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Hi Marla,

Yes, I was very sad to learn of Michael Gearin-Tosh’s death. I had been corresponding with him briefly last year, and he was so helpful. What a wonderful, brilliant man he was. According to his student, Carmen Wheatley, there will be two or three books coming out following up on his story (two that he wrote, and another by Dr. Wheatley who authored the excellent appendix at the end of the book that can be found online as well).

I think, from what I have read online, Dr. Day learned the Gerson therapy and now follows it strictly. At its core, the Gerson therapy is a raw, vegan diet. It involves eating the equivalent of 17 lbs of raw produce a day, in the form of 13 eight ozs. glasses of juice. 3 lbs of produce are cooked, well cooked, which I think serves other purposes (e.g., to provide some bulk for cleaning/passage through the colon perhaps?).

I can tell you from hearing Charlotte Gerson at the Caregiver’s Seminar in June that she advocates a vegetarian diet. She does not eat nuts and seeds because they contain growth inhibiting enzymes that she feels inhibit or may inhibit certain cellular activity in the body. She does not eat soy or alfalfa sprouts (for similar reasons–apparently alfalfa sprouts contain something called l. canavine that is bad for us? I’m not spelling it right, but I’ve seen her written articles about this various times).

Charlotte herself eats only one piece of turkey a year, at Thanksgiving. When I saw her eat, she went first for the salad, two helpings, and then filled her plate with some cooked vegetables. She also cites T. Colin Campbell’s book, The China Study, as providing evidence the problems with animal proteins, including dairy.

For breakfast, she eats organic rolled oats, with some unsulphured stewed fruit, and a glass of the Norwalk-thick carrot-apple juice. She is in her 80s and appears to be in excellent health. She says that every few months or so, the physicians at the Baja Nutricare Clinic in Mexico run lab tests on her and report that her blood chemistry, etc., are very good for a woman of her age.

It is true that in the diet, some animal proteins are allowed after six weeks, I believe it is. At that point, although this varies per individual, one can have some pot cheese (which I think is cottage cheese) in the diet.

The calf liver juice was discontinued in the 80s because the Gerson Institute found they could not reliably find a clean source and had some problems with people getting sick from bacteria-contaminated calf liver. Instead, they now use a powdered liver extract injection.

I think Charlotte and Dr. Gerson really recommend that even after the cancer patient heals, s/he should continue to follow the diet, perhaps in a slightly modified form, for the rest of her/his life. And in fact, this is what I have found from speaking to several Gerson survivors of cancer.

C

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Also, I think Dr. Lorraine Day did the Gerson therapy, and credits it with helping her body to heal from the breast cancer.

If you are interested in reading about this method of healing (Dr. Gerson never claimed to heal cancer, he did say that his therapy helped to strengthen the body’s immune functions and organs so that they could resume their normal healthy functioning states and re-establish a cellular environment in which cancer cells would no longer be able to proliferate), other very readable and informative stories are:

Death Be Not Proud by John Gunther (a book I read as a child in school, about the battle of Johnny Gunther, a precocious teenager who battled with a malignant brain tumour–Dr. Gerson treated him and was successful in a first attempt to get rid of the tumor, then the tumour grew back, which Gerson attributed to hormones that Johnny took to treat a bad skin condition and which Charlotte Gerson attributes to the lingering effects of chemotherapy which was still lodged in Johnny’s body–he had taken mustard gas treatments before trying the Gerson therapy);

and Living Proof by Oxford University Professor Michael Gearin-Tosh (diagnosed with multiple myeloma, he declined chemotherapy in favor of the Gerson Therapy and lived a healthy 11 years after diagnosis, died last year of septicemia from a tooth infection–he was wary of antibiotics and did not take them when he should have).

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Also, the quality of the BM is important. They should be fairly soft, full shaped (the width of the colon), and dark colored. Normal movement for an adult would happen one, two times, or more a day. Think of a baby’s movements–these are usually frequent and very soft, and usually occur within an hour or so after a meal.

Light color and/or harder movements can be a sign that bile flow is blocked.

Sorry to be so graphic, but this is a most important element of health that is not discussed too much.

When this channel of detoxification is not working well, the body usually will try to detoxify through a secondary channel such as the skin (think: unexplained night sweats, pimples/skin breakouts) or the lungs (respiratory secretions). These channels, however, are secondary to the liver, which is the primary mode the body has for getting rid of waste and toxins that are in the body.

The LaLanne juicer should help to strengthen your body and to help it to detoxify–it is 100 times better than drinking store bought juice. I would make sure to drink whatever you juice immediately for maximum health benefit.

I am not sure whether the problem Dr. Gerson found with centrifugal juicers still exists with the modern day ones such as the LaLanne. However, the Gerson Institute recommends that seriously ill patients only do the therapy with the Norwalk or with a slow speed triturator like the Champion and a hydraulic press.

If you ever want to move to the next level of juicing, you might look into the Omega 8003 and a hand-operated hydraulic press to squeeze the macerated pulp.

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Constipation, or infrequent bowel movements might be one sign that the liver is not working well. From what I have read, I have come to believe that when the detoxification mechanism of the liver is slowed down, by the build-up of toxins in the body over a lifetime, by secondary disease (such as hepatitis), by residue from drugs (street drugs, pharmaceutical), this can adversely affect the immune system, which can lead to the proliferation of mutant cells in the body.

Whether a physician would be able to detect slowed down liver function from a lab test, I do not know. I think it is more common, however, that people with cancer have a slowed down/stopped up detoxification system. That is why juicing and detoxing herbs to help the liver are always a good idea. Milk thistle is another thing to look into–Nature’s Sunshine makes a very high quality herbal capsule one can take. Milk thistle will help protect and strengthen the liver, as well as act as amild detoxiifier. Also you could juice dandelion greens, organic, of course.

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Dear Chuck,

I would be careful with the fruits, especially high sugar ones.

Also, if you are going to juice greens and carrots, you should be aware that they will very quickly break down toxins in the blood, which can cause toxic build up in the bloodstream, and/or can overtax the liver, particularly if the liver is compromised in some way. Here is a good quote from The Little Juicing Book re: Carrots–

“From the Latin ‘carota’ and the Greek karoton’ – meaning to burn (a reference to the colour) carrots are a very valuable vegetable. Carrots and their juice are one of the best detoxifiers when consumed in quantity. They are alkalinizing, cleansing, nourishing, and stimulating to almost every system in the body. Carrots deliver abundant supplies of readily assimilable vitamins, minerals, and enzymes to cells, giving them the fuel they require to slogh off morbid wastes and rebuild healthy cells. These enzymes help the body to absorb and assimilate the vitamins and minerals. Carrots are one of the best foods for the liver and digestive tract, they help kidney function, help prevent an dtreat cancer, balance the endocrine and adrenal systems, depress blood cholesterol, and increase bulk elimination from the colon…”

Also, carrots contain much PROTEIN (high in all but two of the amino acids, according to my book)!, as well as silicon, an essential oil that kills parasites and unhealthy intestinal bacteria, and potassium salts.

It would be good, I think, to be combining the juicing with some kind of detox regimen as well. Have you looked into Essiac capsules? burdock root capsules? saunas or sweat baths? Probably the coffee enema idea is not too palatable.

Also, I wonder what kind of juicer did you end up getting, if you don’t mind my asking?

Christine

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Dear Pamela,

As you get your second bone marrow biopsy and other lab tests, I think it is important to consider that trauma, both emotional and physical, can affect the body physiologically. You mentioned a car accident and some recent deaths in the family. I would think it possible that the counts might fluctuate in response to such events, and then change again with the passage of time (with healing and rest).

Also, if you are interested in exploring a nontoxic way to help heal the body, you might want to research the Gerson Therapy, a whole body nutrition and detoxification therapy developed by Dr. Max Gerson (a German Jewish physician who also practiced in NYC) in the 1930s.

Dr. Gerson believed that nutritional deficiency and toxicity of the body was at the root of chronic degenerative diseases (like cancer, autoimmune disease, heart disease, diabetes).

He is, I feel, the unacknowledged “father” of many of the dietary recommendations now advocated by organizations like the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society, as preventive for chronic degenerative disease.

His is a highly detailed program that requires one to “eat” the equivalent of 20 lbs. of produce a day, mostly in the form of raw juices which are freshly prepared and therefore easily digested (with minimum effort required from the digestive system, thus freeing up the body’s resources to focus on healing). Dr. Gerson found that people with cancer and other chronic diseases had compromised digestive systems that benefitted greatly from being able to absorb nutrients this way, with the least amount of effort.

Nutrition in these quantities is akin to prescription medicine, in the effect it can have on the body.

Also, one must refrain from certain foods (salt and sodium, no animal proteins the first 6 weeks, most oils and fats) and avoid exposure to chemicals (including chlorinated and fluoridated water).

If you google him, you will find a lot of conflicting information about him (many detractors and people who tried to put a cloud on his name). I would urge you to read with a critical mind and to think about the big picture and your own health history. The best thing I like about his approach is that it is nontoxic–no chemo drugs involved.

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I am very sad to hear of Dennis’ passing. Although I never had the chance to meet him, I found the lightness and the uncomplaining spirit in his posts so wonderful.

My husband also is an organist, and that was a point of connection I felt with him.

My heart goes out to him and his family. May you find some peace now that this battle no longer has to be fought.

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Ah, I meant the Green Star, not Green Power. Couldn’t remember the exact name.

I think the Lequip is a centrifugal juicer as well, which are not favored among the different juicers if what you seek is to retain as much as possible the live enzymes and raw, natural quality of the juice extracted from the fruits and vegetables.

Also, the triturators (like the Omega, Champion, and I think, the Green Star is a one as well??) are quieter than centrifugal juicers because they run at a much slower speed. My LaLanne was quite loud, as I recall. The Omega just purrs quietly, and everyone can hear themselves think while I am juicing, which is nice.

The Norwalk is probably the best juicer, for health reasons, on the market. It has a grinding mechanism and an electronically operated press. You use it by feeding food into the grinder which munches it up and dumps it into a little cheesecloth bag. Then you take the bag and stick it into the press and the two plates come together, squeezing so much juice out the pulp, perhaps 30-50% more than what you could get from any other juicer.

It retails around $2500, but you can find them used for much less. The reason it creates such a powerful, nutrient dense, medicinal-quality juice is because the primary juicing action is the squeezing of the pulp created by the grinder.

The quality of the juice created by the Norwalk is much thicker and richer than what comes out of the centrifugals and trituerators, in my experience. Thus, one can only drink very small amounts of this juice, in comparison to what one can tolerate with another kind of juicer.

It is a true healing juicer, for the serious detoxifier. The juice it creates is powerful medicine for the body. Someone with chronic illness who wants to use this juicer would do very well to read up on it and understand the effect of juicing on the body and the need to combine it with liver-helping detox mechanisms to avoid toxic build-up in the body.

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sorry, I meant to write “triturator” if you want to look it up.

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Dear Chuck,

We started with the Jack LaLanne. It is a centrifugal juicer, which some people say is not optimum for preserving the raw/live quality of juices. I think the problem has something to do with the oxidation effect created by the centrifuge. I noticed, for example, that juice made in the LaLanne went “bad” very quickly. It started to turn brown and taste different within an hour or so. In contrast, the juices I make with the Omega will last for several hours on the counter (though it’s not best to leave them for so long).

Still, the juice you make with the LaLanne is far nutritionally superior to whatever you can buy in the store. This has to do with the fact that you can drink it right after you make it, which you can’t do with store bought juice. Your body and taste buds will notice the difference immediately.

The Champion, the Omega, and Green Power are all trituterators. They operate not on a centrifuge, but with a large auger that turns slowly and breaks down the vegetable into pulp as it extracts juice. The slow speed means less heat is generated, which is better for preserving the raw/live nature of the food that is being processed.

We also have the Omega juicer, 8003 model. We purchased it at http://www.livingright.com, I believe was the website. $205 shipped–it came in two days, from Phoenix, AZ.

I also prefer it to the Champion. It is much lighter, and much easier to clean. And the pulp is dry that comes out. A bit drier than the pulp from the Champion, I think.

A great juice to start with is four organic carrots and one organic apple. Leave all skins intact, just wash well with distilled water, or water without chlorine and fluoride if you can, as the final rinse. When putting the fruit/veggies in the juicer, it’s good to mix what goes in, because the malic acid in the apple mixes with the carrot and causes more phytochemicals to be released from the carrots. Try to drink the juice within half an hour of making, for most phytochemical effect.

Also, this juice will break down toxins in the body, so if the liver’s detoxing functions are slowed down or stopped up, one needs to start with small amounts of juice (perhaps 3-4 ozs. at first, one or two times a day). Regardless, you may start experiencing healing effects from the juice, which can include a headache (from toxins building up in the blood stream and not being excreted quickly enough) and, over time, increased bowel activity (a good thing). For headache, I took peppermint tea. The headache subsided once the toxins in my bloodstream had left the body.

Over time, daily ingestion of carrot/apple, green, and other juices will help strengthen the immune system, and one should start experiencing “healing reactions,” which can include (among other things) fever, respiratory secretions, and aches/pains. The healing reactions are a sign that the immune system is trying to get strong and fight back against the bad cells in the body. The best thing to do get over a healing reaction is to try to help the body detox more quickly–sweat bath, Essiac capsules, coffee enema.

Sincerely,

Christine

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Dear Barb–

Sorry, of course I wasn’t referring to you at all. I don’t think I even read what you wrote. Just a poor choice of words. I apologize for the misunderstanding.

Looks like we’re all making amends here? That feels better.

Sincerely,

Christine

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I hope you will be able to get some signficant rest before and after the transplant. If I recall, you said that you have to travel for work?

It seems like maybe Jimbob might be a good reference for going through this??

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Marla,

Yes, I think removing patents on drugs is an important first step. Apparently, these same pharm companies are combing the world looking for folk remedies (e.g., in India) that they can somehow patent and take away from the people who have been using them for hundreds or thousands of years. [Who is that wonderful Indian woman who is talking about all this stuff? I saw her speak years ago.] This is unbridled theft, showing what happens when the profit motive is given free reign.

I guess another important part of the equation would be agreeing on a “price” for certain standard health “services.” I seem to recall that a system like that already exists, called the average adjusted per capita cost (AAPCC for short)–I think this is how Medicare “prices” things (a cost-based pricing system), but don’t quote me on that (it’s been too long since I looked at this stuff).

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Hi Patty,

We’ve not met, but I also feel badly that the insurance discussion was being criticized and that some personal “barbs” were thrown. In all, I found the debate to be an honest and germane one–related to the nature of this forum. And I sensed that you were, as always, speaking from your heart.

I do not have MDS (although I have a close friend who does), but I do have growing sense of the need to live a life of common decency and respect for others as much as I can, no matter what their station in life. I also recognize that there is frustration and anger that people have (I have it too!) which sometimes gets vented in a way that ends up being a little hurtful, or maybe a lot hurtful. Sometimes not really intentionally.

It is hard when we all are just typing into a computer screen and not having to say these things face to face. There is a kind of strange effect with the “net,” where inhibitions are “lifted” and people feel freer in a way just to let their feelings out.

I have a feeling that this phenomenon of “internet expression” is partly what happened in that forum. And I hope that is what happened. We are all connected in a strange and wonderful way through this forum. Perhaps we can find a way to make amends so that no one ends up feeling bad, hurt, and shut out.

I hope you will continue to post here. Geebeebee and others as well. Whatever the tone of those postings, the motivation behind them all were sincere–I could see that. It’s just differing points of view and the usual imperfectness of expressing ourselves in the English language.

Christine

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Would also add that Max Gerson was a licensed, well-studied and trained physician, MD, like we all know and love.

Jensen was (is?) not.

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