Making lifestyle changes

[Guest guest]

http://www.gerson.org/articles/prevention.shtml

Using the Gerson Therapy for PreventionBy a WylieAccording to the National Cancer Institute, up to 80 percent of all cancers are due to identified factors, and thus are preventable, especially considering an estimated 35-60 percent of cancer risk stems from diet. With cancer and other diseases on the rise, with the constant influx and exposure to increasing toxins in our environment, with depressing statistics and overwhelming studies showing the constant dangers of meat, dairy and pesticide ridden produce, where does one start to change their lifestyle?In order to stay healthy in modern society, there are some certain necessary lifestyle changes that need to be addressed; changes that are the foundation for the Gerson Therapy. Two simple choices will empower individuals and result in better health for both people and the environment: eat a healthy diet containing lots of organic fruits and vegetables coupled with detoxification. As artist Cézanne said, “The day is coming when a single carrot, freshly observed, will set off a revolution.” People need a new relationship with food and the environment – and using elements of the Gerson Therapy for preventative measures will begin a ripple effect that begins with your body’s own health. Kohler, a 25-year-old graduate of our Caregiver Training Weekend, began the Gerson Therapy when she was 19 for contact dermatitis. For a teenage “fast food queen,” the idea of juicing, eating a strictly vegetarian diet and doing coffee enemas instead of going out to eat with her friends seemed torturous. Yet the shots of cortisone were not helping the rash that had spread all over her body, and in desperation she began juicing and detoxifying. After two days, the itching stopped and the rash slowly healed. says that after being on the therapy after a couple weeks, she would open the refrigerator and notice all the foods she used to eat: “It was a drastic change but suddenly I was aware of what I put into my body. Although it was really difficult to be 19 on the therapy, it was worth it to me. I felt so much better and healthier.” Research indicates that constant exposure to fat and sugar can cause some humans to crave them as they do an addictive drug. The same holds true for salt cravings. Yet after a short time on the Gerson Therapy, the body does not desire salty, fatty, or sugary foods. Many patients don’t even miss salt or fast foods, and if they do break down often get a headache or instantly feel the physical effects of processed, nutritionally devoid food. One-fourth of all Americans now eat a meal from a fast food joint at least once a day and almost half the calories we consume comes in the form of fat and sugar. Drinking a coke is like swallowing the same amount of sugar found in a piece of chocolate cake. According to a 1999 study by the Center for Science in the Public Interest entitled Liquid Candy, the average American teenager in 1978 drank seven ounces of soda daily. Today teens drink three times that and soda accounts for almost 10% of their daily caloric intake. Children and adults alike are filling their bodies with foods that contain no nutritional value. More than 4500 schools now serve Taco Bell products for lunch, and an estimated 30 percent of schools offer name brand fast food including Pizza Hut, Mcs and Domino’s. According to a recent Newsweek article entitled, Fighting Big Fat: “In this country, 43 percent of elementary schools and nearly all high schools have machines that sell soda, sugary drinks, candy and chips to hungry kids.” How can parents and kids alike combat the barrage of nutritionally devoid snacks and aggressive advertising campaigns targeted at children? For , it was simply an issue of making the Gerson Therapy work in her daily life. She has a schedule: every Saturday, she purchases her organic food for the week, then scrubs and prepares the food, separating various amounts of carrots for juice or salad into Ziploc bags. “I have a routine. I wake up, do a coffee enema, start my oatmeal, take a shower, grab a baggie filled with carrots, juice them, eat my breakfast and go…it takes no time.” She also brings a fresh, organic salad to work to avoid the temptations of fast food.For as much time as it takes to stand in line at Mcs for a breakfast sandwich, she has prepared fresh carrot juice - filled with nutrients, enzymes and antioxidants - and oatmeal rich in fiber, folic acid and other B vitamins, iron, magnesium and selenium. Researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital found that boys who ate slow-cooking oatmeal had the slowest rise and fall in blood sugar, became hungry much later in the day, and ultimately took in 53 % less snack calories than the other children. By eating real, nourishing food, the body does not crave processed snack food.Chuck Kohlhase believes the Gerson Therapy is the only real way to guarantee survival, since he started the Gerson Therapy in 1980 for lymphoma along with his mother, a former lung cancer patient who is now 90 and also in very good health. He claims his family is “three generations of Gerson,” since his oldest daughter is now on the therapy as well. “My whole family learned a lot. We turned away from junk food, greasy food, fast food and eat organic.” Years from his original diagnoses, Chuck and his family follow the Gerson protocol as closely as possible for health maintenance. He juices using carrots from his organic garden and continues his daily Gerson coffee breaks, claiming, “the best prevention you can get is to keep your liver flushed.”Both and Chuck acknowledge the difficult lifestyle changes that the Gerson Therapy demands. But for , she just decided she was going to make it work, even while juggling both work and school. Her health was worth it. And this is a necessary decision at a time when “obesity now ranks second only to smoking as a cause of mortality in America, resulting in 300,000 deaths each year…our diet claims ten times more lives each year than does gun violence.” Despite the fact that the Gerson Therapy is labor intensive and organic food can be slightly more expensive than the super value meal at a fast food restaurant, Chuck maintains “the opportunity to rebuild your body and immune system is worth a whole lot more” – there is no monetary value on his health or the twenty more years added to his life. Ben lin once said, “It is far easier to keep your health than regain it.” There are numerous ways individuals can regain power over our health, our food, and our environment. Support your local organic co-op. Bring a fresh, colorful salad to work instead of depending upon fast or processed food. Take your children to an organic farm and explain the importance of nutrition. Investigate healthy options for your child’s school. Work the two core elements of the Gerson Therapy, nutrition and detoxification, into your daily life. Pass this newsletter to a loved one and encourage awareness. Awareness leads to prevention, and prevention to a long and healthy life. As Dr. Gerson observed in his years of research: “Stay close to nature and her eternal laws will protect you.” It is your choice: start with the food you eat.