatmeal
The desirable foods mentioned actually are necessary for their
therapeutic effects. They are easily and quickly digested. Eating large and
frequent portion s of them is encouraged on the Gerson diet. One may even
eat them during the night when awaking hungry , to provide critical nutrition
for rebuilding damaged tissues and maintaining necessary nourishment. As
the body restores itself, many people become ravenous with hunger . There
is virtually no limit to the quantity of these good foods that can be
consumed, provided that it is high-quality , organically grown if possible,
and fresh from the “desirable” list. We recommend keeping food availableat the bedside for nighttime snacking (such as fruit, fruit salad, or
applesauce). Occasionally Allowed Organically Gr own Foods
Unless otherwise prescribed by your Gerson-trained health professional,
the follo wing groups of foods, free of salt, salt derivatives, and oils and fats,
may be eaten once per week:
• Breads made from whole rye, oat, or rice flour
• Organic popcorn (dry-popped, unsalted, and without fat)
• Brown or wild rice
• Yams and sweet potatoes
• Maple syrup, honey , raw brown sugar , and unsulfured blackstrap
molasses up to a daily comb ined maximum of all sweeteners of 2
teaspoonfuls. Very Occasionally Allowed Foods
Ingested not more than once or twice per month, the following food
groups are permitted occasionally:
• Organically grown, frozen vegetables (if prepared without added salt,
fat, or other prohibited ingredients)
• Sprouted beans or seeds (e.g., lentils, beans) other than alfalfa sprouts,
which are forbidden. Prohibited Foods
Whenever possi ble, we offer a brief explanation as to why the various
foods cited under this prohibitio n category are not allowed on the Gerson
dietary program. • All manufactur ed (processed) foods  such as those that are bottled,
canned, frozen, preserved, refine d, salted, smoked, or sulfured (except as
specifically mentioned as being allowed) are forbidden. • Dairy products of all types  such as milk and milk products (including
goat’ s milk) are forbidden. Thes e prohibited items include cheese, cream,ice cream, ice milk, butter , and buttermilk, except as specifically allowed
under proteins. Dairy products are generally extremely high in fat. Cheeses may be 65 percent fat and high in sodium. The commercial
buttermilks are “cultured” (produced from leftover milk, flavored, and
thickened) and contain fat and sodium. When protein is prescribed,
however , fresh, churned buttermilk without any additives may be taken
after the sixth to twelfth week  of healing. Unsalted, nonfat Quark is
permitted when available. • Alcohol  should not be imbibed because it limits the blood’ s ability to
carry oxygen and places strain on the liver to detoxify and remove it from
the body . Alcohol is toxic. • Pineapples and berries  may cause an allergic reaction to the aromatic
acids present. • Avocados  are too high in fats. • Cucumbers  in combination with the require d juices to be taken daily are
difficult to digest. • Spices  such as black pepper or paprika are irritants. Basil, oregano, and
others are to be avoided because of their high aromatic acid content. Cayenne pepper , jalapenos, and so on are also irritants and can stop the
healing. • Soybeans and soy products  including tofu, tempeh, miso, tamari, other
soy sauces, Bragg’ s Liquid Aminos
 , textured vegetable protein, soy
milk, and all other soy-based products are disallowed. For a variety of
different reasons including their high fat content, high sodium content,
toxic inhibition to nutrient absorption, and/or elevated protein content,
use of soy in all its forms must be avoided. • Dried beans and legumes  should not be used. • Sprouted Alfalfa and Other Bean or Seed Sprouts are high in L-
canavanine, an immature amino acid that is responsible for immune
system suppression. Also, patie nts with no prior history of chronic joint
pain have developed the sudd en onset of arthritic symptoms upon
ingesting alfalf a sprouts. Healthy monkeys have developed lupus
erythematosus from alfalfa sprouts in their diet. • Oils and fats of all kinds, with the exclusion of fresh, raw, organic
flaxseed oil, are forbidden. • Refined white and br own sugars  are forbidden. • Flour  is forbidden.• Beef, pork, poultry , eggs, fish, seafood, and all other meat or animal
flesh products  are prohibited. These animal foods are high in protein,
chemicals, prese rvatives, hormo nes, and salt and are difficult to digest,
often have too much fat, and make additional work for the body’ s liver
and excretory systems. • Black tea, green tea, and other  nonherbal or caffeine-containing teas
are forbidden because of their undesirable aromatic acids and caffeine
content. Dr. Gerson cited aromatics as interfering with healing by
producing allergic reactions (see above as listed under pineapples and
berries). • Candy , cakes, muffins, pastries, and other refined sweets  are prohibited
because they contain health-threatening ingredients, such as fats, oils,
refined sugars or flours, salt, soda, baking powder , or dairy products. Note, however , that some breads and pastries may be baked using
permitted ingredients which will make the diet more interesting but must
not be consumed on a regular basis. • The drinking of water  is not encouraged. Dr. Gerson believed that a
Gerson Therapy  patient should not drink water , because it dilutes the
stomach acid and doesn’ t allow maximum gastrointestinal tract capacity
for nutrition from fresh foods and juices. The juices provide adequate
fluids. • Mushr ooms  are not vegetables but fungi and contain complex proteins
and are dif ficult to digest and of fer little nutrition. • Coffee and coffee substitutes by mouth,  both with caffeine and
decaf feinated, cause undesirable stimulation of the digestive system. Orally taken caffeine overly excites the central nervous system, while the
essential oils disturb digestion. In contrast, when coffee is taken rectally ,
it offers an entirely advantageous effect on the liver where, aside from
detoxification, it increases the production of glutathione S-transferase (a
desirable enzyme). • Nuts and seeds,  includin g almo nds, apricot kernels, sunflower seeds,
flaxseeds, peanu ts, cashews, and all other nuts and seeds, are prohibited
because they are too high in protein and fat. In “roasting” salt is added,
the fat is altered, and nuts and seeds become more harmful. • Hot peppers  (jalapenos, etc.) contain the same strong aromatics found
in prohibited spices. Peppers tend to inhibit healing responses and shouldbe avoid ed. Green, yellow , and sweet red peppers may be used without
limitation. • Mustar d and carr ot gr eens. • Baking powder and baking soda  contain sodium and alum (aluminum),
which are highly toxic. Aluminum-free and sodium-free baking powders
such as Featherweight
  (potassium-based powder) may be used
occasionally . • Fluoride components  that are part of any item at all such as water ,
toothpaste, mouth gargle, hair dyes, beauty parlor permanents, cosmetics,
underarm deodo rants, lipstick, and lotions must be avoided under any
conditions. HOW T O PREP ARE FOODS ON THE  GERSON  EATING  PROGRAM
Since foods of the Gerson eating program are easily digested, people
following it generally require larger and more frequent servings. Eat as
much of these foods as possible, even during the night if desired . The foods
to be consumed  include fresh and stewed fruit, juices of fresh fruits and
vegetables, fresh raw and cook ed vegetables and leaves, salads, special
Hippocrates soup, potatoes, oatmeal, salt-free rye bread (limite d to one or
two slices a day), and herb tea. Vegetable Pr eparation
We admit that by most standards of modern food preparation, Gerson
Therapy meals are considered overcooked. Dr. Gerson believed that foods
should be well done to make them tender , easy to chew , and digestible,
which would help the weakened digestive system acquire the greatest
amount of soft bulk plus nutrition in the most accessible form from the food
consumed. The soft cooked victuals therefore provide a buffer for the
considerable volume of juices and raw foods ingested. The modern “al
dente” vegetable preparation is supposed to keep enzymes intact. That is
not correct; all enzymes are dead at 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Very ample
enzymes are provided on the Gerson Therapy through the raw juices,
salads, and fruit.All food must be prepared fresh; canned, bottled, boxed, or frozen foods
always contain additives and inhibit restoration of the body . Absolutely no
salt, soy sauces,  or other sodium  sources should be added to any consumed
foods. All prepared foods containing salt, such as most breads , should be
eliminated altogether . It’s not unnatural to tire of eating foods with the same soft consistency
for every meal. In the early stages of treatment, people are encouraged to
eat large quanti ties of foods and to cook them thoroughly . Raw fruit and
salads with celery , green onions, and radishes provide crisp and chewy
foods for variation from soft-co oked vegetables. Dr. Gerson did not want
his patients to deviate from the cooking methods used, but as a patient
progresses in health, it may be possible to include some foods cooked al
dente for variation. Since expon ents of the Gerson Therapy consider food to
be medication, any changes in one’s diet or cooking techniqu e should be
discussed with a trained Gerson Therapy health professional. Cooked Foods
All vegetables, except those listed as prohibited, are recommended. Vegetables should be cooked with a minimum of water or soup stock
(perhaps 2 or 3 tablespoonfuls)  slowly on low heat, just at boiling, until
well done. Usually such a procedure will take fifty to sixty minutes on the
stovetop. To prevent burning, place a metal mat or ring between the burner
and pot to help distribute the heat evenly . Vegetables can also be baked in
covered glass dishes in an oven,  where the heat is more even and burning is
less likely. A tight-fitting lid should always be used to help retain moisture
in foods, but no pressure cooking. Onions, tomatoe s, and squash contain a lot of water , generally don’t need
any added liquid for cooking, and can add flavor to the cooked foods. Celery is also good for flavoring. Beets and potatoes can be boile d whole (without peeling) in water and
peeled when done, or may be baked. Potatoes can also be scalloped, mashed, made into potato salad, or
prepared in a variety of other ways. Spinach releases  much water and oxalic acid in cooking. For this reason,
the water left after cooking spinach is bitter and should be discarded.Corn can be boiled in water or eaten raw . Herbs and Spices
Inasmuch as the aromatics of herbs and spices, as with pineapples and
berries, tend to interfere with the healing response, Dr. Gerson limited use
of such aromatics to small quantities of the relatively mild ones such as
allspice, anise, bay leaf, coriand er, dill, fennel, mace, marjoram, rosemary ,
sage, saffron, tarragon, thyme, sorrel, and summer savory . Chives, onions,
garlic, and parsley can be used in lar ger quantities. Salads
It is essential that the patient eat as many salads of raw vege tables as
possible. The following salad ingredients can be finely grated, chopped, or
minced and mixed together or eaten separately:
• Apples
• Carrots
• Watercress
• Green onions
• Knob or branch celery
• Lettuce greens
• Cauliflower
• Endive
• Chives
• Chicory
• Radishes
• Green peppers
• Tomatoes
Salad Dr essing
Dilute organic red wine or apple  cider vinegar with water to taste for use
as a salad dressi ng and add a little spray-dried, organic cane juice (Sucanat),
some herbs, onion, or garlic for taste variety . Lemon juice may be used inthe place of vinegar . The prescr ibed flaxseed oil can be used as part of the
salad dressing. Hippocrates Special Soup
Created as a staple food item for nearly all of his degenerative disease
patients, Dr. Gerson considered the Hippocrates special soup (invented by
Hippocrates) extremely important to eat at both lunch and dinner. While
much of the Gerson Therapy is directed toward cleansing the liver, the
Hippocrates soup helps to cleanse the kidneys. Particularly after patients
become used to eating without salt (usually within one to two weeks after
starting the treatment), the special soup is a tasty start to every meal. To make the Hippocrates special soup, the following vegetables should
be thoro ughly washed, not peeled, cut into cubes, covered with water , and
cooked for two hours. Put everything through a food mill; allow only fibers
and peels to remain. The result is a thick, creamy soup. Allow the soup to
cool before storing in a refrigerator . Make only enough for about two days
so that the excess, which loses its nutritional value after that time, will not
be consumed. Here are the quantities of vegetables:
• 1 medium celery knob (root). If celery root is not in season, substitute 3
or 4 stalks of branch celery . • A small amount of parsley
• 1 1/2 pounds of tomatoes (more if desired during the summer season)
• 2 medium onions
• 1 medium parsley root (rarely available; omit if not)
• 2 small leeks (if not available, substitute 2 additional medium onions)
• several cloves of garlic
• 1 pound of potatoes
Until the healing person is used to salt-free eating, raw pressed garlic
may be added for giving a “kick” to this Hippocrates special soup and also
to veget ables, salads, etc. Garlic is healthful and may be used any time in
any amount. PotatoesPotatoes are nutritional boons for any healing person. We recommend
eating them for both lunch and dinner; replace them only rarely with
organic brown or wild rice. Potatoes are of most nutritional value when
baked. They can also be served boiled in their jackets, mashed with a little
soup, peeled (after boiling), or cut up and mixed with salad dressing to
make a potato salad. They can be baked in a casserole with onion, tomatoes,
celery , and so on. If nonfat yogurt is prescribed after six to ten weeks on the
Gerson diet, add onions, chives, or garlic to the yogurt for a tasty dressing
for your baked potato, salad, or vegetable. Sweet potatoes may be served
once a week. Oatmeal
A large portion of oatmeal, cooked slowly from ½ cup organic rolled oats
and 1 (or a little more) cup of purified water , should be eaten every day for
breakfast. Other  cereals should not be used. Not only do oats supply good B
complex vitamin s as well as proteins; most importantly , they provide a soft
cushion in the intestinal tract for the raw juices that follow . Harsh and
grainy cereals cannot provide this. For variety , add raw grated apple,
papaya, or other fruit; honey , 100 percent pure maple syrup, or unsulfured
blackstrap molasses; raisins or other dried fruit, stewed prunes, or other
stewed dried or fresh fruit. Bread and Other Star ches
You may use some salt-free and fat-free rye bread only after consuming
the full r equir ed meal. Bread should not be the main part of any meal. When
bread is dry, it can be grated and used in recipes requiring bread crumbs. Occasionally you may also use potato flour , tapioca, or cornstarch. Sugars and Sweeteners
Use only organic brown sugar , maple syrup, organic light honey , or
unsulfured molasses, and only up to 2 teaspoons a day of all combined
sweeteners, and only when hypoglycemia and/or diabetes are not present.Herbal T eas
Peppermint and some other herb teas are allowed and encouraged for
various specific  beneficial properties. Peppermint tea helps  digestion;
chamomile tea is soothing; valerian tea can help sleep. Sample Menus
For breakfast,  you should consume:
• 8 ounces of orange juice
• Lar ge portion of oatmeal with choice of fruit sauce
• Organic 100 percent rye bread, unsalted and fat-free, toasted and spread
with honey
  
Lunch  should consist of:
• Salad of many mixed raw ingredients
• 8 ounces or more of warm Hippocrates special soup
• 8 ounces of apple-carrot juice in combination
• Baked potato (with yogurt dressing when permitted)
• Freshly cooked vegetables
• Raw or stewed fruit
For dinner , the menu is the same as for lunch. We suggest that you vary meals by using dif ferent vegetables, a variety of
methods of preparing potatoes, different kinds of salads, etc. Organic brown
rice may be served once a week. Organic sweet potatoes may be served
once a week. Reference for Chapter Eight
1
Gerson Therap y Practitioner ’s Training Seminar Workbook . Bonita,
Calif.: The Gerson Institute, 1996, pp. 120, 121. OceanofPDF .comChapter Nine
THIR TEEN GLASSES
In 1981,  when he was thirty-ei ght years old, acute infectious hepatitis
struck Paul Schofield of Orlando, Florida. It took the form  of fever ,
jaundice, and severe nausea. Mr. Schofield became so sick that he had to
abandon his leatherworking craft and the rented shop where he sold saddles,
belts, hats, and luggage of his own making. Day after day he felt weak to
the point of collapse. Hepatitis  is an inflammation of the liver caused by viruses or bacteria
and brought on by exposure to toxic substances, contaminated blood
products, or immunological abnormalities. Acute infectious hepatitis may
also be transmit ted by food or drink contaminated by a carrie r or patient,
and it commonly occurs where sanitation is poor . After an incubation period
ranging from two weeks to forty days, the patient develops abnormally
elevated liver enzymes, fever , and sickness. THE PATHOLOGY OF  VIRAL HEPATITIS
A fairly common systemic disease, viral hepatitis is marked by liver
(hepatic) cell destruction, necrosis, and autolysis, leading to anorexia,
jaundice, and hepatomegaly (abnormal liver enlar gement). More than
70,000 cases of the illness are reported annually in the United States. Today
five specific types of viral hepatitis are recognized (but were unknown in
1981). The five forms of hepatitis are:
• Type A (infectious or short-incubation hepatitis). The incidence of
hepatitis A is rising among homosexuals and for those person s with an
immunosuppression related to an infection with the human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The ingestion of seafood from polluted
waters can cause it too.• Type B (serum or long-incubation hepatitis). Also increasing among
HIV-positive individuals, hepatitis B accounts for up to 10 percent of
postransfusion viral hepatitis cases in the United States. It is also
transmitted by human secretions and by feces, during intimate sexual
contact, and from the transfer of viruses into food prepared by infected
restaurant workers. • Type C (undetermined as to specific organism type). This disease
organism is mostly  acquired by blood transfusion from asymptomatic
donors. Of all the hepatitis viral diseases, type C hepatitis is on the fastest
rise among modern-day Americans. • Type D is found most frequently as a complication of acute or chronic
hepatitis B, because this type D virus requires that sister organism’ s
double-shelled surface antigen to replicate. • Type E  (formerly grouped with type C under the name type non-A, non-
B hepatiti s) primarily occurs among people recently returned from an
endemic area such as India, Africa, Asia, or Central America. Of the five viral hepatitis diseases, hepatitis B and hepatitis C are the
most dangerous because they have a high risk of developing into liver
cancer , and one of these types most likely had infected Mr . Schofield. At the time of his infection, Mr. Schofield’ s skin showed a marked
yellow discolora tion, which persisted for three weeks; his medical doctor
could offer no curative treatmen t because there was none known back then,
in 1981, especially by those physicians who had exclusively practiced their
particular allopa thic-type (drug- dependent) medicine. There were no drugs
to treat the cond ition. The only medical suggestion given to this patient was
to rest a lot, take naps, and drink fluids like soda pop (which is toxic) or
orange juice. Although he did this for no less than eight months, Mr.
Schofield failed to improve in any way . PAUL SCHOFIELD  BEGINS  JUICING ON THE  GERSON  THERAPY
A massage therapist from whom he received rubdowns recommended
that the sick man read the book  A Cancer Therapy: Results of Fifty Cases,
which the patient did. The book ’s ideas seemed right and logica l to him, so
he set himself up with a Norw alk® Juicer , Dr. Norman Walker ’s famous
hydraulic pressi ng device, and started the Gerson Therapy on his own. Inproceeding with Dr. Gerson’ s instructions, Paul Schofield drank great
quantities of juice, consisting of an 8-ounce glass of carrot and apple or
green juice, every waking hour of his day—a minimum of thirteen glasses,
and sometimes more. “I immediately began to feel better . My liver enzyme test readings
improved. They moved down from a pathological high of 2,400 to the
normal range of 20. Within two months, when my physician reexamined
me, his verdict was that I no longer remained infectious; my blood counts
were normal,” Paul Schofield  said. “For several years, however , I
occasionally suffered from flulike symptoms. At such times, I would
immediately go back for a week to the full bevy of juicing required on the
Gerson Therapy program. “Sometimes drinking the juices for only a few days was sufficient for me
to get rid of the hepatitis symp toms. Even after just one day of drinking
thirteen glasses of juice my body , especially my liver, felt better . I learned
that to eliminate any of the infecting viruses, Hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E,
one must drink the fresh-made juices from organic vegetables and fruits,”
says this man who thrived on a self-help Gerson juicing and food menu
plan. Today , as indicated by his photograph, Paul Schofield is happy and
thriving in good health. His hepatitis symptoms don’t come on anymore;
however , if they do, the man knows that he can banish them quickly by
drinking fresh-made, or ganic vegetable and fruit juices. SOME JUICING  TIPS OFFERED  PREVIOUSL Y BY DR. G ERSON
For the preparation of vegeta ble and fruit juices, Dr. Max Gerson
recommended two machines: a separate triturator or grinder and a separate
press. One of his juicing tips was that all parts of the juice machine that
come into contact with ground foods should be made of stainless steel. Therapy exponents currently favor one machine in particular which uses
these two processes. As with Mr. Schofield, the juicing device most favored by Gerson
Therapy patients is the Norwalk® Juicer . It was invented about 1936 by
Norman W Walker , D.Sc., and comes in two models, the 270-S Norwalk
stainless finish and the 270 Norwalk woodgrain finish. (See the Appendixfor a listing of names, locations,  and other information advising as to where
and how products and supplies  recommended for use by Gers on Therapy
followers may be found.) Dr. Gers on required his recovering patients always to prepare fresh juices
made from organic fruits and vegetables. He advised them never to attempt
to prepare sufficient juice for the whole day in the morning. Also, as
another tip discussed at length in his original text, Dr. Gerson advises not to
drink water because the full capacity of one’s stomach is needed for the
juices and the Hippocrates special vegetable soup (see chapter 8). Components in the soup are readily absorbed through the gastrointestinal
mucosa. Water filling up the stomach tends to dilute the action of that
organ’s gastric acids and digestive enzymes. This chapter gives a complete description of the types of juicing
machines along with the juicing process. As compared with Dr. Gerson’ s
original text, here we provide much new information coming  from those
patients who have prepared their own juices at home and restored
themselves to good health. A combination of the enzymatic effect of fresh,
whole organic juices plus a therapeutic saltless diet (see chapter 10) with
appropriate, limited, nutritional supplementation (see chapter 11) and the
taking of coffee enemas (see chapters 12 and 13)—all assured means—
results in renewed wellness that is long-lasting, natural, and safe. Juicing
plant produce and swallowing the result is the most delicious way to good
health. RENEW  WELLNESS BY  DRINKING  ORGANIC , FRESH -MADE JUICES
Juicing and imbibing such juice are integral aspects of the Gerson
Therapy program. Unconditionally , the coauthors reaffirm: For any ill
individual as well as for someon e in a state of good health, drinking fresh-
made juices processed from organically grown fruits and vegetables
frequently thr ough each day is critical to r enewing or maintaining wellness. An important note:  While there are no federal standards for the
commonly used combination term organically grown,  it usually refers to
produce planted and grown without chemical pesticides, herbicides, or
synthetic fertilizers, on farm lands and in groves, orchards, or vineyards that
have been free of such chemicals for from three to seven years.1Along with providing sufficient  fluid intake, fresh juices furnish nearly
all of the nutrients—vitamins, minerals, enzymes, phytochemicals, herbals,
and other vital food substances, including even proteins—requi red for your
body to heal itself. Juice drinking is even more important for healing
degenerative diseases than eating the same nutrients held in whole food. In
fact, juices are food, of course, but in much more assimilable form for use
by the gastrointestinal tract. Juice drinking allows for better digestion and
greater absorption. By a person’ s conforming to the Gerson Therapy
protocol and consuming thirteen 8-ounce glasses—about 104 ounces of
juice daily—this vast amount of liquid plus three vegetarian meals offers
the equivalent of between 17 and 20 pounds of food a day. Few people
(possibly nobod y) could consume that much solid edible material during
usual waking hours. Drinking juices allows one to ingest massi ve amounts
of nourishment in a short time. Degenerative diseases often promote poor digestion for those persons
victimized by them. Because of their intoxication from malfunctioning
organs, the presence of decreased gastric acids, digestive dysfunction
overall, and other such difficulties directly connective with the body’ s
degenerations, such people are likely to suffer from the loss of appetite and
an inability to eat at all or to hold and assimilate even small quantities of
food. (Such a discomforting condition is known as cachexia.) Yet
degenerative disease patients who suffer in this way often are able to keep
themselves nourished rather well merely by drinking fresh made juices. The
juiced nutrients are far more vital to one’s body than the fiber contents of
whole foods. Nevertheless, solid  foods must be added to the patient’ s total
intake. JUICING  HELPED  DR. GERSON  HEAL HIS PATIENTS
In order  to bring about healing  for his many tubercular , cardiovascular ,
cancerous, diabetic, arthritic, and other patients suffering from degenerative
diseases, Max Gerson, M.D., sought out new methods for overcoming their
subclinical malnutrition. Even obese persons can lack nutrients. For each ill
individual, juicing at home is how Dr. Gerson met the challenge . And it was
a technique which proved valuable. The juices made from raw foods and
drunk by these very sick peop le provided the easiest and most effectivemeans of giving them the highe st-quality nutrition. This unique  method of
feeding that he developed durin g the approximately thirty-five year period
from 1923 to 1958 produced the best clinical results ever witnessed in
medical practice by that midpoint in the twentieth century . Today , with the twenty-first century upon us, the coauthors are reluctant
to make changes in a protocol that has been extremely effective for treating,
reversing, or sending into near-permanent remission degenerative diseases
of all types. These are the kinds of serious illnesses for whic h allopathic
medicine has had very little to offer. Still, staff of the Gerson Institute are
not close-minde d. If some bette r method came along as a substitute for the
high-dose nutrition made available by juicing or the other techniques
perfected by Dr. Gerson, it would be adopted into the Gers on Therapy
protocol. During the course of his thirty years of active clinical practice, however ,
Dr. Gerson did change his protocol considerably . He repeatedly altered what
the physician described as his “juice prescriptions” in response to his
patients’ blood test results, healing reaction responses, allergies, weight
variations, and other metabolic conditions. The physiological responses of
severely damaged or weakened individuals often required him to change the
medications and juices on an almost daily basis, especially during their first
weeks of following the Gerson  Therapy . That is the situation for current
patients as W ell.2
QUESTIONS AND  ANSWERS  ABOUT  DRINKING  JUICES
Drinking juices begets large numbers of questions for which there are
few answers. For instance, we wonder at but cannot completely answer
some of the following queries from those utilizing the Gerson Therapy:
  
When or how regularly should one drink the juices? Dr. Gerson
advised that an ill individual should take 8 ounces at least once every hour,
but it’ s not uncommon to find such a regimen dif ficult to accomplish. What’ s to be done as a soluti on or compr omise for being unable to
follow the program exactly? Drink as much as you can, but keep trying to
ingest more. In this situation for juicing and drinking, more is better . How much juice should you drink? As mentioned, attempt to consume
104 ounces of fresh or ganic juice in twenty-four hours. How soon after actually performing the juicing is the best time to
drink down the juice? Unquestionably , the answer is “At once!”
  
Is it acceptable to store the juice for futur e drinking? The direct and
uncompromising answer is “No!” But let’s face it—if you work at a
distance from home and can’t lug around a 70-pound juicing machine,
taking apple/car rot juices along with you in thermos-type storage containers
or 8-ounce mason jars filled to the top is not all that bad. Do it if it’s the
only way you’ll be getting your daily allotment of organic juices. Never
keep or take along green juices (made from salad greens) for future
ingestion because they oxidize quickly and lose their value.
_OceanofPDF.com_The_Gerson_Therapy_-_Charlotte_Gerson_Morton_Walker.txt
Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        The general nutrition information this
young woman acted upon as her road map to eliminating epilepsy and
restoring neurological health is readily usable by all persons for overcoming
any illness or for purposes of medical prevention. PERMANENT  RECOVER Y FROM  ADDICTIONS  TO STREET  DRUGS AND
ALCOHOL
As they grew up, fourteen-year -old Rob (pseudonym) and his siblings
engaged in a variety of antisocial activities. As a result, all three children
became either alcohol-addicted or street-drug-addicted and led relatively
unproductive lives. For example, Rob dropped out of high school early in
his junior year due to his freque nt double abuses of alcoholic beverages and
marijuana. His mother, whose defeat of breast cancer you will learn about
in chapter 14, says that her son never really was a “healthy” child. To illustrate his physical weaknesses, Rob’ s mother describes his
situation at the age of five when he was suffering from a rare bone disorder
called Legg-Calve-Perthes disease. The illness manifests itself as a kind of
perforation of the rounded head  of the femur, or thigh bone, which rotates
against the hip. When the woma n first took her son for consultation with a
physician, the M. D. dismissed  the child’ s symptoms as “worries of an
overly concerned mother. ” But she insisted on an X-ray examin ation of the
boy’s legs and hips, which confirmed the disease. Embarrassed that he had missed the diagnosis, this physician advised her
to take Rob for experimental treatment then ongoing at the University of
California. But the mother refus ed to allow her child to be used as a human
guinea pig. Rob did, however, need to wear a full leg cast from below the
knee to his groin for months. During the course of such treatment, hismother describes how she learned about nutritional therapy, massage
therapy, and reflexology “accidentally. ” She read about them while
shopping in a health foods store. These and other holistic-type alternative
methods of healing were subseq uently utilized to treat Rob’ s Legg-Calve-
Perthes disease. Medical care alternatives including dietary modifications,
and not usual “orthodox” medicine, enabled the small boy to discard his
long leg cast and recover naturally and permanently. So, remembering their effective ness for his leg and hip, Rob elected to
use the diet and detoxification techniques of medical alternativ es to clean
up his body when he and his new wife considered having a baby. As it
happens, he had married a girl who also used street drugs and alcohol to
excess. The couple had watched while Rob’ s mother went through the
Gerson Therapy  program for curing her breast cancer, and the son was
much admiring of his mother ’s personal healing efforts. He, but not his
wife, therefore became an enrollee in the Tijuana, Mexico, hospital facility
which then employed the Gerson Therapy. In a matter of just a few weeks, Rob was completely free of his
dependency on both alcohol and marijuana, with no withdrawal problems of
any kind. He returned home “cleaned up” and told his wife that he was now
ready to become a father. His wife, however, was not ready. While he now
ate a strictly vegetarian diet and followed a highly regulated lifestyle, she
did not. She seemed intolerant of a daily routine that allowed for no
recreational drugs, no drinking, and no “fun. ” Therefore, one memorable
weekend, she left him during his absence, taking every household effect
with her—all of their jointly held assets. Unable to cope with this psych ological and financial trauma,  Rob fell
back into his old ways. During the summer of 1995, Rob went through a
dramatic weight  loss dropping 45 pounds, from 185 to 140. He literally lay
on the floor of his now empty apartment, unable to move because of his
total weakness. In a moment of lucidity, this thirty-two-year -old addict realized that he
was dying from self-inflicted wretchedness. His signs and symptoms of
disease were variable and bizar re too. Rob had been suffering  from what
was later diagnosed as acute and chronic mercurialism (mercury poisoning),
for his fingers swelled at night to twice their normal size and turned blue;
he vomi ted repeatedly, and simultaneously, he had severe abdominal pains. Added to these discomforts were bloody diarrhea, inability to produceurine, mouth ulcerations, loose  teeth, loss of appetite, and ringing in his
ears. It turns out that the addict’ s mercurialism came from  the dental
amalgam fillings (comprising 50 percent mercury) that occupie d cavities in
twelve of his teeth. The amalgams’ mercury content was leach ing into his
body and brain. It was then that Rob finally gathered himself together and managed to
muster enough energy to make his way to his mother ’s home in the San
Diego area. That’ s when she recognized that her son was on the verge of
death, confirmed by a physician at the University of California. And she put
him on the Gerson Therapy at once. In just six weeks, Rob regained 20
pounds of muscle without exercising, freed himself of cravings, went
through no agonizing symptoms of drug and alcohol withd rawal, and
developed excellent muscle tone by strictly resuming his vegetarian diet. The young man’ s signs and symptoms of mercury poisoning disappeared
along with his obvious addictions. Of course, added to his Gerson Therapy, Rob sought out the services of a
dentist who practices mercury-free, holistically, and biologically. The
dentist removed Rob’ s amalga ms, substituting dental comp osite filling
materials. Rob is now functioning normally and has become a keen
exponent of the Gerson Therapy. At 6 feet, 2 inches, he is back to his
normal weight of 185 pounds and at the last report on March 30, 1999, is
active and successful in his profession. RECOVER Y AFTER  STROKE AND  HEAR T ATTACK
At age eighty-seven, in December 1993, Rob’ s grandfather (on his
mother ’s side) suffered a heart attack (myocardial infarction) at home. His
grandfather ’s wife quicky called for an ambulance, but while he was
waiting to be treated in the hospital emer gency room he had a stroke that
paralyzed him along the entire right side of his body. He could not move
and lost the power to speak (aphasia) or to chew. Myocar dial infar ction  (MI) is death of a segment of heart muscle, which
follows interruption of its blood supply and is usually confined to the
heart’ s left ventricle. The patient experiences a “heart attack,” sudden
severe chest pain, which may spread to the arms and throat. The main
danger is that of ventricular fibrillation (overly fast beating of the heart),which accounts for most of the MI fatalities. Associated complications are
heart failure, heart rupture, pulmonary embolism, phlebothrombosis,
pericarditis, shock, mitral incompetence, and perforation of the septum
between the ventricles. Stroke, former ly known as apoplexy, is a sudden attack of weakne ss
affecting one side of the body, the consequence of an interruption of the
flow of blood to the brain. The primary disease is in the heart or blood
vessels; the effect on the brain is secondary. The stroke varies in severity
from a passing weakness or tingling in a limb to a profoun d paralysis,
coma, and death. Rob’ s grandfather was hospitalized for the treatment of myocardial
infarction and stroke near his Sacramento, California, home. During his
confinement in intensive care for three weeks, he was administ ered lots of
drugs. He was helpless to do anything for himself and, upon his dischar ge
from the hospita l, his wife was advised by the cardiovascular experts to put
the sick old man into a nursing  home. But Rob’ s mother woul dn’t let that
happen to her father whom she loved so much. Although she was shocked by her dad’s appearance as he slumped in his
wheelchair, paralyzed, incontinent, speechless, head drooping to one side,
and drooling, Rob’ s mother worked with him day and night. After learning
of the Gerson Therapy, she put her father on the program, feeding him fresh
vegetables and only a few juice s at first, while he still took the prescribed
drugs. Slowly but steadily she increased the intensity of her father ’s dietary
treatment. With love, she prepared his vegetables, fresh raw organic juices,
and Hippocrates soup and served them according to Dr. Gerson’ s
recommendations. Slowly she decreased the many drugs he was taking. In less than three weeks, her father was up and out of the wheel chair and
walking around the yard. In three months, he was walking in a park across
the street from his home. In August 1994, at age eighty-eight (eight months
after the heart attack and its associated stroke), he walked into the
Woodland office of the Califo rnia Department of Motor Vehicles and
applied for (and received) a driver’s license. He lived to age ninety-three,
when the compl ications of an accidental fall sent him to a hospital, where
he died. GENERAL  INFORMA TION ABOUT THE  GERSON  DIETARY PROGRAMDr. Gerson was a great admirer of the teachings of the Swiss physician
and chemist Paracelsus (1493–1541), and he quoted the Paracelsus
Arcanum, which  emphasized: Diet must be the basis of all medical therapy,
yet diet should not be a treatment in itself  Consequently, although the
Gerson dietary program is the foundation for a total healing effect, other
adjuvant aspects of treatment are incorporated too, such as coffee enemas,
castor oil packs, ozone therapy, clay poultices, hydrotherapy, hyperthermia
tub baths, live cell therapy, rectal ozone insuf flation, dietary
supplementation with specific nutrients, and other items. In providing his nutritional eating program, Dr. Gerson was rather
considerate of modern social mores, taste temptations, family feasts,
holidays, personal living habits, cultural requirements, and the economic
pressures that a sick or even a well person would have to face. Consequently, he divided the Gerson preventive  dietary program into two
portions: one-qu arter of all the food to be eaten could be to one’s choice;
the three -quarters remaining must be taken for the purpose of protecting the
functions of the highly essentia l organs—the liver, the kidneys, the brain,
the heart, and so on. Dr. Gerson did suggest that, in order to prevent disease, one should eat a
good diet three-quarters of which is vegetarian, nutritious, and cell-building
foods, while the other quarter could be “at choice. ” The authors  believe that
Dr. Gerson’ s liberalism with food percentages should be tempered at
present. More than forty years later, because of modern usage of overly
processed foods, doctor -prescribed and over-the-counter pharmaceutical
products, toxic pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and food-processing
chemicals, plus additions of much greater amounts of carcinogenic,
atherogenic, allergenic, mitogenic, and other synthetics, it is our opinion
that Dr. Gerson’ s original food suggestions are too liberal. Because he never anticipated how much industry and commerce would
come to poison the people and reduce the food value of what’ s eaten, Dr. Gerson’ s humanitarian food proportions are no longer valid. We urge
instead that a person newly recovered from illness, as well as any normal
and healthy individual who wishes to remain that way, would be wiser to
use 90 percent “defensive,” highly nutritious foods, and possibly allow a
mere 10 percent of their meals “at choice. ”
The fundamenta ls of Dr. Gers on’s general dietary outline offered to
patients, he said, were “written to prevent sickness, not to cure it. ” Toachieve a complete cure, he added, a great deal more effort was required. As we’v e stated, Dr. Gerson included such procedures as medicinelike
nutritional supplementation and liver detoxification, two mandatory
programs that we will discuss at length in later chapters. His claim was,
“It’s safer to use foods in the most natural form, combined and mixed by
nature and raised, if possible, by an or ganic gardening process, thus obeying
the laws of nature. ”1
This chapter offers Dr. Gerson’ s philosophy of eating correctly. It lays
down the general guideposts for spotting what’ s good and bad about the
foods to be selec ted. However, the actual foods to be eaten at each meal on
the Gerson menu plan don’ t make their appearance until the next chapter. THE SCIENCE BEHIND  DR. GERSON’S  ANTI-DEGENERA TIVE-DISEASE  DIET
The anti-degenerative-disease diet developed during the 1930s by Max
Gerson, M.
The Gerson diet is focused on eliminating toxins and promoting health through a strictly vegetarian and organic diet.
What is the main focus of the Gerson diet?
Rob's mother learned about nutritional therapy, massage therapy, and reflexology while shopping at a health food store, and these alternative methods helped him recover naturally and permanently.
What was the initial treatment for Rob's Legg-Calve-Perthes disease?
The Gerson diet does not allow for the consumption of animal products, including meat, fish, and dairy products, and recommends a strictly vegetarian diet.
What is the Gerson diet's approach to protein consumption?
The Gerson diet recommends drinking 8 ounces of juice at least once every hour, and it is emphasized that more is better.
What is the recommended frequency for drinking juices on the Gerson diet?
The Gerson diet does not recommend storing or transporting juices for future consumption, as they oxidize quickly and lose their nutritional value.
What is the recommended method for storing and transporting juices on the Gerson diet?