A Dietary Approach
For some, his name may not be immediately recognizable. Unless dealing with a cancer diagnosis, or researching cancer therapies, the name Max Gerson may not mean anything. But for others who have studied his research, read his book and followed his cancer treatment, Max Gerson, a former medical doctor and cancer researcher, is a monumental figure.
Gerson, a German Jew, who was practicing medicine in Germany around WWII, was able to migrate to the United States following Alolph Hitler’s rise to power, and began practicing medicine in New York. Before leaving Germany, Gerson developed a cure for his own severe migraines. The treatment focused on dietary changes and natural supplements, and was successful in alleviating Gerson’s migraines. He then applied the treatment to his tuberculosis patients with great success. According to The Gerson Clinic’s website, Gerson, along with Ferdinand Sauerbruch, conducted a study on the diet and its effect on tuberculosis patients. 460 patients were treated during the study, and all but four of them were cured.
Gerson eventually applied his treatment to a patient who was suffering from gall bladder and stomach cancer. He treated this patient in secret, as he suspected his colleagues would not look upon his treatment favorably. The patient was cured, and Gerson vowed to treat cancer patients that other doctors had determined to be incurable.
“The more I treated cancer cases the more the patients and their relatives recognized that something could be accomplished for those advanced cases who had been sent home,” Gerson says in his book “A Cancer Therapy: Results of Fifty Cases: A Summary of Thirty Years of Clinical Experimentation.”
Gerson faced political backlash from the medical community for his controversial cancer treatment. He was prohibited from publishing his work in peer-reviewed journals and lost his membership to the New York State Medical Society. In the preface to his book, which was first published in 1958, he acknowledges that there is opposition to his therapy. “It is very well known that great difficulties exist, and that many objections may be raised against publication of a cancer therapy which differs from the accepted methods,” he says.
Today, Gerson’s therapy is promoted and administered by organizations like The Gerson Institute and The Max Gerson Foundation. The Gerson Foundation was founded in 2001 and was run by Charlotte Gerson, Max Gerson’s daughter, until her passing in 2019. Today, it is still run by the Gerson family.
Gerson Therapy Today
Gerson believed cancer wasn’t a disease that affected just one part of the body, but a malady in which many, if not all, functions and organs were affected, and that metabolism played a crucial role in helping the body cure itself. “It has been emphasized before that cancer develops in a body which more or less has lost the normal functions of the metabolism as a consequence of a chronic daily poisoning accumulated especially in the liver,” Max Gerson says in his book.
Therefore, Gerson Therapy focuses on diet as a way to give the body the nutrients it needs to effectively rid itself of toxins, and a detoxification regimen that is designed to aid the liver in its removal of those toxins. Cancer patients who choose to follow The Gerson Therapy adhere to a treatment with four main components: diet, juices, detoxification and supplements.
“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,” say Charlotte Gerson and coauthor Morton Walker, D.P.M., in their book, “The Gerson Therapy: The Proven Nutritional Program to Fight Cancer and Other Illnesses.”
The therapy’s diet consists of an organic, primarily vegetarian plan, and is very low in salt, fats and proteins. Some foods, like berries, nuts and seeds are not included in the diet. Detoxification under Gerson Therapy is needed as, according to the Gerson Institute, the body begins to flush toxins from its cells and the liver. Coffee enemas are required under the therapy in order to assist the liver in its filtering functions.
The Importance of Juicing
Preparing and consuming fresh pressed juices is also an important, required part of The Gerson Therapy.
“The juices made from raw foods and drunk by these very sick individuals provided the easiest and most effective means of giving them the highest-quality nutrition,” writes Charlotte Gerson in her book. In fact, the juicing method outlined by Max Gerson was so effective, current iterations of the therapy haven’t altered this process significantly. “The coauthors are reluctant to make changes in a protocol that has been extremely effective for treating, reversing or sending into near-permanent remission degenerative diseases of all types.”
Three different juices (Gerson Green Juice, carrot juice, and carrot-apple juice) are used under the therapy, and their method of preparation and the equipment needed is very specific. In preparing the fresh-pressed juices, Max Gerson believed that how the juice is extracted played a role in its nutrition, and subsequently its ability to help cure patients, so he gave specific recommendations for the types of juicers best suited for his therapy.
In his book, Max Gerson outlines these requirements. “Centrifugal machines, in which air has insufficient access to the grinding process, cannot be used,” he says. “When the grinding wheel rotates against a resistance with insufficient access of air, positive electricity is produced and induces negative electricity on the surrounding wall. The exchange of negative electricity kills the oxidizing enzymes and renders the juice deficient.”
He believed that a juicer with separate grinder and press units was best suited for his therapy. The institute also notes that this type of juicer can produce between 25 and 50 percent more juice than other types of juicers.
For these reasons, the Gerson Institute says that the Gerson Therapy requires a two-step machine with a grinder and a hydraulic press. “Based on decades of Gerson Therapy experience, the two-step Norwalk juicer provides the greatest benefits for people undergoing the complete Gerson Therapy,” they say. While other types of juicers can be used under the therapy, the Gerson Institute notes that more than 80 percent of Gerson patients choose the Norwalk Juicer as their tool for preparing juices under the Gerson Therapy. Charlotte Gerson agrees. She says in her book that “the juicing device most favored by Gerson Therapy patients is the Norwalk Juicer.”
The Gerson Institute notes that “any juicer is better than no juicer at all.” However, the institute also adds that choosing a juicer is important. “We have observed a number of cases in which patients rigorously followed the Gerson Therapy, but with a centrifugal juicer they did not see either a reduction in tumor masses or healing reactions even after many weeks,” the institute says. “When these patients switched to grinder/press juicers, healing reactions occurred rapidly and several patients saw dramatic improvement in their condition.”
A Trusted Source for Norwalk Juicers, Parts and Service
While the Norwalk Juicer is the most commonly used among Gerson Therapy patients, the company that produces them has recently gone out of business. But there are still reliable sources for these machines. Red Wing Organics offers used and remanufactured Norwalk Juicers for patients who want the most-used brand of juicer for Gerson Therapy.
And because of the importance of the juicing regimen to the therapy, it’s important to keep a juicer you may already own in working order. Red Wing Organics can assist with that, too. They carry parts, including electrical components, juice trays, press plates, and anything else you may need to keep your Norwalk juicer - be it the 235 model, the 290 or anything in between - up and running. They also carry a complete line of accessories like press bags and press cloths. In addition, the company offers service and repair, including cutter blade sharpening.
