The Gerson Therapy

By Charlotte Gerson and Morton Walker - 50 Q&As – Unbekoming Book Summary

I first came across Max Gerson in 180 Degrees:

Cancer: The Forbidden Cures - Lies are Unbekoming

Max Gerson and Nutritional Therapy: Max Gerson proposed a dietary approach to treating cancer, which was met with resistance and labeled as quackery by mainstream medicine.

"If the Gerson Therapy were permitted inside the United States, we would see a dramatic decrease in deaths from cancer."

I’ve summarized several of Morton Walker’s books:

• DMSO Nature’s Healer

• The Healing Powers of Garlic

• German Cancer Therapies

And I noticed that he had helped write The Gerson Therapy, but with Charlotte Gerson.

Max Gerson was Charlotte Gerson's father. Charlotte Gerson was born in 1922 and was the daughter of Max Gerson and Margaret Gretchen Hope.

Max Gerson developed the Gerson Therapy, a nutritional healing approach, and Charlotte dedicated her life to preserving and building on her father's legacy. She founded the Gerson Institute, a non-profit organization committed to educating people about the Gerson Therapy and nutritional healing.

Charlotte Gerson followed her father's dietary principles throughout her life, as they helped alleviate her migraines. She was a passionate advocate for the Gerson Therapy and spent decades teaching, lecturing, and supporting patients in applying her father's methods.

Charlotte passed away in 2019 in Italy at the age of 96, leaving behind a significant impact on the field of nutritional therapy and alternative cancer treatments. Her work in continuing and expanding her father's legacy has influenced many people seeking alternative approaches to health and healing.

Gerson Therapy has come up many times in the comments related to my cancer stacks. I thought it time to pay some attention to it.

Let’s start with an analogy born out of the book.

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Analogy: "The Symphony of Cellular Healing"

Think of the Gerson Therapy as conducting a grand symphony orchestra, where every element must work in perfect harmony to create a masterpiece of healing. The body is the concert hall, and each cell is a musician waiting to perform.

The hourly juices are like the conductor's baton, setting the precise tempo and rhythm of healing. Just as a conductor must maintain perfect timing to keep all musicians in sync, the strict timing of juice consumption maintains the steady flow of healing nutrients.

The organic produce and supplements are the sheet music - pure, unadulterated scores that provide exact instructions for each section of the cellular orchestra. Just as a symphony cannot be performed with damaged or incorrect sheet music, the body cannot heal with toxic or processed foods.

The detoxification procedures act as the tuning process - like removing dust and debris from instruments before a performance. Coffee enemas are similar to the meticulous tuning of string instruments; they restore the body's natural pitch and harmony.

The support team (caregivers, family, practitioners) represents the stage crew - unseen but essential members who make the performance possible. Without their careful preparation and constant attention, even the finest orchestra cannot perform.

And just as a symphony requires multiple movements played over time to tell its complete story, the therapy progresses through its phases - from the dramatic intensity of the healing phase to the gentler movements of maintenance.

The end result, when all elements work together perfectly, is not just the absence of disease, but a beautiful performance of health where every cell plays its part in perfect harmony.

This analogy captures the precision, dedication, and transformative nature of the therapy while illustrating how each component contributes to the whole, making it accessible to anyone who has experienced the power of orchestral music.

12-Point Summary:

1. The Gerson Therapy represents a comprehensive healing approach based on cellular regeneration through intensive nutritional support and systematic detoxification. This method views disease as a consequence of toxic accumulation and nutritional deficiency rather than treating isolated symptoms.

2. The core protocol centers on hourly organic juice consumption, providing concentrated nutrients that flood cells with healing compounds. This consistent nutrient supply, combined with a strict organic plant-based diet, creates an optimal environment for cellular repair and immune system enhancement.

3. Detoxification forms a crucial component through specialized coffee enemas that stimulate liver function and enhance toxin removal. This process works synergistically with the nutritional protocol to reduce the body's toxic burden while supporting natural pain management and healing responses.

4. Treatment success depends heavily on the presence of dedicated support systems, including trained caregivers, family members, and healthcare practitioners. This network provides essential practical assistance with protocol implementation while offering crucial emotional support throughout the healing journey.

5. The therapy requires significant environmental modifications to create a healing space free from toxic influences. This includes specialized water filtration, air purification, and the elimination of common household toxins that could impede recovery.

6. Patient education plays a vital role in treatment success, encompassing detailed understanding of cellular healing mechanisms, proper food preparation techniques, and recognition of healing responses. This knowledge empowers patients to actively participate in their recovery process.

7. The protocol follows a precise daily schedule that coordinates multiple therapeutic elements, including juice preparation, meal timing, detoxification procedures, and rest periods. This structured approach ensures optimal timing of treatments while maintaining consistent cellular support.

8. Progress monitoring combines objective measurements through laboratory testing with detailed documentation of subjective improvements. This comprehensive tracking system allows for protocol adjustments while providing evidence of healing progression.

9. The therapy addresses psychological healing through biochemical rebalancing, structured routines, and stress reduction techniques. This mind-body approach recognizes the interconnected nature of mental and physical well-being in the healing process.

10. Treatment typically spans two years, progressing through intensive healing, transition, and maintenance phases. Each phase requires different levels of protocol adherence while maintaining core healing principles.

11. The financial investment encompasses specialized equipment, organic produce, supplements, and environmental modifications. This comprehensive approach requires significant resource allocation for optimal implementation.

12. Long-term success depends on maintaining modified protocols and lifestyle changes that support ongoing health. This includes continued attention to nutrition, detoxification, environmental factors, and stress management, creating a sustainable approach to health maintenance.

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The Gerson Therapy

The Proven Nutritional Program to Fight Cancer and Other Illnesses

By Charlotte Gerson and Morton Walker

The Gerson Therapy: The Proven Nutritional Program to Fight Cancer and Other Illnesses, Cover may vary: Gerson, Charlotte, Walker D.P.M., Morton: 9781496729323: Amazon.com: Books

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Preface

Dr. Max Gerson dedicated his life to the mastery of this scourge of cancer and all should honor his great work. — The Honorable United States Senator Claude Pepper (D-Florida)

This book offers readers a documented means for reversing the pathology of nearly any illness, whether acute or chronic, when its occurrence is related to malfunctioning of the immune system or essential organs. Our reader must be warned, however, that the Gerson program is stringent and difficult to follow. Assuredly it can save the life of a terminal patient. However, the menu plan is quite work-intensive and not easily acceptable to friends and acquaintances who aren’t oriented to holistic health and alternative methods of healing.

The Gerson Therapy is a natural contemporary, biological treatment, either self-administered at home or under physician supervision, which uses the body’s own healing mechanisms for the elimination of debilitating ailments. It was introduced to Western industrialized nations more than sixty years ago by Max Gerson, M.D. (1881-1959). This revolutionary dietary program was so far advanced at the time of its development that no scientific rationale was available to explain why it produced reversal of chronic and infectious diseases. But because it actually cured patients with advanced tuberculosis, diabetes, migraines, heart disease, cancer, arthritis, skin disorders, and numerous other life-threatening conditions, the Gerson Therapy has long since established itself as a major contributor to the medical armamentarium.

Dr. Max Gerson treated many hundreds of patients and continued to refine his therapy until he died in 1959, at the age of seventy-eight. His most famous patient was medical missionary and philosopher Albert Schweitzer, M.D., whom he cured of adult-onset diabetes when Dr. Schweitzer was seventy-five years old. Completely well after only six weeks of Dr. Gerson’s therapy, the patient returned to Lambaréné in Gabon, French Equatorial Africa. Dr. Schweitzer ministered to many thousands of African patients, won the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize, and worked past age ninety. With diabetes eliminated from his life, Albert Schweitzer lived to be ninety-three years old.

Incidentally, Dr. Gerson successfully cured lung tuberculosis for Dr. Schweitzer’s dying wife, Helene. She went on to live another twenty-eight years. And he healed a serious skin disease for Dr. Schweitzer’s nineteen-year-old daughter, Rhena. Lotte Gerson and Rhena Schweitzer were friends during their teen years.

As the eulogy for his close personal friend, Dr. Albert Schweitzer wrote in sadness: “I see in Dr. Max Gerson one of the most eminent geniuses in the history of medicine. Many of his basic ideas have been adopted without having his name connected with them. He has achieved more than seemed possible under adverse conditions. He leaves a legacy which commands attention and which will assure him his due place. Those whom he cured will now attest to the truth of his ideas.”

The most complete presentation of the Gerson Therapy program is currently found in Dr. Gerson’s book A Cancer Therapy: Results of Fifty Cases, originally published by him in 1958, the year before his death. It has since been reprinted thirty-eight times with over 250,000 copies in English. These were distributed by Dr. Gerson’s daughter, Charlotte (Lotte) Gerson, as well as by the Gerson Institute. Some 88,000 additional copies were printed in four other languages and dispersed around the world.

Represented by the Gerson Institute, Charlotte has carried on her father’s educational work and promoted his treatment protocol for eliminating chronic diseases of all types, in particular against malignancies.1 The book you are reading now expands upon that prior book written by Max Gerson, M.D.

MAX GERSON TESTIFIES BEFORE SENATE

During a three-day period, July 1 to 3, 1946, the United States Senate took testimony from nationally known cancer researchers relating to U.S. Senate Bill 1875, also referred to as the Pepper-Neely anticancer proposal. In this bill, Senators Pepper and Neely recommended the appropriation of $100 million from the U.S. government’s budget for cancer researchers to find a cure for cancer once and for all.

After his two Washington, D.C.-based investigators, a physician and an attorney, reported back to Senator Claude Pepper (D-Florida) that Dr. Max Gerson did, indeed, have a successful treatment for cancer for the first time in history, the United States Senate invited a medical doctor to demonstrate his specific therapeutic approach for curing cancer. Accordingly, Dr. Gerson brought five of his cured cancer patients and the records of five more for presentation before the Pepper-Neely anticancer subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations of the Seventy-ninth Congress.

The impressive testimony of this anticancer specialist and his patients caused Senator Pepper to call a press conference for bringing information about the Gerson Therapy before the media. However, massive numbers of lobbyists for the immensely wealthy Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Association (PMA), the American Medical Association (AMA), and the American Cancer Society (ACS) prevailed on reporters to ignore the Gerson press conference and attend a cocktail party instead where free food would be served and libations would be flowing. The only reporter who preferred to hear the Gerson presentation was American Broadcasting Corporation newscaster Raymond Gram Swing. During World War II, Mr. Swing had been a famous war correspondent on a par with Edward R. Murrow. He attended and took copious notes at the Senate press conference for use in his East Coast 6:00 P.M. ABC network broadcast of Wednesday, July 3, 1946. Here is what Raymond Gram Swing broadcast then throughout the United States:

I hope I have my values right if, instead of talking tonight about the agreement reached on Trieste by the Foreign Minister in Paris, or the continuing crisis of the OPA in Washington, or President Truman’s signing of the Hobbs antiracketeering bill, I talk about a remarkable hearing before a Senate Subcommittee in Washington yesterday on cancer and the need for cancer research in new fields.

…A bill is before Congress, the Pepper-Neely bill, to appropriate a hundred million dollars for cancer research with something like the zeal and bigness with which it went for the release of atomic energy, turning the job over to the scientists with resources generous enough to solve the problem.

This alone would make a good theme for a broadcast, just an example of the use a great democracy can make of its intelligence and wealth. But the subject has been made peculiarly gripping by unprecedented happenings yesterday before the subcommittee which is holding hearings on this bill, and of which Senator Pepper is chairman.

He invited a witness, a refugee scientist, now a resident of New York, Dr. Max Gerson, and Dr. Gerson placed on the stand, in quick succession, five patients. They were chosen to represent the principal prevailing types of cancer, and in each instance they showed that the Gerson treatment had had what is conservatively called “favorable effect on the course of the disease.” That in itself is remarkable, but it is the more so because Dr. Gerson’s treatment consists mainly of a diet which he has evolved after a lifetime of research and experimentation. To say that Dr. Gerson has been curing cancer by a dietary treatment is medically impermissible, for the reason that there must be five years without recurrence before such a statement is allowed. Dr. Gerson has cured tuberculosis and other illnesses with his diet, but in the U.S.A. he has only been working on cancer for four and a half years.…

Yet anything that offers even a possibility of treating successfully at least some of the four hundred thousand existing cancer cases in this country is stirring news, no matter how conservatively it is formulated. There would be no Pepper-Neely bill to appropriate a hundred million dollars for cancer research if the existing research were coping with the need.

…I have spoken about this carefully and abstractly, which underplays some of the shock and delight of the experience yesterday at the hearing of the Pepper Committee. It is one thing to talk about chemistry and diet and vitamins and other factors in medical science. It is another to see, as the Committee yesterday saw, a seventeen-year-old girl, who had a tumor at the base of the brain, which was inoperable, and which had paralyzed her. Yesterday, she walked without assistance to the witness chair, and told clearly about her case and her treatment.

There was a sturdy man, who had been a sergeant in the army. He had had a malignant tumor, also at the base of the brain, which had been operated on but needed deep X-ray treatment, and this he could not receive because of the danger to the brain. Yesterday he was the picture of health as he testified, and quite naturally he was proud of his remarkable recovery.

There was a woman who had had cancer of the breast which spread. Yesterday she was well, and testified with poise and confidence.

A few cases showing such improvement cannot, of themselves, affect the outlook of the medical profession. But they are attested facts and not flukes, and as such they have to be accounted for. And there are many, many more cases which could have been cited.

It would seem to be the business of medical research to leap on such facts and carry every hopeful indication to a final conclusion.…

So the advocates for the Pepper-Neely bill can argue that, unless we learn now how to deal successfully with cancer, many millions of persons now living in this country are condemned to die from cancer. A hundred million dollars is little more than a token payment for America to make, in order to avert such a sweep of death, and they can then point to the Gerson dietary approach as a most promising field of research.…

Dr. Gerson was an eminent if controversial figure in pre-Hitler Germany. He was bound to be controversial because he was challenging established practice in treating tuberculosis by diet. He has been assistant to Foerster, the great neurologist of Breslau, and for years assistant to Sauerbruch, one of the great physicians on the Continent. The Sauerbruch-Gerson diet for skin tuberculosis is well-known to European medicine, and the account of it is part of accepted medical literature. Dr. Gerson told the Pepper Committee that he had first come upon his dietary theory in trying to cure himself of migraine headaches. Later he treated others, among them a man with skin tuberculosis as well. Dr. Gerson was an acknowledged dietary authority in Weimar, Germany, and was responsible for the German army of his time being placed on dehydrated, rather than canned food.2

PUBLIC RESPONSE TO THE BROADCAST

Raymond Gram Swing continued with his network radio broadcast and brought in some additional news too. After he ended, the telephone switchboard lit up at the American Broadcasting Corporation in New York City. People called in from all over the nation to learn about the Gerson Therapy. But other, darker, more powerful commercial and political forces had been listening as well.

The executive directors of pharmaceutical companies producing cytotoxic agents for cancer treatment—members of the PMA—threatened to cancel all radio advertising contracts for their drugs sold over the counter, an annual loss in revenue for ABC amounting to tens of millions of dollars. Within two weeks of that fateful radio broadcast which apprised people of a potential cure for cancer, after thirty years at the same job Raymond Gram Swing was fired from his position as a newscaster for the ABC network.

You might also wish to know what happened to the Senate’s 227-page Pepper-Neely anticancer bill of 1946—Document No. 89471. By efforts of the lobbyists working with four senators who were also medical doctors, the bill was defeated. Today, Document No. 89471 is stored in boxes and gathers dust in the archives of the U.S. Government Printing Office.

Meanwhile, since the Pepper-Neely bill was buried, the number of people getting cancer each year has worsened beyond what anyone could have predicted. According to Reno, Nevada, oncologist, homeopath, and internal medicine specialist W. Douglas Brodie, M.D., H.M.D., in his book Cancer and Common Sense, the annual incidence of cancer has increased from 402,000 in 1946 to 1.9 million in 1996.3 Thus, during a half century since the defeat of Senator Pepper’s proposed anticancer legislation, the yearly occurrence of cancer among the American populace has more than quadrupled.4 Worse still, medical journalist and author Michael Culbert points out even more graphically that at the stroke of midnight, upon our ringing in the twenty-first century, every forty-five seconds thereafter a U.S. citizen is destined to die from cancer. That number adds up to about 1,900 Americans per day.5

Oncologists informed about nutrition estimate that diets filled with fruits and vegetables instead of fats and animal proteins—along with taking greater amounts of exercise, more stringent weight control, and avoidance of cigarette smoke—could reduce cancer incidence by up to 40 percent. This program would amount to nearly 4 million fewer worldwide cases of malignancies per year.

Thus, dietary and lifestyle improvements among Americans as advocated by Dr. Max Gerson more than fifty years ago would be particularly effective as the means to prevent occurrence of the four most frequently occurring life-threatening malignancies in the United States. According to the November 30, 1998, issue of Newsweek magazine:6

1. Prostate cancer strikes with a minimum of 184,500 cases predicted in 1999. Among American men today, 17 percent will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lifetimes. But improved diet, nutrition, and general lifestyle would reduce that proportion to 13.6 percent.

2. Breast cancer hits with a minimum of 180,300 cases estimated for 1999. Among American women today, 14 percent will be diagnosed with breast cancer during their lifetimes. But improved diet, nutrition, and general lifestyle would reduce that proportion to 7 percent.

3. Lung cancer happens with a minimum of 171,500 cases anticipated for 1999. Among everyone in this country today, slightly more than 7 percent will be diagnosed with lung cancer during their lifetimes. Still, improved diet, nutrition, and general lifestyle (especially eliminating exposure to tobacco smoke) would lower that proportion to just 0.35 percent.

4. Colon/rectal cancer shows up with a minimum of 95,600 cases expected in 1999. Among the populace of the United States, 6 percent will be diagnosed with colon and/or rectal cancers during their lifetimes. But improved diet, nutrition, and general lifestyle could reduce that proportion to 1.5 percent.

“In spite of all the advances in chemotherapy and surgery,” report officials of First Circle Medical, Inc., of Minneapolis, Minnesota, a main manufacturer of antimalignancy hyperthermia equipment, “over 1,800,000 patients in North America, Europe and Japan with disseminated lung, prostate, breast [cancer] and melanoma die each year.”

As you read our book, three questions you may understandably raise are:

• Why didn’t the U.S. Senate over half a century ago adopt the anticancer budgetary measure that came before it?

• Wasn’t the prevention of or treatment for Americans coming down with cancer vital enough?

• Why weren’t anticancer experts requested to at least test the Gerson Therapy back then when senators were presented with the opportunity?

Finally, are you aware of the following additional, significant, estimated statistic? Averaging between the numbers of United States residents getting cancer in 1946 and those so victimized this year, it’s likely that 39,697,000 Americans could have been prevented from contracting the scourge or saved from cancerous deaths. Application of the Gerson Therapy may have accomplished that particular worthy undertaking. It can do it even now.

CHARLOTTE GERSON

Bonita, California

MORTON WALKER, D.P.M.

Stamford, Connecticut

References for the Preface

1. Gerson, M. A Cancer Therapy: Results of Fifty Cases, 6th ed. Bonita, Calif.: The Gerson Institute, 1999.

2. Quoted in Dego, G. Doctor Max: The Story of Pioneering Physician Max Gerson’s Acclaimed Cancer Therapy and His Heroic Struggle to Change the Way We Look at Health and Healing. Barrytown, N.Y.: Station Hill Press, 1997, pp. 513-516.

3. Brodie, W. D. Cancer and Common Sense: Combining Science and Nature to Control Cancer. White Bear Lake, Minn.: Winning Publications, August 1997, p. 46.

4. Rugo, H.S. “Cancer.” In Current Medical Diagnosis and Treatment 1997, 36th ed., ed. by L.M. Tierney, S.J. McPhee, and M.A. Papadakis. Stamford, Conn.: Appleton and Lange, 1997, p. 69.

5. Culbert, M. Medical Armageddon. San Diego, Calif.: C and C Communications, 1995.

6. Cowley, G., with Underwood, A., Springen, K., and Davis, A. “Cancer and diet: eating to beat the odds: what you need to know.” Newsweek, November 30, 1998, pp. 60-66.

INTRODUCTION

The chief of medical oncology at the Strang Cancer Prevention Center in New York City, Mitchell Gaynor, M.D., understood a lot about cancer when he finished his cancer specialty training at Cornell Medical Center, but he admits to knowing little about diet, nutrition, and their significance for preventing and treating degenerative diseases. Cancer, a specific cluster of body cells undergoing uncontrolled cell division and multiplication, is the ultimate example of a degenerative disease in progress.

Dr. Gaynor was flabbergasted when he showed up at the prestigious Rockefeller University in 1986, for a postdoctoral fellowship in molecular biology, and found his more enlightened oncology colleagues buzzing about the cancer-inhibiting qualities of brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, and certain other cruciferous vegetables rich in the chemical called sulforaphane. Sulforaphane boosts production of the body’s phase II enzymes that cart off dangerous residues of procarcinogens, those cancer-causing precursors capable of damaging cellular DNA (see chapter 3 for details).

During that 1986 period, laboratory researchers had started discovering dozens of new chemicals in common fruits and vegetables. In test tube and animal studies, these obscure compounds were exhibiting a remarkable ability to disrupt the formation of malignant and benign tumors. Today our knowledge of such phytochemicals (compounds of plant origin) is exploding. And as scientists learn more about the chemistry of plants and other edibles, they are growing increasingly hopeful about sparing people from being struck by malignancies. “We’ve seen the future,” says Dr. Gaynor, “and the future is food.”1

Although the significance of consuming nutritious, whole, and natural foods for health and healing was originally developed and taught by Dr. Max Gerson about sixty years ago, we have finally awakened to the truth of his teachings. It is a reality that improvements in diet, nutrition, and general lifestyle are the wave of the future for beating degenerative diseases of all types.

THE UNDERLYING NUTRITIONAL CONCEPT OF DR. MAX GERSON

Dr. Gerson’s therapeutic program seeks to regenerate an ailing body and bring it back to health by flooding the sick patient with nutrients and adopting other modalities. The nutrients come from raw juices plus raw and cooked solid organic vegetarian foods generously consumed. Inasmuch as the underlying nutritional concept of Dr. Max Gerson—proven by clinical studies cited in our text—is that an oxygen deficiency in the blood contributes to degenerative diseases, his treatment invariably brings about a doubling of circulatory oxygenation.

The Gerson Therapy also stimulates metabolism, eliminates toxins, and restores sluggish waste-removal functions of a patient’s liver and kidneys. Thus, by using liberal amounts of high-quality nutrition, increasing the patient’s oxygen availability, reinvigorating the entire organism with a well-functioning metabolism, and improving cellular detoxification, one’s suppressed immune system, imperfect physiology, muddled mind, and dysfunctional brain and other essential organs are encouraged to regenerate toward homeostasis once again.

Dr. Gerson’s healing program is advantageous for overcoming nearly every pathology and far superior to cancer chemotherapy. Statistically, for instance, chemotherapy boasts an overall remission rate on average of 12 percent (7 percent for colon cancer and 1 percent for pancreatic cancer) for patients first seen at early and intermediate stages of their illnesses, but the Gerson Therapy offers remission success on average for up to 42 percent of its participating, largely terminal cancer patients.

What’s more, the Gerson Therapy nutrition program works permanently, in a surer manner than all other known therapies, including cytotoxicology (chemotherapy), immunology, pharmacology, roentgenology (radiation therapy), and other usual procedures provided by conventionally practiced allopathic medicine, since the goal of the Gerson Therapy is to restore all essential organs.

SYNOPSIS OF THE GERSON THERAPY NUTRITION PROGRAM

Best represented by its dietary component, the Gerson Therapy recommends a low-fat, salt-free program of food consumption to supply the body’s cells with easily assimilated nutrients for strengthening one’s natural immune defenses. To prevent or correct most of the fifteen hundred known degenerative diseases, the Gerson Therapy offers an ideal way to eat. In our modern society of processed packaged foods frequently containing preservatives, additives, dyes, and sometimes outright carcinogens, all forced upon us by accompanying massive amounts of media propaganda and advertising, the Gerson Therapy admittedly presents a difficult dining program to follow. Yet if a sick person is serious about recovery, then adopting the Gerson therapeutic technique does assure the restoration of wellness.

At the core of the Gerson Therapy is its diet, which includes organically grown fresh fruits and vegetables and thirteen glasses of freshly squeezed juices daily, taken at hourly intervals. The organic fresh fruits and vegetables provide the patient with elevated levels of minerals, enzymes, beta carotene, vitamins A and C, and other antioxidants that scavenge free radicals, as well as naturally occurring phytochemicals that scientists have discovered are true preventers of chronic degenerative diseases. These foods are recommended to contain no residual pesticides and fungicides.

No meat is allowed. On the Gerson therapeutic program, all animal protein is omitted for the person who is ill during the first six to twelve weeks of treatment, and it’s kept to a minimum thereafter.2

The diet is largely fat-free but includes some nonfat and unflavored yogurt, nonfat and unsalted pot cheese, cottage cheese, and churned buttermilk when available (otherwise use nonfat yogurt), as well as flaxseed oil. Research put forth by the seven-time Nobel prize candidate Johanna Budwig, Ph.D., of Freudenstadt-Dietersweiler, Germany, shows that the omega-3 fatty acids in flax kill human cancer cells in tissue cultures without destroying normal cells in the same culture.3

Before Dr. Budwig published her groundbreaking works, Dr. Gerson, first in Germany, then in Austria, and finally in the United States, was applying nutritional knowledge he had gleaned about fats and oils for his patients’ illnesses. Today, the Gerson Therapy menu plan is being used by the American Cancer Society (ACS). Yes, the very same ACS which once had condemned Dr. Gerson and blacklisted his therapeutic diet. Moreover, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the American Heart Association (AHA) both encourage the use of a modified version of the Gerson eating program.

Believing cancer to be a systemic rather than a localized disease, as was an erroneous but popular notion among health care professionals in the 1930s and 1940s, Dr. Gerson emphasized the rebalancing of a patient’s entire physiology. His writings indicate he intended that the therapy should reverse any conditions sustaining the growth of malignant cells and restore those cells dysfunctioning from other forms of pathology.

THE DETOXIFICATION COMPONENT

For the body detoxification component, Dr. Gerson employed coffee enemas, which patients self-administer several times daily. Discussed in more depth below (see chapters 12 and 13), the coffee enema enables cancer patients and all others suffering from the life-threatening metabolic illnesses to eliminate toxic breakdown products of rapidly dissolving tumor masses or from the healing reactions of formerly dysfunctional cells generated by the effects of the Gerson therapy. According to Dr. Gerson’s observations, there is a risk, if coffee enemas are not applied in conjunction with the diet, juices and a few supplements, that patients may succumb, not the disease process itself, but rather as a result of the liver’s inability to detoxify rapidly enough.

Caffeine taken rectally stimulates the liver activity, increases bile flow, and opens bile ducts so that the liver can excrete toxic waste more easily. Coffee enemas are excellent for preventive medicine as well as for treatment. They also bring about remarkable pain relief.4

As a further aid to detoxification and as part of the therapeutic component involving food supplementation, Dr. Gerson’s procedures require the use of a few orally self-administered dietary supplements every day or every other day. Thyroid extract, potassium iodide, liver extract, pancreatic enzymes, and niacin (nicotonic acid or vitamin B3) are employed.

TESTIMONY BEFORE THE UNITED STATES SENATE BY DR. MAX GERSON

In our preface, we reprinted the unmodified text broadcasted by Raymond Gram Swing in his American Broadcasting Corporation news program of Wednesday, July 3, 1946, describing the appearance earlier that same day of Max Gerson, M.D., before the Pepper-Neely subcommittee of the United States Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee in Washington, D.C. Relative to this description of his dietary treatment for cancer and other degenerative illnesses, what follows are the most pertinent portions of what Dr. Gerson stated during his testimony:5

My office and residence is at 815 Park Avenue, New York City. I am a member of the AMA, Medical Society of New York State, and Medical Society of New York County.

The dietetic treatment, which has for many years been known as the “Gerson diet,” was developed first to relieve my own severe migraine condition. Then it was successfully applied to patients with allergic conditions such as asthma, as well as diseases of the intestinal tract and the liver-pancreas apparatus. By chance a patient with lupus vulgaris (skin tuberculosis) was cured following the use of the diet. After this success the dietetic treatment was used in all other kinds of tuberculosis—bones, kidneys, eyes, lungs, and so forth. It, too, was highly favorable in many other chronic diseases, such as arthritis, heart disease, chronic sinusitis, chronic ulcers, including colitis, high blood pressure, psoriasis, sclerosis multiplex [multiple sclerosis], and so forth. The most striking results were seen in the restoration of various kinds of liver and gall bladder diseases which could not be influenced by other methods up to the present.

The great number of chronic diseases which responded to the dietetic treatment showed clearly that the human body lost part of its resistance and healing power, as it left the way of natural nutrition for generations.

The fundamental damage starts with the use of artificial fertilizer for vegetables and fruits as well as for fodder. Thus, the chemically transformed vegetarian and meat nourishment, increasing through generations, transforms the organs and functions of the human body in the wrong direction.

Another basic defect lies in the waste of excrements of the cities. Instead of returning the natural manure to the fruit-bearing soil, it is let into the rivers, killing underwater life. The natural cycle is interrupted and mankind has to suffer dearly for the violation. Life in forest and wilderness should teach us the lesson.

But we can regain the lost defense and healing power if we return as close as possible to the laws of nature as they are created. Highly concentrated for speedy reaction, they are laid down in the dietetic treatment.

The first cancer patient (bile ducts) was treated in 1928 with success. Seven favorable cases followed out of twelve and remain free of symptoms up to seven years.

My experience leads me to believe that the liver is the center of the restoration process in those patients who improve strikingly. If the liver is too far destroyed, then the treatment cannot be effective.

Aware of the imperfection of this as well as any other theory, I shall try, nevertheless, to explain the end results of the Gerson diet. It is condensed in three surpassing components:

1. The elimination of toxins and poisons and returning of the displaced “extracellular” Na (sodium)-group, connected with toxins, poisons, edema, destructive inflammation from the tissues, tumors, and organs where it does not belong, into the serum and tissues where it belongs—gall bladder with the bile ducts, connective tissue, thyroid, stomach mucosa, kidney medulla, tumors, and so forth.

2. Bringing back the lost intracellular K (potassium)-group combined with vitamins, enzymes, ferments, sugar, and so forth, into the tissues and organs where they belong: liver, muscles, heart, brain, kidney cortex, and so forth; on this basis, iodine, ineffective before, is made effective, continuously added in new amounts.

3. Restoring the differentiation, tonus, tension, oxidation, and so forth, by activated iodine, where there were before growing tumors and metastases with dedifferentiation, loss of tension, oxidation, loss of resistance, and healing power.

In 1991, two decades following President Richard M. Nixon’s confident December 23, 1971, declaration of another “war on cancer” and his promise of a cure by the 1976 Bicentennial, a group of sixty noted physicians and scientists declared their disgust at the failures of the medical profession in general and oncologists in particular. They called a press conference and made the following statement: “The cancer establishment confuses the public with repeated [false] claims that we are winning the war on cancer.… Our ability to treat and cure most cancers has not materially improved.”

Rather, the best way to correct the cancer problem is through the application of dietary improvements, nutrients, whole body detoxification, and overall nutritional therapy. Some of these aspects of degenerative disease treatment are what our next chapter introduces.

References for the Introduction

1. Cowley, G. with Underwood, A.; Springen, K.; Davis, A. “Cancer and diet: Eating to beat the odds: what you need to know.” Newsweek, November 30, 1998, pp. 60-66.

2. Walters, R. Options: The Alternative Cancer Therapy Book. Garden City Park, N.Y.: Avery Publishing Group, 1992, pp. 189,190.

3. Budwig, J. Flax Oil as a True Aid against Arthritis, Heart Infarction, Cancer and Other Diseases. Vancouver, B.C., Canada: Apple Publishing, 1994.

4. Moss, R.W. Cancer Therapy: The Independent Consumer’s Guide to Non-Toxic Treatment and Prevention. New York: Equinox Press, 1992, p. 189.

5. Gerson, M. Testimony during hearings on Senate Bill 1875, conducted July 1, 2, 3, 1946 by Senator Claude Pepper (D-Florida), for the Pepper-Neely Subcommittee of the Foreign Relations Committee, the 79th Congress of the U.S. Senate, July 3, 1946.

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50 Questions & Answers

Question 1: What are the fundamental principles of the Gerson Therapy approach?

Answer: The Gerson Therapy is based on the principle that cancer and most chronic diseases are caused by changes in cell metabolism due to toxic accumulation and nutritional deficiency. The approach focuses on flooding the body with nutrients through hourly juicing, strict organic plant-based nutrition, and intensive detoxification protocols. The therapy aims to restore the body's natural healing mechanisms by addressing the root causes rather than treating symptoms.

Question 2: How does cellular regeneration relate to the healing process in this therapy?

Answer: Cellular regeneration occurs through the systematic reactivation of the body's natural healing mechanisms. The therapy provides abundant nutrients and enzymes that support mitochondrial function and ATP production, enabling cells to repair and regenerate. This process is enhanced by removing toxins that inhibit normal cell function while providing the raw materials needed for cellular repair.

Question 3: What role do coffee enemas play in the detoxification process?

Answer: Coffee enemas stimulate the liver's glutathione S-transferase system, enhancing the organ's capacity to remove toxins from the bloodstream. This process increases bile flow and opens the bile ducts, facilitating the removal of toxins through the digestive system. The procedure also helps relieve pain and symptoms associated with die-off reactions during intensive detoxification.

Question 4: How does the immune system function change during treatment?

Answer: The immune system undergoes significant enhancement through the therapy's nutritional protocols. High levels of nutrients and enzymes from fresh juices activate natural killer cells and increase white blood cell production. The elimination of toxins reduces the immune system's toxic burden, allowing it to function more effectively in identifying and eliminating damaged cells.

Question 5: What specific juicing protocols are recommended and why?

Answer: The protocol requires 13 glasses of fresh, organic juice daily, precisely spaced one hour apart. Green apple and carrot juice forms the base, with specific green leaf combinations added throughout the day. This schedule maintains constant blood sugar levels while providing a steady stream of live enzymes, minerals, and phytonutrients.

Question 6: How do mental techniques like visualization contribute to healing?

Answer: Visualization techniques activate the mind-body connection by engaging the parasympathetic nervous system, promoting cellular repair and reducing inflammation. Regular practice helps patients maintain a positive outlook while reducing stress hormones that can impede healing.

Question 7: What evidence supports the connection between dental health and disease?

Answer: Research has shown that root canal-treated teeth can harbor harmful bacteria that release toxins into the bloodstream. These bacterial colonies can contribute to systemic inflammation and immune system dysfunction, potentially triggering or exacerbating chronic diseases.

Question 8: How does metabolic therapy differ from conventional treatment approaches?

Answer: Metabolic therapy focuses on restoring optimal cellular function through natural means rather than targeting specific symptoms or disease markers. The approach emphasizes supporting the body's innate healing mechanisms through nutrition and detoxification, contrasting with conventional treatments that often suppress symptoms.

Question 9: What are the essential equipment requirements for following the therapy?

Answer: The required equipment includes a two-stage juicer for optimal nutrient extraction, water filtration system, food processor, and specialized enema equipment. Additional items include glass storage containers, organic food preparation tools, and specific cooking equipment that avoids aluminum and non-stick surfaces.

Question 10: How does organic food selection impact treatment effectiveness?

Answer: Organic food selection is crucial as it eliminates exposure to pesticides and herbicides that can burden the detoxification system. The higher nutrient content of organic produce provides the raw materials necessary for cellular repair and immune system function.

Question 11: What is the typical duration and what are the phases of treatment?

Answer: The full therapy typically requires a minimum of two years, divided into three distinct phases. The intensive healing phase lasts 6-18 months depending on condition severity, followed by a transition phase of 4-8 months, and finally a maintenance phase. Each phase gradually modifies the protocol intensity while maintaining core healing principles.

Question 12: How does stress management integrate into the healing process?

Answer: Stress management is integrated through structured daily routines that include designated rest periods, gentle exercise, and meditation practices. The therapy recognizes that elevated cortisol levels from chronic stress can impair immune function and cellular repair, making stress reduction essential for optimal healing.

Question 13: What role do support systems play in patient recovery?

Answer: Support systems provide essential practical and emotional assistance throughout the intensive therapy process. A dedicated caregiver helps with juice preparation, meal planning, and treatment administration, while family and community support helps maintain patient motivation and compliance with the protocol.

Question 14: How are treatment outcomes documented and monitored?

Answer: Treatment progress is tracked through detailed daily logs of juice consumption, detoxification procedures, and symptoms. Regular laboratory testing monitors blood markers, while photographs document physical changes. Practitioners evaluate these metrics alongside patient reports to adjust protocols as needed.

Question 15: What specific supplementation guidelines must patients follow?

Answer: Supplementation includes potassium compound, Lugol's solution, vitamin B12, pancreatic enzymes, and specific minerals. Dosages are precisely calculated based on individual needs and adjusted according to healing response. All supplements must be free from artificial additives and fillers.

Question 16: How does environmental toxicity affect patient recovery?

Answer: Environmental toxins can significantly impede healing by overwhelming the body's detoxification pathways. Exposure to chemicals, electromagnetic fields, and air pollution can create additional stress on the immune system and cellular repair mechanisms, potentially slowing recovery progress.

Question 17: What water quality standards are recommended and why?

Answer: Water must be pure, filtered through a reverse osmosis system with added minerals. Chlorine, fluoride, and heavy metals must be eliminated as they can interfere with cellular metabolism and add to the toxic burden. Spring water from verified clean sources is acceptable.

Question 18: How do caregivers contribute to treatment success?

Answer: Caregivers maintain treatment schedules, prepare organic meals and juices, assist with detoxification procedures, and provide emotional support. Their role includes monitoring patient response, maintaining detailed records, and communicating with healthcare providers about progress and concerns.

Question 19: What cost considerations should patients anticipate?

Answer: Expenses include specialized equipment, organic produce, supplements, and treatment supplies. Additional costs may include home modifications for food preparation, water filtration systems, and potential travel expenses for consulting with qualified practitioners. Insurance typically doesn't cover most aspects of the therapy.

Question 20: How does the therapy address addiction recovery?

Answer: The therapy supports addiction recovery by addressing underlying nutritional deficiencies and toxic accumulation that may contribute to addictive behaviors. The intensive detoxification process helps eliminate stored toxins while nutritional support helps restore normal brain chemistry and neurotransmitter function.

Question 21: What distinguishes successful patient outcomes from unsuccessful ones?

Answer: Successful outcomes correlate strongly with strict protocol adherence, early intervention, and strong support systems. Key factors include complete elimination of prohibited foods, consistent juicing schedule maintenance, and proper detoxification procedure implementation. Patients who modify or skip elements of the protocol typically show reduced treatment effectiveness.

Question 22: How does professional medical supervision integrate with the therapy?

Answer: Professional supervision includes regular monitoring of blood work, enzyme levels, and healing reactions. Practitioners adjust protocols based on individual response patterns and manage any complications that arise. They also coordinate with other healthcare providers when necessary for comprehensive care management.

Question 23: What lifestyle modifications are essential for treatment success?

Answer: Essential modifications include eliminating all processed foods, alcohol, tobacco, and conventional personal care products. Patients must adopt strict sleep schedules, implement stress-reduction practices, and minimize exposure to electromagnetic fields and environmental toxins.

Question 24: How does the therapy approach biochemical imbalances?

Answer: The therapy addresses biochemical imbalances through targeted nutrient flooding, enzyme supplementation, and mineral repletion. This approach aims to restore proper cellular metabolism by providing abundant raw materials while simultaneously removing factors that disrupt normal biochemical processes.

Question 25: What role does patient education play in treatment success?

Answer: Patient education focuses on understanding the biological basis of the therapy, proper food preparation techniques, and recognition of healing reactions. This knowledge empowers patients to make informed decisions and maintains motivation through understanding the purpose behind each protocol element.

Question 26: How are treatment protocols customized for individual patients?

Answer: Protocols are modified based on diagnosis, condition severity, and individual response patterns. Adjustments consider factors such as digestive capacity, detoxification ability, and specific nutrient needs. Regular monitoring allows for protocol refinement as healing progresses.

Question 27: What criteria determine patient suitability for the therapy?

Answer: Suitability is determined by evaluating the patient's current health status, ability to follow strict protocols, availability of support systems, and presence of contraindicated conditions. Psychological readiness and commitment level are also assessed as critical success factors.

Question 28: How does the therapy address chronic disease conditions?

Answer: The therapy approaches chronic disease by targeting common underlying factors: toxin accumulation, nutrient deficiency, and impaired cellular metabolism. The protocol systematically addresses these issues while supporting the body's natural healing mechanisms through intensive nutritional support.

Question 29: What daily routines are required for optimal results?

Answer: Daily routines include hourly juice consumption from 8 AM to 8 PM, multiple coffee enemas, specific meal timing, rest periods, and gentle exercise. Each activity must be precisely scheduled to maintain therapeutic effectiveness and prevent protocol conflicts.

Question 30: How does food preparation affect treatment efficacy?

Answer: Food preparation methods preserve maximum nutritional value by avoiding high heat, using approved cooking materials, and following specific cutting and storage techniques. Proper preparation ensures optimal enzyme activity and nutrient availability while preventing the formation of harmful compounds.

Question 31: What role does community support play in patient recovery?

Answer: Community support provides crucial emotional reinforcement and practical assistance during treatment. Support groups, both online and in-person, offer experience sharing, problem-solving strategies, and motivation maintenance. These connections help normalize the intensive treatment experience and provide valuable peer insights for overcoming common challenges.

Question 32: How does the therapy approach pain management?

Answer: Pain management relies on addressing underlying inflammation through intensive nutrient therapy and detoxification. The protocol's emphasis on frequent coffee enemas helps stimulate natural pain-relieving compounds, while specific supplements and juicing combinations target inflammatory processes without requiring conventional pain medications.

Question 33: What environmental modifications are recommended during treatment?

Answer: Environmental modifications include removing synthetic cleaning products, installing air purification systems, eliminating non-stick cookware, and minimizing electromagnetic field exposure. Living spaces must be free from mold, chemical cleaners, and artificial fragrances to reduce toxic burden during healing.

Question 34: How does the therapy address psychological healing?

Answer: Psychological healing occurs through multiple mechanisms including biochemical rebalancing, structured daily routines, and the empowerment of active participation in healing. The protocol's emphasis on whole-body restoration naturally supports mental clarity and emotional stability through improved cellular function.

Question 35: What are the key differences from conventional medical approaches?

Answer: The therapy differs fundamentally by focusing on enhancing the body's natural healing mechanisms rather than targeting specific symptoms. It emphasizes intensive nutritional support and detoxification rather than pharmaceutical interventions, while treating the body as an interconnected system rather than isolated symptoms.

Question 36: How does cellular nutrition support healing processes?

Answer: Cellular nutrition provides concentrated, bioavailable nutrients that support mitochondrial function, enzyme production, and tissue repair. The protocol's frequent juice intake ensures constant availability of essential compounds needed for optimal cellular metabolism and regeneration.

Question 37: What monitoring methods track patient progress?

Answer: Progress monitoring includes daily symptom journals, regular blood work, urinalysis, and photographic documentation. Practitioners track specific markers including inflammation levels, immune function, and organ efficiency while noting changes in energy, pain levels, and overall wellbeing.

Question 38: How does family involvement impact treatment success?

Answer: Family involvement directly correlates with treatment success through practical support, emotional encouragement, and protocol compliance assistance. Families who understand and embrace the therapy's principles help create a supportive home environment that facilitates healing.

Question 39: What role do affirmations play in the healing process?

Answer: Affirmations help maintain positive mental states and reinforce healing beliefs at the cellular level. Regular practice helps reduce stress hormones while promoting parasympathetic nervous system activation, creating an internal environment more conducive to healing.

Question 40: How does the therapy approach preventive care?

Answer: Preventive care focuses on maintaining optimal cellular function through ongoing nutritional support and toxic load management. Modified maintenance protocols help prevent disease recurrence while supporting long-term health through sustained lifestyle modifications.

Question 41: What scientific principles underpin the treatment methodology?

Answer: The methodology is based on cellular biology principles, specifically how cells utilize nutrients, eliminate waste, and maintain proper membrane potential. The approach leverages biochemical pathways involved in detoxification, cellular respiration, and immune system function, while considering the body's bioelectric properties in healing.

Question 42: How does metabolic optimization contribute to healing?

Answer: Metabolic optimization occurs through the restoration of proper enzyme function, mineral balance, and cellular energy production. The protocol systematically supports ATP generation, improves oxygen utilization, and enhances nutrient transport across cell membranes to restore normal metabolic function.

Question 43: What role does detoxification play in overall treatment?

Answer: Detoxification serves as a cornerstone of the therapy by reducing the body's toxic burden, enabling proper cellular function. The process includes multiple pathways: liver support through coffee enemas, lymphatic stimulation through specific foods, and enhanced elimination through targeted protocols.

Question 44: How does the therapy address immune system dysfunction?

Answer: Immune system dysfunction is addressed through specific nutrient combinations that support white blood cell production, enhance natural killer cell activity, and reduce inflammatory responses. The protocol removes immune-suppressing factors while providing raw materials needed for optimal immune function.

Question 45: What documentation methods track treatment effectiveness?

Answer: Treatment effectiveness is documented through comprehensive daily logs, laboratory test results, and systematic photography. Practitioners maintain detailed records of protocol modifications, healing reactions, and symptom changes to guide treatment adjustments and verify progress.

Question 46: How does professional guidance support patient compliance?

Answer: Professional guidance ensures proper protocol implementation through regular consultations, troubleshooting support, and protocol adjustments. Practitioners help patients understand healing reactions, maintain motivation, and navigate challenges while ensuring safety throughout the treatment process.

Question 47: What environmental factors influence treatment outcomes?

Answer: Treatment outcomes are influenced by air quality, water purity, electromagnetic field exposure, and presence of household toxins. Success rates improve when patients create clean living environments that minimize toxic exposure and support the body's healing processes.

Question 48: How does the therapy integrate with other healing modalities?

Answer: The therapy can integrate with compatible healing modalities that don't interfere with its core principles. Acceptable additions might include gentle exercise, meditation, and specific bodywork techniques that support detoxification and healing processes.

Question 49: What role does time management play in treatment success?

Answer: Time management is crucial for maintaining the precise schedule of juicing, meals, detoxification procedures, and rest periods. Successful implementation requires careful planning and organization to ensure all protocol elements are completed at optimal times.

Question 50: How does patient empowerment contribute to healing?

Answer: Patient empowerment through education and active participation creates a foundation for successful healing. Understanding the therapy's principles and taking responsibility for protocol implementation leads to better compliance and more positive outcomes.

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