5 Things You Need to Know About Gerson Diet

1. Allow the Body to Heal Itself

The foundation of the Gerson diet is the work of Max Gerson, a physician who runs the Gerson Institute. Dr. Gerson describes his program as a natural treatment that activates the body's own ability to heal. Dieters eat organic vegetarian foods and juices, use detoxification and take supplements. Because its main focus is detoxifying the body and allowing it to heal itself, it is often used as a cancer treatment.

2. Eat Your Fruits and Vegetables--20 Pounds of Them!

When following the Gerson diet, you consume about 20 pounds of organic fruits and vegetables every day. In many cases, you are drinking raw juices, usually about a glass an hour for 13 hours per day, in addition to lots of raw and cooked foods. According to Dr. Gerson, following this diet increases oxygenation in the blood. He asserts that many degenerative diseases are the result of a lack of oxygen in the blood. The body is also receiving lots of vitamins and other nutrients through these foods and juices, which helps it to detoxify and perform better.

3. The Sodium-Potassium Balance

One of the main theories behind the Gerson diet involves the relationship between sodium and potassium in our bodies. We are supposed to have a balance between the two, but Gerson practitioners claim that insecticides, herbicides and other chemicals have contaminated our food by raising its sodium content and lowering its potassium content. Over-processing of our food and even simple cooking adds more sodium. This changes the metabolism of the cells and, over time, causes cancer. Because people with cancer have too much sodium and not enough potassium in their bodies, eating fruits and vegetables corrects this imbalance. In time, the liver will begin to get rid of malignant cells.

4. Not Everyone Agrees

There are other components to the Gerson diet, such as using coffee enemas and injected liver extracts to detoxify the body. Opponents of this diet claim that the use of these enemas can cause the body to lose potassium and the colon to stop functioning properly over time.

5. Gerson Diet Treats Cancer and More

Although the Gerson diet, originally developed in the 1950s, was a treatment for cancer, it has also been found to be helpful in alleviating other diseases. Dr. Gerson initially developed the diet to cure his own migraines. The diet has also been successful for people with diabetes, heart disease, lupus and arthritis.