Earthcode: Healing the Hopeless ~ Interview with Howard Straus of the Gerson Institute

Dr. Max Gerson: Healing the Hopeless

with Howard Straus
by Paula Peterson
Earthcode International Network

Sitting across from Howard Straus, I am immediately struck by his glowing health and lively demeanor. A handsome man in his sixties, Straus radiates vitality and a level of vigor that would make anyone in their 30�s, 40�s, or 50�s envious and eager to adopt healthier eating habits.

Straus lives the Gerson Therapy way � and sets a vibrant example of the potentials and possibilities available for all of us.

It was going to be an interesting interview � I could sense it � as Straus immediately launched into the first crucial topic of our discussion...

HS: Don�t drink the water.

In California - as it is with most municipal water supplies - there�s fluoride and chlorine in it. Along with that, there are often critical levels of iron, arsenic, or sodium. I had a water-distiller for a long time and whenever I cleaned out the filters, I found an accumulation of a lot of ugly crud.

My mother�s distiller has a stainless steel holding tank that became completely eaten away. So, we don�t drink the water.

PJP: I use a distiller, too, so I know what you mean. The crud that accumulates is pretty disgusting. What about the common notion that people should drink a lot of water � like up to eight glasses a day? I personally don�t agree with this and feel that we get what we need by eating enough whole fruits and vegetables.

HS: I'll tell you how that number of eight glasses of water per day came about : when a person regularly eats meat, as most Americans do, one is producing ketones in large quantities.

PJP: Since I don�t eat meat, I�ve never heard of ketones. What are they?

HS: Ketones are a metabolite of meat and are deadly to your kidneys. The kidneys react to ketones by trying to get rid of them as quickly as possible by flushing them out of the body. Since there isn�t enough �water� in the kidneys to do this, the kidneys will suck water from the rest of the body as a function of survival. Consequently, if you�re a carnivore and you don�t drink enough water, you can become seriously dehydrated.

PJP: So, that�s why it�s been reported that most Americans are dehydrated and are encouraged to drink all that water. That�s an eye-opener!

HS: Further more, drinking water actually dilutes stomach acid, which eventually leads to digestive difficulties - especially in the elderly whose digestive systems are already compromised.

So, unless you�re drinking distilled water - or purified water out of a bottle � drinking water is not recommended.

PJP: Well � that was a stunning entry into our interview! Before we go on to more eye-openers, I�d like to find how you got into this field.

Here you are a physics graduate of MIT, you've operated as a highly skilled computer systems analyst for most of your career, you have an impressive background as an independent computer programmer for NASA, international communications, and the weather bureau. What inspired you to begin promoting your grandfather�s books and therapy?

HS: I cannot imagine anything else I would rather do with my life. It�s an opportunity to help a lot of people and save lives. It may or may not make any money for me � but it will definitely help someone in addition to advancing science.

Interestingly, this didn�t start out as a career path for me. When I was a kid choosing a career, I didn�t want to spend my life around sick people � which greatly disappointed my grandfather.

PJP: So, Dr. Gerson originally wanted you to become a doctor and take over his work?

HS: Oh, yes. But he didn�t interfere with my choice. It wasn�t until many years later as an adult that I changed my mind.

The turning point came about fifteen years ago. I had met a lovely lady who was the first in my life that really fit and I was madly in love with her.

Although, I avoided it for a long time, I finally asked her to marry me. We set a wedding date for six months away. Three months before the wedding, she was diagnosed with her third occurrence of cancer.

So here are my choices: one - drop her like a hot potato since she�s already got cancer and has a history of it.

The second choice was to go through the standard medical route and have them slice something off � which we didn�t want to do.

The third choice was to go on the Gerson Therapy. It meant a total life-style change. But once I realize that I�m madly in love with this woman, dropping her wasn�t an option. Besides, we had been living together for several years and I wanted to keep her!

And so, we went to the Gerson clinic and stayed for two weeks. After that, we continued with the therapy at home for six months, in the middle of which we got married.

In our wedding photos, you can see that we toasted each other with carrot juice. And when you look at those photos, my wife has never looked better in her life. Now, this was a woman in the middle of cancer therapy: she was slender; her skin was perfectly clear and glowing. We�ve been married now for fifteen years.

PJP: That�s wonderful! Does this mean that her cancer went into remission �or that it�s completely gone?

HS: It�s completely gone. �Remission� is a term you have to be careful about. When a doctor says there is eighty-percent remission of a disease � like cancer � most people interpret this as meaning they are safe from the condition.

However, if you ask the doctor to define remission in melanoma, for example, he will say something like, �... the tumor has not advanced for a period of twenty-eight days.� The medical establishment has defined the parameters of remission to this narrow margin because, otherwise, they would not be able to claim that a condition has an eighty-percent chance of total remission. The parameter for total remission is regarded within a mere twenty-eight day period and does not indicate the absence of melanoma: it simply indicates the absence of advancement of the disease.

PJP: That�s such a short period of time. But I can see how it makes it appear as though the doctor has far greater success in treating a chronic condition than he really does.

Since you�ve been in this field for many years, what � in your opinion � keeps most Americans from eating wholesome, healthy, nutrient-rich foods?

HS: Well, when you consider that most Americans watch television every day, listen to the radio, read newspapers and magazines �the major portion of advertising in those sources is geared toward consumption of value-depleted foods: �eat this,� �eat that,� �eat at McDonalds,� �eat at Wendy�s� �and so on. The primary focus is on commercial, nutrient-poor foods.

On the other hand, who advertises for the organic farmer? Nobody. Who advertises for Whole Foods Market? Nobody. Who advertises for the community farmers market where you can get fresh, wholesome, organic foods straight from the farmer? Nobody.

And yet, we sit in front of the tv set for hours a day; and in between the murders, the beatings and the stabbings, we�re bombarded by advertisements for nutrient-poor foods which are making someone a pile of money.

So, why do we eat these non-wholesome, nutrient-poor foods? Because it amuses our mouth.

PJP: It�s the taste sensation.

HS: Not only is it the taste sensation, it�s that people are also desperately hungry. Let me explain ...

About ten or more years ago, the idea of Super-Sizing commercial meal portions was thrust upon the American public and became one of the biggest reasons why Americans are now considered to be the most obese people in the world.

To put it simply, the fast food industry had pretty much saturated the market when it came to fast food. McDonald�s wanted to increase its sales, beat out its competition, and bump up their stock to meet the demands of Wall Street. So they developed a marketing scheme that did exactly that. And here�s how it worked�

It�s a proven fact that most people will eat more food if they are given more food. Eating more food on a regular basis naturally stretches out the human stomach. Therefore, by increasing the capacity of the stomach, a person would eventually become hungrier and crave more food.

The strategy behind �super-sizing� was that if you offer the consumer half-again as much food for only a few cents more, the average person would consider it a good deal and purchase the super-sized meal. It didn�t cost McDonald�s a whole lot more to add ten or fifteen percent to the size of the meal �and as a consequence, the larger portions would expand the stomachs of the customer, who were now able to eat more while their stomachs expanded commensurably.

PJP: This was really their theory and intention?

HS: Oh, yes. McDonald�s only hope of expanding their market rapidly and consistently, at that time, was to expand the size of the American stomach � which they then did. ( Skip to the Washington Post report on this page)

PJP: Then they were basically relying on people to make a habit of eating at McDonald�s.

HS: That�s right. There are a huge number of people who eat at McDonalds � or some other fast food restaurant � at least once every day.

PJP: Hey, I used to do that many years ago. I was the Junk-Food Queen.

HS: Then you know what I�m talking about. And you became ill, right?

PJP: Actually, I was ill from infancy and struggled quite a bit with severe health-issues throughout my childhood and early adult years. It was really tough growing up that way. Eating unhealthy foods only made the condition worse. I began to study the research �available even back then �that clearly reported that most illness is caused by unhealthy eating habits.

From then on I changed my entire lifestyle, eliminated the unhealthy foods, and specifically increased the amounts of fresh, organic whole foods � which saved my life. I was eventually able to throw away all my medications, throw away my prescription glasses, and achieved a far better state of health than I had in my entire life.

Which brings me to another question: what about the unhealthy foods that our kids eat at school?

HS: The American public, including the children, are not only barraged with a constant onslaught of advertising messages from the commercial food industry, but from our schools as well. What is the message we give our kids when there are coke machines in the halls of the schools?

And since most of our public schools don�t get adequate funding, it�s easy for them to accept offers from McDonalds �or other commercial food industries �in supplying cheap food for the school lunch rooms. This becomes a severe problem for our kids because the food is literally empty of vital nutrients.

Now, when the body doesn�t receive enough of these vital nutrients, what does the body say?

PJP: �I need more food. I�m hungry!�

HS: Exactly. The body will cause you to crave more food. It�s the body�s attempt to get its nutritional needs met. So when a person eats a donut and a cola � which, of course, is empty of the most important nutrients � your mouth says, �That was amusing.�

But once it gets past the mouth and into the stomach the body takes it in, sorts it out and says something like, �Okay... there�s fat, sugar, flour, simple carbohydrates ... I�ll just pack it away somewhere. But ...hey ... I�m still hungry. Where�s the real food?� The body is not satisfied, and so it generates cravings.

Emotional dissatisfaction, mood swings � even mental imbalances � have been attributed to the body not having its nutritional needs met.

Unfortunately, most people don�t consider that their food cravings, emotional instabilities and mental imbalances are related to the quality of the food they�re eating. Instead, they will tend to find other ways to quell those cravings and feelings of emptiness.

This leads many to consume substances or participate in activities that temporarily numb the discomforts of hunger � like cravings or emotional dissatisfaction � as well as any distress caused from toxins that accumulate in the body as a direct result of eating unwholesome food.

The most common substances that people reach for are marijuana, cigarettes, alcohol, cocaine, crack and other recreational drugs. The need to fill up the emptiness they feel inside may even extend to violence, work-aholism or religion.

PJP: In order to quell the cravings, right?

HS: Well, since they�re not getting proper nutrition in the foods they eat, they�re hungry and they feel empty inside.

As an example: we all know that when a person smokes a cigarette they�re no longer hungry. The nicotine in cigarettes is a narcotic. It changes a person's body space as well as their bodily senses. And what is alcohol? It�s a depressant. It�s interesting that some people are surprised when they feel down or depressed after drinking alcohol.

PJP: I learned years ago that the acid in meat causes the body system to contract which then triggers a craving for its opposite � like sugar, marijuana, alcohol, drugs and so forth � which provides a quick expansion to counteract the acid. Does the Gerson Therapy go into the acid/alkaline balance of foods?

HS: We don�t specifically focus on acid/alkaline balance because the therapy emphasizes fresh, organic vegetables, fruits and grains which are automatically alkaline producing and eliminates the dangerous levels of acid in the body.

So, it naturally induces more alkalinity; whereas eating meat, animal by-products and animal proteins generates greater acidity, which is a leading cause of most degenerative diseases � like osteoporosis, arthritis, as well as many other chronic health conditions which are normally � but incorrectly � associated with aging.

Incidentally, I have been asked to speak to the Tribal Council at the reservation at Clear Lake, California. Since there is drug addiction and alcoholism among many Native Americans, they are interested in the Gerson Therapy as a way of eliminating these conditions.

PJP: That would be a huge shift for Native Americans since they are generally heavy meat eaters.

HS: It's true. Tribal members are concerned about this change because they, as a people, have been eating meat for generations. However, their ancestors ate very small portions � a mere handful of meat � and only when they had it.

Not only that, their ancestors had to run after the animal, kill it, skin it, carry it back, dry it � and then they ate a small amount of it along with a little bit of grain. Their ancestors were in top shape � even in their eighties � and looked great. But modern day Native Americans have adopted the eating habits that are typical of most other Americans, and they�ve become overweight and out of shape.

PJP: In relation to that, I found that when I began to eat more wholesome and healthier foods that I became much more satisfied with smaller portions. Now, I don�t get as hungry throughout the day and I eat far less food.

I�ve also seen the outcome of the American-style food trend in other countries. When I visited Japan, I noticed that the older generations were small, slim people. But since the introduction of westernized, commercial foods, the younger generations have developed much larger bodies and their culture is beginning to see obesity in their people for the first time � along with the diseases that are typical of westerners.

HS: Is it any surprise? Anywhere else in the world, people are much thinner and smaller. In the United States, people are huge. In relation to the over-consumption of cattle in this country, one tends to see a lot of people who look similar to heifers.

And this �super-sizing� trend even occurs with certain whole foods. Take croissants for instance: if you go to a bakery shop, the size of the croissant is huge. They�re practically pizza-size.

If you go to France, where the croissant originated, they are only about three or four inches across and they are absolute heaven. But Americans have totally lost any sense of portion-control. The slogan for many Americans seems to be, �the more I get the better.�

So our problem in the United States is not lack of food � our problem is over-production and over-consumption � and the food is empty of nutrients.

In the long run, it�s killing us.

Remember ... it was only about twenty years ago that there was great concern over the fact that there were so many Americans who were ten to twenty pounds overweight. Now, the latest surveys report that there are increasing numbers of people who are overweight by one-hundred pounds or more. The number of overweight people has actually quintupled over the last ten years.

Isn�t it interesting that this ten year period is exactly the period of time it took for McDonalds to promote the super-sizing gimmick as a cultural norm? Consequently, most people want to fit in with society and be like everyone else, and so they follow the eating habits of the majority.

PJP: I�ve noticed over the years of teaching classes in nutrition that people won�t seriously consider improving their eating habits until something serious happens to their health.

HS: That�s what my grandfather, Dr. Gerson, used to say... �I can�t believe that people won�t even consider changing their diet and lifestyle until the knife is at their throat. Even then, most people won�t.�

PJP: There is a strong belief in this country that one is doomed to get a disease if it runs in their family. Personally, I could never accept this belief and have always felt that people don�t inherit disease; they inherit the tendency toward disease � and not the disease itself.

HS: Bingo! Genetics is a popular catch phrase with doctors. But genetics is merely the hand that you�re dealt. Your health and life is how you play that hand, regardless of what it is. You can play a poor hand well by giving yourself every advantage in maintaining your health by getting enough proper nutrition.

We�re all going to die, but the matter is how expensive it�s going to be � and when.

PJP: We can use our money for enjoying life and helping others rather than spending it in hospitals, convalescent homes, and giving it all to the doctors.

HS: That�s why there is a growing trend toward alternative health practitioners and also why the organic food industry has risen substantially � from a 2-billion to a 40-billion dollar industry in the last few years � while the rest of the commercial food industry is going stagnant.

PJP: I told people years ago that this would be a growing trend : that more and more people were going to become vegetarian and eat wholesome, organic foods. A lot of those folks just laughed at me back then and said that it was only a passing fad.

HS: Now it�s too big to stop. But the commercial food industry will try to stop it, though.

PJP: There is research showing that the foods we eat influence our thinking and affects our emotions. Eating healthy, organic, whole foods eventually leads to greater awareness, balanced emotions and a clearer, more expanded view of the world. I believe this to be true because I experienced the positive change in my thinking and emotions � along with the healing of my body � as my diet improved.

HS: The Gerson Therapy states that there is no such thing as mental disease : there is only physical disease that disrupts the mental processes. Not only that, these conditions can be reversed � anything from autism to schizophrenia.

PJP: In regards to pharmaceuticals, its seems that far too many people resort to using drugs � otherwise known as prescription medications � to treat disease. Even prescription drugs can damage the body.

HS: Every pharmaceutical � that�s EVERY pharmaceutical � is liver toxic at some level. This is why people often have side-effects from taking prescription drugs.

However, we�re talking about a 1.6 trillion-dollar a year industry � the medical industry in the United States. Do you think that they want to see as much as one-percent of that go away if people stop taking medications in favor of healthier alternatives? What�s one-percent of 1.6 trillion dollars? Its 16 billion dollars.

PJP: Whoa!

HS: So, what would happen if we actually cured cancer? If you could prevent cancer or cure it, there goes about ten-percent of the medical-pharmaceutical industry. That�s roughly 160 billion dollars a year. They don�t want to see that much money go away.

Now, add to that equation the revenue from the fast food industry; artificial fertilizers, pesticides, and chemical industry for commercial farming; food packaging, super-markets, and commercial advertising for all of it � it widens so rapidly that pretty soon you�re talking about a few trillion dollars worth of economic activity that is threatened by what we teach, how we treat and ultimately prevent disease based upon Dr. Gerson�s discoveries.

This is why Dr. Gerson was assassinated. Even though in the end, he actually died of a fungal lung infection � his immune system was not able to fight it off because there were high levels of arsenic in his blood.

PJP: What a shock that must have been. How did arsenic get into his blood?

HS: As it turned out, about three years prior to his death he went on a radio talk show and announced that he was writing a book on everything he knew about treating and preventing disease. He was publishing it himself and having it translated into as many languages as possible in order for the public to have this vital information. He also declared that he would give the book away free if necessary. That's how important it was for him to share this knowledge.

The �alarm bells� were surely ringing off walls in the pharmaceutical companies and in organized medicine, right?

Shortly thereafter, his secretary � which had been subverted by someone in the medical association � started bringing him a cup of coffee every day. Since he was a busy physician at seventy-five years old, he had begun to drink a little coffee to give him a boost in the afternoon.

He was close to finishing his manuscript when he suddenly fell ill. He took time off from his busy schedule to nurse himself back to health. It was during this time that his manuscript disappeared from his office. Then he found out that his secretary had been stealing his patient files and had turned them over to the American Medical Association.

He later discovered that twenty-five to thirty percent of his patients � his most successful therapy cases � were mysteriously called in by their former doctors and were somehow prevented from continuing with the Gerson therapy � or they were given a substance to cause death. They all died. Is this a case of mass murder? We think so.

Needless to say, he fired his secretary. It wasn�t until later, that he realized she was probably slipping arsenic into his afternoon coffee. So �they� tried to kill him and the book at the same time.

He had to write his book all over again from scratch � which he did.

This time, he secured the manuscript and published it himself. He sold three-thousand copies before being overcome by the fungal lung infection � a condition similar to Valley Fever. When Dr. Gerson died, the American Medical Association widely publicized his death as a result of lung cancer � in order to discredit him.

There was no biopsy and no autopsy performed � there was nothing to substantiate their claims � it was just a rumor that they spread far and wide.

PJP: That is certainly a disturbing story. It seems to be a recurring theme when it comes to those who openly share life-saving discoveries that threaten the control of corrupt powers.

I really admire your courage for continuing to promote your grandfather�s work. You�ve been very busy giving interviews on the radio and lectures to audiences worldwide. Now that the word is finally getting out about this important information, have you found an increasing interest in the Gerson Therapy?

HS: Our newly completed documentary - The Gerson Miracle - just won the Golden Palm Award for Best Picture at the 2004 Beverly Hills Film Festival. It's the event known as the "Little Oscars" and is quite prestigious. It's a feature-length film that examines the Therapy, healed patients, the reasons for degenerative diseases and their solution. It's a beautifully made film that is quite stirring. We expect the film to make a great impact - so you'll be hearing more about it. ( Skip to the Movie Review report on this page)

PJP: That's wonderful! It's good to hear that important films which change peoples lives are being especially acknowledged and honored. What about the interest in other countries?

HS:In addition to that, I recently gave presentations in Southeast Asia � and they loved it. I lectured to packed halls everywhere I went, which included hundreds of medical doctors. I also gave presentations to the Health Minister of Malaysia and the Health Ministry of Thailand. They�re hungry for this information and have given me full endorsement for this work.

We are also getting interest in Eastern Europe as well as China.

It won�t happen in this country, of course, nor will it happen in Western Europe, or in any of the highly developed countries because the drug companies � the pharmaceuticals � already have too much power in these places.

But it will happen in the Third World countries because they cannot afford the pharmaceuticals; and the pharmaceutical companies aren�t interested in becoming established in these places since there isn�t enough money in those cultures � so they won�t be going there.

PJP: Now, when a person goes to a doctor with a severe health condition � like cancer � how can they best approach their doctor about using healthier alternative sources to fight it?

HS: They can�t. It�s a felony in California and many other states to treat cancer using any method besides the ones sanctioned by the American Medical Association.

PJP: That�s shocking. So, in other words, one is trapped into going to a conventional doctor for traditional treatment even if they don�t want the drugs or the surgeries?

HS: That�s right. And the real shocker comes when conventional treatment fails and the doctor tells you that there is nothing more he can do for you, it is still against the law to seek alternative treatment � even after that. So, in a literal sense, they are condemning you to death.

PJP: That�s terrible.

HS: Am I depressing you? Take Prozac.

(laughter)

PJP: That's funny in a tragic sort of way.

HS: In speaking about Prozac, in addition to Ritalin � the stuff they give the kids to "zombie" them out � over half of high school students who used guns to wound or kill other students and teachers were found to be on school-prescribed drugs.

We�re all up in arms about guns, gun control, violence on television, rock music, video games, parental control and so forth � and yet, there has been little discussion about the dangers of Ritalin or Prozac in regards to these matters.

Just look at the written information that accompanies a prescription of Prozac or Ritalin: expectable side-effects are violence and psychotic episodes. Expectable side effects! And these drugs are being prescribed to millions of adults and children � even for two-year olds.

PJP: I�ve worked with a number of disabled and special-need kids and it alarms me to see how many drugs the parents are giving these kids for their condition. Sadly, the cost for these drugs � in addition to frequent doctor visits � is so high that the parents must purchase insurance to pay for it all. Then, the only way the insurance companies will pay for the drugs is if the parents go to a conventional doctor, who, in turn, is the only one who can prescribe the drugs.

The parents often won�t � or are afraid to � try anything of an alternative nature because they are so dependent and locked into the system. They just keep giving their kids more drugs. When one medication stops working, they go to the next one � which I can clearly see makes them worse. On top of that, I rarely see these kids getting proper nutrition and this only compounds the problem. These kids may never be �normal� like healthy kids, but they're condition could be greatly improved through proper diet.

I�ve noticed, too, that with all the emphasis on preventing our kids from taking drugs � you know, the �Just say NO to drugs� campaign � that we�re giving just the opposite message to these kids when the parents continue to purchase prescription and over-the-counter drugs for their ailments and minor discomforts.

HS: It�s the American paradox.

Incidentally, Ritalin is nearly identical to cocaine on a molecular level. It leaves such bad, permanent brain alteration that the United States Military will not accept recruits that have a history of using Ritalin.

Along with that, when cocaine addicts can�t get their fix, they will often hang around school yards to buy Ritalin from the kids who won't take it � often paying ten dollars or more per pill. Ritallin gives the cocaine addict enough of a fix that he can last until he can find some cocaine.

PJP: That�s scary.

HS: This stuff gets scary in a big hurry.

PJP: After all those years of exhausting doctor visits, painful treatments, taking medications and then discovering that there was a successful way of healing my condition through eating healthy, wholesome foods � I learned that most doctors don�t know much about the effects of nutrition.

HS: That�s because everything they know about treating disease has been taught to them in the medical schools and medical journals. They are not taught that proper nutrition and healthy eating is a way of healing the body, preventing disease and maintaining long-lasting health.

In addition to that, the pharmaceutical companies are the ones that fund the medical schools and they determine what the curriculum will be. It is also the pharmaceutical companies that have total control over what the medical journals say.

Therefore, everything that goes into the doctor�s mind � including the stream of free samples, free gifts and vacations to the Caribbean provided by the pharmaceutical companies � is constantly about drugs.

PJP: Because of the studies I�ve done over the years, I discovered that even though we can categorize all these diseases and give them all different names, what it all boils down to is how well our immune system functions.

HS: The immune system is like an incredible army � an army that has evolved over millions of years � and it�s the most effective power you have to protect the borders of your health. It has all the resources it needs to deal effectively with every health challenge.

But like any army, if you don�t send it enough supplies or ammunition; if you don�t carry away the dead and wounded; if you don�t send it enough of the right kinds of food � eventually you have gaps in your defense perimeter. So, the important thing is to think of your immune system as an amazingly efficient and powerful army that � given half a chance � will protect you with its life.

The important part we play is in making sure that we give this army � the immune system � all the proper nourishment, supplies and maintenance it requires so that it can do its job well.

The main function of our immune system is to heal, protect and maintain homeostasis � which is perfect health � and it is superb at doing so. All we have to do is not stop it and to get out of its way. And we do this by eliminating the toxins and nutrient-poor foods. When we provide our body � and it's immune system � with the nutrious foods that it needs for optimal functioning, it is capable of miracles.

PJP: A healthy immune system helps keep us looking and feeling young, too.

HS: Staying young is an interesting subject. What we interpret as �age� in our culture is really the progressive � and unnecessary � degeneration of our bodily functions. Progressive degeneration � the unnatural acceleration of aging � is caused by poor nutrition, lots of toxicity, and using the resources of the body without replenishing them.

If we eat and have life-style habits like everyone else, we�re going to �age� at the same rate as everyone else. When we�re fifty-five and we look around to see that we look and feel like everyone else our age � that we�re not any better or worse � we assume that we�re looking and feeling �normal� for people that age and then determine that it�s just a process of normal aging. But it�s not true.

What it really means � when you�re looking and feeling like everyone else at your age � is that you are degenerating at the same rate as everyone else because you�re mistreating your body in the same way that they are.

If, on the other hand, you start eating the way nature intended, your body will start getting rid of the toxins and will begin to regenerate the deteriorated parts of your body. In this way, a person can literally reverse � or greatly slow down � his or her aging process.

You never have any control over how long you will live. However, you DO have control over how fast � or slow � your body degenerates. If you treat yourself badly, your body will degenerate faster. If you treat yourself well, your body will degenerate slower.

We�re not built to last forever. But we should have a healthy human life span of 110 to 120 years � even more � and still be clear of mind and strong in body. No osteoporosis, no dementia, no Alzheimer�s, no arthritis � none of the degenerative diseases that are commonly � and incorrectly � assumed to be the conditions of old age. What we call �aging� in this culture actually falls into the category of degenerative disease.

PJP: I believe that people can reverse their age to some degree.

HS: Basically, yes. You can reverse your age up to a certain point. If your body has deteriorated to a condition below where it should be, then you can reverse your aging to a level of where it ought to be for maximum health at that age. The body won�t regenerate back to eighteen years of age, but it will regenerate back to a good healthy version of forty-five, sixty, seventy and so on.

You should see my mother, Charlotte Gerson: she�s eighty years old and her eyes are beautiful and clear. My grandfather was a still going strong as a practicing physician until he died: he was almost eighty.

We have prior patients of Dr. Gerson calling my mother and saying things like, �I was one of your father�s patients long ago. I�m doing great, but my son has cancer and I was hoping that you could help him.� Of course we can help him � and when we ask how old their son is we hear, �Oh, he�s 78 years old. I�m 104 and doing great � he�s the one with cancer.�

Although Dr. Gerson died decades ago, we often hear from people who were once his patients. These were people who originally came to him for treatment after they were already dismissed by their own doctor as terminal and incurable.

So, think about that.

Decades later, they�re still healthy. I interviewed some of them in my book.

PJP: If you were to talk to someone who wasn�t aware of all this and is dependent upon conventional means of treating disease, how would you approach them with this information?

HS: My advice is: don�t be a �Food-Nazis�, because then you experience a lot of resistance. Instead, be an example of health, joy and vitality. When people ask how you got that way, then you can tell them all about it.

PJP: That makes a lot of sense. What else would you like the readers to know that would inspire them to take charge of their health?

HS: Chronic disease is not inevitable � in spite of the claims of doctors who say they have no idea what causes about 1,500 or so conditions of chronic disease. They may have a hundred different of ways of defining the diseased condition, but the bottom line is that these diseases are simply different manifestations of the same problem: deficiency caused by poor nutrition.

This does not mean deficiency caused by a person not getting enough food � it means that a person isn�t getting enough of the right kinds of food: fresh, organic, and whole vegetarian foods.

Degeneration is also caused by the toxins, or poisons, that are ingested from contaminated sources: the water, commercially grown foods, food processing, prescription drugs, industrial chemicals, automobile pollution � from hundreds of substances that we consume or unknowingly absorb from our environment.

The good news is, the physical body has a phenomenal capacity for healing, restoring and maintaining our health.

PJP: The body can heal itself of almost anything.

HS: That�s all it knows how to do. The function of the body is to maintain homeostasis: perfect health.

The doctors know this, too. They perform the surgeries: they cut, take things out, put things in and sew it up. But who is doing the healing? Who rearranges things so that you�re no longer bleeding, you�re no longer in pain, and you no longer have a slice from the outside to the inside? The doctor doesn�t know how to do that. You don�t know how to do that. Only your body knows how to do that.

If the body has enough energy it will take off and do what it needs to do � to repair and heal itself and return to normal health. It has evolved over millions of years to do just that one thing.

So when you are not feeling your best, you must be doing something to keep it from popping back up to normal health.

You can be healthy without doctors. Your health is a choice � it�s not a crap shoot. You make choices that have consequences. Whatever you choose to put into your body, into your mouth, into your lungs, into your nose � every choice you make has direct consequences on your health.

Therefore, when you make the right choices, your health will be robust and you will have a long, healthy life. Your children will be healthy; they won�t get sick, and they won�t be subject to ADHD, Mad Cow Disease, diabetes, cancer, asthma and so forth � and they will be free of drugs.

They will be well-behaved, smart, high-achievers and emotionally stable because their brains and their body will be functioning properly.

You can be as healthy as you choose to be... and that's the bottom line.

Scroll down for mini-biography of Dr. Max Gerson and movie review of The Gerson Miracle

�by Paula Peterson 2004

You may link to this page by using ~ http://www.paulapeterson.com/Howard_Straus.html ~ Thank you!

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Howard Straus is the grandson of Dr. Max Gerson and the son of Charlotte Gerson. After his MIT education in physics, he pursued a career in computer systems analysis for nearly 40 years. Late in life, he discovered his passion for helping people recover from �incurable� diseases using the famous Gerson Therapy developed by his grandfather and continued by his mother.

Although Dr. Gerson was called �the most eminent genius in medical history� by Nobel Laureate Albert Schweitzer, no thorough biography of Gerson existed forty years after his death. Howard Straus took up the task in 2002 by publishing Dr. Max Gerson: Healing the Hopeless, which has received excellent reviews in the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine and The Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients.

Howard Straus contributes to the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine and Way of the Heart, and is writing a second book, Power Nutrition, from which the Way of the Heart articles are extracted. He also authors an informative and twice-weekly e-bulletin called Be Well! in addition to pursuing his career as a nutritional consultant and international lecturer on the Gerson Therapy.

He founded the nonprofit organization, Cancer Research Wellness Network, which is dedicated to educating people about cancer therapies that work. Mr. Straus� Power Nutrition workshops have been very well-received, and have helped thousands to radically improve the quality of their lives.

Howard Straus can be reached at:

Cancer Research Wellness Network
316 Mid-Valley Center
Carmel, CA 93923
Telephone: 831-625-3565

Or you can send an e-mail by clicking here:   Howard Straus

NOW . . . you can view the entire 91-minute documentary of 11 chapters anytime from anywhere in the world for FREE

Just click here:  TheGersonMiracle.org

To purchase a copy of Dr. Max Gerson: Healing the Hopeless by HOWARD STRAUS - please order through your favorite book store.

Or click here to order on-line:  Amazon.com

Visit the website:   Gerson Institute

You can also write or call:

The Gerson Institute
1572 Second Avenue
San Diego, CA 92101
Telephone: 888-443-7766

NEWS!   MOVIE REVIEW ~ The Gerson Miracle

The Gerson Miracle - winner of the GOLDEN PALM AWARD for best film out of over two-thousand entries at the Beverly Hills "Little Oscars" 2004 Film Festival.

A "must-see" documentary that focuses on the successful therapy developed by Dr. Max Gerson - a therapy that has cured some of the most hopeless conditions of cancer as well as numerous other chronic diseases.

Even though Dr. Gerson is deceased, his legendary work continues on through the efforts of his daughter, Charolotte Gerson - founder of the Gerson Institute, and his grandson, Howard Straus - author of Dr. Max Gerson: Healing the Hopeless.

Now in her eighties and retired, Charolotte continues to participate in the activities of the institute as a board member, while Anita Wilson remains as its director.

The Gerson Institute serves thousands of critically ill patients with an amazingly simple but stringent dietary program and gets them back on the road to health in weeks instead of years.

The testimonies of real people is the most moving of all - especially that of a adolescent girl whose fragile life was restored to her through the Gerson Therapy. It will bring heart-warming tears to your eyes!

Please see this film! It's available on DVD and VHS and makes an excellent gift of love to those who struggle with illness. It also serves as a critical source of knowledge that can help nearly anyone prevent disease and build lasting health.

The Gerson Miracle was filmed and directed by cinematographer, Steve Kroschel's (KroschelFilms.com) whose earlier works are "I Spy" and "Vertical Limit", as well as his own specials on NOVA.

TO ORDER The Gerson Miracle DVD or VHS please send an e-mail to the Gerson Institute or Howard Straus by clicking on the links above.

Return to where you left off above in the   Interview

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Max Gerson, MD
(1881 � 1959)

Censured for Curing Cancer

The late German physician, Dr. Max Gerson, and his startlingly effective therapy for cancer was based on optimum nutrition and total detoxification of the body. Dr. Gerson was an incredibly courageous man, who by absolute record, had cured people of cancer and persisted with his lonely fight against the forces of organized medicine.

Max Gerson, the originator of the holistic nutritional therapy now known as The Gerson Therapy, was born in Wongrowitz, Posen, Germany (now Poland). Throughout his German university and medical education, he suffered terribly with from migraine headaches, which neither he nor any of his colleagues could alleviate.

Assigning himself the project of curing his own debilitating headaches, Gerson eventually discovered that by varing his diet, he could prevent the problem. When he discovered that his �migraine diet� would also cure cases of tuberculosis, his otherwise fine medical career become highly controversial.

Gerson persevered, however, always searching for the underlying cause of disease. When a patient with cancer came to him for treatment, he was able to cure her with his therapy, contrary to his own expectations.

Gerson�s blossoming career was interrupted in 1933 when he and his family had to flee Nazi Germany. They fled to the United States, and settled in New York City, where, intrigued by his early successes, Gerson took up the problem of cancer, achieving a reputation among patients, if not among his jealous colleagues, of being able to cure many of the most advanced degenerative cases. Shortly before his death in 1959, Gerson wrote his towering book, A Cancer Therapy: Results of 50 Cases, detailing his 30 years of clinical experience and research with the disease.

In the more than 60 years that have elapsed since Gerson dedicated his life to solving the problem of cancer, tens of thousands of grateful patients have successfully used his therapy to either cure or prevent degenerative disease of all types. His book, translated into five languages, has sold nearly half a million copies worldwide, and has been the basis on which a dozen clinics in the United States and Mexico have been founded. The most advanced cancer research is only now catching up with principles Gerson so clearly articulated over half a century ago.

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* * The following is an excerpt from the Washington Post article:

Portion Distortion: You Don't Know the Half of It...

Portion sizes had already been creeping upward. As early as 1972, for example, McDonald's introduced its large-size fries (large being a relative term, since at 3.5 ounces the '72 "large" was smaller than a medium serving today). But McDonald's increased portions only reluctantly, because the company's founder, Ray Kroc, didn't like the image of lowbrow, cheap food. If people wanted more French fries, he would say, "they can buy two bags." But price competition had grown so fierce that the only way to keep profits up was to offer bigger and bigger portions. By 1988, McDonald's had introduced a 32-ounce "super size" soda and "super size" fries.

The deal with all these enhanced portions is that the customer gets a lot more food for a relatively small increase in price. So just how does that translate into bigger profits? Because the actual food in a fast-food meal is incredibly cheap. For every dollar a quick-service franchiser spends to produce a food item, only 20 cents, on average, goes toward food. The rest is eaten up by expenses such as salaries, packaging, electric bills, insurance and, of course, the ubiquitous advertising that got you in the door or to the drive-through lane in the first place.

Here's how it works. Let's say a $1.25 bag of French fries costs $1 to produce. The potatoes, oil and salt account for only 20 cents of the cost. The other 80 cents goes toward all the other expenses. If you add half again as many French fries to the bag and sell it for $1.50, the non-food expenses stay pretty much constant, while the extra food costs the franchise only 10 more pennies. The fast-food joint makes an extra 15 cents in pure profit, and the customer thinks he's getting a good deal. And he would be, if he actually needed the extra food, which he doesn't because the nation is awash in excess calories.

That 20 percent rule, by the way, applies to all food products, whether it's a bag of potato chips, the 2,178-calorie mountain of fried seafood at Red Lobster or the 710-calorie slab of dessert at the Cheesecake Factory. Some foods are even less expensive to make. The flakes of your kid's breakfast cereal, for example, account for only 5 percent of the total amount Nabisco or General Mills spent to make and sell them. Soda costs less to produce than any drink except tap water (which nobody seems to drink anymore), thanks to a 1970s invention that cut the expense of making high-fructose corn syrup.

There used to be real sugar in Coke; when Coca-Cola and other bottlers switched to high-fructose corn syrup in 1984, they slashed sweetener costs by 20 percent. That's why 7-Eleven can sell the 64-ounce Double Gulp -- half a gallon of soda and nearly 600 calories -- for only 37 cents more than the 16-ounce, 89-cent regular Gulp. You'd feel ripped off if you bought the smaller size. Who wouldn't?

The final step in the fattening of America was the "upsell," a stroke of genius whose origins are buried somewhere in the annals of marketing. You're already at the counter, you've ordered a cheeseburger value meal for $3.74, and your server says, "Would you like to super-size that for only $4.47?" Such a deal. The chain extracts an extra 73 cents from the customer, and the customer gets an extra 400 calories -- bringing the total calorie count to 1,550, more than half the recommended intake for an adult man for an entire day.

When confronted with their contribution to America's expanding waistline, restaurateurs and food packagers reply that eating less is a matter of individual responsibility. But that's not how the human stomach works. If you put more food in front of people, they eat more, as studies have consistently shown over the last decade. My personal favorite: The researcher gave moviegoers either a half-gallon or a gallon bucket of popcorn before the show (it was "Payback," with Mel Gibson) and then measured how much they ate when they returned what was left in the containers afterward. Nobody could polish off the entire thing, but subjects ate 44 percent more when given the bigger bucket.

The downside, of course, is that 20 years of Big Food has trained us to think that oceanic drinks and gargantuan portions are normal. Indeed, once fast food discovered that big meals meant big profits, everybody from Heineken to Olive Garden to Frito Lay followed suit.

Today, says Lisa Young, a nutritionist at New York University, super-sizing has pervaded every segment of the food industry. For her PhD, Young documented the changes in portion sizes for dozens of foods over the past several decades. M&M/Mars, for example, has increased the size of candy bars such as Milky Way and Snickers four times since 1970. Starbucks introduced the 20-ounce "venti" size in 1999 and discontinued its "short" 8-ounce cup.

When 22-ounce Heinekens were introduced, Young reported, the company sold 24 million of them the first year, and attributed the sales to the "big-bottle gimmick." Even Lean Cuisine and Weight Watchers now advertise "Hearty Portions" of their diet meals. Everything from plates and muffin tins to restaurant chairs and the cut of our Levi's has expanded to match our growing appetites, and the wonder of it all is not that 60 percent of Americans are overweight or obese, but rather that 40 percent of us are not.

To view the full article, click here:   Washington Post: Portion Distortion

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