Nutritional Cancer Therapy of Max Gerson, M.D.

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Nutritional Cancer Therapy of Max Gerson, M.D.

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

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.â€

 

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, 23 Greenridge Crescent, Hamlin, NY

14464 USA.