What Makes This Gerson Cancer Treatment Different at CHIPSA?

The history of CHIPSA Hospital is in a way, the history of Gerson Therapy itself. We are known as the Gerson Therapy hospital because our hospital was founded by Charlotte Gerson, the daughter of Max Gerson, the man who created the Gerson Immuno-Nutrition Protocol. The hospital that is now CHIPSA began using the Gerson Protocols just two years after it was introduced in Mexico in 1977, making it the longest-standing institution to have offered the Gerson regimen to patients.

The Gerson legacy is our CHIPSA story. 

Now, over 40 years later, CHIPSA is still using the Gerson Therapy in its enhanced form, along with cutting-edge immunotherapies like checkpoint inhibitors, dendritic cell, and innate immune-stimulating treatments. Although many other hospitals have implemented Gerson into their treatment regimens, CHIPSA’s extensive experience with the protocol has allowed us to make innovations and see the most success in patients.

The History of the Gerson Therapy

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Dr. Max Gerson

Gerson Therapy hospitals have a history going back in the 1920s when a young German doctor named Max Gerson developed the Gerson-Sauerbruch-Hermannsdorfer diet while looking for ways to treat his own intense migraine headaches. He later used this method to treat tuberculosis and eventually began getting success with cancer patients.


The Gerson Method, also known as “The Gerson Therapy”, is a natural treatment regimen that calls upon the body’s own powerful potential to heal itself. By adhering to a strict organic, plant-based diet, consuming large amounts of raw, cold-pressed juices, and performing daily coffee enemas, the protocol aims to activate your body’s ability to fight disease.

The method was first introduced to patients in Mexico in 1977 at the Hospital La Gloria. Due to the number of patients, it moved to another facility, Hospital Jardines de la Mesa, which was opened in 1979. Economic troubles in the 1980s forced these two facilities to combine, and after a fire that devastated the La Gloria facility, a new location was created at Hospital Del Sol in Playas de Tijuana. Five years later, that practice shifted to a new facility at Centro Hospitalario Internacional del Pacifico, S.A., also known as CHIPSA

The Gerson Method has since been the foundation of CHIPSA’s healing protocols for nearly twenty years. 

CHIPSA worked with Charlotte Gerson, daughter of Max Gerson, and the Gerson Institute for nearly 18 years. When Charlotte parted ways to focus solely on diet-based therapy, CHIPSA began incorporating Dr. Gerson’s work with vaccine-based immunotherapies like Coley’s toxins.  Today, we utilize the Gerson Method as the core foundation of several other innovative immunotherapy treatments.

So what makes Gerson Therapy different? 

While other nutritional regimens may be similar to the Gerson Therapy, what sets this method apart is that it aims to target many areas of healing. A build-up of toxins combined with poor nutrition is what is believed by some to cause many debilitating diseases. This is thought to be why the Gerson Method is so powerful. It doesn’t just aim to target symptoms; it aims to targets the cause.


Unfortunately, the cause is all around us. Every day, we are living in and around toxins and carcinogens. They are in our food, air, and water. We use them when we wash our dishes, clothes, and bodies. We consume them often in the medicines we take.

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Using the enhanced Gerson method is thought to combat such an overload of toxins by flooding the body with nutrients from fresh, organic, juices. Because juices don’t contain fiber, they are easier on the digestive system and can go straight into the bloodstream. They provide the body with a mega-dose of vitamins, enzymes, and minerals. As the nutrients from the juice deteriorate the damaged body tissue, the coffee enemas stimulate liver detoxification.

What does a day on The Gerson Method look like?


Those utilizing the Gerson Method to heal their bodies are focusing on three main areas: juice, diet, and detoxify.

Juicing

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The Gerson Method involves consuming 15-20 pounds of organically-grown fruits and vegetables each day. Patients drink one glass of fresh, raw, cold-pressed juice each hour, up to 13 times daily. Juicing allows patients to easily digest and absorb the nutrients. Carrot-apple and green leaf juices should be freshly made each hour using either a two-step or masticating juicer that contains a separate hydraulic press.

In order for the nutritionally-depleted cancer patient to receive a massive amount of nutrients required to heal, they need to consume a large amount of organic food on a daily basis.  As the digestive system is usually impaired, some of these foods are juiced to promote maximum absorption with minimum effort. The volume of produce consumed daily amounts to about 20 pounds.

Diet

Patients on The Gerson Therapy will eat a completely organic and plant-based diet, which will provide them with large amounts of vitamins, minerals, and enzymes. The diet is low in sodium, fats, and proteins.

Oatmeal, potatoes, vegetables, and fruit will provide the main sources of clean fuel that will give energy for a healing patient, but they must be taken in larger quantities, as they are low in kilo-joules. On the Gerson Therapy, the high vegetable content is received mostly in juice form, which provides enough energy for daily requirements and the higher energy demand of regeneration. 

Many people are confused as to why the Gerson Therapy allows for carbohydrates since they convert into sugar, and sugar has been named responsible for “feeding” cancerous cells. 

So why are carbohydrates encouraged in the Gerson diet

When carbohydrates are oxidized, they do not leave an acidic waste in the body like protein and fats. The end products are carbon dioxide and water. This encourages the elimination of sodium from the tissues, reduces toxicity and acidity, and enhances the passage of potassium into the cell. It is essential that the cell responds to insulin for digestion at the cell level and healing of the body.

A therapy loaded with carbohydrates will promote a good insulin response. However, many people with degenerative diseases have degrees of carbohydrate intolerance due to their weakened digestive system. This will be evident in the gut and in other systems with symptoms such as low blood sugar (lethargy, fatigue, poor concentration, mood swings, panic attacks, hot and cold sweats, etc.) and “fuzzy” head after ingesting carbohydrates. Improvements from these symptoms can take days to months to occur, particularly in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. A person may feel unwell initially on this type of diet, but the all-important uptake of potassium will slowly improve at the cellular level.

Detoxifying

In order for the body to truly heal, the liver needs to eliminate toxic buildup. The high amount of plant-based nutrition in the Gerson protocol provides a wide array of phytonutrients that can support the metabolic pathways for detoxification.

Why choose CHIPSA Hospital as your Gerson Therapy facility?

We know there are other hospitals that are now offering the Gerson Method as part of their treatment protocols, and we’re not surprised. Medical communities around the world have now caught on to the fact that nutritional control can improve the immune system’s responsiveness. But since CHIPSA has been utilizing this knowledge for several years, we offer patients unique benefits that other institutions simply cannot.  

  • CHIPSA’s doctors and staff have the most experience administering the Gerson therapy to patients. Although the regimen seems simple – flood the body with nutrients – it actually requires careful planning and guidance, and at CHIPSA, each patient’s plan might look a little bit different.
  • CHIPSA’s doctors personalize the Gerson diet for each patient. It’s not one-size-fits-all. Some patients are even in specialized forms of treatment. Utilizing the Gerson method at CHIPSA means you will be evaluated specifically for your kind and stage of cancer so that the regimen you follow is tailored to work for you. 
  • CHIPSA stays abreast of the most innovative research in immunotherapy in order to offer patients the most effective treatments. Modern chemoprevention research into phytochemicals has led to a more precise understanding and refinement of the Gerson approach. The contributions of Dr. Gerson continue to be integral to immunotherapy-based treatments, and CHIPSA is constantly building on the foundation he set.
  • Few hospitals have documented, long-term remissions for patients the way that CHIPSA does. Our new documentary includes many of our long-term stage-4 cancer survivors, all of whom utilized the Gerson method through our hospital. 
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Cancer Survivors at CHIPSA’s 2017 Survivor Reunion