The Gerson Therapy, by Charlotte Gerson and Morton Walker, DPM (2001)

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http://www.doctoryourself.com/gersontherapy.html

 

Nutritional Cancer Therapy of Max Gerson, M.D.

 

 

The Gerson Therapy, by Charlotte Gerson and Morton

Walker, DPM (2001)

NY: Kensington Publishing Corp. ISBN 1-57566-628-6

(Trade paperback, 371 pages, plus appendixes and

index.)

 

It has been said that more people live off cancer than

die from it. The Gerson Therapy is a book that can put

a stop to this travesty. Here is a very practical,

highly detailed guide to the intensive nutritional

treatment of cancer and other life-threatening

diseases that many would consider to have been

impossible to obtain. But thanks to the work of Max

Gerson, M.D., and his daughter, author Charlotte

Gerson, this knowledge is readily available for all

who need it.

 

Max Gerson cured cancer. He did so with a strict

fat-free, salt-free, low-protein, essentially

vegetarian dietary regimen, based on great quantities

of fresh vegetable juice, supplements, and systemic

detoxification. Ms. Gerson explains:

 

“Dr. Gerson found that the underlying problems of all

cancer patients are toxicity and deficiency. He had to

overcome both these difficulties. He found that one of

the important features of his therapy had to be the

hourly administration of fresh vegetable juices. These

supply ample nutrients, as well as fluids to help

flush out the kidneys. When the high levels of

nutrients re-enter tissues, toxins accumulated over

many years are forced into the blood stream. The

toxins are then filtered out by the liver. The liver

is easily overburdened by the continuous release of

toxins and is unable to release the load… Dr. Gerson

found that he could provide help to the liver by the

caffeine in coffee, absorbed from the colon via the

hemorrhoidal vein, which carries the caffeine to the

portal system and then to the liver. The caffeine

stimulates the liver/bile ducts to open, releasing the

poisons into the intestinal tract for excretion.”

 

The Gerson Therapy book consists of nearly 400 pages

of treatment specifics, instruction, hints, cautions,

recipes, case histories, and references, all held

together with an authority that only experience can

bring. Some of the blunt, uncompromising statements

Ms. Gerson makes are certain to get up the medical

profession’s collective nose. Too bad for them, for

she is right. Charlotte Gerson’s entire life has been

immersed in healing people, first learning while

assisting her father, and later teaching his method to

the world. Co-author Dr. Morton Walker is one of my

favorite medical writers, and putting these two

talents together in The Gerson Therapy was a master

stroke.

 

I personally have seen what the Gerson program can do

for a terminally ill cancer patient. I have been

called upon to help in a couple of high-profile but

last minute cases. One patient was a well-known

sports figure. He was given some months to live and

was not happy about it, as he was still in his 50’s.

He asked what his best shot would be for inoperable,

untreatable metastasized cancer. I told him: the

Gerson therapy. He did it, not in its entirety, but

with enthusiasm. And, he lived considerably longer

that he was expected to. But what really impressed me

was the dramatic improvement in his energy level.

From fatigue and weakness, he went instantly to a

vibrant life, commencing from the very week he started

the program. He maintained a more-than-full schedule

for so long that even people who knew he was sick

forgot that he was sick.

 

Years later, people that never knew of my involvement

in the matter would bring up his name, invariably

recalling how active he was and how good he looked

until, almost as a surprise, he died.

 

I saw a similar level of success with a prominent New

York businessman, the owner of a chain of stores and

afflicted with untreatable liver cancer. He began to

do much, but by no means all, of the Gerson program,

and was subsequently able to extensively travel the

world with his family. He lived years longer than

expected, with a high quality of life confirmed by all

who saw him.

 

Looking only at these two patients, wanton critics of

Gerson’s method might think that, without complete and

unequivocal cure, there is little to crow about. Such

a view is unproductive, for neither of these patients

followed the Gerson program completely. It is a tough

sell, even to a person with a terminal diagnosis.

 

Why is this?

 

Ignorance and arrogance make a bad combination, and

“modern” medicine has been guilty of both for decades.

Political physicians did not heed Dr. Gerson. In

fact, they publicly condemned him. The news media have

been their willing accomplices. The misinformation

they spew to this day is fraught with fabricated

frights of natural therapies, while in the same breath

they spew forth the wonders of pharmaceutical drugs.

When is the last time you saw a favorable mention of

the Gerson program in the newspaper or on TV? Since

pharmacological doctors have no sure-fire cure for

cancer (an understatement if there ever was one), they

might at least back a winning horse. The Gerson

approach has been shown, for over six decades, to

significantly improve both quality of life and length

of life in the sickest, the most hopeless, of cancer

patients. Many people have been completely cured on

the Gerson therapy.

 

And the directions are in this book, which costs $17.

 

I am especially pleased with the open-minded spirit of

cooperation which I detect in reading The Gerson

Therapy. The authors’ awareness of the realities of

individual patient needs is well demonstrated with the

inclusion of chapter sections discussing unavoidable

modifications of the program. Instructions for home

self-care, for patients undergoing chemotherapy, and

for the treatment of very advanced cases, are all

provided. Chapter 17, discussing treatment of

illnesses other than cancer, needs to be greatly

expanded. Ms. Gerson informs me that she is currently

“preparing a booklet for each disease (including,

among others) asthma, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus,

diabetes, drug addiction, Crohn's disease, and

fibromyalgia. They will start with a general

description of the disease, then have a basic outline

of how the Gerson therapy deals with it, then the

specific description of the Therapy, followed by some

dozen of recovered cases... I think each booklet will

contain some 30-40 pages.” I am looking forward to

their early publication. (Update, April 2002:

Individual booklets about cancer of the breast,

ovaries, liver/pancreas/colon, lymphoma and melanoma

are now available for purchase from Charlotte Gerson,

355 Greenwood Place, Bonita, CA 91902. Email

Lotte )

 

The present book contains explicit instructions for

the administration of the Therapy’s controversial but

nonetheless crucial liver-detoxifying coffee enemas.

(Yes, at body temperature.) The use of castor oil, a

thorough listing of which foods to eat (and not eat),

how to juice, psychological aspects of therapy, and

generally favorable mentions of megadose vitamin C

supplementation are also presented. The concise

chapter (Chapter 6) on melanoma is extraordinary,

easily the best I have read anywhere.

 

Dosage and rationale for the supplements Dr. Gerson

prescribed is the focus of Chapter 11. Potassium,

iodine, digestive enzymes, niacin and (by

prescription) thyroid, liver extract and vitamin B-12

injections are all covered. Both this chapter, and the

“Resources” section of the Appendix, are free of any

attempt to market such products, a feature I wish to

highlight for special praise.

 

I liked the inclusion of references at the end of each

chapter, and the thoroughness of devoting a chapter to

appropriate laboratory tests. And everyone will enjoy

reading the success stories in Chapter 21.

 

In the next edition of The Gerson Therapy, I would

like to see detailed charts that summarize exactly

what a “Gerson Person” needs to do each day. I recall

how helpful such charts were in this book’s

predecessor, A Cancer Therapy: Results of Fifty Cases.

My experience in working with very sick patients and

their families is that they are easily overwhelmed

with instruction, no matter how vital that instruction

may be. Easy-to-read personal itineraries are

virtually essential to ensure intelligent compliance

with a complex nutritional program. To some extent,

this need is met by way of a helpful Summary in the

Appendix. However, such information can be presented

in greater detail and in a more user-friendly manner,

by employing graphics to full advantage.

 

Some years ago I watched a video tape of a Gerson

patients’ “reunion.” On stage were people from all

walks of life, and most were advanced in age. One

after the other they spoke of the cancer they were

diagnosed with three, ten, or twenty years ago. All

were recovered. Dr. Gerson was the reason. You

cannot watch such an event and fail to be moved.

 

A special benefit of The Gerson Therapy is that it is

not specifically a cancer treatment. Dr. Gerson saw it

as a metabolic treatment, one that cleanses the human

organism while strengthening the body’s ability to

heal itself. Not surprisingly, therefore, the Gerson

therapy is effective against all manner of diseases,

some 50 of which are listed on page 21.

 

I am even more interested in the preventive aspects of

the Gerson diet. As I write this, I have a cool quart

and a half of carrot juice in my tummy. I do not

particularly enjoy carrot juice, but I do want to

prevent illness. Only time will tell for me

personally, but I am going to take a Pascal-like

viewpoint: there is no down side to juiced vegetables.

 

Well, maybe one: some people don’t wish to change

their diet and lifestyle. Jack Benny, when asked “Your

money or your life” made radio comedy history with his

answer, “I’m thinking!” To a profoundly sick person,

the question might be rephrased, “The Gerson Therapy

or your life.” Too many persons have died thinking.

 

Don’t be one of them.

 

" I see in Dr. Max Gerson one of the most eminent

geniuses in medical history. "

Dr. Albert Schweitzer

 

To learn more about how to do the Gerson Therapy:

http://www.doctoryourself.com/gersonspeech.html is the

transcript of a speech by Dr. Gerson himself.

 

http://www.doctoryourself.com/bib_gerson_therapy.html

is a bibliography of published clinical studies

showing the demonstrated benefits of the Gerson

treatment

 

http://www.doctoryourself.com/bib_gerson.html is a

bibliography of all of Dr. Gerson’s scientific

writings.

 

Review copyright C 2001 by Andrew W. Saul, Number 8

Van Buren Street, Holley, New York 14470 USA

Telephone (585) 638-5357