Dr. Max Gerson: From Observant Child to Medical Pioneer
Dr. Gerson was an observant child. In Germany, where he was born and lived for most of his life, he noted that earthworms had an adverse reaction to chemical fertilizer sprayed over potato crops. If the chemicals sickened the worms, what are the effects on human health?, he wondered. From a young age he realized that our natural environment is a huge contributing factor to human health. As a young man, Dr. Gerson suffered consistent migraine headaches. He experimented with different elimination diets and eventually discovered that he could eradicate his migraines entirely through eating certain raw foods. He called this new diet “The Gerson Migraine Diet.” He prescribed this diet to many patients who had migraines, and they experienced similar success. The diet was even able to cure a patient with skin tuberculosis. Dr. Ferdinand Sauerbruch, M.D., a thoracic surgeon and contemporary of Dr. Gerson, invited Dr. Gerson to establish a special skin tuberculosis treatment program at the Munich University Hospital. In a clinical trial, 446 out of 450 skin tuberculosis patients treated with “The Gerson Migraine Diet” recovered completely. The treatment was used widely in Germany to treat heart disease, kidney failure, and cancer.
The Gerson Therapy: Simple, Straightforward and Effective
When I first read about the Gerson Therapy, it seemed too simple to be true. Just flush the system of toxins and replenish vitamins, minerals and enzymes? What about radiation? Surgery? Chemotherapy? What about lost hair, nausea, and a hospital bed? We normally see cancer as a great hardship, an enormously taxing physical and mental journey from which most never return. The idea that cancer patients could stay at home, eat healthful food, and never set foot in a hospital seemed out of the realm of possibility. But the testimonials were impossible to ignore. Many cancer survivors attribute their good health to the Gerson Therapy. And when I dug more deeply into what causes cancer in the first place, the Gerson path towards healing made much more sense.
