Monday, December 14, 2009

Gerson's Four Stages of Treatment

The following information is taken from Dr Max Gerson for Dietary considerations in malignant neoplastic diesease. After reading his other books and papers, I believe this diet is generally applcable to all degenerating dieases and cancer as well.

Essentials of the diet (Modified Gerson Diet)
- Saltless (no salt, no sodium bicarbonate, nor other minerals belonging to the Na-group).
- Fatless (all vegetables or foods containing fats, fatty acids or lecithin are excluded).
- Poor in animal proteins (the first six weeks without any protein, later milk products in limited quantities).
- Rich in mineral of the K-group (Dicalcium phophate and selected fruits and vegetables rich in the minerals of the K-group).
- Rich in carbohydrates from plants and fruit.
- Abundant fluid (vegetable soup and various juices).
- Rich in vitamins (by adding Brewer’s Yeast, fresh fruit and vegetables as well as fruit juice and vegetable juices).
- Rich in some liver substances and enzymes (including defatted liver powder from young anima.s, 3-5 capsules a day, and liver injections of Crude Liver Extract — 10 cc. Equal to 10 U.S. units. The first few weeks, 2 cc. Daily, then every other day, later twice weekly; injected intra-muscularly, best in the glutacus medius).

The treatment may be divided into four stages:

Forbidden:

Nicotine, salt, sodium bicarbonate and other sodium compounds, alcohol, coffee, tea, cocoa, chocolate, spices with certain exceptions, pickles, smoked fish, sausages; all canned, preserved and bottled foods; white flour, refined sugar, candies, cakes, ice-cream, butter, all animal and vegetable fats, nuts.

Temporarily forbidden:
Meat, fish, eggs, milk, cheese, bread.

Stage One: necessary daily
Fruits (all kinds permitted except alligator pears, pinapples, berries, pomegranates); pears and plums when stewed.

Especially required are: apples in every form, such as raw, grated, baked, stewed, and in the form of apple sauce; also spinach, lettuce, carrots, and potatoes.

Allowed are: some dried fruits, such as prunes, peaches, apricots, soaked and stewed unsulphured or carefully washed off.

A Special Soup: One to one and a half quarts a day. Half consists of: parsley root, leek, and celery knob; the other half, of tomatoes and potatoes. The vegetables are to be diced, covered with water and cooked for two hours.

The soup may be taken as ordinary soup or as a thick mash. It may be prepared in quantity for one or two days use and kept well covered in a refrigerator. To make it "tasty" add the following: onions, chives, horseradish, garlic, thyme, any fresh garden herbs, green pepper. Spread parsley leaves on it or powdered yeast, or add a few drops of lemon in the plate.

Potatoes: baked potatoes — as many as possible; potato and celery salad mixed, or mashed potatoes made from the baked potatoes, mixed with a little of the special soup.

Fruit salad, preferably consisting of some of the following: oranges, grapefruit, apples, grapes, tangerines, cherries, apricots, peaches, mangoes. Melon, banana or persimmons may be added.

Stewed fruit or compotes, such as apple sauce with raisins or prunes or certain other dried fruit; if they are to be sweetened, use brown sugar or molasses. Some patients are hypersensitive to dark honey, and prefer maple sugar, maple syrup, glucose, Karo, light honey or molasses.

Salad: lettuce, watercress, tomato (less important are; endive, chicory, escarole, romaine, radishes), mixed with finely grated raw vegetables, such as carrots, cauliflower, red beets, kohlrabi, etc.

Dressings: lemon juice; also if desired, a few drops of wine-vinegar. No salad oil or other oil or fat.

Fluids: Since large amounts of other fluids are given, it is preferable not to give water but, instead, three to four glasses of orange juice and two to three glasses of grapefruit juice. Add the juice of half a lemon to each and, if possible, add one glass of tomato juice or grape juice; in further advanced cases a few glasses of apple and carrot juice, also a preparation consisting of mashed apples and carrots, mixed half and half — all freshly pressed. Do not use metal squeezer or one with a cap (the latter tends to press undesirable aromatic oils of the skin into the juice).

Oatmeal, at least twice daily, milled without bleaching and with no milk or cream, cooked in water, served with brown sugar or fresh or stewed fruit.

When using this diet the patient needs larger portions and more frequent meals. He may take food every hour starting early in the morning, and continuing until the hour of retiring. Feedings may continue during the night if for any reason the patient is awake.

Stage Two (after 2 weeks)
The same diet as above with additions:

Among these, all vegetables are allowed (except mushrooms); to be stewed very slowly in their own juices according to the following rules:

With no added water or steam.
The vegetables are not to be scraped but washed with a brush.
The pot must be tightly covered so that the steam cannot escapte. Adhesive tape may be used but not pressure cooker (Exception: it is not necessary to cover spinach tightly).

Do not use luminum pots or other aluminum utensils. Use: stainless steel, pyrex, enamel, earthenware, iron with enamel, or enamel pots with glass cover.
Let the vegetables cook slowly with a low flame about one to one and a half hours, without water and without salt. If the vegetables are too dry and have been stored too long, soak them before cooking in lukewarm water not more than fifteen minutes so that they can re-absorb the lost fluid. (It is important not to soak vegetables for a longer period since their minerals tend to dissolve in the water.

Stage Three (after 4 weeks)
Add to the preceding list: pumpernickel rye bread, salt-less, 1/3 of a pound a day. Sandwiches of pumpernickel with: tomatoes, radishes, chopped parsley, lettuce, raw finely grated vegetables, especially carrots (no butter). Tomatoes or green peppers filled with brown or wild rice. Apple pie made with rye flour, raisins, etc.

Stage Four (after 6 weeks)
In addition: one glass of buttermilk and, after one week, two glasses; pot-cheese or farmer’s cheese (without salt or cream), a quarter of a pound a day, later half a pound; yoghourt or acidophilus milk without cream, one to two glasses a day.

The description of the four successive diets given above, covers only the essentials. It is obvious that they must and can be adapted to different conditions, especially when the gastrointestinal tract is involved. Then raw foods (except juices) have to be excluded — the fruit must be stewed, the vegetables strained, the raw fruit and vegetable juices mixed with gruel, half and half, etc.

As the patient’s digestive tolerance increases, a larger proportion of the vegetable juice is mixed with the gruel.

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