DR. MAX GERSON: HEALING THE HOPELESS

[Guest guest]

http://www.doctoryourself.com/gersonbio.htm

 

Really good conspiracies take decades to surface. In the case of

natural-healing physician Max Gerson, M.D., attempts to discredit his

vegetable juice, raw food and coffee enema cancer therapy were so

effective that the whole story has never been told.

 

Until now.

 

Dr. Gerson's grandson, Howard Straus ( hdstraus ), has

just published the definitive Gerson biography. It is fascinating

reading, at times bordering on the unbelievable. And what a story: a

respected physician discovers a natural cure for cancer, and the

medical-pharmaceutical lobby actively and relentlessly conspires to

keep it from the public.

 

All of it is provably true. Mr. Straus has gone far beyond

requirements to research his subject and support his statements. And

he has had a family " in " that no other Gerson biographer has: his

mother, Charlotte Gerson Straus, the doctor's daughter. Together, and

with expert assistance from Barbara Marinacci, they have assembled

documentation I believe to be sufficient to topple the tower of

organized, politicized medicine.

 

For over sixty years, cancer treatment and research has been almost

entirely restricted to cut, zap and drug: surgery, radiation and

chemotherapy. Billions and billions of dollars have been expended

investigating every cure BUT a nutritional one.

 

Where is the real incentive to cure the disease, anyway? Business is

good. It is now pretty much an open secret that more people live off

cancer than die from it. The big money is to be made in disease, not

in health. Dr. Gerson guaranteed his own ostracism when he dedicated

his life to find out why patients lived, and what could be done to be

sure they did. Then he went and did it.

 

In 6th grade, Mrs. Palmer taught my class that debates are won when

you present your case as more compellingly and more factually than the

opposition. This may be true in most endeavors, with the exception of

medicine. Linus Pauling and Abram Hoffer (

http://www.doctoryourself.com/hoffer_vitc_can.html ), who each write

favorably of Gerson's work, pioneered and popularized widespread

megadosing with vitamin C and niacin, respectively. They did this so

successfully that the only angle left to their many critics was the ad

hominem: attack the men, not the idea.

 

" Coffee Enema " Gerson was attacked in much the same way. It has been

ridicule, not science, that has kept the Gerson therapy away from your

local oncologist's office. Try a simple test: ask ten doctors what

they think of using the Gerson therapy against cancer. Then ask the

same doctors what they KNOW of the Gerson therapy. I'll lay good odds

that about all they know is that the guy used coffee enemas. " Would

you like cream and sugar with that? " a physician once said to me. And

you'll likely hear worse.

 

Body temperature, fresh coffee enemas offer at least two vital

benefits for a seriously ill patient: pain relief, and detoxification.

One does have to accept the second to appreciate the first. Gerson's

extensive medical experience taught him that both are accomplished.

Patients and physicians who follow Gerson's protocol have seen that

he's right. That is the only standard that is absolutely necessary.

 

Too bad that some critic's egos let them forget the true healer's

prime directive: " For the good of the patient, to the best of my

ability. " If there is a down side to vegetable juices, I am yet to

hear it. The worst reproach I've encountered is that, while harmless,

vegetable juices have no special properties against cancer. How can

that be, when doctors now know (and our grandmas have known for

generations) that vegetables DO in fact help prevent and arrest

cancer. All vegetables are high fiber and low fat. Tomatoes are loaded

with lycopene. Orange and green vegetables tremendous sources of

carotene. Broccoli, cauliflower, kale, Brussels sprouts and cabbage

(the cruciform vegetables) are all heavyweights in the fight against

cancer. (http://www.doctoryourself.com/cancer.html )

 

How, pray tell, could their juices NOT have anti-cancer properties?

Juice consists of the entire cytoplasmic contents of a vegetable's

cells, but without an unpalatable excess of indigestible fibrous cell

wall. It's the corn without the can; the nut without the shell; the

cash without the bank.

 

The two chief purposes of juicing is to increase the quantity of

vegetables consumed, and to increase a patient's absorption of what is

consumed. More vegetables is good. Better utilization is good. Ergo,

juicing is good, and Gerson was right.

 

I find that, like a method actor, I need to get into character before

discussing a book. To this end, I had two quarts of carrot juice for

lunch and now I can feel the part in a big way. I am juiced up and in

the groove. And for all my 20 years of juicing, for all the many miles

on my juicers, I owe a personal debt of thanks to Dr. Gerson. He was

pretty much the first physician ever to plainly set all this down into

a clear-cut, specific therapeutic regimen. This is provided in great

detail in two other books: The Gerson Therapy (reviewed at

http://www.doctoryourself.com/gersontherapy.html ) by Charlotte Gerson

and Morton Walker (2001). NY: Kensington Publishing Corp. ISBN

1-57566-628-6 and A Cancer Therapy: Results of Fifty Cases (briefly

reviewed at http://www.doctoryourself.com/bestbooks.html ) by Max

Gerson (1977) Del Mar, CA: Totality Books.

 

In the next edition of Dr. Max Gerson: Healing the Hopeless, I would

to see paragraph by paragraph footnote references. Many a good-reading

history book provides this for obsessive scholars who just have to

challenge every statement. They are out there, and I think the

tightest possible citation system is best suited for such a

controversial work as this. I also think serious students of the

Gerson therapy would appreciate a topic index. I liked the inclusion

of photographs and an exhaustive international bibliography. I think

translating the mostly German-language reference titles into English

would be a worthwhile project.

 

Dr. Max Gerson: Healing the Hopeless is a tribute, an education, and a

warning: there is a price to pay for true lifesaving innovation in

medicine. The best possible review of Dr. Gerson's life story could

not surpass what the great Nobel laureate Albert Schweitzer, M.D., wrote:

 

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

history of medicine. He has achieved more than seemed possible under

adverse conditions. Many of his basic ideas have been adopted without

having his name connected with them. He leaves a legacy which commands

attention and which will assure him his due place. Those whom he has

cured will attest to the truth of his ideas. "

 

" Medical heretic " Dr. Robert Mendelsohn said that one grandmother is

worth two MD's. Good fortune has favored Howard Straus. His

grandfather was worth hundreds.

 

Dr. Max Gerson: Healing the Hopeless, by Howard Straus (Kingston,

Ontario: Quarry Press, 2002) ISBN 1-55082-290-X. Softcover, 397 pages

plus bibliography. Ordering information is available from the author

at hdstraus )

 

(This book review was written by Andrew W. Saul, PhD and was published

in the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine, Second Quarter 2002, Volume

17, Number 2, pages 122-124. Reprinted with permission.)

 

 

Andrew Saul, PhD