Juices for the Gerson Therapy
Phone (619) 685-5353, Fax (619) 685-5363
info@gerson.org, www.gerson.org
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Juices on the Gerson Therapy are a critical aspect of the Gerson Therapy providing most of the vitamins, minerals, enzymes, phytochemicals and other nutrients essential to healing along with adequate fluid intake.
We are often asked why patients cannot simply eat the foods instead of making them into juices, as there is no fiber content to the juice, and invariably some nutrition is lost in the juicing process.
First of all, the typical Gerson Therapy patient will ingest thirteen 8 ounce glasses - about 104 ounces of juice daily! This tremendous influx of liquid provides the nutritional equivalent of almost seventeen pounds of food a day. The consumption of that quantity of food on a daily basis would be impossible.
Secondly, patients suffering from degenerative diseases almost always have difficulty properly digesting and absorbing food. This can be a result of toxicity, malfunction of the digestive system, a decrease in stomach acid production, or a variety of other causes. This digestive weakness is the same reason that many patients have difficulty digesting and absorbing vitamin and mineral supplements in pill or capsule form.
Dr. Gerson's clinical experimentation showed that fresh juice from raw foods provided the easiest and most effective way of providing high quality nutrition and most importantly, produce the best clinical results.
We continue to evaluate the effects of the juices, consider other juices and juice products and look for ways to both enhance the healing process and minimize hardship in the practice of the therapy. As yet, we have not found any way to reduce, substitute or eliminate any of the juices, or the necessity of preparing them fresh at the time of consumption. We are reluctant to make changes without a complete understanding of the underlying processes, and it is difficult to justify risking lives for the sake of experimentation when we have a protocol that has been extremely effective in treating and healing degenerative diseases.
We do not clearly understand the process of exactly how the juices enhance healing, except for the obvious vitamin, mineral, enzyme, and trace mineral supplementation they provide. The nutrient supplementation alone is probably not enough to explain why there is a difference between juices consumed immediately after preparation and those consume several hours later. Clearly, oxidation causes loss of certain vitamins and enzymes. There has been much discussion of the enzyme activity in the juices when they are fresh, and the importance of these enzymes in numerous biochemical functions. Yet, the enzyme are immediately destroyed on contact with stomach acid.
What makes the difference in healing response between the fresh juice and the hours-old juice? One possibility is that some of the enzymes present in the fresh juice are absorbed directly in the mucous membranes in the mouth and esophagus, before reaching the stomach. This theory is born out by the observation that patients fed through a naso-gastric or stomach tube do not respond favorably to the Gerson Therapy. Another possibility, from the esoteric medical literature (dealing with human and plant energies) is that there is a form of plant "vital force" present in the juices when freshly made, and that this "vital force" affects the patient, and promotes healing at the energetic, or physic, level rather than at the cellular/biochemical level. We have little evidence to support either assumption, but we don't want to rule out any possibility that gives us greater understanding. In addition to the nutritional supplementation, the juices also serve, by virtue of their high liquid content, to help in flushing the kidneys. However the process occurs, it is important to recognize that the healing that comes as a result of the intake of fresh juices is consistent, and has been validated. That along with the long-term positive outcomes that we regularly observe, is, in our opinion, enough reason to follow Gerson's original directives in this regard.
Question: Can I add another fruit/vegetable into the juice?
Answer: "No, every ingredient is there for a specific purpose."
Question: What type of juices are part of the Gerson Therapy?
Answer: "They are four: green, carrot, carrot/apple, and orange (or grapefruit) juices."
Question: What if I can't find one of the ingredients?
Answer: "Don't substitute. Find as many ingredients as possible and make the juice without the missing ingredients. Incorporate the missing ingredients once they become available again."
Question: Can I store the juices?
Answer: "Green juice may not be stored, it must be taken right away. Carrot/apple juice is best taken right away, but may be stored if necessary up to 72 hours. It is best to store the juice in small 8oz. mason jars, filled up to the top so there is no room for oxygen, and placed in a cooler. A small container is better than a thermos or a larger jar, as each time a larger container is opened, more air gets in and further oxidizes the juice. A smaller container is best because it is not opened multiple times."
Question: Are the juices the same for diabetic people?
Answer: "(See the `Diabetes Protocol' document for answers)."
Question: If I'm a healthy person, can I have other juices?
Answer: "If you are following the Gerson therapy, there is a reason for everything and things shouldn't be changed. But if you are healthy, it is your own personal decision to add other juices. Use the Food Reference Guide document, available in the Gerson Therapy books."
Question: Can I drink water in addition to, or instead of juices?
Answer: "No, it will dilute the nutrients in the juices. There is already distilled, organic water in the juices that has been extracted from the fruit and vegetables. In some circumstances, herbal teas such as peppermint or chamomile tea are alright to drink."
Question: What do I do if I cannot find organic ingredients?
Answer: "Under no circumstances are non-organic ingredients to be substituted for organic ingredients. Patients who have done this have quickly found it to be detrimental to their recovery. Root vegetables especially, concentrate whatever is in the soil. For example, the herbicide Roundup is one of the most toxic substances you can put in your body. Concentrating a chemical like Roundup with a press type juicer and drinking it is extremely harmful. Make the juices without the missing organic ingredients until they become available again."
Question: What about adding raw spinach?
Answer: "Raw spinach is not part of the Gerson Therapy. It has oxalic acid in its raw form which inhibits the absorption of some necessary nutrients."
Question: Can I substitute with different apples if the Granny Smith (green) is not available?
Answer: "Do not substitute red or yellow apples (example = Delicious). The preferred substitute would be a tart apple (example = Fiji). Return to the Granny Smith variety once they become available."
Healing the Gerson Way, Chapter 12 "Preparing Food and Juices - The Basic rules" p. 153