Making the transition to Gerson

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Sinuses are feeling a little better today, but I still just feel sick.

My blood pressure was actually low last night and I felt dizzy and out of sorts. That's a definite change for me, the low bp may have been due in part to dehydration from diarrhea but may be due in small part to change in diet. My blood pressure was low enough that my home blood pressure monitor wasn't able to read it. My home bp cuff isn't top of the line and it simply doesn't have the range of professional medical equipment.

This morning my blood pressure was at 112 / 81, I still feel pretty crappy though. My sinuses are nasty, but at least not painful like yesterday. I can handle the stuffiness better than I can handle that pain I had. I had a fever yesterday, but that's gone today.

I appreciate all the suggestions from folks yesterday. I'm staying true to my experiment, so I can't use my Neti Pot (no sodium allowed). I'm done with taking pills, they were covering up the symptoms while leaving me still sick so I'm leaving the Zyrtec on the shelf. For now I'd rather buy Kleenex than Benedryl.

The only bit of modern medicine I'm going to use right now is my CPAP machine - and only until I can find a way to really cure my sleep apnea. I don't plan to just use CPAP indefinitely without trying to fix the problem. I have to keep the sleep apnea symptoms controlled in the meanwhile, because they are so dangerous. In contrast, my allergy / sinus symptoms are not dangerous, they are just an inconvenience. I'll just have to suck it up and deal.

I saw my doctor this week. I was officially taken off of all medication other than some supplements as needed and testosterone at my discretion. My doc was the first person outside of family to notice my weight loss. He came in and shook my hand and said, "This is the first time I've ever seen something under 100 kgs on your chart, so you're well under 220 now." It was nice to hear. My doc figured that the reduction in body fat had lowered my blood pressure. Actually I did things to lower my blood pressure and it caused me to lose weight. I didn't bother trying to correct the doc; it pretty pointless in this case.

This morning I actually was at 212, but I may be a little dehydrated so I'll wait a bit longer before I take a weigh in very seriously. I am really curious though, as Gerson Therapy has been very successful at treating obesity, yet I'm taking in an astounding amount of carbs and calories. I wondered the same thing, though, when I began JERF.

With JERF I was able to eat over 125 g of fat and over 2000 calories per day and lose fat. With Gerson I'll be taking in between 300 and 500 g of carbs and well over 2000 calories per day and still lose fat, if I have similar results to those case studies I have read. This really should demonstrate that it isn't about calories in - calories out. On the standard calories in - calories out plan, I would need to restrict fat, carbs, and calories to much lower amounts. It should also prove that there is more than one right answer to losing fat and there is more than one right answer to what eating style is the most healthful.

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Just cranky today

Friday, April 20, 2012

I've been sick the last two days and it's been nasty.

I spent yesterday in bed with stomach cramps and I had nasty diarrhea. Today my left nostril is killing me. I know how that sounds. It's true though. The sinus cavity on my left feels like it is full of cotton and ground glass. It really hurts and I'm tired of it. It hurt yesterday, too, but the stomach cramps eclipsed it. The moment I changed my diet a tiny bit, I was sick as hell.

I'd rather drink paint than have this sinus crap happening. I'm tired of it. My allergies are making me nuts and now this! It's making the whole left side of my face burn. It's that deep down burning, stinging, eye watering feeling. It feels like someone has set a jalepeno on fire and shoved it, rudely, into my head. Every breath I take burns like crazy and in between breaths doesn't feel much better.

I've had it with my nose. I've had it with my sinuses. I want to divorce them. It just isn't working out for us. Apparently we have irreconcilable differences.

Since I'm a single parent, I can't just take the day off. I have to keep working and doing all the same stuff I would normally do. So here I am working today. I'm on the phone with a client who isn't exactly in touch with reality. This client believes that a relative is dead (the relative is not dead) and that the spirit of the (not) deceased relative is a ghost that follows this client around. I'm having to mute the phone every few minutes to sneeze, sniffle, blow, and cry a little. This client heard the phone clicking as I muted it and now this client is convinced that the clicking was the ghost of the (not) deceased relative, interfering with the phone line to prove to me that s/he is a real ghost.

Great....because my job wasn't hard enough as it was.

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Getting Ready

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

I'm getting ready for my experiment and I'm looking forward to it. I splurged and ordered myself a brand new Foley Food Mill and it should be in today. I still need to get a glucose monitor. I'll pick that up Thursday and probably start my 60 days of Gerson Therapy on Friday.

I'll be trying all sorts of new recipes and eating much more fruit than I have been. I'm looking forward to both of those things.

I'll clean out the ice box tomorrow, it's in pretty good shape so that won't be hard. I think there are a couple of supplements that I'm going to need as well - some niacin, ox bile, and some more magnesium.

Hopefully adjusting to Gerson Therapy won't be as difficult as adjusting to JERF. Though I am a little intimidated by the whole vegetarian thing. I like meat and I think I will miss it a lot. Also, I'm not sure how I'm going to live without coconut. I use a ton of coconut oil, coconut milk, and some coconut butter and some coconut shreds or hunks of raw coconut. This might be a long 60 days without my coconuts.

I'm glad to know that almond butter is going to be out of the question. I've been on a major almond butter kick lately and I have had to just stop buying it. However, when I go into the store I can hear the almonds calling me. Every time another shopper cranks up the nut grinder in the store, it's like sweet music to my ears. Every apple, every celery stalk, and every empty spoon beg me to cover them in that rich, creamy, food of the gods.

Okay, I better stop talking about it. I have to go shopping later and I don't need to give myself a major almond butter jones before I go.

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Primal vs. Gerson

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Day 74

Since parting ways with modern medicine, I have in many regards, become my own patient and test subject. I've accomplished so much more than my 90 day plan attempted and I see no reason to stop now, or at 90 days for that matter.

I'm wrapping up 60 days of Primal style eating and exercising and it has made a huge difference. I've improved my health more in the last 60 days than an entire team of doctors did over the last decade.

IH in remission
GERD cured
Hair and skin improved -
(I had dandruff and acne flair ups for over 10 years, those are gone now)
Incredibly strong and fast growing nails
Eczema reduced to one small spot
Joint pain gone
GI distress gone
Nice reduction in body fat
Improved sleep
Blood pressure remarkably reduced
Although I have no real way of measuring this, I feel as though I am thinking much more clearly. My job requires me to think on my feet and since I began JERF, my numbers at work have increased dramatically. It's easier to help my son with his homework, I don't burn things as often when I'm cooking (I remember that the stove is on) and I feel more efficient in general.

I endured so much to adjust to JERF / Primal and Primal living has helped so much that I hesitate to change anything, but I am still dealing with some issues that I believe can be corrected through proper lifestyle.

I've still got:
allergies
constipation
slight hypertension (135ish / 70ish)
body fat
small bit of tooth demineralization
one small spot of eczema


Lately I've been studying Gerson Therapy. It is amazing. People with chronic degenerative disease (diabetes, cancer, arthritis, heart disease, etc) have been successfully cured with Gerson Therapy. Of course the pharmaceutical industry has done everything it can to sit on this info.

Back in the 1920s, a reporter reported that Dr. Max Gerson had cured cancer. The reporter was promptly fired. Dr. Gerson took his patients and testified before Congress. He had cured migraines, tuberculosis, cancer, and other illnesses with nutrition therapy. He was shut down. The Gerson Clinic now operates in Mexico and has been successfully healing people for over 60 years. The Gerson Institute has published a multitude of studies showing the efficacy of treatment, but these are very rarely published in the US. US medical journals are heavily influenced by the pharmaceutical industry, which naturally rejects Gerson principles.

The daughter of Dr. Gerson, Charlotte Gerson, turned 90 in March. She is completely disease free and still works full time; she runs the clinic in Mexico, writes, and tours and lectures about Gerson Therapy. She lives on the Therapy as a way of life and says that it is why she is so healthy.

You can see her lectures on youtube if you want to get a look at her or learn more.

Anyway, I've read one of Charlotte's books, 'Defeating Obesity, Diabetes and High Blood Pressure - The Metabolic Syndrome.' I'm really wanting to try Gerson Therapy to see if it would heal the remaining issues I have.

Although Primal and Gerson agree on what to avoid (processed foods, grains, toxic things in the home and the diet) their approaches are completely different. Primal eating is based on fat, Gerson is based on carbs. Primal eating has me seeing carbs as the enemy and I'm having a hard time seeing them any other way.

There is no doubt that a Primal lifestyle has been successful for me. There is some doubt as to why. Was it the inclusion of organic foods and high fat intake, or was it the exclusion of carbs, grains, and processed foods? It is impossible to tell which side of the Primal equation was most responsible for my improvement.

Now it is time for an experiment. It is my plan to finish my 60 days Primal and then switch to Gerson for 60 days. I believe that once I have actually experienced Gerson therapy for myself, I will be able to compare them and know which might be most helpful for me.

While the two plans are in agreement concerning avoidance of grains, legumes, processed foods, pasteurized dairy, and hard physical exercise, they have remarkably different philosophies on what should be included in a healthful diet.

Primal eating includes animal proteins, Gerson is vegetarian. Primal eating says to eat just enough and fast occasionally; Gerson focuses on hyperalimentation, or providing nutrients in amounts that exceed normal appetite.

The Primal eating philosophy says that we should avoid juice because it's a bit unnatural. If you juice 3 or 4 apples to get a glass of juice, you basically get the nutrition, sugar, and carbs, of 3 or 4 apples at one time. The body was not meant to handle that or the resulting blood sugar spike.

Gerson philosophy says that apples (and all foods) are not as nutritious as they originally were, that our bodies are so compromised that we need to do something unnatural to get enough healing substances into our bodies, and that the body is more than capable of handling a little extra sugar in the absence of dietary cholesterol.

Primal eating contends that fat intake is healthy in the absence of carbs. Gerson says that carb intake is healthy in the absence of fats.

It is my opinion that they are both probably right.

I have a family history of diabetes, so I naturally worry about carb intake and blood glucose. I have a few relatives who have died from diabetes. However, diabetic people have been cured through Gerson philosophy, so if a diabetic person benefits from the juices, I have no reason to believe that I wouldn't.

Just to be on the safe side, it would be a good idea to monitor my blood glucose as I make the transition from Primal to Gerson, so I'm going to need to get a monitor for that.

While the full intensive Gerson Therapy for terminal 'incurable' illness (such as terminal cancer) takes 2 years, I don't have such a serious illness, and according to records, most Gerson patients see remarkable results in just weeks. Blood pressure is often reduced to normal in around one week, blood glucose in diabetic patients can be normal (without any medication) in around 10 weeks. I have read case histories and heard patients testimonies and there have been cases in which pain from gout, migraines, and fibromyalgia has disappeared on day one of the therapy.

With results like that, it is worth the risk to give this a try. I do have my IH and blood pressure medicines on hand just in case these issues resurface. I will need to get that glucose monitor and a food mill before I begin.

Anyone have any experiences to share or insight on this? Theories? Anyone done a juice fast before or added juices to their diet? I'm open to hearing any input so I can make the best of my experiment.

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Getting out the soap box...

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Here is an example of how we are conditioned by the media:

"Control your diabetes by losing weight."

That's sort of like saying that we should control the cause by getting rid of the effect. It's backwards. Actually there are some lifestyle choices that can contribute to both of these at the same time, yet this ad seems to ignore the real causes, and instead it indicates that excess body fat causes insulin resistance or blood glucose issues and that isn't true - there are a lot of overweight people that aren't diabetic.

Likewise, there are a lot of diabetic people who are not overweight. They apparently ignore the diabetic person who is at a normal body weight, which demonstrates that their approach is clearly flawed. That is the approach of the "#1 Health Website". We are in trouble.

To add to the absurdity, we have a stack of pancakes. Really? Carbs are converted to sugar in the blood stream so eating a stack of pancakes isn't going to help one control diabetes or lose weight.

This ad reinforces the idea of disease management - not cure. Why would anyone want to control their diabetes instead of cure it? That's because we have been taught that a cure isn't possible and control is the best we can do.

Well, I personally know someone who was cured of diabetes. It is possible, at least in the case of type II. She did it by NOT following the advice of her doctor, but researching it and curing it herself.

I've also been studying Gerson Therapy. Gerson Therapy has cured countless cases of type II diabetes. The problem with Gerson Therapy is that it is time consuming for patients and unprofitable for our disease management system in the US. We've been conditioned to pop a pill or get a shot so we can deal with it "quickly" and Gerson Therapy could put many hospitals out of business, so it is rarely talked about. Instead we see the nonsense indicated in ads like these - and worse, we accept the nonsense as fact.

I'm not harshing on Spark for the ad. I know how advertising works. I'm saying we need to stop believing in absurdity and stop doing things that we know don't work. I'm gonna be a little old man in a tin hat, running around yelling about conspiracies, living like a hermit in a cave somewhere if I keep this up, but I can't help it. I can't keep going along with the absurd lies. I'm trying so hard to not become the "Alex Jones" of health and wellness, but it's a challenge.

I checked out the website that is linked to that ad. The whole site (like the whole diet mentality) is backwards. The approach that we need to lose weight to get healthy is flawed. In reality, we need to get healthy to lose fat. Obesity is not a problem, it is a symptom of a problem. We should not be fooled into treating symptoms. It's backwards and unproductive.

You might think to yourself, "Well, I'm a bit overweight, but I AM healthy so losing weight IS my only issue." I assure you it is not. If you are overweight, your body is not working optimally. At the very least you are leptin resistant - its difficult to store fat if you aren't leptin resistant.

It is also possible to have digestive malfunction and have no symptoms other than being overweight.

It's probable that you are undernourished if you are overweight.

If you live in any developed region, you have an absolute store house of toxins inside you. You are simply not at your best - and I don't say that to be cruel. I am in the same boat as you and I make no statement about you that I don't make about myself. We all live in a culture that has a backward approach to health and to weight loss.

Amongst the many backward things on the linked site I mentioned, I found one of the stupidest articles I've ever read:

www.everydayhealth.com/diet-and-nutr
ition/0410/young-americans-need-to-cut
-calorie-intake.aspx

This article says that the average child would need to cut 64 calories per day out of his/her diet in order to reduce childhood obesity to 14.6% in 2020. That is really absurd on so many levels. It minimizes the problem and misdirects our attention.

The article also contains this paragraph:

"White youngsters would need an average reduction of 46 calories, compared with 91 calories for Mexican-Americans and 138 calories for black children, who have higher rates of obesity. Children and teens in low-income communities also have higher rates of obesity and would require greater calorie reductions than those in higher-income areas."

Could it be true that minorities and poor people just have more food than folks with a better income? I guarantee that isn't it. Could it be that "Mexican-Americans and black children" and those in "low-income communities" simply lack self control? Anyone who might believe that is blatantly ignorant.

Any reasonable person should be able to read that paragraph and conclude that obesity isn't about calories in - calories out. It's about the quality of nutrition. Have you ever been to a grocery store in a low-income community? We can be overweight and starving on a cellular level - in fact when we are starving on a cellular level, we are likely to be or to become overweight. Our bodies can't help but to feel hungry if we eat crap that doesn't nourish us.

The real problem is that generic macaroni and cheese is .68 cents a box and grass fed, organically raised, hormone and antibiotic free beef is 15 bucks a pound.

Another problem is that grass fed, organically raised, hormone and antibiotic free beef isn't readily available in low-income communities. The food banks are often stocked with refined carbs like mac n cheese, white bread, and ramen noodles.

Another problem is that we've been lied to for so long that we have a hard time thinking differently. We are told that grains are good for us and many people will not even consider all the damage they do. We are told that the chlorine in the water is safe, that fluoride in the water is good for our teeth, and that cooking takes a long time so we need drive-throughs and convenience foods. ...and as a culture, we believe that.

Quality food is the answer. If our bodies are really nourished, we need fewer calories and our bodies can operate at their best. Ramen noodles are 25 cents, they do nothing to nourish us, and they contribute to fat storage even if we restrict our calories. Organic asparagus is 5.99 a pound, has fewer calories, and contains real nutrition. Real food is simply not available every where and it does look expensive when compared to crap.

This is a huge socio-economic issue. It is an agribusiness issue as well. It is a medical industry issue. It is about profit. It is not a calories in vs. calories out issue.

We must, at the very least, stop believing the illogical ideas that the mainstream diet industry sells us. Most of us are not scientists, so we (mis)place our trust in those who are.

We need to stop, because it isn't about how much you eat or when. It isn't about how much you exercise or how often. You can't out-train a crappy diet. It's about nourishing our bodies with real food. It's about healing ourselves with real food so that our own internal mechanisms can finally properly regulate our fat storage (and blood glucose, and leptin response, and every other process in our bodies).

Organic vegetables may look more expensive at the store, but we can pay now or pay later in doctor visits, missed work, pain, and prescription medications that won't cure us - and extra pounds that do us no good. Don't let anyone convince you that 'health care' and 'disease management' are the same thing. They aren't.

There are a million other ads out there like the one above. Recognize them for what they are - hogwash.

Okay, I feel a little better now. I'm going to try to put away my soap box for the day, but I'm not promising anything.

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