Gerson and Me: What IS the Gerson Therapy?

Saturday, November 26

I wake early to begin my day of research. The main reason for our excitement after watching Curing Cancer From the Inside Out is that The Gerson Therapy is so clearly in alignment with the way we live. Instead of focusing on the disease (or dis-ease, as Louise Hay calls it), the Gerson Therapy treats the body as a whole. If you give the body what it needs, it can heal itself.

One of the amazing “coincidences” is that we already had two books about the Gerson Therapy on our bookshelf! Helena snuggles up in a big chair to read while I read reviews, testimonials, and research about the effectiveness of this treatment. Here’s what I learned:

History

• 

  Dr. Max Gerson

  The Gerson Therapy was developed by German Dr. Max Gerson in the 1920′s. The therapy was initially developed as a diet to treat migraines, and during this time he learned that it was also effective in treating tuberculosis. In a carefully monitored clinical trial conducted at the Munich University Hospital, 446 out of 450 skin tuberculosis patients treated with the Gerson diet recovered completely.

• His most famous patient was Dr. Albert Schweitzer, whom Gerson cured of advanced diabetes when Schweitzer was 75. Schweitzer returned to his African hospital, won the Nobel prize, and worked past age 90. Schweitzer wrote:

“I see in Dr. Gerson one of the most eminent geniuses in the history of medicine.”

–Dr. Albert Schweitzer, Nobel Prize Winner

• During WWII, Dr. Gerson and his family escaped Nazi Germany and moved to New York, where he was licensed to practice in 1938. For the next 20 years, he began treating cancer patients with the “radical” theory that diet could affect health–that chronic disease could be cured through nutrition.
• In 1958, after thirty years of clinical experimentation, Gerson published A Cancer Therapy: Results of 50 Cases.The book details the theories, treatment, and results achieved during his lifetime.
• In 1959, Dr. Gerson died of pneumonia, although I found other reports that there was evidence of arsenic poisoning during an illness the previous year.
• In 1977, Dr. Gerson’s daughter Charlotte opened the Charlotte Gerson Health Restoration Center in Mexico so that patients can learn the basic theory and preparation the Gerson Diet in person.

*Much of this information was found on The Gerson Institute’s website.

How does the Gerson Therapy work?

What I love about this therapy is that it’s fundamentally rooted in science–really brilliant science. I’ll get into some of the really nerdy stuff later (which I’ve been known to totally “geek out” on). For today, here are the two basic strategies for cure.

1. Detox

The Gerson Therapy is designed to remove all of the toxins from the body. Toxins create cancer and impede the body’s natural ability to heal. The therapy includes an organic vegetarian diet (done!) and five coffee enemas per day (what??!!), which cleanse the liver and the blood from all toxins. In addition, sugar, fat, salt, and alcohol are eliminated from the diet, because all of these “feed” cancer. (I’ll get into very specific details about each of these in future posts.)

2. Build the immune system

The main theory and success behind the Gerson Therapy is that cancer is an autoimmune disease. By eliminating toxins and super strengthening the immune system, the body will return to its natural state of health, and will have the ability to fight the cancer without the use of toxic chemicals, which actually inhibit the immune system. Patients drink 13 juices a day and take a sackful of nutritional supplements.

organic carrot juice

Making Contact

I end my first day of research by sending an email to The Gerson Institute in San Diego, CA, to find out what kind of support we could get here in Brazil. The institute has clinics in Mexico and Hungary, but flying to Mexico for 2 weeks just isn’t in the budget. We grow all of the ingredients needed to do this therapy right here on our farm. It just makes sense.

You can learn more information about Gerson Institute on Facebook.

Movie Night

Thanks to YouTube, we’re able to watch many films right here on the farm. The Gerson Miracle is one of the first we watched. Although the opening credits remind me of the beginning of Young Frankenstein, the film gives a great overview of what we’re up to:

Quotables

“Life is amazing. There is no way I could have done this without the support and love of my family and friends. Those who challenge me just made me really dig in to my research, and made me justify even more that I KNOW what I am doing is right, and is working. I am so thankful for those who did question my motives on this therapy, mainly because I know they care. They care enough to make sure I do what will heal me, and because of the challenge, I did find what would best heal me, and it has proven itself, yet again.” –Marcia Schaefer, our friend who cured two types of cancer after using the Gerson Therapy for 10 months

The effects of cancer treatment are often worse than the disease itself and frequently hasten death rather than prevent it. A 33-year study by the late Dr. Hardin Jones, Professor of Medical Physics University of California, found that “untreated cancer victims live up to four times longer than treated individuals.” (The Betrayal of Health by Dr. Joseph Beasley)

“Cancer patients who undergo radiation therapy have a 20 per cent higher mortality rate than non-radiated ones.” (The Lancet, Summer 1998).

“A cancer patient who is subjected to both chemotherapy and radiation risks getting secondary tumours 25 times the normal rate.” (The Cancer Industry by Ralph Moss, PhD.)

Related articles

• 5-Year Survival Rates of Melanoma Patients Treated by Diet Therapy After the Manner of Gerson
   (Gerson Research Organization)
• Healing the Gerson Way (madisonhollandfoundation.com)
• Your body the healer (aboundingwellness.wordpress.com)
• The Anti-Cancer Diet : Cancer Fighting Foods and Spices (blissreturned.wordpress.com)

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