Challenges with Diet

  • Difficulty changing their dietary habits
  • No help
  • Family and friends are unsupportive
  • Unfamiliar with cooking
  • Lack of appetite
  • Food gets boring

Overcoming the Challenges

  • Educate yourself on food
  • www.whfoods.org
  • Food chart
  • Watch documentaries, talk to networkers
  • Help-family, friends, local colleges, churches
  • Family follows the Gerson diet
  • Start simple
  • Watch Charlotte’s cooking videos
  • Make food exciting

Create a positive atmosphere

  • Kitchen is organized
  • Dinner table is sanctuary
  • Ritual before meal
  • Dinner parties
  • Easy outside of home

Gerson Diet Characteristics

  • Organic
  • Plant-based
  • Nutrient Dense
  • High Potassium
  • Low Sodium
  • Low-fat
  • Raw and cooked
  • Initial protein restriction

Organic

  • Cumulative intoxication from insecticides inevitably cause damage
  • Stored in fat- obesity= more toxins
  • Soil is external metabolism
  • Buy local if possible

Plant-based and Nutrient Rich

  • Approximately 2600-3200 calories per day
  • 20 pounds of food each day (patient on full therapy)
  • 17 pounds raw food, mostly made into juices
  • 3 to 4 pounds cooked foods- (meals) patient’s daily consumption
  • Amounts per year (patient on full therapy)
  • 1800 pounds of carrots
  • 1300 pounds of apple
  • 145 heads of red cabbage
  • 400 heads of lettuce
  • 125 pounds of green peppers

13-8 Oz. juices, One Served Each Hour

  • Carrot Apple – 5 glasses
  • Green – 4 glasses
  • Carrot Only – 3 glasses
  • Orange Juice – 1 glass

High Potassium – Low Sodium

  • Vegetables and fruits are naturally high in potassium, lower in sodium
  • Oatmeal and potato also high in potassium

Initial Protein restriction

  • Adequate protein in vegetables
  • High carbohydrate (not processed) diet- cleaner fuel than protein
  • Protein introduced 4-8 weeks after the start of therapy

Recommended Protein Sources

  • Yogurt, must be non-fat, plain and organic- 6 gm/8oz
  • Bee pollen – 1.5 gm/tsp.
  • Spirulina – 2 gm/tsp.
  • Chlorella- 2.6 gm/tsp.
  • Lentils

Raw and Cooked

  • Raw and fresh from juices and salads
  • Eating all food raw can be hard to digest for some people
  • Cooked food provides soft bulk which helps appetite, easier to digest and creates less gas
  • Cooking some foods can help assimilate more nutrients

Benefits of cooked food

  1. Tomatoes– lycopene increases by 30% when cooked
  2. Carrots– increase level of beta-carotene, antioxidants (carotenoids)
  3. Cruciferous (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage)- if eaten raw can block thyroid
  4. Spinach– releases oxalic acid, absorb more calcium, iron and magnesium

Desirable Foods

  • All vegetables- except leaves of carrots and radishes, raw spinach and mustard greens and cucumbers
  • All fruits- except berries and pineapple

Occasionally Allowed (Not necessarily desirable)

  • Rye bread, unsalted, non-fat, organic- 2 slices per day
  • Quinoa- replaces rice-once a week
  • Banana-1 to 2 per week
  • Corn- once a week (pooped corn as a holiday treat)
  • Yams and sweet potatoes- once a week
  • Maple syrup, honey, raw sugar (2 teaspoons per day)- only if needed

Prohibited Foods

  • Alcohol
  • Berries
  • Avocados
  • Cucumbers
  • Spices but there is an exception
  • Soy
  • Beans
  • Sprouts
  • Black tea (Caffeinated teas)
  • Candy and Pastries
  • Drinking water
  • Mushrooms
  • Coffee to drink
  • Nuts and seeds
  • Commercial Beverages
  • Hot Peppers

Benefits of Staple Gerson Foods

  • Oatmeal- high in protein and potassium, nice to have on stomach to coat for all the juices
  • Potato- High in protein, potassium, vitamin C, and iron, (highly colored rich in antioxidants, anthocyanin, carotenoids, which helps in risk of cancer)
  • Hippocrates Soup- High in potassium and vitamin K (celeriac root)- alkalinizing, cleansing, good for kidneys
  • Cooked Vegetable- Variety is very important, cruciferous provide phytonutrients- broccoli, cauliflower, kale and collards

Gerson Diet Food Preparation

  • Low temperature
  • Slow cook –low flame
  • Pans- stainless steel, heavy bottom, with tight fitting lids
  • Minimal liquid used (onions, tomatoes or apples for moisture)
  • Use heat diffusers- particularly for electric stoves
  • Food mill

Why slow cooking?

  • Preserves a natural flavor of vegetable and keeps them easily digestible
  • High heat leaves cells to burst and go out of colloidal composition and more difficult to absorb
  • Makes food soft
  • Helps retain nutrients

Kitchen tips

  • Wash vegetables in sink filled with water with 6 drops of Lugol’s solution or 1-2 tbl. of hydrogen peroxide- soak for 5 minutes
  • Wash cleaner vegetable first, then dirty
  • Cleaning all vegetables for the day
  • Purchasing a second refrigerator
  • Getting a special bulk price for produce
  • Having food delivered to save time

Preparation and Cooking Tips

  • Soaking lentils overnight
  • Oatmeal can be soaked over night
  • Used chopped and grated foods right away. Do not store any raw foods after preparation
  • Cooked foods may be kept in refrigerator for 48 hours
  • Potatoes, beets and corn cooked differently
  • Use lemon and some allowed spices to liven up food

Breakfast Menu

  • 1 glass orange or grapefruit juice
  • Oatmeal- large portion sweetened with fresh or stewed fruit or honey
  • Bread rye unsalted (optional)

Lunch / Dinner Menu

  • Salad- romaine, grated carrots/ apples, celery, radish, onions
  • 1-2 vegetables (cooked asparagus, cooked mixed greens)
  • Baked potato
  • Soup
  • 1 glass of juice

Snacks

  • Fruit
  • Raw Vegetables
  • Oatmeal
  • Potato Salad
  • Hippocrates Soup

Common Mistakes with Food

  • Failure to restrict animal protein
  • Patient not eating a good amount of oatmeal
  • Not eating potato twice a day
  • Eating too many fruits or bread
  • Eating a little bit of forbidden foods
  • Not eating at least one cooked vegetable at every meal
  • Not eating and drink as much as possible

Common Mistakes with Preparation

  • Preparing juices in advance
  • Preparing more difficult, time-consuming recipes in the beginning
  • Letting foods soak long while cleaning
  • Special soup- additional ingredients to soup making too much (only enough for two days to prevent spoilage)
  • Not soaking lentils

Hippocrates Soup Ingredients

celery knob                                                  tomatoes

parsley root                                                     onions

Garlic as desired                                           potatoes

leeks                                                           A little parsley

Note:

For one person use a 4-quart pot, chop, do not peel, the following vegetables, cover with purified distilled water. Simmer slowly for 2 hours, then put through food mill.